#kendra levin

[mkjulian]

kendra x Ben Yuri again!

*Ben is standing and Kendra is sitting on a bench LOL*

[nanowrimo]

NaNo Prep: Four Character Archetypes that Can Help You Crush NaNoWriMo

November is just around the corner, and as we gear up to hunker down and write, we’re sharing advice from guest writers on how you can best prepare for a month of writing. Today, editor, author, and life coach Kendra Levin shares her favorite tips on using the classic Hero’s Journey to your advantage:

If you’re embarking on NaNoWriMo, you probably already know your way around the storytelling model of the Hero’s Journey. (If not, you can find out more about it here.) It’s a useful craft tool that can help you build a skeleton of a plot, gauge your pacing, and create characters inspired by its building-block archetypes like Hero, Mentor, Shadow, and more.

But the Hero’s Journey is also an amazing resource for finding ways to cope with the emotional ups and downs a month of writing can bring. Here’s how four character archetypes from the Hero’s Journey can help you get through NaNoWriMo and feel like a Hero doing it:  

The Herald

A messenger who issues the Hero’s call to adventure.

Prescription: The Herald is the patron saint of beginnings. Beginning can be the hardest part of writing a novel. I remember once asking a writer how his NaNoWriMo was going. “I’ve almost started!” he said brightly. It was Nov. 20.

Do this: On Oct. 31, set aside 15 minutes to sit or walk by yourself. Think about the project you plan to start the next day. What is your vision for it? Imagine a winged messenger appearing and telling you, “Here’s the story I need you to write: _________.” What would go in that blank? Jot down this vision for the project. While you’re at it, write a couple sentences of Chapter One. That way, when you sit down to start in earnest the next day, you won’t be facing that intimidating blank page—you’ll already have begun, with the help of the Herald.

The Mentor

A wise older character who gives the Hero advice, wisdom, and gifts.

Prescription: Tap into the Mentor when you reach a crossroads or a difficult decision in your writing or your process. Torn between plugging away at your novel and going outside and interacting with other humans for an evening? Two weeks into NaNo and unsure whether you can make it through the whole month? Ask the Mentor.

Do this: Take a moment to sit quietly. Ask yourself, What would my 90-year-old self say about this situation? Connecting with the older, wiser version of you can help you be your own Dumbledore.

The Trickster

A trick-playing character who subverts expectations, often with humor.

Prescription: Tricksters are all about revealing the silliness and surreal nature of life when everybody is getting way too serious. Find your inner trickster when you catch yourself acting like the novel you’re writing is the bus from Speed and you’re Sandra Bullock.

Do this: Take a whole day off from your novel. You heard me. That day, write something totally different and silly—a comedy sketch about soup, a collection of satirical limericks inspired by the day’s headlines, the script for a webisode about anthropomorphized office supplies. Let yourself recapture the fun and sense of play in writing and, the next day, bring that spirit back to your novel. In the process, you just might come up with some new and surprising ideas for your main project.

Allies

Loyal friends and comrades who help and support the Hero. 

Prescription: Nobody writes a novel alone—and there’s no reason you need to. It’s vital to have a community of Allies around you, whether online or IRL, fellow writers or just your personal cheerleaders, to help you get through the month.

Do this: Before November, find others who are participating in NaNoWriMo and set up a system for checking in with one another. If you don’t know anybody else who’s doing it, check out NaNo’s forums. Let other people in your life know that you’re doing NaNo, and don’t be afraid to ask them for support, encouragement, free babysitting—whatever you might need. When one of your Allies asks for your help, you’ll discover that doing NaNoWriMo is about more than just finishing your novel—it’s about being a Hero, to yourself and to others. And that’s a feeling that will last long after November ends.

Kendra Levin helps writers and other creative artists meet their goals and connect more deeply with their work and themselves. She is a certified life coach, as well as an executive editor at Penguin, a teacher, and author of The Hero Is You. Visit her at kendracoaching.com and follow her @kendralevin. To win a coaching session with Kendra by supporting NaNoWriMo, check out the Night of Writing Dangerously!

Top image by Hyrax Attax on DeviantArt.

[treasuretrovebooks-blog]

Book in the Spotlight: The Hero Is You: Sharpen Your Focus, Conquer Your Demons, and Become the Writer You Were Born to Be by Kendra Levin

“Imagine having your own personal mentor someone encouraging yet honest, supportive yet empowering, who could help you set and achieve your goals, turn your moments of doubt and fear into sources of strength, and discover what you re truly capable of when you re at your best. Kendra Levin is that mentor. And with this book, she’s here to help you do the best writing of your life and live your best life while doing it.”

Read the full synopsis here!

Visit Kendra’s website!

Get your copy of The Hero Is You by Kendra Levin! It’s the perfect guide for being a writer and is filled with great tips and tricks. Now available at Treasure Trove!

[lunastnquarterly]

Book Review: “The Hero is You” (Kendra Levin) Usually I review young adult and middle grade speculative fiction books here, but if I find a craft or craft-related book that I think is really worthwhile, I’ll add it to the mix.

