Michaela MacColl, Author of Rory's Promise

Today we are very excited to have Michaela MacColl author of Rory's Promise guest blogging for Middle Grade Minded!

Thank you for having me at Middle Grade Minded! Rosemary and I appreciate your hosting of the Rory’s Promise blog tour.

Rory’s Promise is the first book I’ve written deliberately for Middle Grade. (My second novel, Promise the Night (Chronicle, 2011) ended up being marketed as middle grade but I didn’t know that was what I was doing!) But Rory is the first book in our Hidden Histories series designed for middle grade about odd, frankly baffling but still true incidents in American history.

Rory’s Promise is about a particular orphan train that brought 40 Irish kids under the age of 6 to the remote territory of Arizona.  The Sisters of Charity in New York City had placed thousands of children in homes specially chosen for them by local priests around the country. But they’d never ventured as far as Arizona and they were completely unprepared. 

From 1853-1929 over a quarter million children were transported from East Coast cities to the rural Midwest.  Many of the kids were Irish orphans.  Most of the trains were run by the Christian Aid Societ y who would bring the kids into town and let families choose whomever they wished.  Many children ended up as indentured servants although many were also formally or informally adopted. The Sisters of Charity hated this process; they wanted these children to become part of Catholic families.  They sent out children that were too young to work on the farms and they only sent them to Catholic families.

Clifton Arizona was a mining town. The run-off from the copper mines kept women from bearing children – the rate of miscarriages for white families was ¼ and twice that for Mexican families. The women in this town were desperate for children. When the orphan train rolls in the white women assume the children are available for the taking. They are shocked and dismayed to learn that not only are the children already allocated they are destined for Mexican families.  The local priest was from France and didn’t understand the social and economic chasm that existed between the Mexican mine workers and the white supervisors. 

The white families are so appalled that they kidnap/rescue the first batch of 20 kids that are delivered to the Mexican families.  Only after several violent outbreaks (during which the priest is run out of town and the nuns are threatened), did the nuns negotiate a deal to return to NYC with half the children, leaving the kidnapped/rescued kids behind. The nuns went to court, assuming that as the legal guardians of the children that their case was iron-clad. They did not reckon with the local prejudice against Mexicans. The court decided that the children had been saved from a fate worse than death – because everyone knows that Mexicans could not raise white children.

Baffling right?  In Rory’s Promise we want to show how all the parties in this crazy situation were absolutely convinced that they were morally justified. From a modern perspective, this can be difficult. So we’ve created a character who wades into this story with her own unique opinions and a moral center of her own. Meet Rory Fitzpatrick.

Orphan Rory Fitzpatric is determined to stay with her little sister Violet, by any means necessary.  When Violet is sent West, Rory stows away on the train. When all hell breaks loose in Arizona, only Rory has the freedom of movement (since she’s not even supposed to be there) and the clearsightedness to convince the Sisters to cut their losses and retreat. In the meantime, Rory has to decide what kind of life she wants and what does family really mean.

I hope you enjoy Rory’s Promise – you can enter below to win a copy!  For more information check out the trailer or my website at www.michaelamaccoll.com.
 

Twelve-year-old orphan Rory Fitzpatrick lives with her younger sister Violet at New York City's Foundling Hospital in the early 1900s. But when Rory discovers that Violet will be sent to the Arizona Territory to be adopted, her world is shattered. Although too old to be adopted herself, Rory--brave and smart--is determined to stay with her sister, even if it means hiding out on a train traveling west. When Rory and Violet arrive in Arizona, everything that could go wrong does go wrong. Will Rory give up? This uplifting novel about the power of faith and the true meaning of family launches the Hidden Histories series, spotlighting little-known tales from America's past, and the children behind those stories. Includes authors' note and further resources.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Michaela attended Vassar College and Yale University earning degrees in multi-disciplinary history. Unfortunately, it took her 20 years before she realized she was learning how to write historical fiction. Her favorite stories are the ones she finds about the childhood experiences of famous people. She has written about a teenaged Queen Victoria (Prisoners in the Palace, Chronicle 2010) and Beryl Markham’s childhood (Promise the Night, Chronicle 2011). She is writing a literary mystery series for teens featuring so far a young Emily Dickinson in Nobody’s Secret (2013) and the Bronte sisters in Always Emily (2014).  She has recently begun a new series with Boyd’s Mill/Highlights called Hidden Histories about odd events in America’s past. The first entry in the series is Rory’s Promise and will be published in September 2014. She frequently visits high schools and has taught at the Graduate Institute in Bethel, CT.   She lives in Westport CT with her husband, two teenaged daughters and three extremely large cats.

