Part 44

AN INTERVIEW WITH HANNAH HOLT In this rebroadcast, we talk with Hannah Holt, a children's author with an engineering degree. Her books, The Diamond & The Boy (Balzer+Bray) and A Father's Love (Philomel) weave together her love of language and science. When not reading or writing, you can find Hannah running marathons and hiking mountains. We talk about Biggest misconception writers have about getting an agent and/or a book deal Advice for prepublished writers Hannah's surveys: what she learned, how she used the input. How she created and researched a picture book about her grandfather Questions about "bare bones" publishing, indie, and traditional publishing.

FOUR WAYS TO LEARN TO LOVE NONFICTION Many writers view nonfiction as less: less creative than fiction, less fun than fiction, less interesting to kids than fiction, and definitely something they want to do less often. Some will accept the possibility of writing a little nonfiction to break into publishing, but do not like the idea of doing it steadily. For many, they want to do the important work of fiction.   But nonfiction is important. Especially now. Kids love nonfiction, and it's an important teaching tool in support of school curriculum. And nonfiction can offer children something that can help them long after the book is closed: an appreciation of the value of well-researched, accurate facts. That's why we're bringing this rebroadcast to you today.  

LAUNCHING A STORY FROM A TITLE Chances are you fall into one of two camps when it comes to titles: You either love creating them or you dread trying to think up something clever that will catch a reader's eye. Thanks to Jan Fields, today we're going to have some fun creating titles. So much fun your new titles just might launch a new story.  

TOP THREE NARRATIVE NONFICTION MISSTEPS Nonfiction is basically broken into two broad types. Expository nonfiction describes, explains, and informs. Narrative nonfiction uses story elements to convey a factual experience. Narrative nonfiction tells a story through carefully researched, factual recounting. Not all nonfiction books are strictly expository or strictly narrative. Some in fact contain both, but for now, Jan Fields has given us a lead on common missteps when writing narrative nonfiction.