Beth Raff

Congratulations, and thanks to all who left comments.

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A.M. Morgen’s fascinating debut novel “The Inventors at No. 8” published this week. Here’s a summary:

Meet George, the third Lord of Devonshire and the unluckiest boy in London. Why is George so unlucky? First, he’s an orphan. Second, unless he sells everything, he’s about to lose his house. So when his family’s last heirloom, a priceless map to the Star of Victory (a unique gem said to bring its owner success in any battle) is stolen by a nefarious group of criminals, George knows that there is no one less lucky-or more alone-than he is.

That is until Ada Byron, the future Countess of Lovelace, bursts into his life. She promises to help George recover his family legacy, and is determined to find her own father along the way–all in a flying machine she built herself. Joined by a mischievous orangutan and the long-lost son of an infamous pirate, Ada and George take off on a cross-continent journey through the skies that will change their lives, and perhaps the world, forever.

And now a few words from  A.M. about the phenomenon of automotons!

Before I started writing my debut novel, Inventors at No. 8, I didn’t know what an automaton was. Now, I’m mildly obsessed with them! And judging by the number of kid’s books that feature automatons, I’m not the only author who finds them fascinating.

If you’re not yet familiar with what an automaton is, here’s a brief description: An automaton is a non-electronic machine shaped like a human or animal that follows a pre-determined set of movements. Basically, it’s the clockwork version of a robot. If you had a jack-in-the-box as a kid, then you’ve played with a very simple automaton. Complex automatons have been made that can play musical instruments, write letters, and draw pictures.

Fictional portrayals of automatons can be an interesting indication of how society is reacting to advances in technology. Most often automatons are associated with steampunk or Victorian fiction, but because they have been around for over a thousand years, automatons could be part of any setting from ancient Greece to the present day. These machines can help set the tone of a story depending on whether they are amusing or helpful or sinister.  

Have I piqued your interest in automatons? If you’re looking for a great STEM project to do with kids, there are kits you can buy to make your own wooden automatons. Or, you can read about them in books like these:

The Boneshaker by Kate Milford

This book has lots of gears and lots of creepiness. 13-year-old Natalie lives in a small Missouri town in the early 1900s where she loves tinkering on automatons and riding the very fast bicycle her father built for her (the boneshaker). When a traveling medicine show arrives in town, Natalie is intrigued by its perpetual motion automatons. But the show has also brought something sinister, and Natalie seems to be the only who can stop it before it’s too late.

The Clockwork Three by Matthew J. Kirby

This book has three main characters whose stories become intertwined. Frederick is an apprentice clockmaker in an American steampunk city in the late 1800s. He needs a head to finish off the body of the automaton he’s made. Together with Giuseppe, a street musician, and Hannah, a maid, the three new friends find the perfect head for Frederick’s automaton and bring it to life.

Cogheart by Peter Bunzl

Cogheart is set in a steampunk version of Victorian London. Lily and her fox automaton, Malkin, set off on a search to find Lily’s missing father, a genius inventor. They are joined by the son of a clockmaker as they all try to stay one step ahead of creepy silver-eyed men. The book is full of mystery as well as fun inventions like steam-powered zeppelins.

The Fate in the Box by Michelle Lovric

In this fantasy version of Venice in the late 1700s, automatons perform most tasks for the idle wealthy. It’s the job of the poor to wind up the automatons every night while the rich sleep. The city is ruled by Fogfinger, who uses his knowledge of clockwork to spy on citizens and keep them in line. As part of his reign of terror, every year, one Venetian child is chosen to meet the Fate in the Box, an automaton which decides if they live or die. This year, a few children band together to put an end to Fogfinger once and for all. This is the fourth of Lovric’s series of novels set in Venice that begins with The Undrowned Child.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

You won’t find a book with more automatons than this one. It’s pretty much stuffed from basement to attic with them…literally. The main character in this beautifully illustrated novel lives in a Paris train station in the 1930s where he keeps the station’s clocks running. One day he finds an old automaton in the ruins of a museum inside the station and tries to fix it. The automaton is based on a real automaton called “The Writer” and many of the details of the book are inspired by the life of Georges Méliès, a pioneering filmmaker who used automatons in his live shows and movies.

A.M.’s bio: 
A.M. Morgen comes from a long line of engineers and researchers but chose to pursue literature over the laboratory. To her family’s surprise, she has managed to make a decent living as an editor with her English degree. In her spare time, A.M. enjoys taking long walks in the forest, trying out new hobbies (then abandoning them), and complaining about her mean cat. Despite what you may think, A.M. is not a morning person.

To be eligible to win a copy of “The Inventors at No. 8”, please leave a comment below!

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Dizneeee!

Many thanks to all who entered.

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Tiffany Parks’s debut middle grade published in March. She stopped by for an interview.

Hi Tiffany! Can you tell us what made you become a writer? 

Although I have been passionate about writing all my life, I never imagined it as a career for myself until I started working on my first book. My first true passion was music, and I trained to become an opera singer. My love of opera took me to Rome, and Rome became my muse. With the art, history, and magic of Rome all around me, I became inspired to write fiction for the first time in my life. If I hadn’t moved to Rome, I’m not sure that I would have become a writer.