Visit the other blog tour sites:

Friday, 9/19 - Kirby Larson blog (GUEST BLOG POST/GIVEAWAY)

www.kirbylarson.com

Mon 9/22 - Middle Grade Mafioso (BOOK REVIEW/GIVEAWAY)

www.middlegrademafioso.blogspot.com/

Tue 9/23 - Mother/Daughter Book Club (BOOK REVIEW/GIVEAWAY)

www.motherdaughterbookclub.com

Wed 9/24 - Middle Grade Minded (GUEST BLOG POST/GIVEAWAY)

www.middlegrademinded.blogspot.com

Thu 9/25 - KidLit Frenzy (BOOK REVIEW/GIVEAWAY)

www.kidlitfrenzy.com

Fri 9/26 - Unleashing Readers (BOOK REVIEW/GIVEAWAY)
www.unleashingreaders.com
 

Why I Write Midde Grade - by Tom Mulroy

The thing is, I don’t really identify myself as a Middle Grade writer.

That I write Middle Grade doesn’t have a lot to do with my childhood, which is now so distant that recalling details about it is almost like remembering a story told from a third-person perspective. I know I was a voracious reader when I was young, from ‘The Hardy Boys’ to ‘Encyclopedia Brown’ to the huge hardcover collection of Greek myths in the school library, to the entire ‘Wrinkle in Time’ series eleven times over. But my childhood reading habits came and went in waves with widely discrepant amplitudes, and once I crossed the threshold into junior high I hit a dead end. My nonreaderness (take note, Internet -- I may have just coined and minted a new word right there) became so acute that I absolutely refused to read the minimum number of books required for completing the fill-in-the-blanks book reports I’d been assigned for one English class. But I was too much of a little teacher-pleasing toady to blow them off completely, so instead I invented a collection of fake novels, and finished all of my reports by creating the authors, titles, characters, plots, and settings I needed. After all, I figured, there were so many books in the world there was just no way my English teacher could have possibly known them all. I got away with it somehow too, either because my teacher didn’t put a lot of careful thought into grading or because he respected my audacity enough to let me off the hook.

If I’d been paying attention to anything other than my self-absorbed, sub-suburban, early-teenage angst, it might have occurred to me that taking any one of those ideas and writing the actual story to go with it could have been pretty cool to try. Writing finally caught up with me in high school, when I wrote stories about characters all remarkably similar to me and the people in my life as I tried to figure out my place in everything, all of which would now likely be categorized as YA. The stories evolved in college as I still wrote to figure things out, branching into what would now be NA.

So how does it happen that as a full-fledged grown-up I’m writing stories about kids? Pretty simple -- that’s who I teach. They’re the people I spend so much of my time with, and they greatly influence the perspectives through which I view the world. Each day I witness them doing and being everything from goofy to sublime to sublimely goofy. The constant discovery and surprise and innocence they carry with them, and how their emerging personalities are revealed along the way, is all too fascinating and rich with possibility to NOT explore.

I also see those kids as readers, and I know the power Middle Grade books can have. I’ve witnessed collections of ‘Goosebumps’ books held together with industrial-strength rubber bands and hauled around like prized literary bricks. Sorting through pre-ordered copies of ‘Wimpy Kid’ books on release day has become a November tradition for me. I’ve been involved in a decade-long grudge match with another teacher about the ending of ‘The Giver,’ and each year we’ll claim the students who agree with us like game pieces from a chessboard. In my years as a teacher, I’ve encountered Middle Grade books that have knocked me over with their beauty and humor and resonance. As a writer, that’s what I’m reaching for -- the books that pull kids in and keep them engaged, then have them thinking and dreaming long after The End.

