Author Skype with Matthew J. Kirby

Thanks to everyone who came out for our final Laie Young Writers Club meeting for the year, including author Matthew J. Kirby, who joined us by skype. Mr. Kirby is the author of The Clockwork Three and Icefall, plus several upcoming titles like The Lost Kingdom, Infinity Ring Book 5: Cave of Wonders, and a new series called Quantum League. He wins the LYW Author Medal of Honor for pulling over and finding an internet cafe when he realized that we'd made a mistake about what time zone he was in! We are eternally grateful.

Here are some of the thoughts Matt Kirby shared with us:

• His favorite part of being a writer is the writing process, but his favorite part of being an author is traveling.
• Plot is very important, but you don't need to use a formulaic plot structure. A story needs form, not formula.
• The beginning of a story creates a contract with the reader. If you promise the reader something, you have to deliver.
• The way to get emotional power into a story is to get yourself into a place where you can feel what the characters are feeling. If you can't feel it, how can you write it?
• The most important thing you can do to be a successful writer is to write. So many people would like to be writers, but they're not really working on anything. Get in the habit of writing something every day.  

After a fun and motivational visit with Mr. Kirby, we had chocolate cake and said good-bye to one of our founding members, Amber Carlson, who will be leaving for college next fall.

The Laie Young Writers Club will be signing off for the summer, but we'll be back again next fall. Until then...

Keep writing!

Author Skype with Beth Revis

Earlier this month we were honored with a skype visit from Beth Revis, author of the Across the Universe series. She happened to be at a convention in New York at the time, but was kind enough to give us a good Q&A session. Here's what we learned:

Q: How do you create tension?
A: Always make the worst possible thing happen.

Q: How do you write a good first kiss?
A: Be aware that not all kisses are perfect. A first kiss should have some awkwardness in it.

Q: How do you start a book?
A: Just start writing. Then cut the first fifty pages. You want to make sure you start on the day that everything changes.

Q: How do you invent new technology for science fiction?
A: Take a look at your story and think about what kind of technology you want to have. Then do your research and find out why we don't have that yet. For example, in Across the Universe, people needed to be frozen for space travel. When I looked it up, I found out that we can't freeze people yet because their cell walls would break. So I invented the "blue goo" to solve that problem.

Q: How do you kill your first character?
A: I've killed so many characters in books it just comes naturally now.

Q: Do you have any advice on writing endings?
A: Endings take a lot of re-writing. Bring something from the beginning and make it part of the end. Come full circle.

Q: How do you get ideas for stories?
A: The ideas are the easy part. Once you get an idea, then you have to figure out what happens next, especially what's the worst possible thing that could happen next.

Q: How do you come up with titles?
A: Make a list of about fifty, and then pick the best one. Have other people help you decide.

Q: What's the hardest part about being a full-time author?
A: Discipline! I have to make my own schedule for turning out a book every year, so that usually ends up with me not writing at all for a few months, then as the deadline approaches, I panic and stay up all night writing.

Q: How do you write a romantic scene without making it too cheesy?
A: Bring in the emotional reactions. There should be some doubt or mistrust. Make it emotionally complex.

Q: How do you do foreshadowing?
A: This is one of the most fun things about writing. I don't outline, but as I write I make sure I include lots of details. As the story goes on, I find ways to make those details relevant later.

Thanks for the visit, Beth!

How to Begin?

Because first impressions are so important, the opening pages of your book have got to really shine. Some readers only read the first sentence before deciding whether to put a book down or keep going! You have a paragraph at most to catch a reader's attention, and you may lose that attention any time in the first few pages. How do you keep readers going until they're hooked? Read on:


1. Start where the story begins. If you want to start two weeks before the story begins and write chapters and chapters of nothing happening, go right ahead. You'll learn a lot about your characters and the world they live in. But then get out your axe when it comes time to revise. CHOP! Your readers don't care about what your characters have been doing for the last two weeks. They want the story.
2. What makes your story really interesting? Be sure it shows up in the first few pages.
3. Your beginning sets the tone for the rest of the book. Choose an opening scene that promises the reader whatever the story will deliver.
4. Draw the reader into your fictional world. You can do this with a strong character voice, a clear and powerful image, an intriguing idea, or in many other ways.
5. Don't be afraid to go down deep and get at the heart of your story right away.

Because beginnings are so important, many writers save the beginning for the end. You have to start writing a story somewhere, but don't feel like your first draft needs a brilliant beginning. It may not be until you've written the end of your book that you will know what the beginning should be.