Where did you find the book’s inspiration? 

One of my favorite places in Rome is Piazza Mattei, where a small and exquisite fountain topped by four bronze turtles resides. When I heard a legend that the fountain was built in one night, it fired my imagination, and I knew one day I would write a story about it. A short time later, I met a 13-year-old American girl who lived in the same piazza, with a view of the fountain out her bedroom window, and MIDNIGHT IN THE PIAZZA slowly began to take form.

Can you describe your process? 

When I began this book, I had no idea where it was going. I only knew I wanted to write a middle grade novel about an American girl living in Rome with a view of the Turtle Fountain outside her bedroom window. I had no clue as to where the plot would take me. As I wrote, the characters emerged from the story as if they had existed all along, and slowly a mystery developed. Unfortunately, writing in such a way (especially being an inexperienced writer) meant that the plot was full of holes. I spent significantly longer revising than I spent writing the first draft, and I have learned my lesson and now plot out my stories in advance.

What are you working on now? 

My work in progress also takes place in Rome (of course), but this time it is set in 1599, instead of the present day. In the dark days of Counter Reformation Rome, Caravaggio’s bold new art—and the controversial techniques he uses to create it—are bringing him unwanted attention from the zealous priests of the Inquisition. Olimpia, the niece of Caravaggio’s patron and protector, and Nardo, the painter’s model and errand boy, discover there are even darker forces afoot, seeking to destroy Caravaggio and harness his gifts for their own nefarious purposes. Together, they vow to save the great painter, even if it means going up against the Vatican itself.

Thanks so much! And extra thanks for offering a giveaway.

To be eligible to win a copy of Tiffany’s novel, please enter a comment below.

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This year, I got away with stretching one of my very favorite celebrations over two full weeks. February 1 was World Read Aloud Day* and I had a very good problem: more requests for Skype visits than could fit into one school day. With the help of wonderful, flexible librarians and teachers, I was able to say yes to almost all of them.  Each morning I put on my good sweater and sparkly earrings and chatted with students in Canada, Kentucky, Texas, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, New York…When I Skyped with kids in the Bahamas, I showed them a bowl of Ohio snow!

Still, some people wonder, what’s the value of any school visit? For the writer the answer is obvious: spending time with young readers is a jolt of reality. Sitting alone at a desk all day, our audience can grow dim and abstract.  No way this can happen in a school, where the walls pulse with kids’ energy and curiosity, concerns and confusions,  happiness and vulnerability.  One one Skype visit a fifth grader asked me, “Why do you write for kids instead of grown-ups?” and I said,  “Because! Kids are the most passionate, invested readers on the planet.”  He nodded. Case closed.

What about the value for the students? We writers  hope to convince them they all have stories to tell,  that each of them has a writing voices as unique and special as his or her speaking voice. We try our best to give them tips, to encourage them by sharing how much revision a “professional writer” does, and to empower them to use their imaginations and create their own worlds.

During almost every visit, in person or by Skype, someone asks me, “Did you always want to be an author?” I used to feel bad about having to admit no, and confess how long it took me to find my way. I would wish I was one of those people who knew, from the age of three, that writing was her reason for breathing.

But as time has gone by, I’ve come to feel okay about saying that I didn’t begin to write seriously until I was three of four times their age. I tell them that, as much as I loved to read when I was young, I was certain all writers lived in castles by the sea, cottages covered in roses, or rooms at the top of crooked staircases. Maybe if I’d met a writer when I was your age, I say now–maybe if I’d sat down and eaten pizza with one, or watched one hold her plump orange cat up in front of the camera, or listened to one talk about how many times she heard no before  finally hearing that magic yes–maybe if I’d ever  realized that writers were plain old everyday people, I wouldn’t have taken so long to make the discovery that  I could be one too. And then I tell them how lucky they are, to have such a big head start on me.

*Here’s WRAD’s mission statement. You can find out more at
http://www.litworld.org/wrad/
We think everyone in the world should get to read and write. Every year, on World Read Aloud Day, people all around the globe read aloud together and share stories to advocate for literacy as a human right that belongs to all people.

*****

Tricia’s newest middle grade novel, Cody and the Heart of a Champion, will publish in April.

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Joan Swanson!

Thanks so much to all who entered, and congratulations, Kamilla Benko, on this wonderful new series.

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Kamilla Benko spent most of her childhood climbing into wardrobes, trying to step through mirrors, and plotting to run away to an art museum. Now, she visits other worlds as a children’s book editor. Originally from Indiana, she currently lives in New York with her bookshelves, teapot, and hiking boots.

She describes her magical new MG this way:

Claire Martinson still worries about her older sister Sophie, who battled a mysterious illness last year. But things are back to normal as they move into Windermere Manor… until the sisters climb a strange ladder in a fireplace and enter the magical land of Arden. 

There, they find a world in turmoil. The four guilds of magic no longer trust each other. The beloved unicorns have gone, and terrible wraiths roam freely. Scared, the girls return home. But when Sophie vanishes, it will take all of Claire’s courage to climb back up the ladder, find her sister, and uncover the unicorns’ greatest secret.

