KAST a Spell: What Makes Spell-Binding Middle Grade and Young Adult Literature

Isabel O'Hagin is the coordinator of KAST - the Kalamazoo Area Shop Talk. She's here on our SCBWI-MI blog today to tell you about a special upcoming event this fall. Here's Isabel:

This past February we kicked off a new Shop Talk: KAST, the Kalamazoo Area Shop Talk. As KAST coordinator I soon discovered a vibrant, supportive community of kidlit creators all intent on developing and improving their craft. After several KASTs I noticed that many of our members wrote MG and YA novels, a few as published authors. Aha, I thought! We need a Shop Talk to address the high interest in writing for these two age categories. During our one meeting in Kalamazoo, we (Kristin Lenz, Jay Whistler, Erin Brown and myself) laid out the plans for a panel discussion featuring MG/YA published authors for our October KAST.

As wonderful as that seemed, I noted that our members would want to apply those ideas into their own work. Someone suggested that we include workshops on craft after the panel discussion. I wholeheartedly agreed—our KAST friends were eager to dig deeper into their works-in-progress. Why not an extended Shop Talk to meet the needs of our KAST community? "Why not" soon became: Who, What, When, Where, and How.

Thanks to Melanie Bryce for creating the flyer below!

Meet the Panelists:

Kelly J. Baptist: contributing author to Flying Lessons and Other Stories, a middle grade short story anthology, and author of the upcoming middle grade novel Isaiah Dunn is My Hero to be published in 2020.

Ruth McNally Barshaw: author and illustrator of the highly-illustrated middle grade series, Ellie McDoodle Diaries.

Kristin Bartley Lenz: author of the young adult novel, The Art of Holding On and Letting Go.

Patrick Flores-Scott: author of the young adult novels, Jumped In and American Road Trip.

The Craft Workshops:

Character Building Techniques from Marcel Proust to Stephen King

How can a French novelist born nearly 150 years ago and a writer of adult horror fiction have anything useful to teach children’s writers about creating complex characters with rich backstories? Whether you are writing a 500-word picture book or a complex young adult space opera, character-building techniques remain consistent across all age categories and all genres of literature. Join this interactive workshop as we tap into Proust, King, and many others for exercises that will teach you how to create multidimensional protagonists, antagonists, and secondary characters, and when to use simple one-dimensional characters.

Jay Whistler holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults and an MA in technical writing. She has worked as a professional writer for over thirty years and was a university writing instructor for over 16 years. A former regional advisor for SCBWI Switzerland, Jay is currently a submissions editor for Hunger Mountain literary journal, an acquisitions reader for a literary agency, and a freelance editor with Angelella Editorial. www.jaywhistler.com

Make Your Book a Page-Turner: How to Ramp Up Conflict and Create Raving-Fan Readers

Imagine: Your eyes dart across the words—your breath quickens—your fingers hover, ready to turn the page—because the story's hero is in deep trouble, and you want to know—what’s going to happen next? Readers seek the rush of “a book we can’t put down” and authors long to create pulse-thumping stories with raving-fan readers. But exactly how do we make it happen? The answer is in conflict—arguably the number one attribute at the heart of what makes a story great. Join this workshop and learn best-selling authors’ conflict-ramping secrets while we tap into tropes, tips, and techniques that can help you finally create that slam-dunk storyline you’ve always imagined. Whether crafting a picture book, creating a middle grade story, or composing a YA novel, you’ll walk away from his workshop with actionable ways to make your story a page-turner.

Erin M. Brown is the author of nine books and has a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Genre Fiction from Western Colorado University. A professional writer for over 25 years and a course developer of fiction, nonfiction, and academic writing courses for independent education companies and universities, Erin has been speaking at writing conferences since the 90s and coaches authors worldwide.
https://erinbrownconroy.blog/

What do you think? Sound like a great day, eh? Mark your calendars for Sunday, October 20th, 1:00pm in Kalamazoo. More information and reminders will be sent via our SCBWI-MI MichKids listserv, or feel free to contact Isabel O'Hagin with questions.

Coming up on the Mitten Blog:

Hugs and Hurrahs! We want to trumpet your success! Please email your writing/illustrating/publishing good news to Patti Richards no later than Tuesday, Sept. 24th.