How is it December?!
Last time I checked, it was October. What happened?
In this post:
Greetings from the writing cave! I’ve been deep in the revisions process, and have lost all sense of time. Where am I? What is that bright ball of fire in the sky? Suddenly, holiday lights are on houses, radio stations are playing festive songs and my fun-sized Halloween candy bar supply has grown to dangerously low levels. It’s December!
Before the year ends, I thought that I’d give some quick news:
Holiday Giveaway!
Upcoming Events in 2025
Dialogue Workshop: Lessons from Screenwriters
Random things!
Holiday Giveaway!
I’d love to express my thanks to everyone who has (or will!) support LOVE & RESISTANCE and ASKING FOR A FRIEND! 💜 Accordingly, if you purchased either book or requested either one from the library, I’d like to mail you some *stuff*!
⛄ If you purchase LOVE & RESISTANCE (or request it from the library (ISBN 978-0063237834)), I’d love to send you:
a signed bookplate
bookmark
Nerd Net magnet
Nerd Net sticker
⛄ If you purchase ASKING FOR A FRIEND (or request it from the library (ISBN # 9780063237889)), I’d love to send you:
a signed bookplate
bookmark
ASKING FOR A FRIEND sticker
art card with art by Yulia Kim (@mulanartist)
❄ RULES N’ STUFF ❄
1) USA only (sorry!!)
2) While supplies last
3) Google form must be completed from 11/29/24 to 12/23/24. (If you have purchased the book or requested it from the library before 11/29/24, that’s totally fine!)
The Google form is below:
https://forms.gle/tpEVMy7su7PtGygr7
ps. I have heard that there are some bad actors who will try and hack into giveaways and ask for credit card numbers, etc. I will NEVER ask for any information beyond what is requested in the Google form or basic information needed for shipping. :)
UPCOMING EVENTS
I will be having some upcoming events in February, 2025! More details to come as we get closer to February! :)
1) I will be on a YA Panel at the California School Library Association Conference on February 1, 2025. The panel (with fellow authors Lily Anderson, Addie Woolridge, Sally Engelfried, Randy Ribay and Misa Suguira) will be at 2:45-3:45 pm. I will also be at the author/librarian mix and mingle at 5-6 pm and will be signing books at 9-9:30 pm. If you are going to this conference, I hope to see you there!
2) I will be hosting a free writing workshop at YANovCon on Feb 8! Come by for some writing tips and fun workshopping! I’ll also be on a panel— more details to come!
What kind of tips would you love to see in a writing workshop? Please leave your comments and suggestions below!
Dialogue - Lessons From Screenwriters
In preparation for my upcoming writing workshop at YANovCon, I’ve been reviewing some of my favorite writing tips. I thought that I’d share one here!
I love to write and read dialogue. Really well written dialogue has a certain rhythm and musicality to it, which comes to life when spoken by skilled actors. Though screenwriting is a different skill set, I think that novelists can learn a lot from our screenwriting and playwriting cousins.
Today, I’d like to talk about how dialogue should always reveal character. How I speak is different than how my parents speak, how my best friend speaks, and how my children speak.* Your characters will reveal what they think of themselves, what they think of others, and —sometimes— betray the hidden motivations that are driving them to act the way they do.
The Oscar-winning screenplay for The Imitation Game, by Graham Moore, contains numerous examples of this guideline. In the opening scene, the main character, ALAN TURING, is being interrogated at a police station. Years earlier, he had helped to win World War II by cracking Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine, which had been used to encode messages to Axis troops. However, after the war, the police became suspicious of Turing’s behavior and his classified military records, so they detained him and accused him of engaging in anti-government activities.** Due to the secretive nature of the Enigma project, the police— and the general public— were unaware of Turing’s astonishing and heroic contributions to his country’s war efforts.
The movie opens with the above dialogue, while Turing is being interrogated for the first time. One could imagine a different scene with a different character at a police station, where the person is scared or nervous or angry. But in this short monologue, Graham Moore establishes that Alan Turing is none of those things. The use of short, declarative sentences indicates that he is not intimidated by the police and is, in fact, a touch arrogant. He verbally asserts the upper hand and indicates that more is going on than appears. It is the perfect way to introduce the film and to prepare the audience to flash back and learn exactly why Alan Turing is behaving the way that he is.
I think of this scene often in my own writing as I check and recheck each line to make sure that it (hopefully, hopefully) sounds like it could only be spoken by that particular character. I hope that this may also help you, too! :)
* I, for example, have 100% less uses of the terms “skibidi” and “sigma.”
** This is the film version of events.
Random things
Things that I Googled instead of writing my book:
“Which of the Pickwick Triplets Did It?”
Korean Biodance face mask
How to plot?
Musical artist on repeat this month: Ryan.B
Most recent boba: Mango osmanthus oolong (DELISH)
(Am I having too much fun with Canva? POSSIBLY.)
Oh my gosh, "skibidi" and "sigma." You must have a middle schooler too LOL