Progress Update on Volume 2

You know how those cheesy Christmas movies distracted me in December? Well... Rereading my favorite middle grade novel series distracted me from finishing my work on volume 2 this past week. In case you are wondering...

The Thief
The Queen of Attolia
The King of Attolia 

I think I have a crush on the main character, Gen.

Despite the quite enjoyable distraction, some progress was made on SPOTD: The Hero Chronicle Continues. Sean and I are to the inking stage of the art for the cover, I've (almost) completed the back cover copy so Ryan can put the cover together, I met with Dr. Jared Slater to (SPOILER ALERT!) iron out the emergency room visit and some anatomical stuff for the invisibility chapter, and I reread the full text (editing and proofing).

I think volume two may be kids' favorite of the three volumes... We'll see!

The Best Christmas Present

Super Power of the Day
By Ann Wachtler
Reactions after reading from
Henry Johnsrud... Soon to be 10

The character that I'd most like to spend time with is Chase Cooper. He seemed the most like me. He likes baseball, video games, and seemed like a typical boy around my age. He has an annoying sister, but I have two. She makes him mad, then he hits her (or something like that...), and she runs off and tells on him...then he gets into trouble...just like me.

It did take me a while to get into the book. I prefer the super powers to come a little earlier. The main emotion I had was being sad when the book ended. I got so sucked into it that I kept the light on much longer than I was supposed to. I kept reading more and more to find out what was going to happen. It reminded me of "Harry Potter" because they both had some kind of special power. Chase and Harry use their super power for good purposes.

I think that the author wrote this book to entertain young readers, maybe more for boys, but girls too. The main character is someone who is really nice and would be the kind of friend I'd want. Parents and grandparents would agree. It's pretty creative and was probably fun to write. The author did good descriptions, like in the dream because I could get the picture in my head. There were a few words, like on the spelling tests, that I had no idea what they meant, but then the author told me. That was good.

I am excited to read the next book. I hope it comes out soon so I don't forget what the main idea is of this book.


Note from Ann:
Wow, Henry! I am flattered by your kind words and impressed with your writing ability. It was fun to write the book. I'm especially glad you like Chase. You even figured out the novel's biggest weakness (I cut and cut and cut the first 50 pages, but I just couldn't shrink it any further...). Watch the mail in January, because you will be one of the first people to read Super Power of the Day: The Hero Chronicle Continues...

Fourth Tuesday Book Club!

I was invited to be the guest at Montevideo's very own Fourth Tuesday Book Club last Monday night. The book club I usually attend, the Second Tuesday Book Club, was started by the same super-host, Esther Mills. It's best not to get too fancy with names when you are running FIVE book clubs!

In any case, I was delighted by the invitation. The ladies (and MC) were complimentary about the book, naming their favorite parts over and over. One former teacher had figured out my Montevideo inspiration for one of the students, and they all picked up on important moments that figure into the rising action and ultimate climax in volume 3. Quite satisfying for me!

The best best best part of the night was listening to a book report written by a young reader for his grandmother, who was in the club. I'll share it in my next post!

Volume 2: !!!!!

I just printed out a copy of the second volume of my trilogy, S.P.O.T.D.: The Hero Chronicle Continues, formatted in inDesign.

After using Microsoft Office products at work from dusk to dawn, it always frightens me to jump back into Adobe CS5 software. But here's what happens: I hesitantly open my desired file, mouse around a little, make a few clicks, and then forget to be scared.

Adobe products are intuitive in a different way than Microsoft Office. I find my biggest mental stumbles happen in moving back to Office and wanting it to do what inDesign can do. I have Word 2010, it MUST be able to do a simple thing like show me guidelines on a page. But I have no idea how to do such a simple thing... Why can't I just grab the ruler bar and drag it onto the page? Oh, yeah. It's Word.

Overall, I usually feel like I'm in the middle of that whole metaphorical "riding a bike" scenario when I use inDesign.

Chase Cooper, 2.0

Good gracious, but I am a Sean Tiffany fan.

He sent me a panel of about a dozen rough sketches for the cover image of Volume 2, and I was entirely stumped. In his adding movement to the character, Sean has granted Chase life!

I didn't know how I would ever select just one image, as more than half of them are good enough to be "the one."

