Second Sight:Â Annotated Table of Contents
The material in Second Sight is drawn from a number of talks, blog posts, and web features I’ve written over the last seven years — some of which have never appeared in print before, and all of which were revised extensively in the editing process. (In other words, if you read “The Art of Detection” on the web when it was originally posted, it will appear in an altered form within the book.) Here’s the full table of contents, with a line or two of description for each item. If you’d like a taste of the talks in the book, or my writing in general, please check out the Talks or Et Cetera pages, or my blog.
An Explanation of This Book. An introduction.
Manifesto: What Makes A Good Book? In which I talk about the relationship between emotion and writerly success.
Defining Good Writing (Possibly Sententious) In which I talk about the methods by which that emotion is created in literature.
Finding a Publisher and Falling in Love: A Convivial Comparison. My very first solo talk, and still one of my favorites:Â a comparison of the ways in which the query process is like dating.
The Annotated Query Letter from Hell. Please do not commit these errors.
An Annotated Query Letter That Does It Right. Do it this way instead. Includes the actual query letter for Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich‘s Eighth Grade Superzero.
The Rules of Engagement. Some methods for how to get and keep a reader involved in your novel, including a list of stylistic mistakes that knock me out of a piece of writing and an analysis of the first two chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Morals, Muddles, and Making It Through; or, Plots and Popularity. A somewhat philosophical talk on Aristotelian plots, middle school, morality in novels, outsider stories, and developing characters. Includes my fifth-grade school picture!
Manifest: A Character Chart. A worksheet for defining and rounding out your characters. To see why I chose the term “manifest” for these, read An Explanation of this Book.
Theory: A Definition of Young Adult Literature. What makes a book a young-adult book? I attempt to piece together an answer.
The Art of Detection: One Editor’s Techniques for Analyzing and Revising Your Novel. A long talk on editing and self-editing, including ten TRUCKs (Techniques of Revision Used by Cheryl Klein) and specific examples and documents from the editing process of So Totally Emily Ebers by Lisa Yee.
Manifest: The Plot Checklist. You can see this here, but to get a complete explanation of the terms, you’ll have to read the talk above and the Quartet talks below.
Four Techniques to Get at the Emotional Heart of Your Story. Before you can revise a book properly, you need to know what its central emotional arc is. These techniques help me figure that out for the books I edit.
Words, Wisdom, Art, and Heart: Making a Picture-Book Cookie. What elements go into a good picture book, and what problems plague the bad ones? I investigate these questions by writing, critiquing, revising, and photo-illustrating a picture book of my own, The Bad News Banana Cookies.
A Few Things Writers Can Learn from Harry Potter. A talk, given after the conclusion of the series, that discusses why the Harry Potter books succeeded so wildly with so many readers around the world. (Hint:Â It wasn’t just good marketing.)
Quartet: Introduction. The Quartet talks are a series of four talks discussing the four great elements of fiction, which all have equally important roles to play in the book:Â the Point (a.k.a. theme–but not exactly); Character, the figures whom the reader follows through the book; Plot, which is the structure of the action through which the reader (and oftentimes the protagonist) is brought to the Point; and Voice, the way in which the action is revealed. I analyze four books as examples in these talks:Â Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork; Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) by Lisa Yee; The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins; and Graceling by Kristin Cashore.
Quartet: Point. What do you want your book to accomplish?
Quartet: Character. Who is this person the reader is following? How can you make the reader care about them? What if you come up with a really cool plot concept first?
Manifest: A Character Creation Worksheet. Another approach to building characters and articulating their inner lives and drives.
Quartet: Plot. Three ways of thinking about plot:Â objective correlatives, a character-driven view, and classical plot structure. Includes numerous questions to prompt analysis of your own work, and a beat-by-beat breakdown of Chapter 3 of Marcelo in the Real World.
Manifest: The Character-Based View of Plot. From this perspective, plot = compulsion vs. obstacles (all credit to Laurie Halse Anderson for the phrase). What is your protagonist’s compulsion?
Manifest: Plot Types vs. Events. If you define your plot as a ________, how does that change its events?
Quartet: Voice. David Mamet said, “All art is where you put the camera.” This talk discusses the cinematographical elements of writing:Â Person, Tense, Prosody, and Personality.
Twenty-Five Revision Techniques. Twenty-five (actually many more) practical techniques you can use to get a new perspective on, analyze, and rewrite your book.
On the Author-Editor Relationship. To round the book out:Â a reflection on how I work with my authors.
Recommended Reading: Craft and Publishing
Index by Subject
Acknowledgements and Thanks
About the Author