Book Tour & Launch Party Pics

I promised pics. But I won't mind if you don't check them out. They are probably much more interesting to me than anyone else.

At Brockbank Elementary, during my second day of school visits.

I love how many of the kids have great ideas when we are making up the plot for a story.

Three of my helpers with their posters.


Before the launch party begins.


Thank goodness people are buying books!


Not quite Stephenie Myer lines, but the line was there pretty much through the whole event!

My littlest guy serves cupcakes

I signed over 400 posters

Cool cupcake cakes, huh?

That's me and Paul from Barnes and Noble. I'm being interviewed by the local news.

The Big Day!

I know that yesterday was the official launch, but today feels like the day. This is where I find out if anybody comes to the launch party. The good news is that I’ve already pre-sold one book, as a teacher gave my wife a check to buy one. Later today I’ll give you more info about yesterday’s school visits (I signed shoes!), today’s launch party, and all the stuff I’ve missed. (Like, say, all my other blog tour stops!) Wish me luck.

And let me pass on my best wishes and prayers to the people of Texas. I hope you and yours are all safe.

Craziness

I know I have been the most absentee blogger of all time lately. And considering how much I like to blog and keep you all updated, this tells you how crazy busy things have been. I keep saying, “Things will calm down a little once . . .” Once I get my ARCs sent out, once I get my interviews done, one I get my school presentation done, once my launch party is over.

You get the idea. I’ve got so much I want to talk about, but it just seems like I never have time to sit down and type, and when I do, it’s usually trying to meet the deadline on Land Keep.

But I really want to tell you what’s been going on, and I promised I’d give you a glimpse inside launching a new series. So here goes.

First of all, the books have hit store shelves pretty much everywhere. I have reports from Barnes and Nobles in several states, pretty much all the local stores, and even a Costco here in Utah that had an entire shelf of Farworld books. Here’s a picture I took in a local bookstore. Even people who have ordered from Amazon have reported receiving their books in the mail. If you have read water Keep and haven’t posted a review yet. Jump over and post if you have a chance.

Also as most of you have probably seen, the new website is up http://www.readfarworld.com/. There are several things we need to get added and fixed, but the designer had gallstones or kidney stones. Anyway, some kind of stones. So that got slowed down a little. But I love the look and feel they gave it, and I’m excited we could get elements like the forum, the blog, the teacher section, etc.

One of the things I feel very strongly about is that a web site should be community oriented. It’s cool to have the first chapters of the book, the map, the characters, etc. But it’s even cooler to have a site that is updated regularly. A place where I can talk with other readers and writers about books, publishing, school visits or whatever. I can’t stand static web sites. So I really appreciated all the support I got from Patrick, Chris, and the rest of the SM marketing team.

The next thing we went to work on was the PP slides and the overall school presentation. This was a very tricky thing to nail just right, because we wanted to create a presentation that would keep kids as young as Kindergarten entertained, but would also be educational for kids as old as sixth grade. Not an easy task. I wanted to focus on three main areas: encouraging kids to read, teaching the basics of plotting a story, and reminding the students that they all have magic inside them, and even though they are young, they can accomplish great things. Of course I wanted to sell some books along the way, since my publisher is providing bookmarks and paying for travel expenses. But I didn’t want it to feel like a commercial for Farworld.

I think we succeeded in creating the right presentation. But then it was up to me to take it on the road. And the day to start visiting schools came up much faster than I expected. In fact today was day one. So let me give you a recap of how may first day of school visits went.

Wednesday night, I went over my presentation what seemed like a dozen times. I checked the props for my magic trick and printed out my maps. I went to bed late, but figured I was all set—especially considering that my first assembly wasn’t until 9:30. Of course this morning I woke up and instantly realized all the things I had forgotten. I needed three 8 ½ by 11 cards for my plotting game. Where was the poster board? I couldn’t find the memory card for the camera. I needed to make a couple of last minute changes to the power point slides. Suddenly it was 9:00 and I hadn’t even loaded everything into the car. Fortunately it was a short drive to the school but I got there only a few minutes before 9:30. Fortunately they had everything set up. Unfortunately it takes a long time to get 900+ kids into a gym.

