illus by Ethan Long for Amato's Riot Brother series

I’m riding on the metro, writing up my syllabus for a graduate course that I’ll be teaching (Fiction for Young Readers) at Johns Hopkins University; and I’m working on my lesson called “Audience: Age and Gender” when two boys hop on. Their moms quickly take a seat and chat. Although plenty of seats are free, the boys (ages 8 or 9) stand on either side of a pole and engage in an epic, slow-motion battle.

“My finger weighs 45 pounds,” one boy says as he sets his finger on top of the other boy’s head.

Obligingly, the victim acts as if his head is being crushed, but he is not going down without a fight. “My finger is as sharp as the sharpest sword,” he exclaims and menacingly moves toward his opponent’s face.

“But my face is the thickest thing in the world!” the first boy replies.

A series of slow-motion jabs, punches, and wrestling moves come next.

“Sit down and be quiet,” one of the mother’s says.

While all types of behaviors can be seen across gender lines, I have no problem identifying typical boy behavior when I see it.

So, when I write, do I consciously write for boys or for girls? I think the answer is tied to character. The character drives the story and will ultimately speak to the audience. My Riot Brother series is about two inventive and fun-loving boys, and those books are filled with non-stop action and humor. They definitely appeal to your typical boy, but girls are in the Riot Bros fan club, too. And my new book is about a poetry-loving boy named Edgar Allan who is radically different from Orville and Wilbur Riot.

The important thing is to be a constant and conscious witness to the wide range of behaviors that kids exhibit. Bring your observations to your writing and you’ll achieve authenticity.

Choosing music that reflects my character and/or the themes in the book helps me to get into my trance state.

I carefully choose a different soundtrack for every book that I work on. The music that is inspiring me for the novel that I’m writing now (which is about two musicians) is the gorgeous guitar playing of Andy McKee.

The Art of Motion CD is the first thing I turn on when I sit down to work. If you’re out there, Andy…thank you!

I’m remembering Sid Fleischman, who died this week. He said, “Humor is the oxygen of children’s literature. There’s a lot of competition for children’s time, but even kids who hate to read want to read a funny book.”

My favorite book of his is The Whipping Boy, which I often use when I teach writing to grown ups. First line: “The young prince was known here and there (and just about everywhere else) as Prince Brat. Not even black cats would cross his path.”

Here’s to Sid Fleischman and all the stories he left for us to love. Heaven just got a little funnier.

What a hook! But what you discover just one page later about who tied her up and locked her in the closet is so surprising and funny, you’ll want to keep reading even more.

I’m working on the final revision of my first mystery, Edgar Allan’s Official Crime Investigation Notebook, which is due out this September, and reading Bradley’s book has inspired me to put everything I’ve got into it.

Photo by Jason Dunnivant

Having trouble revising? Maybe you should hop on a train. Over the years, I’ve done my best work while riding the rails. Why? Maybe it has something to do with literally being on a track?

Yesterday as soon as I settled into my seat on the 7 a.m. train from DC to Philly, I pulled out my notebook and got to work. I’ve written about 390 pages of a new novel that I love, but that has been suffering from…what?…well, I would have fixed it had I known.

My two main characters have strong, clear voices, but the other people in the novel seem like puppets or props instead of real characters. So, as the train sped along, I wrote the major themes and things that happen in the first part of the book on the right side of a piece of paper, and on the left side I began to write down the major themes and things that happen (including the main character’s epiphanies) in the second half of the book. I began to notice that many things in the second half were a mirror opposite of things in the first half. This was exciting. So I actively looked for changes I could make that would echo this. BAM! I could see the problem: two crucial minor characters did NOTHING for the theme or plot of the book; and because of that, they were pulling the story off track. When I started playing around with how these characters could become the extreme opposites of each other, all the elements of the story came together and it zoomed. I was in the quiet car, so I couldn’t stand up and scream my Hallelujah, but I wanted to.

I’m thinking that the next time I get stuck, I should buy a round trip ticket anywhere.

Helping Young Writers at the Start

We talked about the importance of humor and about keeping a writer’s notebook and about reading and writing. She was taking an important first step by simply introducing herself to me and asking me questions.

If you’re interested in becoming a writer, take every opportunity you have to meet other writers and to ask questions about process. Go to book signings, workshops, and lectures. Don’t be afraid to begin the dialogue. –Mary Amato

Kids write the best fan letters. “It made me feel verry alive.” That’s how a fourth grader from Middletown Elementary School described the experience of reading. From time to time I find the same comment, though not always spelled the same way, in my fan mail, and it always makes me stop and marvel about the power of story. Why does reading a story about someone else make us feel alive? Want to explain your theory?

Illustration by Eric Brace for Please Write in This Book by Mary Amato

I often use index cards to keep track of my plot. I try to write short statements related to the action of the story on cards. Sometimes I spread them on the floor to “see” my plot. Sometimes I tape them to a display board.

In addition to using the cards for plotting purposes, I also use them to keep track of important bits of information, such as my character’s school schedule. These are the cards for the novel Invisible Lines. I have a new set of cards for the book I’m working on now.

I shoot for the best word, no matter how small or large.

I believe that there is an organic process of learning language, which is called exposure. How do we learn “big” words? By hearing or seeing them used in context. I still recall the thrill of learning the word “salutations” when reading Charlotte’s Web. Imagine if E.B. White had deprived me of that thrill?

Kids are remarkable creatures and can handle just about anything.

While walking to the outdoor pool last week, I passed two boys, about seven years old, sitting on a fence, legs dangling. One boy’s flip-flop sandal fell off his foot, and he turned to his friend and said, in absolute deadpan, “I just lost my dignity.”