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Hey, Let’s Build a World!

By on February 11, 2019   /   For Teachers, For Writers, Teacher Tips, Writing  

When I was in the fifth grade, my teacher frowned on all fantasy books that hadn’t been written by Natalie Babbitt. We read Tuck Everlasting and The Search for Delicious, which were certainly fantastic, but failed to provide a full grounding in the fantasy genre.

This month, my daughter started a unit on fantasy stories in her fifth-grade class, with an integrated curriculum of reading, writing, and analysis. 2019 might have its problems but this, at least, is an enormous step forward. I take this educational unit as a sign of the inroads of respectability the genre has made. And, of course, the great service J.K. Rowling has done for our society.

Pulling fantasy from shadows shines a spotlight, especially, onto the skill of worldbuilding, the construction of convincingly functional settings in which a story can unfold. Although most vital for fantasy, science fiction, and horror, proper worldbuilding provides a canvas that any story can hang upon.

Proper worldbuilding addresses the unseen 90% of the story world that never makes it into a book, the part that hangs below the surface like the bulk of an iceberg, but which has to exist in an author’s mind in order to make the other 10% feel like it’s happening in an actual place.

When setting a story on an alien planet, or on an altered version of our own world, or in a fantasy land with its own laws of physics, I’ve tended to make up the details as I went along. Random bits of geography, weather, culture, history, architecture, cuisine, fashion, governments, and organizations all hung out in my head, on a scribbled map, and in a jumbled file of digital notes. I called this process worldbuilding, once I eventually heard the term, and my stories usually felt like they were set somewhere. But if readers looked too closely, they could see the rivets of a shoddily constructed facade.

Then I had a revelation that my story, set in a specific time and place, with an alternate culture, a huge cast of characters, and a deep mythology, would require more worldbuilding than I could carry in my head.

My second revelation was that there were specialized worldbuilding tools available that nobody had ever told me about.

My third revelation was that there are active communities of worldbuilders who put a whole lot of time and effort into exploring the strange new worlds that they’ve made up themselves. Some of these worldbuilders build their worlds to support a writing project. Some build their worlds to support tabletop role-playing game campaigns. And, most amazingly to me, some build their worlds just for the fun and challenge of it all!

And it is fun. And it is challenging. And it does get your puzzle-solving mind to wander off in all sorts of interesting directions. And it requires a bit of discipline remain focused on just the necessary parts of a constructed world, and to avoid the excessive breadth and depth they refer to as “Worldbuilder’s Disease.”

So I got myself into worldbuilding. I got my fifth grader into worldbuilding. She got her teacher into worldbuilding. And now their whole class is worldbuilding!

If you care to join us, here are some resources to get you started, or to help you guide your own class of worldbuilding students:

World Anvil

I can’t recommend World Anvil highly enough as a platform for developing and organizing notes on worldbuilding. It’s a wiki-type system where users build a Wikipedia style encyclopedia of people, places, and things in their story worlds. Like Wikipedia, these articles can be organized into categories and can reference each other with links. Even better than Wikipedia, for worldbuilding purposes, there are templates that help in eliciting and developing ideas in greater depth. The free version is quite usable, and premium versions offer more presentation options, storage space, and access control.

Worldbuilding Magazine

Now into its third volume of publishing six issues per year, Worldbuilding Magazine and its archives are free online. Each issue focuses on a different theme and its relevance to the development of an imaginary world. The most recent at this writing is “Death and Taxes,” but previous issues have explored the worldbuilding aspects of Magic, Food, Government, History, and other useful topics.

Worldbuilding Books

Tops on my list to read is Collaborative Worldbuilding by Trent Hergenrader, who teaches worldbuilding co-creation as part of his classes in creative writing at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Worldbuilding on Social Media

Worldbuilder’s Sanctum is a Facebook group that skews toward tabletop role-play designers and game masters, but includes are many resources and discussions of value to authors as well.

Worldbuilding on YouTube

Worldbuilding Software

If you need a map to visualize your world, Wonderdraft is a specialized graphics program that makes it quick and easy to create some very nice looking maps in a variety of styles.

My Newsletter

Plug, plug! I’m starting a newsletter focused on my writing and worldbuilding, with instructive examples of how the one helps with the other. The first issue comes out next month, but the subscriptions page is live right now!

Other Resources?

Do you have any resources you like to use to help develop, visualize, or organize your story worlds? Share them in the comments!

