Sydney Dunlap

By Margaret Lea

Sydney Dunlap is speaking at our April 13th meeting (Tracy Gee Community Center and online both). She will talk about “Middle Grade Musts: Highlighting Elements That Will Make Your Story Shine.” Below is my email interview with Sydney. Also, check out her website at sydneydunlap.com. 

1) Tell us about your writing journey. 

My grandmother gave me a journal when I was eight, and it sat empty for a while. Then one day I wrote a poem in it, followed by a little story, and I gradually discovered that I loved writing. That eventually led to creative writing electives in high school and college and some writing courses at the grad level for continuing ed credits while I taught elementary school. I also joined SCBWI (all the way back in the early 2000s) and had a lot of fun getting involved with my local chapter, the Mid-Atlantic region, taking part in a writer’s group, attending craft-focused writing workshops/retreats, and serving as our conference co-chair for seven years. (More on that later!) 

I wrote a few “practice manuscripts” while I was home raising my kids but grew very busy once I went back to full-time teaching and had to put writing aside for a while. It wasn’t until we moved to Houston and I got involved in anti-trafficking efforts here that I decided to write It Happenedon Saturday and sat down every day to work on it. 

The most helpful part of my journey was likely my critique group (which is still ongoing!) and participating in those SCBWI-sponsored novel revision workshops and retreats with specific craft elements led by editors or seasoned authors.

My books are all middle grade, but I would potentially be interested in trying to write for some other age groups in the future.

 

2) Why is “It Happened on Saturday” called your debut even though you published “Jeremy Norbeck: Animal Whiz Kid” nine years earlier? 

I published Jeremy Norbeck: Animal Whiz Kid through an independent publishing platform called CreateSpace back in 2014 to go along with a science unit that I was currently teaching in school regarding animal adaptations. I wanted to use it right away, and that was how I could do it quickly. It Happened on Saturday is my traditionally published debut. In between the two, I was busy teaching, then moving from the DC area to Houston, establishing my tutoring business, and beginning my volunteer work with child trafficking survivors, so I didn’t have the time or bandwidth to write at all for several years, but as you’ll see below, I finally decided that I had to write what became It Happened on Saturday.

 

3) How did you discover you were good at writing about heavy topics in a way appropriate for middle grade books? 

Thank you for your kind words! I’ll say that having spent my day with kids ages 8-10 for many years, I developed a pretty good understanding of how to communicate with them in a way that is engaging and also instructive.

I was inspired to write It Happened on Saturday when I couldn’t find any middle grade books addressing social media safety/staying safe from predators, even though 11–14-year-olds are a particularly vulnerable group. I wanted to reach young readers before or during the time they are most at risk, and I thought about what would have been appropriate for my own kids or my students to read and walked a careful line when writing about the topic of trafficking.  

Kids can be savvy, aware, and safe without needing to know all the details. We can tell them not to talk to strangers online, but they’ll walk away with a much deeper understanding of why after going along on a journey with a character and seeing how easily things can go wrong. In both It Happened on Saturday and Racing the Clouds, which tackles addiction of a parent as well as a family estrangement, there are lighter moments with friends and animals, as well as fun events/subplots, so readers can enjoy a story with relatable elements rather than feel that they are reading an “issue” book. 

 

4) How long did you teach school? Are you a full-time author now? 

I taught elementary school for 18 years, including all subjects in third and fourth grade and reading for K-4. I continued tutoring students while working as an author until very recently but am now balancing being an author with assisting my mom who has advanced dementia and spending as much time as possible with my new horse! (I’ve been wishing for and dreaming of getting a horse ever since I was a kid, so I am making up for lost time!)

 

5) What are your top tips for pre-published authors? And for published authors?

Always, always read as much as you can in the genre you’re interested in; use books that appeal to you as mentor texts and read them as a writer, looking to see how the author crafted elements such as hooking the reader at the opening, developing characters you want to root for and follow through their journey, keeping the story moving and using a balanced mix of exposition and interiority, and writing with a compelling voice; connect with other writers and critique each other’s work; understand that it generally takes many, many years of intense effort and study before having a manuscript that might be ready to be published; and don’t take it all too seriously—don’t beat yourself up or feel like a failure if you receive tons of rejections—that is normal and expected before having success! I started out in SCBWI back when we still got rejection letters in the mail, and one of the first things I heard at a conference was not to expect any good news until you had enough rejection letters to wallpaper an entire bathroom! For most of us, it’s a long, long slog, so honestly, only keep at it if you truly love writing and can’t imagine NOT doing it—and once you’re published, I’d say to try to get to a few conventions and book festivals if you can, since they are a great way to meet young readers, other authors, teachers, and librarians and help get the word out about your books.

 

6) Do you have a unique story (fun, inspiring, terrifying, or whatever) that’s somehow related to writing?

Yes! One year when I was an SCBWI conference organizer, we were fortunate enough to have a very celebrated two-time Newbery winner (whom I won’t name here since this will be posted publicly!) as our keynote speaker, and I got to take her around Washington, DC the day after our conference to keep her entertained before her evening flight. We were having a nice time walking around the beautiful monuments downtown when we came across a huge grassy area that was roped off, with several signs saying to keep away. To get where we were trying to go, we would have had to go all the way around it, which would have taken a very long time. I’m usually quite the rule follower, but she lifted up the rope and decided we should sneak all the way across, and I was sure we were going to get caught and in all kinds of trouble and I’d end up getting kicked out of SCBWI but I went along with her anyway, and was SO relieved when we got through without anything happening (I’m happy to share privately if anyone wants to know who it was!) 😊