But I did.

Here he is, roughly, Chase 2.0

Guilty Pleasure Confession

I like cheesy holiday movies.

The weather turns colder and that chair in front of my fireplace beckons.

It says, "You know Lifetime and abc Family and the Hallmark people depend on you this time of year, sweetie. Bake up some of those fund raiser pastries you so kindly bought, grab a squishy blanket, and curl up for two hours. There will be a happy ending, I promise."

And although I know the story before it even starts...

The main character, a lovely single woman with fabulous hair pulled back too tightly at the start, who is a) too career driven to appreciate the people in her life or b) too blind to notice that adorable guy right in front of her face, will somehow screw up, but then find her true love just in time for Christmas, resulting in her loosening her hair.

Although I know this, I get sucked in anyway.

The formula is trite, predictable, and sends a message with which I don't entirely agree. Most of the gals AND their mothers believe they or their daughters will die miserably if they somehow pass their 30th birthdays without a husband. FYI: not true. But I do like the happily ever after part. I like that these nice ladies find such cuties to love and be loved by.

So although I talk back to the television, advising the young women to stop pegging their entire emotional lives on the success of one relationship, I still cry when that inevitable, closing credits kiss finally happens.

I say this both as a guilty pleasure confession and as an excuse for not making progress on Super Power of the Day: The Hero Chronicle Continues this week. It is my goal to have volume 2 available before Christmas, but someone needs to disrupt my cable service first.

Creating a New Cover

So, cover #2.

Originally, the idea was to keep the same cartoon figure on all three covers, only varying the background cover colors and subtitles. But my fall play stipend is in my pocket, and I find myself more interested in playing with Chase Cooper than buying another pair of jeans, finishing the hearth on my fireplace, or going back to the dentist to fix this one annoying tooth...

Sean Tiffany, get ready for a little more work.

After two months of flirting with the idea, I have had an epiphany on the pic for vol 2. Even as Chase is becoming more and more the hero of his own life, he is letting go of his fantastical dreams of being "super." This next picture will reflect this change in his wearing his cape over regular clothes... jeans and a tee?

While flying.

Comic-Con

With great excitement I sent off a registration form and a copy of SPOTD to the exhibition committee for the International Comic-Con event in San Diego for the summer of 2012. They generously reserve a section of the exhibition space for new and small publishers, at a discounted rate.

I've wanted to attend Comic-Con ever since Michael Novotny on QAF held up his passes and smiled his earnestly gleeful smile at the prospect of nerd heaven. I suspected those were my people.

Friday, I received an envelope with the Comic-Con logo... And they didn't say no. I am on the waiting list, so it's not an absolutely positively closed door. But I'm thinking I may be attending as a fan, not an exhibitioner. In any case, a summer trip to CA is penciled into my planner.

Like I said, I suspect those are my people.

The return, as promised.

Hello, patient blog-followers, who have endured the fall play season without complaint or lamentation. It is my pleasure to invite you to follow the progress of SPOTD volumes 2 and 3, which will be my focus in the next two months.

First up, revising two key chapters of volume 2, The Hero Chronicle Continues. Semi spoiler alert: There is both an emergency room visit and some interesting internal body function description. With the help of local surgeon Dr. Jared Slater, these chapters will be medically accurate.

When those revisions are complete, I'll be ready for a final proofing of volume 2. Yeah! I can't wait to reread it. I remember giggling with pleasure while working on it this past summer. I think vol 3 is the most emotionally engaging of the three sections, but vol 2 is the most fun. Think of a great superpower. It's probably in vol 2.

Simultaneously, I'll be working with Ryan and Sean to create a great cover. Watch for upcoming posts as we wrangle them into being.

Vote for my Halloween costume!

Thanks to my lovely college roommates, most of my Halloween costume is ready made. "Chase Cooper" will be attending the Montevideo Fall Play costume party rehearsal on Monday night. I've toyed with the idea of a mash up costume...

Zombie Chase Cooper (add white make up and blood)
Chase Cooper Sylvester (add red Adidas sweat pants and a whistle)
Chase-Kat Cooper-Nathan (add kitty ears)
Ann Cooper-Klein (wear fabulous new Calvin Klein red dress with Chase Cooper cape)
Cowboy Cooper (add cowboy hat and boots)

Help me decide?

