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1/10/05 7:01:52 PM Opening "Chat Log 1/10/05"


HOST WPLC Lyric: Hi everyone, welcome to Writing to Publish
HOST WPLC Lyric: We have a great guest speaker tonight, DON GALLO
and everyone is welcome to stay and attend
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don is an authority on YA fiction and actually invented the YA anthology
HOST WPLC Dee R: hello all...
HOST WPLC Lyric: he is considered the Godfather of the Young Adult short story anthology
GalloDon: Hi everybody. Thanks for inviting me.
Lightningbug1957: Welcome
HOST WPLC Lyric: so you're all welcome to hear him speak about those anthologies and the overall editing process
HOST WPLC Dee R: glad to have you here
Lightningbug1957: And thanks for joining us
HOST WPLC Lyric: We'll give it a few minutes for the members to arrive and everyone to settle down and then we'll begin, Don
HOST WPLC Dee R: Don, we enjoyed your talk the last time...
GalloDon: Thank you.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Please join us tonight, as our guest, Don Gallo, talks about the short story anthologies he's edited, and editing in general.
HOST WPLC Lyric: His newest anthology (published in October) is FIRST CROSSING: STORIES ABOUT TEEN IMMIGRANTS, featuring 10 stories about fictional American teenagers who have come from a variety of countries, including Mexico, Venezuela, Sweden, China, Haiti, and Korea. He's also recently completed a new collection about
HOST WPLC Lyric: teenagers with various phobias, titled WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? that will be published in spring 2006.
so WELCOME DON!!!!
GalloDon: Thank you. I'm happy to be here.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don do you have opening remarks or should we open the floor?
GalloDon: Maybe to generate some questions, I'll ask if any of you have read any anthologies of YA short stories--mine or anyone elses?
HOST WPLC Lyric: yes!
Lightningbug1957: no
Trina Pink: Yes
HOST WPLC Dee R: not short stories...
GalloDon: I find that most avid readers prefer novels to short stories--i.e. reading them. Maybe writing too.
RLMorgan51: What age group is considered to be YA....and how long do stories/books have to be?
GalloDon: Basically teens.
HOST WPLC Lyric: While Don will take questions, we are maintaining a queue guys. just type ? or ! and I'll call on you
GalloDon: The average YA novel is 200 pages or so--some shorter, some longer. The average collection is about the same.
HOST WPLC Lyric: tell us more about the YA genre in general?
HOST WPLC Lyric: How long is the average short story for teens?
GalloDon: The average SS is about 20 double spaced types pages.
HOST WPLC Lyric: ga Donna
HOST WPLC Dee R: Is it harder to write short story anthology than a YA novel? How is the market?
GalloDon: The YA genre is basically easy to describe--they are books (mostly novels) with teenage main characters, issues, language, etc.
GalloDon: Dee R--I've never written a novel and never published a short story. Writers tell me the story is harder bacause it has to be concise. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don before we go to our next question
HOST WPLC Lyric: would you please tell us a bit more about what you do? ga
GalloDon: I decide on a theme for the book, solicit storties from selected authors, edit the stories, put them together, etc.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Ben would you ask your question?
Schoonerben: Do these stories tend toward a message, like a moral, or are they stories straight up? Just stories.
GalloDon: They are just good stories.
Schoonerben: then, what do you mean by 'theme?
GalloDon: The messages of the past--distant past, hopefully (pre 1967)--are gone. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Each of your anthologies has a theme, though, do you decide how you want that theme explored? or do you leave it to the individual authors? ga
GalloDon: Good question. I try to provide a perspective on aspects of the theme that authors might explore. I think the writers appreciate the initial suggestions, but each writer is free to go where he/she feels the story should go. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: with your current book, do you have any stories about kids who hate the American experience? Would you edit something like that? ga
GalloDon: If edit means not use it, I don't censor that way. None of the stories submitted are anti-American, though ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Paul ga
HOST WPLC Sushi: speaking of 1967 and censoring . . . ;-)
HOST WPLC Sushi: American society seems to be busy "pushing the envelope" these days. What limits or standards does the YA genre maintain? (And have they changed much?) g/a
GalloDon: The standards from publishers seem to be very high in terms of quality. And most publishers are open completely to any topic. For example, this past year a novel called LUNA was published on the topic of transgender, with a teen main character. That certainly pushes the envelope! ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Tom ga
PHeeren: 1st ?-do young adult range from 13 until 18 yrs, and my ! is, I am sometimes skeptical to read YA books because I don't have time, of course! well, is it hard to write ya books than children's picture books? ga
GalloDon: Ah. Yes, 12 or 13 to 18. Many people are skeptical of YA because they haven't a clue about what's available. I don't say hat as a criticism of you, PHeeren. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don, it seems that most YA, today, is published in the UK. How hard is it for an American to break into the genre. Should we try to publish in the UK first?
GalloDon: Is it harder to write children's books than YA? I think anything is hard if you haven't done it. And all good writing is hard, isn't it.