That’s right 900+! What an exciting way to start out my school presentation career. And let me just say the students of Spanish Oaks Elementary are awesome. They were doing this handclapping singing thing that could have landed them a gig on Letterman. And all the kids took part while the rest filed in. The younger kids were on the floor in the first 2/3rds of gym and the older kids brought their chairs in and sat in the back.

Unfortunately the wireless mouse I thought would let me remotely change slides wouldn’t work more than like two feet from the computer. Fortunately, my lovely and talented wife Jennifer was there to help me out. Doing the presentation was amazing. You can’t imagine how cool it is to have 900 kids laughing their heads off and taking part in all the games.

One thing I quickly realized however was that some parts of my presentation were taking too long, and others needed a little more detail. Also, since Jen didn’t know the PP slides, we were a little out of sync. I also need to buy myself a wireless hand microphone so I can get to the back of a large group of students when asking or taking questions. But I had a ball, and hopefully the students did too.

The second thing I learned was that you should never schedule two schools fifteen minutes apart no matter how close they are. That does NOT work. Because I showed up only a few minutes before 9:30, and because it took about fifteen minutes to get all the kids in the gym and get started, I finished my presentation just about the time that I had to start the next one.

Again, much thanks to Mrs. Savage who helped me shove everything in the car and race to the next school. Canyon Elementary was especially fun because it is just around the corner from my house, so I know many of the kids. It was a slightly smaller group because it was just the 3rd through 6th grade. Also, my wife and I were much more in sync. The kids and I had a lot of fun making up a story about a magical giant boy who was ugly but quite friendly. Everyone was very nice and one boy even asked me to sign his forehead. I had to decline on the basis that I thought his mother would kill me. He suggested the back of his hand, but I set a firm rule of not signing any body parts.

From 11:15 to 1:20 we had a slight break. I was hoping it would be a relaxing hour and a half. But another emergency jumped up to bite us. Along with bookmarks, we were handing out invitations to my launch party which is Saturday at the Spanish Fork Library. (More about that later in the post.) But when we checked the box, we realized we’d given out nearly all of them. Quickly we called FedEx Office (formerly FedEx Kinkos) and begged them to make more invitations by 1:00. They came through like champs.

Breathing a sigh of relief, we e-mailed them our file (Thanks for sending it to me, Keith!), and headed to lunch at a local restaurant called Magelbys Fresh. Blacked chicken-stuffed breadsticks were exactly what we needed. Then we rushed off to pick up the invitations and head to East Meadows Elementary. One other thing I learned (are you sensing a trend here?) is in setting up the tour, we didn’t pass along the information that we needed a screen, power cord, etc, clearly enough—or it didn’t get to the right people. Everyone was great about getting things set up, but most weren’t expecting a projector. This was especially an issue because the last two presentations were only 30 and 35 minutes long, and again only twenty minutes between assemblies.

We had a ball though. Part of the presentation is a game where the kids try to guess the elements of a story by asking yes and no questions. What they don’t realize until later is that they aren’t guessing the story at all, but actually making it up. This can have some pretty funny consequences. In this case, we came up with the story of a fifteen-year-old girl with a goatee who was saving animals from a bunch of bad guys.

Again, we had a great time but ended up late to the next school, Larson Elementary. And now there was no wiggle room, because we were right up against the end of the school day. Let me tell you, that was the fastest school presentation I have ever done. But we got through everything—including the story of an orphan boy fighting an evil magician. Afterward, I had tons of kids come up and ask me questions. These kids knew their authors. One was very impressed that I knew Brandon Mull. An aspiring author told me that K.L Fogg had told her about a book that you needed to buy to get an agent or a publisher, but she couldn’t remember the name of the book.

