“Ah-ha” moments: writing quotes and comments from the Butler Children’s Literature Conference
At writer’s conferences, you take notes. Notes on creative writing skills, notes on marketing, notes on what a writer’s life is like.
But sometimes these award-winning, bestselling authors say something that resonates inside or gives an “ah-ha” moment. Here are a few from the 2008 Butler Children’s Lit Conference in Indianapolis:
Author Valiska Gregory:
- “Color, words, movement, sound: ordinary things of extraordinary value.”
Author & Illustrator Diane Stanley:
- “Good writing is clear thinking.”
- “Reading is how you learn what good writing sounds like.”
Editor Arthur A. Levine:
- “[In a good book,] I lose track of any sense that I’m reading fiction.”
- “Plot is the skeleton on which the substance of a book is hung.” (Referring to character and theme.)
Author Gary Schmidt:
- “How do we understand a world that’s berserk and weird? Through stories.”
- “Middle Grade and Young Adult novels are not about becoming an adult, but about turning your face to adulthood.”
Author Louise Borden:
- “We write by the light of every book we’ve read.”
