[I did this interview in 2004 for a writers' roundtable
discussion. Carol Smalley is the one asking the questions.]
Please
share the way you want your name printed in the roundtable transcript,
and your background in children's writing, areas of interest,
published books, and unpublished creative efforts with the group.
Jennifer
J. Stewart:
I write seriously funny books for children. I’ve published middle
grade novels: The Bean King's Daughter,
If That Breathes Fire, We're Toast!, and Close Encounters
of a Third-World Kind. The last is based upon my family’s
adventures as medical volunteers in Nepal. I’m working on a new
novel, and I’m also trying picture books.
Why
have you chosen to write children's materials?
Stewart:
Most children’s books have happy or at least hopeful endings. I
like that. I have always read and enjoyed children’s books, even
as an adult, even before I tried to write one. So, it seemed to
come naturally. But the real reason? Even though my driver’s license
says I am 43, I think my mental age is about 12. When you write
for children, being immature helps. What can I say? I like booger
jokes.
Do
you write on a full-time basis? Is writing a passionate "side"?
How do you find time to write? What is a typical day like for you?
Stewart:
Someday I dream of writing full-time, but for now, I have a family
to run. I also volunteer. If I get in three hours of writing, that
is excellent. I am not only passionate about writing; I am driven.
I could not get books published without being very goal-oriented.
I write when my
children are in school. When my youngest entered preschool, I had
two hours and 45 minutes a day to myself. I finished the first draft
of a novel in three months. It can be done!
Schedule:
5:20-8:00 a.m.:
Get up, get children up, feed them, get them off to school, check
email obsessively
8:15-8:45 a.m.:
Walk the dog
8:45 a.m.-9:00 a.m.:
Check email obsessively
9:00-Noon: Write
and do whatever crash and burn deadline has moved into top priority
on my TO DO list
Noon : Forget to
eat lunch
12:30 p.m. Remember
to eat lunch, usually something fast like a cheese stick and applesauce
1 p.m.-2:45 p.m.:
Do the rest of the things that have to get done
2:45 p.m.-6:00 p.m.:
Retrieve children from schools, take them to riding, piano, singing
lessons, gymnastics class, etc. Check email obsessively.
6:15 p.m. Eat dinner,
which husband has prepared. (I am a terrible cook.)
7:00-8:30 p.m. Free
time
8:45 p.m. Some reading,
then crash
Except this is a
lie. I have no typical day. You have to find the time to write when
you are fresh. I’m a morning person. I like mornings, so that’s
my time to be creative. I am not a believer in the write every day
rule -- I almost never write on weekends. That’s family time.
What
were your favorite children's books as a child?
Stewart:
L. Frank Baum’s OZ series, Edward Eager, E. Nesbit, Joan Aiken --
and I read them over and over and over. I liked magical books. As
a teen, I read lots of science fiction.
What
are your favorite children's books/authors now?
Stewart:
In no particular order: Richard Peck, Laurie Halse Anderson, Meg
Cabot, David Lubar, Louise Rennison, Dav Pilkey (long live Captain
Underpants!), Walter Dean Myers, Phillip Pullman, Sid Fleischman,
and Caroline B. Cooney.
Where
do you find your sources or sparks of creativity?
Stewart:
Mostly, it is a combination of delving back to feelings I had when
I was young, plus wondering what it would be like if...? I guess
I like being an explorer, only without the extreme weather and harsh
conditions.
What
are your favorite resources for inspiration and information?
Stewart:
The SCBWI Web site, Authors Guild newsletter, The Writer magazine
from time to time -- I also network with writing friends.
Do
you belong to a critique group? Do you meet online or in person?
What value do you feel it provides? How did you find or start this
group?
