Senior Editor at Bloomsbury Kids Susan Dobinick speaks with Theo Baker about the lessons she’s learned as an editor, shares advice for nonfiction authors, and tells us what she’s hoping to find.
Listen to the episode trailer here.
Current SCBWI members can listen to the full episode here (log in first).
Illustrate and Write On,
Lee
This digital collaboration between SCBWI and the Smithsonian Institution for nonfiction children's book writers sounds amazing!
Hosted on Zoom, with the video recordings available through November 22nd, the schedule includes:
Keynotes (from the likes of Carole Boston Weatherford, Kevin Noble Maillard, and Elizabeth Partridge,
Panels on aligning your book to curriculum, age, and reading level, an editors panel on the current market for Nonfiction, another editors panel where they'll give feedback on query letters, an authors panel on creative approaches to writing nonfiction and another authors panel on nonfiction writing as a personal journey, and
breakout sessions on STEM, History/Social Science, Culture, and Biography!
Click here to read about all the programming, and sign up if it sounds right for you!
Illustrate and Write On,
Lee
"As an editor, I often see novice writers describing their characters right on the first page by having the characters pass a mirror, or by using another artificial device. Take your time, trust yourself as a writer, and let your characters reveal themselves throughout the story."Rosemary also suggests an intriguing writing prompt that involves a main character with two friends, one true, and one a backstabber. The main character doesn't know one is a backstabber, and the challenge is for you to write it in a way that shows the reader who is who. Rosemary suggests taking this prompt and using it to write four specific and different scenes.
"There's no way to appeal to everyone, and no reason to try: It will only ensure that a book appeals to absolutely no one whatsoever."
As some people know, my first job with Flux was as publicist when the imprint first launched. In that capacity, I worked closely with Andrew Karre, Flux's former acquiring editor (now the Editorial Director at Lerner's Carolrhoda imprint). I had (and continue to have) a lot of respect for Andrew's sense of vision. He did a lot to set the standard for the imprint. Thankfully, Andrew and I have very similar tastes in YA, so in that respect not much has changed. However, by nature, I bring a different eye to reading submissions. Ultimately, I don't think Flux's direction has changed at all. I'm still looking to bring in fresh voices with a solid grounding in emotional honesty. If anything, I aim to build on the success the imprint has enjoyed, expanding on the points of view we present. I'm adding some sci-fi/speculative fiction to the line in the coming year. I'm looking at the books where we've seen success and hoping similar titles will prove just as successful. We'll also be expanding the number of titles we produce each year, which means I'm chin deep in submissions.
{* I say "exciting" in retrospect because I think a sizable contingent of teens would find other adjectives (terrifying, confusing, stultifying) to describe their current situation.} 
Ah, this is the part of the interview where I'm forced to choose which of my children are my favorites. Always so hard to do. To make it easy, I'll just mention three of the very first books I acquired when I took over Flux. Out in May is A BLUE SO DARK, Holly Schindler's stunning debut. It's the story of a girl who can no longer hide the fact that she's her schizophrenic mother's sole caretaker (and, as I type this, I just found out it got a starred review from BOOKLIST!). And keep your eye on Heath Gibson when his debut, GIGGED, hits shelves (also in May). Like many YA enthusiasts, I adore Robert Cormier's work and I don't invoke his name lightly. But GIGGED captures a lot of Cormier's magic and includes a stunner of a twist ending of which Cormier himself would approve. And this summer, Karen Kincy's debut, OTHER, starts an exciting new urban fantasy series for Flux about a shapeshifting teen in Washington state who becomes the target of a serial killer when she begins investigating the deaths of "Others," the paranormal kinfolk of the world.