[amytipton]

If you’re one of those writers who’s been meaning to start a journal for years but doesn’t get inspired by the idea of stream-of-consciousness-ing your thoughts each day, you're in luck—here are five solutions just for you.

EDITOR KENDRA LEVIN/PENGUIN GUEST BLOG POST!

[penguinteen]

You know that feeling when you’re trying to tell your friend why they should read the mind-blowing book you just finished and you have 10,000 reasons why but can’t seem to get them out fast enough? That’s Rebel of the Sands, a fantasy that readers are raving about because of its awesome heroine, desert setting, and blend of adventure, romance, and myth. Here to tell us why she knew this story would win countless hearts is its editor Kendra Levin!

I had to fight with eight other editors to get this book. Okay, it wasn’t a shooting contest in a dark saloon or a faceoff of guns against magic on a windswept desert plain—both of which you can find in Rebel of the Sands—but it got about as heated as fights get in the mostly friendly, polite world of YA publishing. And it ended with some tears and broken hearts afterwards.

I’m telling you this not to brag, but to explain why, from day one, I’ve felt so incredibly fortunate to get to be this book’s editor. Since author Alwyn Hamilton and I often communicate best with each other in gif form, this is how I felt when I found out I got to publish Rebel of the Sands:

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Why the freakout? Because I’d never read anything like Rebel of the Sands before. I’d never visited a place like Miraji, a kingdom that’s 80% Arabian Nights and 20% Wild West, where the sand finds its way under your skin and most girls wind up wed or dead before they make it past their teens. I’d never spent time with a heroine like Amani Al’Hiza, a badass girl whose addictive voice I couldn’t get out of my head. Watching her con, cajole, and shoot her way out of Dustwalk, her dead-end hometown, to escape from a nightmarish arranged marriage had me biting my nails every step of the way while rooting for her: 

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And then, when Amani met Jin, I was like: 

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He’s rakish, he’s sly, he’s daring. And most importantly, he pulls Amani up onto the back of a mythical horse so the two of them can gallop out of Dustwalk and into the mysterious and surprising heart of the desert she thought she knew.

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And that’s just the beginning. This book is about what happens when someone has been told, all her life, that her voice doesn’t matter, that she has no power and no rights. When you’ve been treated that way since childhood and then finally discover that the world is so much bigger than you ever imagined, and that you’re capable of so much more than anyone was willing to admit…well, no spoilers, but Amani does a lot more than change her hairdo:

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Thanks Kendra!

Read the first chapters of Rebel of the Sands here!

[penguinteen]

Today we’re thrilled to welcome Kendra Levin to our Penguin Teen Behind the Book feature! Does her name sound familiar? It should! Kendra has edited the books you grew up reading – including the Cam Jansen series by David Adler, Susane Colasanti’s young adult fiction, and Nancy Carlson’s picture books. We all know she has good taste – and great editing skills – and her latest collaboration is Katherine Longshore’s Brazen. Read on to find out why Kendra decided to delve into historical fiction!

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I never liked historical fiction.  When literary agents and writers at conferences asked me about my taste, trying to get a sense of what manuscripts they should send me, I always responded that I liked most genres but “no high fantasy with dragons and wizards and no historical fiction.”  Most submissions set in the past that had come my way featured clunky exposition and seemed determined to force kid and teen readers to LEARN, which was a real turn-off for me.  Most historical fiction that had crossed my path struck me as boring.  Readers, I felt, deserved to be entertained and inspired, and as a result, I figured the genre just wasn’t for me.

Katherine Longshore changed all that.

When I read Gilt, the first of Longshore’s three companion books set in the Tudor Court, I couldn’t believe how absorbed I was by the story.  Sure, it was rich with period detail—lots of jewels, gowns, and codpieces—but it was the characters and their travails that I really fell in love with.  Katherine has this incredible way of making the lives of people hundreds of years ago feel as fresh and relevant as the news in this morning’s gossip columns.  In her hands, historical figures turned into lovable and flawed friends, enemies, and lovers that a reader in any era could relate to.  Growing apart from your best friend, falling in love with the wrong person, learning to stand up for yourself—these universal experiences could take place in any setting where there are people sharing the world.  And getting to know the intricacies of the complex society of the Tudor Court, with its strict codes of behavior, seasonal rituals, and vast network of spying, subterfuge, and secrets turned out to be…well, anything but boring!

By the time we had worked on three books together—Gilt, Tarnish, and my favorite, Brazen—I had accidentally learned a great deal about Tudor history while being entertained and inspired by the exploits of Catherine Howard, Anne Boleyn, and Mary FitzRoy.  And I had been cured of my allergy to historical fiction, going on to sign up aScarlet Letter-inspired novel (All the Truth That’s in Me by Julie Berry) and a trilogy set at a boarding school in the 1910s (the Blythewood novels by Carol Goodman). 

Could wizards and dragons be far behind?

- Kendra Levin, Senior Editor, Viking Children’s Books

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Thanks, Kendra – we can’t wait to add Brazen to our bookshelves!

Order your copy of Brazen!

Add Brazen to your “to-read” shelf on Goodreads!

Interested in Gilt? Order it here!

How about Tarnish? Order it here!