Stewart:
My writing group meets about every other week in Basha’s grocery
store. Now that the clerks are used to us, they don’t get all uptight
when we talk about killing off a character or two. There are four
of us: C. S. Adler, Patricia McCord, Janni Lee Simner, and me. We
take turns reading out loud, then tell each other what we think,
what can be improved, and offer suggestions. We are also cheerleaders
-- we’ll get each other out of the rejection dumps and we always
celebrate our successes with chocolate. If our schedules don’t synchronize,
we critique via email, but that’s rare.
Do
you use the services of a consulting editor or proofreader?
Stewart:
Nope. I pretty much have a photographic memory when it comes to
spelling. My manuscripts are very clean.
Do
you use an agent? Why (or why not)?
Stewart:
Yes, I use Erin Murphy. My time is valuable -- I want to save it
for writing, rather than marketing. She knows the editors and their
wants. I don’t want to have to have that kind of encyclopedic knowledge.
Are
you a quick writer or a long-term crafter? What is a typical start
to finish cycle for you? How many transformations does your writing
go through from first draft to final manuscript? For those among
you who are published, how much additional work is done after your
work has been placed under contract with a publisher?
Stewart:
I can usually get a first draft done in six months to nine months.
I will rewrite once or twice on my own, then send the manuscript
to my editor. The upfront process has now been shortened, because
I can get a contract based on three chapters plus synopsis. (If
I get a contract, I generally have six months to complete the manuscript).
Once I’ve given my editor the whole manuscript, it’s likely that
I will have two more rewrites, one major, one minor, plus one last
chance to correct with galley proofs. The major rewrite will come
in the form of a single spaced letter from my editor laying out
her overall comments, plus the manuscript studded with yellow sticky
notes containing very specific questions for me. The whole process
generally takes a year and a half to two years per book.
How
do you research a book idea for competitive ideas or potential interest?
Stewart:
Hmm... I’ve never done this. I don’t think it applies so much to
me as I write fiction.
How
much background research is required before you take pen to paper?
Stewart:
I could not have written Close Encounters of a Third-World Kind
without having lived it. In 1999, my husband and I took our three
kids to Nepal where we worked as medical volunteers. We had to hike
to remote villages. Hospitals had no running water, and only sometimes
electricity. I kept a diary, because I knew I had to write about
the experience someday.
But mostly, I just
make things up.
How
important is that "first" page? What strategy do you use
to capture the editor's attention with your opening?
Stewart:
The most important thing is voice. And that has to be there right
from the get go. That voice is who your reader is going to trust.
It had better be believable. I make sure I start when the character
is having some sort of change thrust upon him or her, in the middle
of the action.
If your manuscript
is off to a slow start, often you can cut that first chapter and
not lose by it.
What
rules do you engage to create movement in your stories? How do you
get children (and their parents) to turn to the next page?
Stewart:
I want my readers to have to find out what happens next. I keep
chapters to no more than 10-12 pages, often much shorter. Cliffhangers
rock!
As
writers, what tools do you use to think visually?
Stewart:
I doodle obsessively. I do break picture book texts into illustration
chunks, and sometimes I will even write out everything that should
be drawn on the page, to see if it works, even sketch it. With novels,
I really like the "less is more" approach to description.
Like if you absolutely must describe a sunset (and most of the time
you must not), it has to be in kid terms, such as, the sunset looked
like rainbow sherbet spread across the sky. And I would only use
that to reinforce something my character was doing, like she has
finished dinner and is contemplating dessert.
Do
you have a tried-and-true strategy for creating your stories' plots?
Stewart:
I wish I did. Plotting is the hardest thing for me. I am the kind
of author, who if I was going on a road trip, I’d be jumping in
my car without a road map and heading for Anchorage. I’d have this
vague idea that I should go north. Eventually I get there, and find
it was worth the trip.
This, as you can
well imagine, can drive my editor nuts.
Do
you find it difficult to integrate dialogue into your writing? Secrets
you can share?