I don’t exactly think of myself as a Middle Grade writer. Instead, I’m a writer who happens to live in a Middle Grade world.

And now that I’ve gotten my feet wet as a contributor here, it’s giveaway time! All the originals on the MG Minded team had giveaways with their introductory posts, so who am I to break tradition? I’m offering a critique of your query letter and the first three chapters of your manuscript -- middle grade or not, for whatever you may decide my opinion is worth. I’m no publishing expert but I am a teacher, so I have a wee bit of experience in telling people what’s good about their writing and suggesting things they could try differently. (See how positively I just framed that?)

But hold on, because it gets even better. My incredible agent, the one and only Carrie Howland, has generously offered to match my critique! You could actually walk away from this with a set of author notes and a set of agent notes, and trust me on this: Her notes are so incisively dead-on it’s almost a little spooky. If you’re interested, go ahead and click on that raffle thing below to enter, which Jamie assures me is going to work, and we’ll see what happens from there!

I know magic! It'll work ;) ~Jamie
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Hard-to-take critiques

Every new contest brings a lot of emotions. Some good, some not so good. Too many hopefuls are riddled with strong feelings of disappointment and heartache. Even worse are the ones that allow sticky feelings like anger to take over. 

What we do is so personal, so it’s very hard not take rejection personally.

Because no one likes to hear that they’re not on the right track, especially when the feedback we get was something we so didn’t expect.

First reaction: Denial.

“No, that’s not true. They just don’t get it. They’re WRONG!”

Yeah, maybe that’s true. They could be wrong. But you should never assume they’re wrong. There is always something important to learn from another person’s perspective. Even if it just means being prepared for more of the same perspective later.

Second reaction: Anger

"How could they say that? They’re just jealous fools! I hate them"

Sure, there are the occasional times where a critique isn’t fair. You hit a sore spot with a reviewer. They were in a REALLY bad mood when they read your work. They really like making people angry.

Or… maybe you’re just not thinking clearly. Maybe your own emotions are too high to really get it right now.

Third Reaction: Bargaining

“No, no! They just didn’t read it right. See this makes sense because I said this. If you knew this about my character you wouldn’t ever have thought that!”

Okay, now you’re just making excuses. It’s your job to make sure they are getting it. If they aren’t, there may be something you can do to fix that.

Fourth Reaction: Depression

"I suck. I’m horrible. I’m never going to get anywhere!"

No. You just have more to learn. There is ALWAYS more to learn.

All the above reactions are normal and natural, but they’re not rational. Sometimes the truth in those comments don’t sink in at first.

What you should do: Stop!

Do not react, at least not publicly. Let the words settle. ESPECIALLY when it comes from an agent or editor. DO NOT respond right away if you’re feeling any strong emotions.

Sometimes what you think is an acceptable response can come off way different when you’re upset. So just give yourself time to cope and accept it. Let yourself freak out, become angry, sad, whatever it is, on your own. THEN respond (or don’t, depending).

You are completely welcome to disagree with the feedback you received—so long as that is a rational response, after you’ve taken some time to understand what the review is really saying.

You might be able to guess the next step on the list of reactions of hard-to-take critiques. 

Reaction Five: Acceptance

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Acceptance can come in a lot of different forms. It doesn't just mean "Yes! They're totally right!" It could also mean, "Okay, I see why they said that. I just don't agree." or even, "I see what they're saying but I'm not sure I agree yet. Maybe I should get another opinion."

 

The point is taking a good long look at the feedback both to understand what the reader is really saying and to decide if it is really something you want to use. Not all critiques are correct. A lot of them are simply opinion. But so long as you are look the at feedback in a rational way, you are totally good to go.

This is where we all want to be. Rationally prepared to take on the critique and make ourselves better. Now it’s time to learn something!

Where are the Stakes?