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Cover Reveal for WELCOME TO WASHINGTON, FINA MENDOZA, by Kitty Felde

By on February 9, 2019   /   Articles  

Today we’re thrilled to host Kitty Felde’s cover reveal for her upcoming debut novel, WELCOME TO WASHINGTON, FINA MENDOZA. (Black Rose Writing)

Here’s Kitty to tell us about her book:

WELCOME TO WASHINGTON, FINA MENDOZA grew out of more than half a dozen years covering Congress for Southern California Public Radio. I took all those stories about life in Washington and turned them into my first middle-grade mystery.

It paints members of Congress as real people with real families, as well as petty party differences, a sense of formality from another century, and even dogs who wander the hallways as if they were the ones elected last November. These were all the stories I used to tell at dinner parties to try to explain DC to folks outside the beltway. My hope is that this middle-grade mystery will help explain how Congress works – and these days doesn’t seem to work – as it tackles the nation’s problems.

I also wanted to create a book where the characters are from Southern California – a rarity in middle-grade fiction. Fina sees DC through that West Coast lens, noting the oddities of Capitol Hill and missing her life back in Los Angeles.

Fina was inspired by the young woman I mentored for many years: smart, fearless, but a little bit shy. My real-life Fina even lent her name for the character.

What’s the story about?

Legend has it that whoever sees the Demond Cat of Capitol Hill is cursed.

And now, Fina Mendoza, the daughter of a congressman, has seen this cat. Which might explain the string of disasters in her life, including exploding jars of spaghetti sauce and he beloved Abuelita breaking her leg. The only way for Fina to save her family from future “cat”astrophes is to solve the mystery of the  Demon Cat of Capitol Hill.

And now that your appetite is whetted, ta-da…….Here’s the cover!

Illustrator: Imelda Hinojosa

More from Kitty:

I had the happy opportunity to work with the perfect illustrator. Imelda Hinojosa, another Southern California girl. She captured the Fina of my imagination. She also captured the menace and capriciousness of the Demon Cat. I love how she positioned the cat swiping at the U.S. Capitol with its paw. I also think she’s created the perfect Senator Something, the orange furry goofball of a dog who becomes Fina’s first friend in DC. Imelda “got” this book – its heart and humor, but also the basic plot.

About Author Kitty Felde:

Public radio veteran Kitty Felde hosts the award-winning Book Club for Kids podcast – named one of the top 10 kidcasts in the world by “The Times of London.” She also writes plays that are performed worldwide. She fell in love with literature for young readers when she was a young reader herself, working at her local public library. Kitty looked for the Demon Cat while covering Congress for public radio. She found the paw prints, but not the cat.

You can find out more about Kitty here:

www.kittyfelde.com

WELCOME TO WASHINGTON, FINA MENDOZA is available February 28, published by Black Rose Writing.

We’re thrilled that we could host Kitty’s cover reveal and wish her the best of luck with WELCOME TO WASHINGTON, FINA MENDOZA. Even better–we get to offer one lucky winner a free copy of an ARC to this fun book. Enter our RaffleCopter below — and good luck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Mixed-Up Files Does Cover Reveals

Are you a traditionally published author with a cover to reveal? We’d love to host it. To contact us, please email: msfishby@mixedupfiles.com

 

 

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Queen of Comedy: An Interview with Hillary Homzie

By on February 8, 2019   /   Author Interviews  

I’m excited to interview one of our very own Mixed-Up Files authors who recently had two book releases in her middle-grade series about the irrepressible Ellie May—Hillary Homzie. So let’s get started…

Hi, Hillary, so happy to have this chance to have you with us today. First of all, I always enjoy your books, and I especially love the humor in the Ellie May books. The illustrations by Jeffrey Ebbeler definitely add to the fun.

Can you tell us a little about the chapter books?

Absolutely! The books feature Ellie May who—whenever she tries to do something great—things tend to get a little mixed up. However, the exuberant second grader never gives up. In Ellie May on Presidents’ Day, she would give anything to be flag leader during the Pledge of Allegiance. After all, she has a really loud voice, knows how to stand super straight, and knows cools facts about the presidents. In Ellie May on April Fools’ Day, she wants more than anything to be funnier than Mo, the class clown. Right away, she begins practicing her practical jokes—with ants and all. The question becomes—will she take her mission too far?

