Wanna be a writer? Put your novel manuscript in a drawer.

About 200 people gathered at Utah Valley University on Thursday for the opening day of the 2009 Forum on Children's Literature. The conference continues today, and the public is welcome.

Putting the manuscript in a drawer to sit for a while may be the best thing you can do to improve your story, said Abby Ranger, an editor who flew in from Hyperion Books to speak at the conference.

Ranger spoke on the tools she would like to give writers before they send their manuscripts for publication consideration.

"Every manuscript has its own challenges and needs and demands," she said. Upon completion of a draft, "my advice would be to print it out and put it in a drawer and walk away for at least two months."

This, she said, allows writers "to grow some fresh eyes and ears, and that can only happen over time."

Get enough distance from the writing to be able to see what needs to be cut, she said. Writers must develop the ability to be objective about their own work.

When reading after a two-month interval, "be hyper-aware of your impressions and emotions," she said. "You need to be really impressionable. For me, it helps to take notes."

Revising a manuscript is the equivalent of making a medical diagnosis, she said. First figure out the problem, then the cure.

Once you have reread your story, resist the urge to tinker with it immediately, she said.

"You have some evaluating to do," she said.

Be sure each character is crucial to the story. Look for characters that can be combined, or for characters that are missing.

"Tightly constructed books have that feeling of essential casting," she said. "The hardest thing to find is the character that is missing."

Award-winning author Shannon Hale told those gathered that it took years and many rejections before getting her first novel, "Goose Girl," published.

"When I look back, my writing was very imitative," she said. "I'm not surprised it did not get published."

Hale encouraged authors to polish their work before sending it out for publication consideration.

"There is just so much crap" in the slush piles of editors, she said. "Never send your crap."

In the end, getting published "is always about the quality of the writing," she said. "Someone is going to say, 'I like this voice and I want to read more.'"

Author Emily Wing Smith told those gathered to use as a guide the advice her father had given her.

"Follow your bliss" when choosing stories and characters, she said.

Developing a voice means coming to know your characters in-depth, she said.

"We need to know our characters as people -- that is when our own unique voice shines through," she said.

Author Carol Lynch Williams told would-be authors to take heart from the success of those around them.

"I think it is incredible the number of very talented writers and editors we have in this state," she said.

Maren Jensen of Salt Lake City said she came to the conference because "I am a wannabe writer."

The experience gave her suggestions and ideas for her own writing, and she learned that stories sometimes must be ground out, "bled out drop by drop."

"I really enjoyed Shannon Hale because she has a very similar life to mine and she is this Mormon Utah mom who is making a go of writing and making it a part of her life, and I can make it part of my mine."

Emily Bailey of Provo said she came to the conference because "I have 60 pages of a novel and I'm stuck."

The first day of the conference "motivated me to get back to my writing routine," she said. "It validated me to trust my gut."