PS The fall hiatus is almost over. I should be back blogging and writing and editing and proofing and planning for volumes 2 and 3 in a few weeks.

Time for Signings...

It's such a surprise and pleasure to field requests for book signings.

I hope to plan one in Montevideo, probably at the public library, for later this fall. Meanwhile, the high school library (across the hallway from my room!) played host to a little book signing party complete with root beer and orange floats. We've already seen the lengths to which my crazy college roommates are willing to go to get books signed. And random students stop in to buy books from me and insist on having them signed before they will leave me to my correcting and lesson planning.

Thankfully, I watched my fellow authors/speakers at the North Dakota Reading Association spring conference as they signed their books, and I learned a thing or two. Thing one: It's important to get the book owner's name right. Thing two: Have a standard line to write in each copy, something pithy and connected to the title or subject of the book.

What have I decided on as my own epigrammatic line? You'll have to buy a book, ask for a signature, and find out!

j/k

"I hope you have a "super" time reading!"

Chase Cooper Convention!

Last weekend, I attended the annual "Let's get together up North!" weekend with my college roommates. We gathered (as usual) at a cabin on Battle Lake. In the run up, massive spam-worthy emails were exchanged between all involved. Though, as I look back, not as many as usual.

That should have been my first clue that something was up.

Instead of 147 emails in which we debated our "theme" of the year and who was bring what supplies and food, everyone just seemed to say she was tired and wanted to "relax." Go out to eat. Take naps. Listen to relaxing music and look at relaxing Sark pix.

So when I saw the Sark art distributed around the dining area and this little display on the buffet counter, I thought, "Ah! We are relaxing and celebrating my novel!" But not in a big, embarrassing way.

I was duped.

Before bed, everyone seemed especially interested in where I would sleep. It was suggested I take the king-sized bed on the main floor. For some reason they all followed me as I wheeled my suitcase into the room, where I saw a red and white display of pillows on the bed.

When I saw this one:

I asked, "C for Carol?" Carol being the owner of the cabin.

There was wild laughter.

Then it hit me: C for Chase.

It amazed me that the celebration was larger than the little display. Angie's Aunt Jan had sewn the lovely pillow. I went to sleep thankful for my beautiful and kind roommates.

Then, Saturday morning, THIS wandered into the kitchen.

"This" being Lisa in a Chase Cooper inspired top and cape.

Still I didn't realize the extent to which we would soon go to spread the Chase Cooper name across Otter Tail County. The situation became more clear when Lisa was followed by...

Donna and Sheri.

Finally, it hit me. The theme of the weekend was not, in the least, relaxation.

Thanks to my roommies for all your loving attention, both before and during the awesome weekend. Not many people have friends like you... Friends willing to hawk books in the parking lot of a fancy resort/golf course while dressed in Halloween worthy costumes are exceedingly rare.

I am glad to have you as my sidekicks.

I love you all!

A Home for MC's Story

It looks like this will be the link to Martin Christenson's excellent story on the writing of Super Power of the Day: Origins of a Sixth Grade Superhero. 

Thanks, Monte American-News and MC!

I Can Quit Whenever I Choose

Yeah, right.

Thanks to all you wonderful readers willing to take a chance on Super Power of the Day: Origins of a Sixth Grade Superhero by purchasing it from amazon.com, my sales ranks have been (what I consider) wonderful! They say being in the top 100,000 out of 8 million books is a nice goal, and SPOTD volume 1 has made it that high a few times.

The only downside is that I'm a little addicted to checking on the rank. Here's a peek behind the curtain for the first few weeks of sales...

I suppose it's a little gauche to be so forthright with "secret" info. But hey, this is a nice little ride. I enjoy sharing it with you!

Front Page, Above and Below the fold (in color!)

I am blushing as I write. My good friend and fellow educator Martin Christenson wrote the most amazing story of my journey to publish the SPOTD series and it landed on the front cover of our local newspaper.

You can see the story online, if you hurry!
The digital version was local story #3 today, but will probably move off the front page quickly.
Enjoy!

The full spread looked like this (and continued on a later page...). Check out the story to the right of mine. Can you say irony?