“Writers Market?” I suggested.

Her whole face lit up. “Yes, that’s exactly it!”

She promised to come by my forum and ask lots of writing questions. I even know what her user name will be, so I am looking forward to hearing from her. Lots of students thanked me. And many promised to come to the launch party on Saturday. And let me tell you, talk about polite kids. As Jen and I were starting to carry our things out the back door, several students came up at the same time. The oldest boy held open the door, and said to the other kids. “Stand back, let the grown ups come through.”

What a great time we had! I have to give a huge shout out to the students, teachers, and staff of Spanish Oaks, Canyon, East Meadows, and Larson. You were all great. Thanks for putting up with this neophyte and making my first day such an incredible experience!

Finally the day was over. We picked up our own boys from their school, (I go there tomorrow), and headed to my parents’ house for sub sandwiches, swimming, and games. A great way to end the day. (Okay, actually I’m ending the day by writing this blog and then putting each of the schools stories on my forum like I promised, but that’s beside the point.)

What did I learn today?

1) Schedule each school at least 30 minutes apart minimum. You need some wiggle room.
2) Call the schools in advance and make sure they are aware of what you need.
3) On the way to my parents, I bought a good Targus clicker, since Jen won’t be with me tomorrow.
4) I couldn’t do it today, but before the two week tour I will buy a hand held cordless microphone. It is essential if you are going to interact with the older kids who are generally sitting in the back of the gym.
5) Kids love to laugh. I am keeping track of what parts of the presentation made them laugh the most and making sure I keep those parts in.
6) Tell things in your own words. As soon as you start to read your presentation, kids start to squirm. I’m not saying kids don’t like to be read to, but if you try to read a book or even a section of a book to 900+ kids, you will start to lose them.
7) However kids love to hear about your story. You should have seen their eyes light up when I told them about the bad guy who captures Marcus and turns into a giant black snake. They ate that up.
8) If you are going to do school presentations, start close to home. I can’t imagine how much more stressful this would have been if I’d been trying to pull this whole thing off by myself on the road.
9) Finally, kids are awesome! They tell it like it is, but they are so willing to take part in any activity. It made my heart swell to hear a whole gym full of kids shout, “The most powerful magic is inside ME!!!” Let me just say that despite what you might hear, our country is going to be in good hands in the future.
10) And that is a huge credit to the great teachers we have. These students were so sharp and creative. There is no doubt in my mind that their teachers are doing an incredible job in panting great seeds in these fertile little heads.

So that’s it for day one. Tomorrow I hit three more schools. Brockbank, American Leadership Academy, and Riverview. I think I’ll have things more under control. Of course at the same time, my wife and I are finalizing everything for the big launch party on Saturday. Which brings me to my last point.

If you are anywhere near Utah County, COME!!!!! It’s going to be a great party. We have a local barbeque place serving free barbeque sandwiches. We have four Farworld cakes that are actually made of cupcakes. We’ve got free posters, free sodas and chips, drawings. We’re selling and signing books. And twenty percent of the proceeds go to the Spanish Fork library.

Here are the details.

Where: Spanish Fork Library
49 S Main StSpanish Fork, UT 84660(801) 798-5010

When: Saturday, September 13th 12:00-3:00

We’ve advertised this like crazy. We’ve sent out notices in all the Spanish Fork utility bills for the last month. I’m inviting something like 5,000 kids from eight schools. I’ve got family inviting everyone they know. And yet I still have nightmares of no one showing up. So come if you can. And cross your fingers if you can’t. Now I need to update my forum. Then get some rest.

More tomorrow.

School Visits and Another Question Bites the Dust

Okay. One school presentation down. Hopefully, many, many more to go. (I actually have a tentative tour schedule for the first two weeks after my book comes out, but can?t post anything until it?s firm.)

So how did it go? Great!

