The Write Marbles
Aiming at Excellence in Writing for Children and Teens


 
 
 
Introducing Greg Pincus, a volunteer librarian, dad, and SCBWI member. He’s a talented writer of poetry and picture books,  who is also working on a middle grade novel for Arthur A. Levine Books. And, we have Greg to thank for bringing us the wonderful world of Fibs! To learn more about him, his Fibs, and other goings on inside his head (i.e. Oddaptations), be sure to stop by his blog, Gotta Book.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This month we’re celebrating our love of rhyme as The Write Marbles so, I’d like to start by asking, what is the best advice you've received for writing in rhyme?

Know your story OUT of rhyme so you'll be aware if you're ever changing plot points or repeating information or playing around just so that the rhyme sounds great. It's all about the story NOT the rhyme. The same is true for poems - it's not about the rhyme but about what you're trying to convey.

You're responsible for running a school library, and part of the includes reading stories out loud to students. Does this give you extra tools, for when it comes to sitting down and crafting your stories and poems? Could you share some other bonuses of working in this setting?

Having read hundreds of books aloud to an audience gives me a lot of extra tools, I think. First off, I've now got a sense of what “feels” right for a read-alouder (okay.. at least for this read-alouder). I can start to intuitively feel what works for the audience, too. Now when I write, I am better at avoiding pitfalls - length, convoluted structures, subplots that won't be effective, dragging pace - just because I've “felt” it happen before. It's also reinforced the importance of page turns in picture books, so I always examine my manuscripts with an extra eye on that (and since I'm blessed with 17 eyes, it's pretty easy for me).

The surprise (to me!) bonus from working in this setting is seeing kids and books interact - seeing how a good story can spark a child's imagination, seeing how they'll remember small bits from great books months and even years later, and therefore knowing that writing a good story really is worth it. Plus, when kids run up to me on the playground so they can tell me about something they've read… wellllll… come on! That's good stuff!


Do you have any Fib news you would like to share?

I am working on a novel in which there will be Fibs, and whenever I start to think that I'm the only one who deals with that oddball form, something pops up. For example, Fibs (and I!) were just featured on the Poetry Foundation website , and that's created renewed interest in Fibbery. We'll also be in Math magazine(a middle school publication from Scholastic, though they found me independently from my book deal there) very soon. It all remains utterly remarkable to me!


What do you do during those times when you do feel like you're losing your writing marbles? Maybe   words aren't rolling out of your head and onto the paper, or there is a massive muddle in the middle of a story that seems unfixable.   What do you do?

I talk to writing friends for support/advice. I read books that I know work to remind myself how it's done. I read random books and try to break them down to remind myself   how a story “should” work. I eat lots of  chocolate. And often, when a story is going badly, I work on something… ANYTHING… else. In fact, it's usually when I'm locked up on a story that I write most of my individual poems… and usually the feeling of   “success” I get from finishing a few of them is enough to help me get my marbles back in order.   And if all else fails, I eat even more chocolate!

Thanks, Greg, looking forward to your book coming out soon. And, let’s invite those who haven’t yet, to try their hand at a fib… or eight!