My Day Job

It was a wonderful summer. I indulged myself in setting up my publishing business, learning inDesign, editing and proofreading all three volumes of the S.P.O.T.D. series, collaborating with artists, learning to blog, creating a website, and seeing it all come together just in time... 

...to return to my day job.

WOW, it's amazing how teaching lasts from before sun up to head on the pillow. I thought I'd be able to continue regular blogging once the school year began, perhaps cutting down to three times a week. Didn't happen this week -- we'll see about next.

For now, Chase and his friends are on the back burner while my priorities turn to 133 students, a student teacher, 33 cast and 15 crew members, negotiations between ISD and my local, signing up NHS members to volunteer at Special Olympics bowling, organizing tickets and transportation for the senior class to see Much Ado at the Guthrie over MEA, inspiring creative writers, reconfiguring my AP lit curriculum to include more critical theory, teaching 10th graders how to do informative speeches via podcast (after learning the tech myself), mowing the lawn, turning a garden's worth of tomatoes into canned soup, reading The Book Thief, and firing up the the patio fire pit on starry nights.

I'll be living in Bedford Falls for the next few months, by the way.

It's a Wonderful Life, indeed.

Box of Books

Thanks to all you great friends who have encouraged me with your nice words and excitement over the publishing of Super Power of the Day. For me, it's a project that isn't quite finished, so I haven't stood back to bask in any glory. But that box of books on my doorstep does make it all a bit more real.

I hope you enjoy reading (while I cower at home, a little scared to be letting you into my head).

4-for-3 promo

I was a little surprised (but happy) to see amazon.com offering Super Power of the Day at their 4-for-3 pricing. This will also get you free shipping.

Hey, new best friend Jeff Bezos -- thanks!

Ann

It's Ready. AKA BUY MY BOOK

Although I am only partly way down the path of my publishing journey, we have reached an important rest stop.

Volume one, Super Power of the Day: Origins of a Sixth Grade Superhero, is now available at amazon.com for $8.95. I humbly hope that you, my friend, will check it out.

It's the time of year when so many of my friends are posting first day of school pictures of their kids. I love those photos. Consider this book launch, such as it is, my little child heading out the door into the big world... Especially now that the cover image is showing up on the site.

Oh, and if you have lots of little nieces and nephews and neighborhood kids who might be interested, Amazon is offering the book at their 4-for-3 price. This will also get you free shipping.

My Website. Or, I am not a liar.

At the end of my author bio (in the book) it says:

You may visit her at snowmoonpublishing.com

The book was finished and on its way to the printer before that was true.
But it is true now! Please visit!

PS The book is now fully available at amazon.com. Yeah!

Check out my new shirt

Amazon.com!!!

I "accepted"Super Power of the Day's print proof from LSI on Friday, was notified that my distributor was officially recognized by Ingram on Monday, and my listing showed up on amazon.com this afternoon (8/30/11).

Amazon hasn't figured out how to actually get the book yet. That may take up to a week. I'll certainly splash the news when it can be ordered.

Next, I need to add content to my Author Central page. That will include a link to this blog.

Things are moving right along!

Spell Check Doesn't Know These Words

You can theorize why...

inbox
texting

app

google (verb)

nightstand

hotdish (I defer to my Covenant Church cookbook. It is a word.)

restroom

pinstripe

kickball

doorframe

chainsaw (1974 film) or chain saw (Sears.com)

babysit

carsick
teleportation
weirded (out)
tarped
insults
nicknames
superglued
Spiderman
Mauer (as in Joe)
crap

I love this list. It gives a fun look into the books (vol 1-3).

PS The only legit spelling error I made was "kindergarteners,"
which is actually spelled "kindergartners".
My bad.

Writing is a Dangerous Activity

During the course of a school year, the left side of my right middle finger develops what can only be described as a mountainous writing callous. By the end of summer, it has healed to the size of a normal person's writing callous.

Exhibit A (the healed version):

Last week I noticed a NEW writing scar -- on the inside of my thumb where I rest it on the mousepad while working my magic mouse. Smooth as a baby's bottom.

Exhibit B:

A Surprise!

When I went out to the garage to fire up the old John Deere yesterday, I found this.
Can you identify the four items in the photo?