The presentation was at American Leadership Academy, a local charter school. It was a ball. I was presenting to all ages?from grandparents to little babies?but mostly focused on the K-8 graders. I took part with three other authors. Jessica Day George, KL Fogg, and Mathew Buckley. All three of them were great. I had a few minor mishaps in my presentation (the projector remote that they couldn?t get to work and the magicians top hat that only wanted to pop up on one side.) But all in all I thought it came off pretty well. Here are a couple of pics. Looking forward to doing a lot more of these.

This is one of my two assistants "breaking" my good wand. Now I have to go all the way back to Diagon Alley to get a new one.

This is me offering him an alternative. What you don't think a rubber chicken the shrieks wildly when you squeeze it would make a good wand?

On another note, Deren asked me the following question ?. . . . to be thrilling, the reader needs to know what's at stake (otherwise the action is meaningless). But in order to know what's at stake the reader needs to understand the fantasy world (which interferes with the action). The problem of finding the right mix of action and information isn't unique to fantasy, but it seems that a fantasy author walks a finer line because of the additional burden of revealing information about a new world.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about striking that balance in general and some of the specific things you did in Farworld (insofar as you can do so without giving away too much.)?

Good question, Deren. And especially applicable to YA and MG fantasy. In adult fantasy (No adult fantasy cracks here. I?m referring to series like Stephen R. Donaldson?s and Robert Jordan?s.) you can spend more time on describing the world and building up to the action. In fact, the reader expects you to give them detailed descriptions of the world they are entering.

YA and MG novels don?t give you that luxury as an author. In fact, I think that?s why so many adults enjoy YA novels even more than novels supposedly written for ?adults.? They know a good YA novel will get them into the action quickly and keep the story moving and entertaining all the way through. The most common complaints I hear about YA novels is when they don?t get moving fast enough.

So how do you get around the problem of describing a new world without slowing down the story? First, you try to describe on the fly. For example I have Kyja approaching a tower in the center of town. I could take the time to describe everything she sees, or I could put the description into the context of action. For example:

Kyja raced onto a footbridge and over a burbling creek, ignoring the tiny golden
fish that leaped from the water and buzzed about her head before splashing back
again.

Past the bridge, the flagstone path wound in a spiral up a steep
hill to the base of the tower. Every hundred yards or so, a golden fountain
sprayed colorful patterns of water?one in the shape of a fish, another, a giant
eye that stared balefully at anyone who passed. Between the fountains, statues
of Westland?s most famous wizards and warriors guarded the grounds with stern
expressions.

Visitors to the tower were to stop at each fountain and
wash their hands?purifying themselves before meeting with a member of the
council or the High Lord himself. But Kyja had no time for such niceties. She
cut directly up the side of the hill, ignoring the blades of royal grass that
shouted, ?Keep off! Keep Off!? and ?No trespassing!? in their tiny high-pitched
voices.

From their spots along the path, the statues turned and gave her
dark scowls. But she ignored them too. As frightening as the statues looked,
they couldn?t actually tattle on her. And by the time the groundskeepers got up
in another hour, the grass would have forgotten all about her transgression.

At the top of the hill, she leaned against the cold, smooth wall of the
tower, panting. After catching her breath, she hurried up the white marble steps
and through the entryway, while Riph Raph broke off and soared up into the sky.
Just inside the massive gate, she stopped and curtsied to a stern looking guard.
?Eggs for the kitchen.?

Look at how much information I present here, without stopping the action. Kyja races across the bridge, cuts up the hill, and rests against the wall. Yet, hopefully, I?ve created a somewhat vivid picture in your head of what things look like. By using a little internal monologue, I can also pass on some other interesting points. The paragraph that starts ?Visitors to the tower,? uses a technique called implied history. The reader imagines years and years of visitors passing the fountains and statues, which makes it seem more real.

The problem is, that only works for so long. I?m actually walking a fine line here. These are things Kyja sees all the time. The longer she is in a land she?s familiar with, the more difficult it is to describe things which would be new to the reader, but old news to her. Of course, that?s why we put characters into a world they are unfamiliar with. If I bring someone to Farworld who has never been there before, I can have him discover new things along with the reader. Likewise if Kyja were to end up on Earth. Lots of room for fun discoveries.