Many teachers and librarians look for holiday stories. It’s not hard to find books for the major holidays, but you’ve picked two unusual ones. How did you choose those holidays and why?

I’ve always been fascinated with presidential history. It’s probably because I grew up in Virginia, birthplace to eight presidents and four of the first five. Presidents’ Day seemed like a great start for the series. Then my editor at Charlesbridge asked me to pick another holiday that would follow Presidents’ Day. She actually suggested April Fools’ Day, since she knew I had a background in performing sketch comedy and love all things comedic!

Can you tell us what inspired you to write these stories?

Honestly, my favorite year in school was second grade, and I had just to write about it. A friend of mine once told me—Hillary do you want to write for kids or be a kid? I’m not sure of that answer, lol!

Your books always seem to include humor. Can you give some tips for writing humorous stories?

  • Have your protagonists unaware of their own missteps. In other words, consider making him or her an innocent or a fish out of water. 2) Keep things tight. 3) Try to create an audience for your protagonist’s humiliation as it increases the stakes. I actually have a comedy writing guide, and anyone interested can just contact me by going to my website.

What do you hope readers will take away from the books?

I hope that readers will see the power of perseverance, and most of all have fun. I’m convinced when the youngest readers associate books with joy, they will turn into life- long readers.

As a former librarian and teacher, I definitely agree with that! Humor really hooks kids, especially reluctant readers.

Did you base your character on anyone you know?

Ellie May is based a little bit on the spirit and enthusiasm of my middle son. As a primary school student, he was always so eager but sometimes didn’t know how to direct his energies. Inadvertently and enthusiastically, he took some missteps in the classroom. Luckily, my son had some great teachers to help him to channel all of his energy.

Ellie May has a great voice. How do you capture a character’s voice and make it distinct?

Ah, that’s such a great question. I find that if I’m in a more relaxed state and let the character talk and react versus me trying very hard to be this impressive writer—something just works. For me, it boils down to trusting myself and just, well, listening.

I like how Ellie May grows and changes. How did you decide what problems she’d face and how they would affect her?

I actually never decided, at least with my rational mind. Ellie May sprang into being and then so did the kids in her classroom. The situations in the books were based on the characters’ personalities and how each one might react to a common classroom assignment.

Did you love to read as a child? If so, can you tell us some favorite books?

Oh, yes, I was an avid reader! As a second grader, my favorite books were A Secret Garden, Little Women, The Witch’s Buttons, Seven True Dolphin Stories, and anything by Beverly Cleary.

You’ve listed some of my favorites as well.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Probably in second grade when my teacher Mrs. McCrone wrote on my story—Hillary, you are a writer!

Aww… It’s awesome when a teacher’s encouragement leads to a future career. You never know what your influence might be when you compliment a child.

Did you have any childhood dreams for what you’d be when you grew up? If so, did they come true?

I wanted to write books and become a children’s author—and it looks like it happened! I feel so grateful.

Have you had any careers besides writing?

Lots! I’ve been a journalist, a sketch comedian, publicist and, in addition to writing books, I teach media writing at Sonoma State University during the academic year and children’s writing in the summer graduate program at Hollins University.

That must keep you busy, and it allows you to encourage a new generation of writers. I know you’re a great teacher!

What is your favorite part of being a writer?

My favorite part of being a writer is when I’m swept up in the start on a new project as well as visiting schools.

What are you working on now?

A couple of picture books, an upper middle-grade fantasy, and more chapter books.

Can you tell us a bit about some of your other books?

I’ve written a half dozen books for tween girls. Queen of Likes (Simon & Schuster/Aladdin) was recently selected by the Association of Jewish Libraries for the Love Your Neighbor List. The list was created in response to the Pittsburgh tragedy and attempt to create a bridge of understanding into the lives of Jewish kids. I feel really strongly that if more children had access to books about kids from diverse cultures there would be fewer hate crimes. One of my recent light-hearted middle-grade books Pumpkin Spice Secrets seems to be a favorite among reluctant readers and was featured this fall on the front cover of Scholastic Tab—which was a true thrill!

Very cool about both features! And it’s so true that reading can help you understand others who have different customs, cultures, and personalities. I read a study that showed voracious readers are much more likely to be empathetic to others. I suspect it’s because they learn to put themselves in others’ places and see the world in a different light. It’s great when authors not only share their storytelling but also their lives and culture.

To find out more about Hillary and her other books, you can visit her website.

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