Author Quote of the Week:Walter Dean Myers

I'm starting something new. Once a week I will quote an author, a tidbit for us writers to think on.

Here is a quote from Walter Dean Myers out of "In Their Own Words: The Best of CBI's [Children's Book Insider] Interviews" from November 1993. He speaks of his experience working at a publishing house. "I saw what was wrong with most of the manuscripts that were coming in. The structure was bad. The writing can be bad and they'll publish it, but if the structure is bad, they won't."

I'd like to encourage comments on this one. Is this still true today? What do you think Myers meant by structure?

My belief is that it is still true.

I've had good compliments on the storytelling of my MG work-in-progress, TALKING MAMA HOME, by the Ones Who Should Know. But my structure is not working for them. I'm working right now to correct that, and when I found Myers quote it touched home for me.

Until next week on Author Quotes.