Answers (clockwise from top left):
1) Bags full of washed costumes from last year's fall play.
2) Extension ladder
3) Snow shovel
4) Proof copy of Super Power of the Day, overnighted to me from my printer, Lightning Source, Inc.

I am officially a published author.
But I still had to mow the lawn.

Creating a Cover

Once we had an illustration of Chase in his superhero costume, Ryan Scheife of Mayfly Design in Minneapolis put together the front cover.

I really like how "clean" Ryan's covers are. I also appreciate his work with Minnesota authors and education related books. Trust me, when you go searching for illustrators and designers for comics oriented material, you see a LOT of cartoon boobs on women who have little to no waists. I didn't want a kid to think "I wonder if there are more books like this if I look up the artists..." and end up at some inappropriate site online. I feel safe with my choices of Ryan and Sean.

 The plan is to do repeat the graphic and title but change the background color, subtitle, etc. for each of the next two volumes.

So...
Opinions on the color for #2?

Author Bio

It didn't take too long to select a photo for my author bio page at the back of the book(s).

I shuffled through my iPhoto and decided to appeal to my audience.

It did take a bit longer to write my author bio for the last page of the book(s).

I solicited help online. (Thanks, Jason G for "She does not play the oboe.")

I solicited help from my family. (That's... nice. Maybe you should get a professional to write it.)

I solicited help from my coworkers. (Bingo!)

Thanks to Cheryl Bj, I decided to simply say:

Author Ann Wachtler has loved reading good stories since she was a young girl. Turning the page to figure out what happens next is at the heart of all her passionate interests. Super Power of the Day is her first novel series.

PS The color of that couch is one of my strongest childhood memories. Orange and brown stripes. Go 1970's!

The Evolution of Chase Benjamin Cooper, Superhero, Part 2

This was Sean's first sketch.

We decided he looked older than twelve and had another whack at it.

Now that's more like it!

Here he is inked:

And here he is with his logo, in color:

I didn't want overly anime eyes, so we used these button eyes. This preference probably stems from an aversion to children's art from the 70's.

Here comes the creepy.

Sorry.

The Evolution of Chase Benjamin Cooper, Superhero

I think it was the Fourth of July weekend. I was sitting on the patio chatting with my mother, explaining to her how exciting it was to have learned a new program (inDesign) and to actually use it on my text. I told her that the next step was learning Photoshop, but that I had already tried once and found it much more complex to learn. I wasn't sure I had the time to learn it well enough to do a good job on my cover.

This was my inspiration:

Awesome, right?

I had a mock up cover to share.

Yeah, less awesome.
The "figure" was taken from a photo of G at Teddy R on our trip to Glacier.

I was more concerned about getting the "figure" right than designing it well.
Rene encouraged me to hire out.

So I did.

I used a few different online artist and designer databases (e.g. theispot.com) and wound up hiring Ryan Schiefe from Minneapolis as my cover designer. He, in turn, encouraged me to hire an illustrator to do the figure. I asked for bids from three artists and selected Sean Tiffany. I was impressed with his work in Sports Illustrated for Kids and his online presence, which seemed friendly.

But it was his initial sketch of what Chase could look like won me over.

Adorable.
Alas, the first "real" sketch went a different direction.

It's a Trilogy!

I decided to solve my length problem by splitting the text into three parts. 

Thanks to Sandra's emphasis on creating good bones to hang the story on, this division of plot worked better than I expected. 

In volume 1, Origins of a Sixth Grade Superhero, Chase experiences his last day as a regular kid and then gets his first ten superpowers over the next ten days. After the first three, he shares his secret with his best friends. By the end of the first volume, he has learned how it feels to save the day using his powers.

In volume 2, The Hero Chronicle Continues, Chase gets his next eleven powers. Several of the most dramatic moments of the series happen as he experiences the extreme powers of Invisibility, Flight, and Magnetism. By the end of the volume, he has experienced a Spiderman II moment.

In volume 3, The Final Face-Off, Chase finishes his month with his final ten powers. The series builds to a double climactic finish and brings closure to the month. 

I had to add a few chapters to make the transitions between volumes make sense, but that turned out well. I re-edited, hired a proofreader, re-edited again, then designed the pages in Adobe inDesign. Learning the program took time, but I really like working with it. (Thanks, Lynda.com).