Kamilla dropped by the MUF to give us a sneak peek into her writing process (spoiler alert: it’s not always easy!)

A fresh page.

A blank expanse with no mistakes, just waiting for your perfect idea to stampede across it, in wild curly cues of insight (or straight backed letters, if you’re typing and not one for cursive.) It’s exciting! It’s exhilarating! And then…

The words don’t come.

My solution had been, for years, to immediately close the blank Word document and go back to watching Downton Abbey with my cat. It was a reasonable enough solution and I learned a lot about the inner workings of a Victorian era high society house, which I’m sure will help me with my writing… some day!

I find myself thinking that the worst part of the blank page is not having no ideas, but having far too many.  It’s imagination in its purest form. And here I am caught with the paradox of choice. It’s the same disorder that causes you to scroll through your Netflix queue for hours at a time wondering why you don’t want to watch a single TV show. It’s because there are thousands of choices and you are suddenly crippled by the choice of having to pick only one (commitment issues, anyone?).

And because this paradox of choice has caused so many smart, talented writers to stop dead in their tracks, I want to share a few ways I worked through the terror of the blank page. These are few tips on how I, for the moment, tackled the infamous conundrum of Writer’s Block while working on my debut novel, The Unicorn Quest.

Tip Number One: Look AWAY!

Don’t turn on Downton Abbey, but do play with your cat. Take a walk, either on the sidewalk or through the mysterious side streets of the internet. Start putting together a Pinterest for each of your projects. Go to a Museum. Get lost on a street you’ve never turned down. Put on some music and go to a park. I’m in New York, so I like to put on some timeless music and wander through Central Park until I can almost forget what year it is. Let yourself be transported by the beauty of what is around you. Make sure to get yourself out of your house or apartment, and find something new.

Tip Number Two: READ!

This should be obvious, but sometimes it’s not. Why would you want to be a writer if you aren’t a voracious reader? I know some authors avoid reading during writing projects, as they are too worried about being influenced by other works. This is not a philosophy I prescribe to. Don’t be a copy cat, obviously, but your brain is unique enough to take in other works and craft your own narratives from those interpretations.

And don’t read just what connects to your book! Read books about politics, history, memoirs. Read about great historical romances and long lost civilizations and explorers discovering new lands – even if you’re writing a contemporary love story set in New York City. I truly believe it is human nature to search for patterns, and your brain will start making new and fascinating connections between disparate sources.

Tip Three: Give yourself permission to FAIL.

I’m going to be upfront with you. You’re going to write a lot of bad stuff. Tons of totally bad, awful, no good writing. And you know who else wrote a lot of bad stuff? J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, probably even William Shakespeare. One of the best pieces of advice I ever received on writing is this: When you first start writing, you will want to quit because your writing won’t be good enough to match your taste. You just have to keep writing until you are good enough to create something you actually like.  

Sometimes, you just need to wade into the blankness of the page and give yourself permission to just be bad. Be cliché and be silly! You’ll find that, magically, gems appear on the page in between. One of the best ways to dive into this is to assign yourself a time to free write. This means writing for 15 minutes straight without ever taking your fingers off the keyboard or lifting your pencil from the page. There’s even an app for this. It lets you set a timer for yourself and if you stop writing, it deletes your previous progress. You have to keep writing! Always remember that things are almost never perfect on the first try.

Thanks, Kamilla! And thanks for offering a free copy of The Unicorn Quest to one lucky winner. To be eligible, please enter a comment below.

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Beth Raff

Congratulations, and thanks to everyone who entered a comment.

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About the book:

Morrigan Crow is cursed. Having been born on Eventide, the unluckiest day for any child to be born, she’s blamed for all local misfortunes, from hailstorms to heart attacks–and, worst of all, the curse means that Morrigan is doomed to die at midnight on her eleventh birthday.

But as Morrigan awaits her fate, a strange and remarkable man named Jupiter North appears. Chased by black-smoke hounds and shadowy hunters on horseback, he whisks her away into the safety of a secret, magical city called Nevermoor.

It’s then that Morrigan discovers Jupiter has chosen her to contend for a place in the city’s most prestigious organization: the Wundrous Society. In order to join, she must compete in four difficult and dangerous trials against hundreds of other children, each boasting an extraordinary talent that sets them apart–an extraordinary talent that Morrigan insists she does not have. To stay in the safety of Nevermoor for good, Morrigan will need to find a way to pass the tests–or she’ll have to leave the city to confront her deadly fate.

About the author: 

Jessica Townsend lives on the Sunshine Coast in Australia, but has lived on and off in London for a few years. She was a copywriter for eight years, and in a previous role, was the editor of a children’s wildlife magazine for Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow is her first novel, and the first in a series. You can follow her on Twitter:   @digressica

About the giveaway ( in partneship with Little, Brown) :

To enter, leave a comment below. One winner will receive:

• a copy of Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow
• a branded Nevermoor lapel pin
• and a branded Hotel Deucalion pen and notebook
• 

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Kristen Zayon and Candice Lucas

Congratulations, and thanks to all who left comments.

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