No, not those kind of steaks, but they do look delicious. And no, I don't mean the vampire kind of stakes either. I'm talking about your story's stakes.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've done a fair amount of critiquing for Pitch Wars and Write on Con and the one thing I saw missing most often from queries were the stakes of the story. And here’s the thing, while it was one of the most common things left out, it’s probably one of the most important parts of a query or pitch.

So what do we mean when we say we want to know what the stakes of the story are?

In general stakes means answering one or more of the following questions:

What happens if your main character fails?

What is keeping your main character from succeeding?

Will something bad happen if they do succeed?

In more specific terms your answer to those questions shouldn't be something like saving the world, or death of your main character. Cause let's face it, the world almost always gets saved and your MC almost always lives. Those stakes aren't very exciting are they?

So really dig into your main character and think about what their deepest desires are in the story. What are they really trying to accomplish? And if they fail, how personal can you make the punishment? Is their family in harm’s way? Are they going to lose a best friend? A lover? An arm? Something else? Get creative here.

While certain death or the end of the world really sucks, they are pretty common catastrophes in books. If you really want the reader to connect and care about your character give them stakes that are super close to your main character's heart. When you break your main character's heart, you break the reader's heart too. And that's a character your reader will follow anywhere. So dig deep into your story and find those stakes.

Well close enough! What's at stake in your story?

 

Meet our New Bloggers!

Middle Grade Minded is growing! Meet our brand new bloggers!

Lara Chapman
Lara Chapman lives with her family in Central Texas, where she teaches high school English. She reads and writes daily and is rarely—if ever—found without her laptop and iPhone. Lara has a lifelong love affair with animals, especially daschunds, and always has an animal or two snuggled close when writing.

Lara is represented by the 100% magnificent Holly Root of Waxman Literary Agency. She is the author of FLAWLESS (YA) and her middle grade novel THE XYZs OF BEING WICKED released in July 2014. It's sequel, ACCIDENTALLY EVIL releases April 2015.

Follow Lara on Twitter (@LaraChapman) and be sure to visit her website.

Dan Gemeinhart
Dan Gemeinhart lives, breathes and sometimes eats middle grade lit, meaning that to adults he's kind of weird and to kids he's...well, kind of weird, but kinda fun, too. He lives with his lovely wife and three young daughters in a small town in the mountains of central Washington State. He serves on a state middle grade award committee, works as a K-5 teacher librarian, and writes middle grade books of his own. His debut middle grade novel, THE HONEST TRUTH, comes out from Scholastic Press in January 2015.

You can follow him on Twitter (@dangemeinhart), Instagram, or Facebook. His website bears the strikingly original URL of dangemeinhart.com. If you lived closer he'd buy you a drink.

Tom Mulroy
Tom has been an elementary teacher for about half of his life and a writer for even longer. When he isn't doing something related to school or writing, you'd probably find him listening to music, reading, watching movies or playing video games, which makes him about the same person he was at fourteen years old.

He lives in the suburban sprawl surrounding tropical Minneapolis, Minnesota. He thinks potatoes are hilarious, and his sense of humor is so dry that even he can't tell when he's being sarcastic.

Tom is represented by Carrie Howland of Donadio & Olson, Inc. Follow Tom on Twitter (@Tomulroy424) and be sure to visit his blog.




Jason A. Rust
Jason first realized he wanted to be a writer way back in Mrs. Rollin’s 3rd grade English class, when he would scribble fantastic adventure stories instead of paying attention to the class discussion of Flowers for Algernon. Somewhere along the way, though, he found out that writers mostly make peanuts and survive on weak coffee, imagination, bird seed, and disappointment. So he became a different type of writer for a living, the kind that writes source code for software. Middle age, though, found him once again dreaming up new worlds and needing to tell their stories. He’s been back to scribbling ever since.

A lifelong resident of Northern KY (just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati), when he’s not writing software now, he’s working on the latest fantastic adventure story to take root in his head. In between doing that, he endeavors not to make his wife too crazy or ruin his four children before they can reach the safety of adulthood.

Jason is represented by Danielle Smith at Red Fox Literary.

Follow him on Twitter (@jasonarust) and check out his blog, Puddintopia.