Once I had the pages done, I reproofed the pages twice. Some difficult spots were rewritten. As of today's blogpost, I am done with volume 1, have only a small amount of work to finish on volume two, and have several full days of proof and design work to do on volume 3. 

Aaron Shepard: POD Guru

Thanks to Aaron Shepard, I did not go camping or traveling at all this summer. Instead, I spent my entire tax return on:

a new computer, professional publishing software, a block of 100 ISBNs, shades to privatize my old library/new office, a red office chair, a domain (snowmoonpublishing.com) and web hosting fees, and license fees to start my own publishing company.

I've now read POD for Profit five times.

A New Year's Resolution

The summer of 2010, I went to Hawaii with my mom and dad for a cousin's wedding. Lots of reading, no writing.

Then G and I went camping at Glacier. This is me at Teddy Roosevelt Nat'l Park.

Despite my travel time, I did do a quite thorough copy edit of the text over the summer. Wow, had I made mistakes. Once they were fixed, I made a plan for sending out three more queries. As the agents I was interested in noted that they preferred exclusivity, I decided to send out my queries one at a time over the course of the late summer and fall.

I heard back from all of them, but no one bit.

At Christmas, decided to get serious. I sent three more queries and gave myself the month of January as a deadline. If I didn't get an agent, I'd pursue some other path to publishing. Luckily for me, agent Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger in New York asked for a manuscript. There was that thrill again.

Sara ultimately passed. So...

I made a resolution. For the entire month of February, I turned off my TV and devoted each night to figuring out what to do next. If you know me, you know this was not an easy task. I gave myself permission to watch the Superbowl and Oscars, but that was it.

I only cheated once the whole month. I researched self-publishing of all types (MN vanity presses, amazon.com's CreateSpace, lulu.com, etc.), read a lot of MG and YA fiction, and even started plotting out a new novel. I contacted self-publishing superstar Amanda Hocking BEFORE her publishing deal and she was helpful and encouraging.

Then I found Aaron Shepard.

Finding a Dream Agent

The summer of 2009, I cleaned up loose ends and problems in the story and sent out four query letters to agents. 'Cause that's what you do when you have a manuscript.

I knew my biggest problem: length. In its 2009 form, SPOTD was looooong. Too long for middle grade readers, my primary audience. How long? Probably 350+ book size pages. Now, Harry Potter proved that young readers will cart around and devour lengthy tomes, but not until they are hooked. Typical MG novels on my library shelves tend to be half that length.

I also knew the text needed a good copy edit, but I hoped that an agent would see its potential and that the publishing process would help me perfect the novel.

I sent my letters in June and got lucky fast. Jennifer Flannery, the agent for Minnesota YA author Gary Paulsen, nibbled right away. She asked for a full manuscript. I still remember how thrilling it felt to receive her postcard, even though it wasn't a personal letter. Most authors have horror stories of sending out dozens or hundreds of queries before an agent bites, and here I had caught the attention of my dream agent right out of the gate.

I figured out how to format and print it properly and sent it off. Then I listened to the crickets chirp for the rest of the summer.

Finally, just before school started in the fall, I received another postcard. Jennifer Flannery was passing on my manuscript.

Still.

Going Bad

I struggled with finding a villain for SPOTD.

I didn't want a murderer, alien, monster, or catastrophic weather event. I wanted the type of subtle, real world villain that a kid might actually face. And I didn't want a stereotypical bully, because that's been done.

Despite what you might believe from watching television shows like Glee, the type of bullies that toss Slushies into the faces of perceived geeks in the middle of a school hallway (outright bullying) are rare and would get caught and punished. Real bullies are much more subtle than that.

Also contrary to television, cinematic, and literary trope, most popular kids and jocks ARE NOT BULLIES. Most popular kids are popular because they are nice. A lot of smart kids ARE popular. Being athletic DOESN'T make you mean (unless you are doing 'roids). Being smart doesn't make you a target. And those are points I wanted the story to make.

One of the lessons I wanted Chase to learn was that he needed to be on the same team as his sister. So I had my villain bully Addy. It's right there, from the start. And Chase is so wrapped up in his own world, he doesn't see that she needs his help.

That's what happens as we grow up; we turn our view outward and our perception of the world expands. This is, at its heart, a story about growing up. A coming of age story, just as Sandra's original workshop asked me to write.

Of course the superpowers help Chase become more confident so he CAN face the bad guys. (Spoiler: There is more than one.) But when he does, he uses his smarts and heart to save the day.

Villainous Interruptions

By the end of my week in Iowa, I had a great premise, a bunch of half-formed characters, a few bits of plot, no villain, and lots of ambition.

By the end of the summer of '07, I had a great premise, a bunch of half-formed characters, a few more bits of plot, still no villain, and a new job as director of the Montevideo High School fall play. So that was it for writing.

Before I called it a day, I did jump online and print off a list of superpowers. I can't find that original list or site anymore, but there are dozens of similar lists out there in the googleverse. After making a spreadsheet of the novel's timeline, which is the month of May, I assigned each power I was interested in using to a date. I spread out the best and worst ones, coordinated certain powers with certain annual dates (fishing opener, Mother's Day, etc.), jotted a few notes about major plots events, and set the whole pile aside.

FYI: Still no villain. This was a problem. You can't write a NORMAL story without one, much less a superhero story.

In February, the new Iowa Summer Writing Festival booklet showed up. Sandra was offering a course entitled "Finishing Your First Novel." Perfect! I sign up and use the seminar as a deadline for finishing the first draft. Then I was hired to stage direct the spring musical. So that was it for writing.

I figured I could whip out the rest of the draft in June. Then my college roommates and I went to Maine for a week to celebrate a certain momentous birthday. So that was it for writing.

I didn't have much to offer in Iowa beyond what I'd left with the summer before, but the week was inspirational. Sandra and my classmates (above) were helpful, wise, and encouraging. I remember Sandra specifically saying, "You've got it. You just have to write it."

By the end of the summer of '08, heading into my second fall play, I had a full first draft.

And I had found my villain.

It's NOT Harry Potter

I've heard authors talk about how real their characters were, how they came to life and seemed to make their own decisions. I didn't get it. Until it happened to me.

I knew my main character needed friends of all sorts. The best minor characters act as a foil to the main character, so that's where I started. Johnny the reckless was born.

But as much as I wanted this to be a book boys would like to read, I mostly know how boys behave around girls. So friend #2 was a girl. Kat.

Before Kat and Johnny said a single word, I hit myself on the head over and over. How could I tell the tale of a boy-girl-boy trio, now that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were out there?

Then again, three boys become The Three Investigators (see above) and four boys turns into "The Body" (also known as Stand by Me) or The Goonies. Any combination of kids turns into some former literary or cinematic combination. I couldn't worry about how NOT to write the story, I just had to write it. And I was already picturing these two clearly.

As a concession, I deliberately veered away from the Harry Potter trio by making Johnny's and Kat's families as different from the Weasley and Granger clans as possible. Kat is not an only child; she has older brothers that figure into the story prominently. And Johnny's one older sister is the neighborhood babysitter. Also, his parents are divorced.

Sandra instructed us to write the pivotal scene of the story -- the place where the main character falls heavily (in a metaphoric way). I chose Flight day. I wrote the scene.

And Kat and Johnny took it from there. It was like they just took over and said what they wanted to say and did what they wanted to do, whether I liked it or not. I get it, now.

PS My reader remarked on the similarities to Rowling's trio and asked if I had noticed. Indeed.

A "Dark" Plot

By the end of my summer seminar in Iowa, I had the outline of a basic plot. A believer in strong structure, Sandra encouraged us to build the bones of our stories by focusing on an important place or moment that could recur with greater significance as the story progressed.

I knew my place instantly: a barn.

In each of the three main houses of my childhood and college years, there has been a barn either behind the house or across the street. These barns were off-limits, for the most part, being either abandoned, the property of others, or both. The picture at the top of this post is the actual barn from 16th Street in Willmar, where I lived until 1976. It has since been torn down.

As a student of archetypes, I knew that a character's descent into a dark place is a common, if not essential, moment in a good plot. What's darker than a barn? I plotted Chase's visits to the barn quite deliberately as the framework of the overall structure.

