Finding Nemo's Lovely Bones

Last year at the fab SCBWI Conference, Delacorte editor Krista Marino plugged pitches that marry one existing title with another. Like ___ Meets ___.

This year, HarperCollins hottie Jordan Brown reinforced the same thing.

I couldn't think of anything last year to apply to my WIP. But this year, it totally came to me.

Drain is "Finding Nemo" meets The Lovely Bones.

I know...that's pretty out there.

But "risk," right. The thing we heard over and over and over again.

(The picture is an ANGEL fish. Get it???)

The First Words

I'm thinking about introduction. How important those first few lines are. The very first words.

Because in revising, this is where the work starts. How it's set up.

Is there imagery? Action? Character? Conflict?

Last spring at the Western Washington SCBWI Conference, Delacorte editor Krista Marino plugged opening with description. With suspense. And with a third-person narrator in past tense.

On page 1 (of 1074) of his new novel Under the Dome, Stephen King nails all these: in an established setting, a plane crashes at the same time a woodchuck mysteriously explodes. It reminds me of The Grapes of Wrath--how the weather, the mountains, the roads are all significant; and the turtle metaphorically plods along. Even the format is Steinbeck-ian. And yet, something also really reminds me of "The Truman Show."

In crafting a strong intro.--compelling, descriptive--that establishes setting and character, I consulted a running list of kinds of first lines that my students and I are making: dialogue, imagery, sound, setting, foreshadowing, summary, anecdote, question, metaphor, action, conflict,.

In How to Write a Damn Good Novel, The Other (more veritable) James Frey suggests starting with either the character's status quo, or with the opposite of that, which then leads to the status quo.

One of my favorite sections in my Sunday San Francisco Chronicle is a 4" x 4" square called "Grabbers," the first lines of newly released novels. Last Sunday was one of my all time favorites--from The Serialist, by David Gordon--an intro about intros: "The first sentence of a novel is the most important, except for maybe the last, which can stay with you after you've shut the book, the way the echo of a closing door follows you down the hall."

Novel, no?

How does your book begin?

SCBWI Western Washington Winner!

Seven hours and 46 minutes after leaving Seattle yesterday, I got home at 1 AM.

It was so far, but so worth it!!!

After a gracious manuscript consultation with an editor, I won the "SCBWI WW Breakout Writer" honor!

Now, I have another manuscript to revise with another editor of another publishing house. And still, no agent. But I'm going to work on that.

Check out Keely Velani, the powerhouse team who wrote and self-published the clever and timely Davey Brown Discovers his Roots:










All best to these girls, as they pitch Davey in New York!

I'm going to be watching Kjersten Anna Hayes. LOVED her! And Kim Baker was fabulous, too.

Delacorte Editor Krista Marino was as sharp as it gets, when it comes to snapping up great books. Her last five acquisitions are exciting, with The Oracles of Delphi Keep and The Witch's Alphabet at the top of my to-buy list.

San Francisco agent Nathan Bransford was way more down-to-earth than I ever would've imagined.

Every editor, agent, author, and volunteer worked really hard to pull off the incredibly smooth weekend.

But for sure, the whole thing would've been a lot less fun without hilarious (and talented) upcoming Razorbill author Suzanne Young: