A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Gabrielle Linnell, celebrated Brave Writer author (she’s the extraordinary eight year old featured in The Writer’s Jungle whose story “The Adventuring Maid” is an example of wonderful prose at an early age) is up to her writing antics again. She’s already published, let’s see, how many? 1, 2, 3, 4, ….. 10 articles in her short 15 years. And now she’s publishing an e-zine for teens who want to write! She sent me her first issue and I want to share it with you here.

Now that’s a brave writer, don’t you think? (I have already made her promise to sign a copy of her first novel and send it to me when she’s famous.)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that teen writing is not socially acceptable.

I mean, what kind of weekend activity could be more embarrassing? “Hey, I skate-boarded.” “Hey, I shopped.” “Hey, I devoured three books on marketing and pasted four envelopes with submissions to hooty-tooty magazines?”

You see my point?

The problem that adult and teen writers face is that to be a writer is to dream about something, to leap for it. It’s not like you can go to School of Writing and graduate with a degree, so you’re “officially” a writer. Even real MFA graduate schools can’t guarantee that their students are prime storytellers. So, like most dreams, it’s embarrassing to talk about because if you do spill the beans, people are going to think you’re a little childish.

Thousands of kids dream of being writers. I guess there’s something enchanting about the word, about the creative process. Most of these same-said kids grow up and find different jobs, but some of us refuse to grow up. There are a few of us who take the dream and make it into something solid, like a copy of a magazine with your name on it. We’re not kids, we’re not grown-ups. We’re teen writers.

Innovative: (courtesy of dictionary.com)

1. ahead of the times; “the advanced teaching methods”; “had advanced views on the subject”; “a forward-looking corporation”; “is British industry innovative enough?” [syn: advanced]
2. being or producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before; “stylistically innovative works”; “innovative members of the artistic community”; “a mind so innovational, so original”

We don’t have the maturity of a sixty-year-old woman who has seen the world. We don’t have the naivete of a six-year-old writing for Stone Soup. But I think we can bring innovation to the literary world, “producing something like nothing done or experienced or created before.”

Welcome to Innovative. Innovative is an adjective. Innovative is also my new baby project, that you are embarking on with me. I’m specifically looking at how WriTeens work in publication. You have to love the metaphysical discussion of writing as art, but this is more writing-in-action.

I want to create something FOR the WriTeens, since there’s not a lot out there. I have never read a writing magazine for teenagers, about writing and the writing process. There are a few books, but nothing compared to the amount available for the big guys. So, to help fill in the blank, there’s Innovative.

How am I qualified to do this? I’m not sure that I am. I’ve been published multiple times (check me out at www.storytellermag.com) and writing since I was seven or eight. I love words, with a surpassing passion. I’m a teenager, who writes and attempts to do it with innovation.

And heck, this looks like fun.

nextweek: I take a look at Stone Soup Syndrome. What is it? Find out!

MARKET spotlight: KidMagWriters.com

KidMagWriters.com is a monthly e-zine for people who write for children’s and teen’s magazines, like an online support group. First of all, it’s great to read. I read it every month and almost always come away with ideas and market opportunities. But it’s also a very nice way to get published.

It’s a nonpaying market, but it’s a good clip* and as Ariel Gore, author of How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead, says, publish as much as possible. If you have an innovative thought about writing, or teenagers, or publication, see if it would fit in here.

WHO YOU TALK TO: Jan Fields, editor. [email protected]
WHAT YOU SEND: Essays and success/attempt/what-I-learned stories. No fiction. There is a niche in their submission guidelines for stuff about/for young writers.
DETAILS: www.kidmagwriters.com/others/rite4us.htm

*Clip: a published story/article/essay/poem, often requested by other magazines as proof you’ve been published and have writing ability. It’s like if my story gets published in Learn ABCs, I can print it out and then when big magazine Learn Alphabet Phonetically wants me to send my submission AND a “clip,” I can send (or CLIP!) my Learn ABCs story with it.

Bookshelf: The Young Writer’s Guide to Getting Published by Kathy Henderson.

YWG2GP is a classic every WriTeen should read. It covers the basic essentials of submissions and marketing, with some nice profiles and about one hundred markets. WARNING: The latest edition is several years old, so some magazines she lists are defunct. But the basics remain current.

~TIP!~
When you read magazines you like, read the bios of the articles’ authors. Usually they list other magazines where they’ve been published, like: Julie Joyce has been published in Innovative, Creative, etc.

innovative housekeeping:
To contact Gabrille to participate, contact me and ask me to forward your email to Gabrielle.

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