Stewart:
It’s more like I’m integrating the other things into the dialog,
because I usually start with conversation. My characters talk to
me all the time. Sometimes, if I’m in my minivan, I’ll call my answering
machine, so I don’t lose a particularly fine bit. Go to plays. High
school plays are cheap. You want to educate your ear, so that when
you read your dialog out loud -- which you should do -- you can
hear if it clunks. (You can also listen to the conversations around
you, spying for a YA novel).
How
do you know when it is time to send out your manuscript to potential
editors?
Stewart:
When an excerpt places or gets honorable mention in a writing contest.
Or when my writing group loves it, and can’t think of anything I
should change. When I can’t think of anything to change!
Do
you have a favorite rejection letter story?
Stewart:
Once I got a three-page handwritten rejection letter on a YA short
story. I think of rejection to acceptance as a kind of continuum:
you know, when I started out, I would get form rejection letters.
Then, I started getting “Sorry” scrawled at the bottom of the form
letters. Then, “Thank you.” Then, “Try us again.” Anyway, after
that three-page rejection letter, I knew I was darn close, and guess
what? The next magazine I sent it to bought it.
How
many manuscripts do you have started that have never made it to
that final stage? Why? Will you revisit them at some point?
Stewart:
Remarkably very few. Some picture book texts are not circulating
right now because “the market is soft," which is really a euphemism
for crappy, but they are done. Short stories I finish because they
are, well, short. Oh, I do have an adult novel I never finished,
and I probably never will. Writing for children is so much more
fun.
How
do you continue to grow professionally in your craft?
Stewart:
I read, read, read. This year I went to national Society of Children’s
Book Writers & Illustrators conference in New York. It was fun,
and I got to see my editor, but I think that structured writing
retreats, again sponsored by SCBWI, are more helpful.
Do
you have a mentor? How has he or she influenced your work? What
was the best advice you received?
Stewart:
I don’t have a mentor. I think I would like one, though! Sometimes
I write to authors and tell them how much I liked their books. But
I usually don’t confess that I write books, too.
My agent, since
she is a former editor, will go over picture book manuscripts very
carefully, and I do like that. I have learned a lot, just seeing
what she thinks should be cut or expanded.
How
do you overcome the feelings of isolation or working alone?
Stewart:
Are you kidding? I love working alone! I have a husband, three kids,
a horse, a dog, a cat, two lovebirds, etc. My computer is my refuge!
And if I get bored or lonely, I can always email a writing buddy.
I also do quite a bit of volunteer work with a non-profit organization
-- MAKE WAY FOR BOOKS
-- and that gets me out of the house.
How
do you promote yourself? Do you do library and school visits? Do
you have a Web site (please share)? Special promotion items?
Stewart:
When my first book -- If That Breathes Fire, We're Toast!
-- came out, I visited bookstore managers and set up some signings.
After those, a few librarians called me and asked me to come speak
for free at their schools, which I was happy to do as I learned
the ropes. I was really nervous at first, I mean I could plug toilets
I was so nervous, but now I am like one of those dolls, you pull
the string at the back and I talk!
Mostly, I get invitations
to speak through word of mouth and I prefer it that way. I do young
authors conferences, school visits, book fairs, and also present
to adults, talking about writing for children. I refer all requests
to my publisher, Holiday House, and the nice author appearances
arranger negotiates my rates.
You can visit my
website at www.jenniferjstewart.com
-- please, please remember that middle initial “j” or you will get
bare naked people. That is why I use the middle initial by the way
-- I don’t like being confused with that Jennifer Stewart.
When I’m signing
my books, I often set out a few kid friendly items: a dragon wearing
real fake diamond earrings and a bowl full of dragon "eggs"
(jelly beans). When my new book comes out, I’ll add a singing bowl
from Nepal.
Do
you have any final words of advice to share with new or growing
writers?
Stewart:
Read what you want to write. If it isn’t your favorite thing to
read, perhaps you shouldn’t be writing it.
Make up everything
but the feelings. The emotion behind your writing has to ring true.
Don’t ever sit on
your pencil.
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