Stephanie Garber’s Caraval is effervescent, atmospheric, vivid. She masterfully creates a stunning world where sisters, sailors, and mysterious players revolve around one another in a game where nothing—or everything—is real. What you can steal 1. Her sumptuous scene-setting. I hesitate to call this worldbuilding—while Garber does invest in some intriguing worldbuilding, it’s her individual scenes … Continue reading Caraval Review
As an editor, sometimes I can be a bit harsh. When you have high standards and a bit (maybe more than a bit) of an ego, your feedback can be blunt—brutal, even. It seems justified when you’re the one giving the criticism. But as we all know, receiving feedback can be a gutting experience. Here … Continue reading How to Give Useful Feedback Without Losing Your Friends
In the first week of July, I went to my first writing conference, the annual LA conference with the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI.) And holy cow, did I learn. I learned so much I feel as though my head will never stop spinning. As I decompress, refine my goals, and stare … Continue reading 8 Lessons I Learned from Going to My First Writing Conference
Here are the writing prompts from July. I hope they spark some inspiration. If you write something, let me know! I’d love to read it. Like these prompts? I post a new writing prompt every Friday on Twitter. Follow me @nikiblois for more writing inspiration.
Ruta Sepetys’ Salt to the Sea is an incredibly moving novel that follows the journey of four young people fleeing the approaching Russian army in the last months of WWII. What you can steal 1. Sepetys’ incredible, sparse prose Sepetys writes with astonishing clarity. Her chapters are short, her sentences bare, but her characters are … Continue reading Salt to the Sea Review