As much as I?d like to never pass on information though, there is almost always going to come a time when the source of wisdom must tell the protagonists what?s going on. Think of the scene in Lord of the Rings where Frodo wakes up in the Elven city and Gandalf tells him about the rings. Or even earlier when he sends him on the quest. The key here is to make the story interesting and to keep it from being an infodump.

Your comment about striking a balance is really what it?s all about. Show me cool new things, let me discover the world along with the protagonist, but do it while keeping the action moving forward. The best way I?ve heard of doing this is to give your readers a red pen and ask them to mark any sections of your manuscript where their minds start to wander. I know you will put down my book at some point to eat or sleep. But I want to make sure you don?t put it down to watch I Love Lucy reruns.

Make sense?

Marketing Part III?Finding the Magic

When I was in eighth grade, my family moved from Pleasant Hill, CA to New Providence, New Jersey. I soon met another boy my age who lived just down the street. He was seriously into rock and roll, and introduced me to a lot of the groups I came to love. He also taught me the basics of playing the bass guitar. One day I asked him what kinds of books he liked to read.

I have to stop here for a minute to point out how important books have been in my life. Some kids played sports, some played musical instruments. Some kids spent all their time watching TV, or in generations after mine, playing computer or video games. Some kids spent all their time at the movie theater. I spent not all my time, but a great deal of it, with books. I actually used to cut school to go to the library. (Not suggesting that at all Brian and Anna!) The point is, I grew up surrounding myself with all the books I could get my hands on. That?s why I was beyond shocked when my friend told me he didn?t read books. Not that he couldn?t read them?he was fully capable of reading?he just didn?t like to.

That very day, I gave him a copy of S.E. Hinton?s classic novel of rival gangs, ?The Outsiders.? I remember coming to his house a few days later. The first words out of his mouth were, ?I had no idea anyone wrote books like this.? Within the month, he?d read every Hinton book published at the time and was looking for other books to read as well. I don?t know if reading those books changed his life or not. We moved a few years later. But I do know the statistics about kids who read vs. kids who don?t, and let me tell you they are astounding. Do a little research on the effects of literacy and you?ll be amazed.

Here I am, thirty plus years later, with the incredible opportunity of making a full time living writing the very kinds of books I loved to read as a kid (and still do for that matter.) It seems to me, I have not only the opportunity to share the?I was going to say importance, but that?s the wrong word. To share the love of reading with kids who think the only thing that can hold their attention comes on a screen or a monitor.

Fortunately, my publisher feels the same way. When my book comes out, they will send me on a two week tour of schools all across the country. In addition, they will send me to even more schools throughout the course of the year. Every one of their YA fantasy authors has the opportunity to do this. In addition, each of the authors brings a unique message all their own. James Dashner calls his tour the ?Change the World Tour.? Brandon Mull?s tour focuses on using your imagination. I?m planning on calling my tour the?and this shouldn?t surprise anyone here??Find Your Magic Tour.?

My publisher will probably shoot me for this, but I?m going to post a small section of my book. Since I haven?t received my final edits yet, this could change. But I?ll take my chances. I want you to understand a little of why I call this blog, the Find Your Magic blog and why my tour will focus on the same thing. Here?s a little snippet from Farworld?Water.

Master Therapass glanced suspiciously up at Riph Raph, and the skyte quickly averted its big yellow eyes. ?Come, little one, and sit.? The wizard pointed a finger at Kyja?s chair and she reluctantly took a seat.

The old man stroked his long gray beard, his face crinkled in thought. ?Kyja,? he said softly. ?A horse may wish to fly. And it may briefly be able to launch itself into the air. But shortly it must return to land again. A duck may wish to carry a melody like a song bird. A goat may wish to swim beneath the waters. But ultimately, every animal, plant, even the rock in the field, must accept what it is, and in doing so, fulfill the measure of its creation.?