As a student of psychology, I also knew that the descent into darkness represents a look into the unconscious. One's fears, especially, are revealed when that unconscious is glimpsed. As my character's defining fears were a) growing up and facing the challenges of moving into adolescence and b) making mistakes/being imperfect, the barn presented a perfect symbol for his childhood (which must be faced and ultimately left behind) and the place where he would make his biggest mistakes.

Whew. All that to say, the barn at the top of this post symbolizes all that for me, as well. When we left Willmar and moved to Kandiyohi the summer between my 2nd and 3rd grade year, part of my childhood remained behind. Interesting fact: They had turned the barn into a children's theater, which I never dared try out for.

Pop psych question of the day:  How much of my current love for live theater and even directing stems from a desire to get into that barn, to recapture my childhood, and to face my own fears?

Despite my firm efforts, I failed miserably in creating a character unlike myself.

Names

By the end of my week in Iowa at the summer writing conference, I had most of my characters on paper:

* My sixth grade superhero, Chase Benjamin Cooper. He is named for one of my favorite aunts, Margaret Wachtler (whose nickname is Chase), my brother Cheyne (whose middle name is Benjamin), and my great great grandpa Jan Kuiper (an Americanized version of the name; he was husband to the great great grandma I mentioned in the Off to Iowa post). Chase is pictured above, as drawn by the awesome Sean Tiffany.

* Chase's fifth grade sister, Addy. At the time, I didn't know anyone named Addy. Now I do. Hi, Addi! Anyway, that drew me to the name. I wanted Chase and his sister to be close in age to rev up their conflict early in the story. Learning to be nice to his sister is one of the story's main lessons. Brothers and sisters should be on the same team.

* Chase's preschool brother, Charlie. Because I've never taught a Charlie I didn't like.

* Chase's photographer mother, Leigh. Named for my sister (middle name, again).

* Chase's best friend, Johnny Li-Larsen. He was always Johnny, named for a great grandfather on my Mom's side. His last name changed several times over the years... I eventually settled on Li-Larsen because I wanted him bi-racial and "Li-Larsen" reminds me of my friend Kevin.

* Chase's friend Kat. Mary Katherine Nathan. I have two wonderful cousins named Katherine, so that was an easy call. And not only is Nathan my baby bro, it is one of my very favorite words to say.

* Chase's father, Will. Despite the name having been used for a main character in a famous novel (Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier), I stuck with it. You can guess in the comment section where the name came from. (It's not a hard one.)

What I didn't have was a villain. And what good is a superhero tale without a great villain?

Off to Iowa

In the summer of 2007, I decided to go on vacation -- to Iowa.

I signed up for a class at The Iowa Summer Writing Festival, booked myself into a bed and breakfast, packed up the S-10, and off I went. The class was lead by Sandra Scofield and was titled "Writing the Coming of Age Story."

I had the itch to write, but was intimidated by all the amazing authors on my library shelves. I thought starting with a YA novel, by and about younger people, would simplify the whole process of getting words on paper.

Right.

Writing is hard work, no matter the subject or audience. And writing for younger people presents challenges akin to writing poetry. There is no room for superfluity. Beauty is expected.

In any case, my classmates were wonderful and Sandra was inspiring. As I listened to my fellow writers defend their autobiographical plots, I realized that I didn't want my story to be about me. I'd pick a main character as unlike me as possible. So I scrapped the story I'd been tossing around in my head, the one about my great great grandmother's journey to homestead in MN, and picked up that seed of an idea about getting superpowers. My character would be male. He'd be young. He'd get superpowers. In short, this would not be an autobiography.

It turns out when you write from your heart, when you write something true, it's all autobiography.

My Inspiration

The seeds of the novel Super Power of the Day were sown by NPR, specifically This American Life episode 178. Even more specifically, the John Hodgman spot "Invisible Man vs. Hawkman." The story posed this question: Which is better, the power of invisibility or flight?

Ten years later, I remember exactly where I stood as I listened. I remember wondering why superheroes were limited to one or two special powers each. I remember my final answer to the question: Why just one?

Welcome!

After five summers of writing and revising, Super Power of the Day is almost ready to go to the printer. I have intended all along to share my journey on this project, but never sat down to get started.

It's time.

Here we go!