Melva Gifford

These are notes from the WriteForKids webinar. It is an interview Interview with author Tod Olson. Any misinformation is the fault of the note taker.

Narrative nonfiction> it prioritize story over background and context. The narrator does not talk to you.

You don’t want anything there just to teach kids. It must serve a purpose. An example might be to tell all the things that happen to those who have altitude sickness. do this in one to two paragraphs when writing clouds book.

Q: will kids read fiction about adult characters? Yes, when it is an interesting subject.
The author was drawn to survival stories at age 11.

Q: Do you concentrate your fiction on male characters?
These books often appeal to struggling readers. His two main characters are female. He writes stories that would be appealing to him as an 11 yr. old boy. Some of his details particularly appeal to boys. One example is putting urine in a cup than using that same cup later for drinking water.

Q: when get an idea do you start with a person or the event?
For him, it’s the event. Survival stories are archival stories. There is an event that establishes the lives like a plane crash, or when oxygen explodes on the Apollo ship. What your characters want must be clear. They want to get back home and survive. The antagonist is very clear. It is usually nature. Make attempts for solutions and mistakes come at a high cost.
Most journals climbing the mountain are very terse.
The daughter of the astronaut gave details of her life in an astronaut family. Parent often ignored the kids
Did a lot of interviews related to the Amazon. Like waking up and having ants covering their bodies and stinging them.

Q: How to get rich series: there is a genera call Faction.
He researched on how people talked in that time period. He did a lot of research of events that happened to someone else. His characters were all made up.
All info is sourced.

Q: In the How to get rich books
In one book, there is an ongoing ledger, every few pages, showing what was made and what was spent. This added legitimacy.

Q: for research, is the document also researched?
The best dialog source is a recording. He had that for the entire dialog for the Apollo 13 was recorded.
Someone who is writing a diary the night after a conversation is done. The memory of dialog is not as precise.
Some people write books about their experiences ae written years after it took place. He is more careful of using that dialog as it is not precise. He never made up dialog.

Q: How do you get a sense of place when you have hot been thee such as the Amazon? He read accounts of the naturalists in the 19th century. Because they felt the wonder of their discovery as they were new to it. Many whites get lost and end up eating each other and they didn’t learn how to live off the land. The character’s knowledge is due to her family experience she knew how to live off the land.
He listened to so many bird calls during his research; he could repeat the bird calls.
He would watch documentaries, where the camera would take, are into the rain forest.
You can do a lot of leaching of other people’s work and if you are presentable enough they’ll share with you.
On a list of journals, he had day by day and list different hikers’ events during that day.

Q: Have you started researching a topic and realize there is not a story here that I can tell?
Sometimes, during a pitch session, he’ll realize there are not enough primary resources to write a book.
In Lost, he found out what people did minute by minutes is just sitting in the boat and complaining. He would skip over those quickly. There was no story there. But while writing, he condensed the book to be small and give people their impression in a paragraph. Pacing is very important. He will start moments of great/ enormous tension. He will breeze through three days of maroon on the water quickly. He will expand on five pages on the time that a bird landed on one of their heads. they catch it for food and to use for bait. You need to decide what you’re going to breeze through and what will be expanded on.

Q: does narrative fiction have to have grand threats or can books be written about lesser events. He likes action and plot. Drama can come from something very quiet from an individual’s life. The book Theo and Vincent > has a ton of tension in it. You become engrossed in their relationship. The author needs to be engaged in their own story.

Q: Where do you document your sources? First books did not include endnotes and wish he had.
A mentor book Corvid had 50 pages of endnotes.
On his website, he now has links for further reading.
He has created a scavenger game inspired by his book where the fan can read K2.

Q: Where can you go-to sources for starting general info on a subject? Local hero info? Search terms such as ‘teen hero”. You will find a lot of online and print publications. there are foundations that do awards who have done incredible things. Such as volunteering or doing projects.

Q: Where narrative nonfiction shelved in book stores? They were first shelves in nonfiction and not selling but hey sold well in fiction. Concentrate on a story that will be interesting to read rather than educate the reader.

The books of who was had what was were popular and the covers had gigantic heads that can draw a reader.

Q: Dialog: if he can’t confirm that the dialog used is accurate, he won’t use it. If he can’t confirm accuracy then your books turn into historical fiction.

Laura:
Titles for nonfiction books are so important? A title such as Lost can illustrate that it is an adventure story.

Q: Can you have one batch on research and write them in two formats such as one YA and use the research in a chapter book?
Yes. A Scholastic editor once asked if he could write Lost book for a younger audience. He did not pursue it.
If the topic is interesting enough the reader will read it.
Laure: if you’ve done enough research you could write a novel in the same time period.

