Jane Yolen gave the final address of the SCBWI 2010 Winter Conference. She’d been asked to make her speech “rousing”.
It was.
Here’s what she shared.
- Even if the business of publishing is struggling, the business of storytelling is not
- Too many of us want to be millionaires
- Enjoy the process; don’t bellyache about what you don’t have
- Network:
- You’ll avoid mistakes by learning from others
- You’ll keep current with the who/what/where of the industry
- You’ll make many good friends in the business
- Give back to the system
- Learn about the publishing industry
- Remember that writers are more than just content providers
- Writing a book and publishing a book are two very different things
- When you’re told to reinvent yourself and push your parameters, do it
- Develop the ability to never give up
Then Jane shared her 20 Writing Rules:
- Eschew the exclamation point
- Go easy on adverbs
- Don’t let your characters float on a page
Anchor them with action - Have fun writing; if it’s agony, do something else
- BIC ~ Butt In Chair
HOP ~ Heart On Page
You may never be the best, but you can always get better
P Not F ~ Passion, Not Fashion - Don’t try what doesn’t appeal to you
- No one outside a fairy tale lives happily ever after
In a meaning ending, there must be gain and loss
Don’t look away from hard choices - Fall through the words into the story
Use words well
Simply simple is sometimes best - Not everything should be simplified
- Weave a tapestry of words, but use the right words
- It’s not the opening line, but where it leads and what it portends that matters
Find the first line in your rewrite
Your first line carries the DNA of the book - Exercise the writing muscle every day; flabbiness is bad
- Every artist is either nurtured or a nurturer
Do what you have to do to write; make the time
The life of a full-tie artist is one of trade-offs - Editors: What do we want in one?
Truth, hard questions, timely responses and a love letter every time they correspond
You need an editor
Just publishing online or without an editor is not good enough
Learn to love the process - Yog’s Law: Money flows towards the author, not away from the author
Never pay for the process, or you’ve been scammed - Too many writers ignore the landscape
Practice the art of looking, seeing
Most of us miss the small or immobile things
Observe carefully, take the time
The details of the landscape must be precise, as if you’ve been to the place yourself - Read aloud, even if people will think you’re crazy
You are crazy - Blocks:
If a project is threatening to seize up, take a quick break, distract
If that doesn’t work, write something else
But don’t read someone else’s work - There are projects you’ll never complete
Stow them away and tell yourself it’s OK
Moaning about it is for wimps - A working writer and working illustrator do just that. They write. They illustrate. They work.