Kyja could feel her lips trembling as her eyes began to fill with tears. ?You?re saying I should quit trying? Just give up??

?Is casting spells really so important?? he asked, his deep brown eyes mirroring the pain in her glistening green ones.

?Yes!? Kyja cried leaping from her chair. ?Everyone has some magic. Cooks, farmers, blacksmiths. Babies turn their rattles into sweets. Mothers command scrub brushes to wash their children. Even plants and animals have magic.?

?Everyone but you.?

?Exactly!? Kyja began pacing about the room. ?I?m an outcast. It?s not bad enough I can?t do magic. But I can?t even take part in the magic the other kids do. Charms don?t work on me, spells bounce off, potions might as well be water for all the good they do me. I can?t play in any of their games.?

Master Therapass traced his boney fingers across the surface of the table. ?Don?t you see, little one? The very fact that magic does not affect you makes you special.?

?Not special?strange.? Kyja said, unable to stop the tears from dripping down her cheeks. ?Do you have any idea how I feel when the other kids make fun because I can?t do spells? They laugh behind my back and call me halfwit. They say I have to live in a barn because I?m as dumb as a cow. I don?t want to be different. I want to fit in.?

She waved her hand up at Riph Raph. ?Even he has . . .? Sudden understanding dawned on her as she stared up at the little skyte. ?It was you, wasn?t it? You were the one who made my hairclip move.?

Riph Raph tucked his head under his wing in shame. ?I?m sorry,? he said, his voice muffled. ?I just wanted to help. I was watching you try so hard. And I was concentrating with you. And suddenly . . .?

?Ohhhh,? Kyja cried. She dropped into her chair, burying her face in her arms. ?I?ll never be able to do magic. Never!?

?There, there.? The old wizard hobbled around the table and laid his hand gently upon the back of Kyja?s head. When her sobs changed to sniffles, he took her chin in his knobby fingers and raised it so she was looking into his eyes.

?Listen to me,? he said, his face dark and serious. ?You are right. Everything does have magic in it. From the smallest insect to the mighty trees of Before Time.?

Kyja looked up at him miserably. ?But not me.?

Master Therapass smiled. ?Even you, little one. But magic is not just spells. The magic you see on the outside?making pots and pans fly or brewing potions to make boys swoon before you?is but a tiny fraction of the power of true magic. The real power of magic lies within you. Who you are, what you do, and most importantly of all, what you may become.?

Kyja wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. ?You really think I might have some magic inside me then??

The wizard nodded. ?I know it.?

There you have it. The first public posting of any content from Book 1. If you see Lisa or Chris, we?ll just keep this quiet. But hopefully this will give you a small taste of a theme that seems to keep coming back in the book, and I?m sure in the series, although I didn?t intend that when I started writing. Every one of us has magic inside. I know that sounds corny, but I believe it wholeheartedly.

I can?t sing if my life depends on it, but when I listen to someone with a beautiful voice sing, it feels like I?m witnessing magic. When you see a painting that seems so incredible you can?t believe anyone made it with their own hands, tell me a part of you deep inside doesn?t believe some kind of magic had to be involved. Those are big examples, but little acts of magic happen around us all the time. One little kid cheering another kid up. A girl discovering she can play the flute. A boy discovering he stinks at kickball but is good in drama.

That?s the message I want to take to kids all across the US, and hopefully across the world. Every one of you has magic inside. All you have to do is start looking for it and eventually you?ll find it.

Of course this is still marketing. I?ll be selling books along the way. That?s what pays for the tour. But in way, that?s a kind of magic too. Because people buying books provide enough money that I can go to even more schools and spread the message to more kids. All of you have magic inside you and what better way to discover what it might be than reading books about different people in far away places.

I?m sure there must be a better job than writing books and telling kids how great they are, but if there is, I can?t imagine what it would be.