Words of Wisdom from Judy Blume

2011 SCBWI Conference surprise guest Judy Blume fully admits that she doesn’t like to give advice to writers. But during her Q&A session with SCBWI president Lin Oliver she had plenty of words of wisdom to share. Here are a few of her insights:

Words of Wisdom:

• The reason for writing is to find out what is going to happen.
• “Everybody needs somebody who’s supportive.” There was a teacher in a writing class that Judy took who was that support for her.
• Let loose! “Are You There God It’s Me Margaret” was the first time she let loose in her writing.
• Write the book you want to read! “Why would you write the kind of book you wouldn’t want to read?”
• It never gets any easier! The anxiety is still there. The only thing that gets easier is the thought that “I know how to do this.” But only because she’s done it before.
• I’ve learned to keep binders for my notes over the years. I have a binder for each book. This was particularly helpful when working on “Summer Sisters”.
• The inspiration will be inside you. Then you just write.
• When it hits you inside and its right then you have to write it! It will be your own. Don’t worry about who your audience is.
• Was is writing but controlling your own movie? There’s no committee! You are acting out all the characters goals.
• We all started writing not knowing what we were doing! Me too!
• Telling a story is a quest.
• Question your characters – don’t question yourself!
• I don’t dream about my legacy. I think that’s really dangerous!

Judy Blume is one of the most widely read authors of juvenile and teen fiction. Her many books include: Tiger Eyes, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, Blubber, Forever, The Fudge Series, and Just as Long as We’re Together. Her novels have exceeded sales of 80 million and have been translated into 31 languages.

Picking the Brain of the Brilliant Blume

This week I’m doing a series that re-caps the insights of the amazing JUDY BLUME who was a surprise guest at the 40th anniversary SCBWI Conference this summer! The following notes were taken during a Q & A session with SCBWI president Lin Oliver:

What are the changes in contacting your audience today than in the past?

• Judy Blume says she’s addicted to Twitter.
• She gets letters electronically now rather than snail mail.
• The intimacy is in the pencil (snail mail). She misses that. Kids really bear their soul to you when they write a real letter.
• The electronics change but deep down people don’t change.

Why Do You Write For Kids? Why Write at All?

• “Who do you identify with in life? I identify with kids. Though that doesn’t make you the best mother.”
• Blume was sick all through her 20’s, and after she started to write all that sickness went away.
• She says it’s determination as much as any kind of talent that is going to get you there.

What Advice Do You Have for Writers?

• “I don’t like to give advice to writers.”

How is it that You Can Write Dialog So Well?

• “Dialog is the only thing I like to write. I don’t like the other stuff. I’m not good at descriptive writing or metaphor. I like what the character’s are thinking versus what they’re saying. The subtext of it. It’s what makes it muscular.”
• “Dialog comes naturally and spontaneously to me.”

How Do You Make Your Books Timeless?

• “I never think about the timelessness.”
• It’s not a good idea to put in a way kids talk today, per say (slang etc.). Not if you want to write fiction that lasts.

Why Did You Write “Forever”?

• My daughter said to me “Can’t there be a book where two nice kids do it and nobody dies?”
• That was her inspiration, though she would never advise anyone else to write a book based on something their kid said to them.
• In regard to edgy material – if it’s there it should be important to the character or the story. If it’s not then take it out. Don’t listen to the censor when you are writing.

Other Tid Bits:

• “I get bored easily, so I could never write a series.”
• Writing not only changed my life, it saved my life!

Judy Blume is one of the most widely read authors of juvenile and teen fiction. Her many books include: Tiger Eyes, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, Blubber, Forever, The Fudge Series, and Just as Long as We’re Together. Her novels have exceeded sales of 80 million and have been translated into 31 languages.

Putting Together the Puzzle: Judy Blume and the Writing Process

The amazing JUDY BLUME was a surprise guest at the 40th anniversary SCBWI Conference this summer! What a treat! She sat down with SCBWI President Lin Oliver to talk shop, and all us attendees got a little insight into the brilliant Blume and her writing process.

Judy Blume’s Thoughts on Her Writing Process:

Typewriter vs. Computer:

• Before computers she used to write through a first draft (start to finish). She’d get the draft done. But with a computer she doesn’t do that anymore. Now she can go back and keep revising. That’s bad in her opinion. It was better before when she’d go through a whole draft first.
• When she wrote on a typewriter she would do five drafts and then send it to her editor.

On  Writing First Drafts:

• “I’m a terrible first draft writer! I’m a reviser!”
• The first draft is about finding the pieces to the puzzle. The second draft is putting it together. And you go on from there.

On Revision:

• She likes to print out and scribble all over her drafts with a pen.
• It took her 23 drafts to write the book “Summer Sisters”. She didn’t feel like she knew what she was writing. It took her three years to write and it was so painful she said “I’m never doing this again.”
• She says she’s never really understood the creative process, but she has enough faith (after 40 years) that it will come to her again.

On Plotting:

• “I’m so sucky at plot! It’s not how the story comes to me.”
• Her son says she’s the least analytical person he knows.

How to Start a Book:

• When she gets an idea she lets it percolate for a long long time before writing.
• She says she knows she will start a book on the day something different happens. Sometimes she has to write pages and pages and pages before that moment and the real book starts.

When You Know It’s Working:

• “I love it when I laugh out loud. I cry a lot. If I’m writing a sexy scene and I’m not turned on it’s not working!”
• The stuff that’s gonna work is what’s coming from deep deep inside.

Judy Blume is one of the most widely read authors of juvenile and teen fiction. Her many books include: Tiger Eyes, Are You There God It’s Me Margaret, Blubber, Forever, The Fudge Series, and Just as Long as We’re Together. Her novels have exceeded sales of 80 million and have been translated into 31 languages.