SCBWI Conference Ruled!

This past weekend I went to the SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) of Kansas, Let's Make Magic Conference.  Most of the conferences I have attended have been through the romance genre and general writing themes and this was my first that was more juvenile school and library based. 

I liked it.  I really liked what I saw, learned and experienced.  If you have some interest in these areas, I recommend joining the group. I attended Saturday and from Mike Jung's (Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities) Opening Keynote on "Togetherness" to Jay Asher's Closing Keynote of his twelve year publication journey to becoming an author of the book (Thirteen Reasons Why) now on the New York Times bestseller list for two AND a half years, I found the whole experience to be positive.  Editor Arthur Levine was entertaining as a Penn and Teller-esque assistant to Mike Jung's speech and during the joint song and dance.  He was also quite informative and professional, but it was great to see his humor too.  My breakout sessions were Jay Asher quite effectively explaining "How to Inject Suspense Into Your Novel", Mike Jung's "Voice" which made several concepts more clear, Agent Mary Kole clarified how to accomplish, "Writing Irresistible YA and MG Fiction.  The First pages critiques by the professionals were interesting to see what the professionals agreed about concerning the pages provided by attending authors and what they didn't.  I did wish mine had been reviewed, but not enough time.

I left with some great contacts, some new books to read, helpful knowledge, a plan to attend more of these events!

Some blurbs of info I liked from some of the people I named above.

Trust your editors and agents to know what they are doing.  They are your collaborators.

Suspense Killers: Bad dialogue, too much description, unnatural motivations....

When brainstorming, the first solution you come up with is what others will too.  Pick something else.

Ask-What kind of experiences are the characters going through on a daily basis?  Tone of piece...

YA publications are up 30%.  Contemporary is good right now.