GalloDon: I've never heard that. I see very little YA from the UK. There's tons of it published in the US. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Ga Spirit
Spiritswhispr: as an editor what are the pitfalls/pet peeves that you see most often in new writers work?
GalloDon: Fortunately, I work only with well-established writers. My publishers have always demanded that I start with the most famous people I can get hold of. So their writing skills are generally excellent.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Millicent, please be ready
GalloDon: Though, there is one author whom I love dearly, who has won a Newbery Honor, who has never learned the difference between its and it's. We all have weaknesses, no? ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Millicent ga
CircleOfTheMuse: How is the market for anthologies? Do you sell well? And how do you find a publisher for an anthology? ga
GalloDon: What is well? ;-)
CircleOfTheMuse: Profitably enough to be worth your efforts.
GalloDon: I couldn't make a living doing this, but the income overall has been fairly nice. Yes, it is worth effort.
CircleOfTheMuse: How do you find a publisher?
HOST WPLC Lyric: Uhm Millicent, Don Gallo is to the YA anthology what King is to the Horror Novel. just so everyone knows that. There isn't a librarian in the country who doesn't know his name.
GalloDon: But the best thing about it is that I'm getting excellent stories iinto the hands of teenagers who like them a lot more than the required readings in their schools.
CircleOfTheMuse: Ok, so how would an anthology editor find a publisher?
GalloDon: Well, thanks, Lyric--but that's not true. I wish it were so.
HOST WPLC Lyric: it IS true. LOL
GalloDon: To find a publisher--any house that publishes YA novels might pub an anthology.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Bev ga
Lightningbug1957: Is it a hard and fast rule that the protagonist in a YA has to be a teen?
CircleOfTheMuse: But since it's not your own writing, you wouldn't be able to submit your work. How is this different?
GalloDon: There used to be only my anthologies--one every two years or so. Starting in 1984. But more recently everyone seems to think they can edit an anthology, and there have been about a dozen of them for each of the past three years.
GalloDon: Protag has to be a teen--absolutely. Because teens want to read about people like themselves, or a little bit older.
Lightningbug1957: Ok, thanks
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don, can you tell us about your first anthology?
GalloDon: I'm not sure what you are asking Circle...
HOST WPLC Lyric: how did you come up with the concept and how did you convince someone to publish it? how do you discover something NEW in publishing? ga
CircleOfTheMuse: What is the process by which you would approach a publisher?
GalloDon: For my first collection, I had simply realized that there were no collections of short stories written for teens. I asked a couple of authors I knew if they'd write something, and I approached two editors I knew, and one bought it.
I think you'd have to have some reputation as a writer before you approached a publisher.
HOST WPLC Lyric: and did you?
GalloDon: Or as an editor. There are so many people trying this now.
HOST WPLC Lyric: but at that time? what credentials did you use?
GalloDon: I had edited a lot of educational things--journal articles, etc. And I knew lots of famous authors, so I had the connections. ga.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Donna ga
HOST WPLC Dee R: Do you see any themes becoming more popular, like fantasy, or YA adventure?
GalloDon: That's hard to say. My hardest task at this point in the game is to find a theme that teens will be attracted to but nobody has done yet.
HOST WPLC Dee R: hard to do, I bet
GalloDon: To give you an idea of recent themes . . . Growing up Latino. Getting your first period. Family secrets.
GalloDon: Now I'm blocking on others. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Clay ga
ClayWrite: Do you contact writers for a particular theme of stories which they should provide from their files, or write new; or do you look thru what is already available and select from those? /ga
GalloDon: I'll tale a story from a writer's files if it fits the theme, but that almost never happens. They write original stories for the new book. Everything I publish has never been published before. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Paul ga
HOST WPLC Sushi: in many genre anthologies, the Editor slips in a tale of their own, often under a pseudonim. Tempted? :-) g/a
GalloDon: I'd love to. Many other anthologists don't use a pseudonym.. They just use one of their own stories--something they're good, too. But I haven't ever written a usable story, so I stick just to the editing. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Tom please ga
PHeeren: what about writing short fiction about young people with disabilities? I am disabled (profoundly deaf and cerebral palsy since birth) and I wrote a short story about a disabled senior in college but it is not finished yet. ga
GalloDon: Ah, I've thought of a theme about disabled teens, but I haven't found the right angle yet. One writer tried to do an anthology two years ago about boys with emotional probnlems, but it turned out to be so grim that the project was abandoned--or so I've been told. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Katrina ga
Trina Pink: I think the theme "Special Ed" could be interesting. It covers such a wide range or issues, emotional, physical & behavioral. ga
GalloDon: I have a question: How do you all write without typos? I can't.
HOST WPLC Lyric: roflol, we have more time to post than you do, that's how!
GalloDon: Good point.
Trina Pink: LOL...we have plenty of time, Don! We only have one question to write.
GalloDon: Ah.
[Ed. I've cleaned up the spelling.]
HOST WPLC Lyric: Spirit ga
Spiritswhispr: so how can i get on your party list Don, so i can meet all your famous author friends??? lol But seriously, how do we network more personally with others rather than just doing submissions?
GalloDon: Good question. I do all my author networking at professional conferences--like the Nat. Council of Teachers of English, the Internat. Reading Assoc. Publishers send authors to those conventions, and throw cocktail parties besides. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: everything sounds better over a martini
GalloDon: I'll drink to that, Lyric.
HOST WPLC Lyric: ga David
Dhewco: Is there a market for YA horror?
GalloDon: Horror, some. It was the biggest subject about 10 yrs. ago. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Katrina ga
Trina Pink: When I started writing (some years ago!), it was considered easier to break into YA than adult fiction. Is that still the case?
GalloDon: Probably. But now, YA even SELLS better than most adult stuff, and so several "adult" authors are writing novels for teens. ga.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don, can you tell us more about what constitutes a good YA short story? What do you look for?
GalloDon: Difficult question, Lyric.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Well, thank you, I tried! LOL
GalloDon: I look for something that will, first, grab the attention of a teen--especially a disinterested reader. I want to see a very catchy lead paragraph. I want to see realistic language/dialogue.
I hope to see a story that I will find interesting and that kids will, too. Contemporary issues seem to work best. ga.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Tom please ga
PHeeren: what about religious teen short stories? have you come across them recently, and are religious teen short fiction popular nowadays? ga
GalloDon: Religious stories and novels are extremely popular, but the mainstream publishers won't publish anything that's dogmatic. The religious companies publish those--like the Left Behind series of novels. But there have been two SS anthologies with the theme of religion--very open-minded. I BELIEVE IN WATER is one of them. I forget the other one right now. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Paul ga
HOST WPLC Sushi: Have you ever published a story written BY a teenager? (We'd love to work with teens, but legal and policy messiness forbids us . . . )
GalloDon: I'd like to do a teen anthology, but my publishers have all wanted famous writers. ga
HOST WPLC Sushi: there are a few famed teen authors around. g/a
GalloDon: true, but I haven't seen any of them do a short story yet. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Okay, we only have a few minutes left, so I want to remind everyone that Don's book is in the store now.
and What are You Afraid of will be making an appearance in Spring 2006
HOST WPLC Sushi: have you asked? ;-)
HOST WPLC Dee R: Spirit, ga
Spiritswhispr: don just wondered where we would send a submission to you?
GalloDon: contact me personally at this address.
HOST WPLC Sushi: and make sure you are famous ;-)
HOST WPLC Lyric: His current book is called First Crossings. and it's in book stores now. it's a wonderful collection, too!
HOST WPLC Lyric: ga Morgan
GalloDon: I'm glad there are no nasty people in this group. Thanks everyone!
HOST WPLC Lyric: All of Don Gallo's anthologies are on your bookstore and libraries shelves and definitely worth the read
HOST WPLC Lyric: how many now Don?
GalloDon: 12
HOST WPLC Lyric: and a great gift for yourself or any teen you might know
GalloDon: Good point!
HOST WPLC Lyric: A Don Gallo book is something that will influence even the most reluctant reader, and help them enjoy, not only the gift of the book, but the gift of reading
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don, thank you for coming tonight
GalloDon: Lyric, I should hire you as my publicist!
HOST WPLC Lyric: Applause
HOST WPLC Dee R: lol...she is good
HOST WPLC Lyric: You always say that, don
GalloDon: Thanks for inviting me.
HOST WPLC Lyric: and if you'd like, I'm Available!!!
RLMorgan51: clap clap clap
GalloDon: You made me work!
HOST WPLC Lyric: <><><><><><><><
Lightningbug1957: thank you so much for coming
HOST WPLC Lyric: Standing ovation
Trina Pink: Thank you, Don! Great sesssion.
GalloDon: G'nite.
HOST WPLC Dee R: thank you for coming, Don...
HOST WPLC Sushi: thanks much, Don :-D
HOST WPLC Lyric: Don please come back soon!
Trina Pink: :::sneaking out with a wave, back to my sickbed::::
Schoonerben: feel better Trina
GalloDon: Bye.
HOST WPLC Lyric: next week we will critique RL Morgan's chapter
HOST WPLC Dee R: very enjoyable. I learned a lot tonight
HOST WPLC Sushi: yep
HOST WPLC Lyric: good night everyone
RLMorgan51: OKAY "GUYS" I'm on the hot seat next week, First time .... please try to be gentle with me. :-D
HOST WPLC Dee R: ha, Morgan, fat chance! only joking
HOST WPLC Sushi: and thanks Morgan for your Reply email, from this afternoon :-)
PHeeren: well, good night and take care guys
HOST WPLC Dee R: night, Tom
CircleOfTheMuse: Goodnight!

1/10/05 8:04:24 PM Closing "Chat Log 1/10/05"

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