Q: What is the difference between narrative and historical fiction?
It is important to know a difference as you write it. Genially fiction sale better than nonfiction. Find the project that feels right for you. If you write about what you (alone) love those will be the books that will shine. By the time you assess what the market is looking for and you write it. The market will have moved on.

Q: Can you post links in fiction books with educational content?
Laurie: that is becoming more popular. More in nonfiction picture books. The work is in the book itself. You need to put the relevant information into the book and not in the back matter section.

Q: if you are not sure if you should call your work narrative nonfiction or historical fiction. When you submit do you have to know what you call it?
The pitch/cover letters you need to be sure of what it is while you’re writing it. There has to be agreed upon standards of what nonfiction is. Everything needs to be sourced.
He has done school visits but he has skyped visits for schools. Website:

Other notes outside of the interview:

Book life Fiction prize booklife.com click on prize. submissions reviewed also get their sub reviewed

Writers beware gives warnings of sf/f agent/publisher scams.
bit.ly/fakeagentscams or https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-new-beware-scammers-impersonating.html

Q: What is the idea of a perfect book?
– There is no such thing as a perfect book. Someone will not like your book. You need to finish it and it will be perfect enough. Some hold themselves back and need to see it is perfect enough/
– Some fear of inp0erfection is due to fear of criticism. Even the greatest book has errors or plot holes. There is no book that appeals to everyone’s period. Some say sections of the book are not accurate even after the research you’ve done. The sounds of a sword coming for a scabbard are from Hollywood.
– Seeing an imperfect of goods provides an excuse to not finish your book. You are going to learn from your mistakes as you can learn from your perfection.
– Your first draft is not your end story. You have to rewrite multiple ties. The first draft is the time you can get n ideas out.
Q: If you’re a self-professed perfectionist. Are there methods you do to reign in that tendency?
– RIMO (https://nanowrimo.org/) is a good tool because you have to write a book under a deadline. You don’t have time to fiddle around.
– If you spend time with a first chapter you’ll never get to chapter two. The solution is to move to the next project. Keep working for the next thing in your head and move on. That way you always have something else to look for.
– Took 15 yrs. to finish the first book. Rewrote it 7 times. Left that for another project that not perfect. Do you want to be an author or be perfect? Don’t want to be an eternal writer who wanted to be an author. For those who self-publish you can actually upload a modified version. Set a goal I want to finish. Wet publication dates.
– Once you’ve finished one project due to a deadline it can motivate for the next thing. The deadline prompts you to finish. Give yourself a firm deadline and tell others about it. In money is laid down that can motivate you.
– Some use a piece of tape over a key to show that you are not in editing mode just writing mode.
Deadlines and accountable
– Perfection takes the soul out of things. Readers are flawed we don’t want to read about perfect people. We want to read about people who they can relate to.
– Readers come into your story with baggage you can’t control. They experience your story as influenced by their life experiences. Want characters that are flawed and struggling. Have heroines who are insecure because it reflects the author’s experiences. Write the book you want to write about. Understand that your readers don’t come in with a clean slate. You can’t control your reader’s history.
– Give a mighty wizard who has an obsession with Binni babies. Embrace a character imperfection.
Q: How to handle plot changes?
– Maybe delete chapters 1 and 2 if not needed.
– As soon as you have something that will change the plot. Continue the future plot in the new direction. And then go back and fix the previous chapter. As a hybrid plotter: she will write notes about what needs to e foreshadowed in the next draft.
– When deleting something from a book and save it somewhere else. If you love your child you will discipline them and thus you need to discipline your own book. It makes your book better. Some will start at the good spot and then reverse engineer the previous chapters. Ask yourself what needs to lead up to this and that becomes the new beginning of the story. D
– Keep track of things you want to change in a separate document. Wait until you’ve written the whole book to determine what to keep and change.
– Let time pass before coming back to review the manuscripts with more lack of emotional attachment. Some will write a chapter and the next day’s revises that chapter and then write the next. And do those steps each day.
– The first draft is shoving sand in the box b before you can build a castle.
Q; how to give character plots?
– Maybe match them to a real person you know. Everyone has insecurity.
– Crime in a surveillance world:
– Any criminal who seriously wants something you have you can’t keep them out.
– Technologies can be compromised. TV fools us thinking they can be caught
– One crime can be lost amongst so many other crimes. We are lost in the numbers. The loss of cash
– Nuel networks: there are ways to fool work. It will give you back what you are asking for. Way to alter your face to be unrecognizable. Selling masks to fool facial ids. Clothes with led lights is washes out the section around the face
– The drone cameras can be used by criminals to watch the patterns of staff movements and plan their escape.