by Michelle Cusolito

I’ve said this in other places, but I think it’s worth repeating here: I reject the idea that authors should write what we know. I believe we should write what we’re curious about. What captures our imaginations. What we’re passionate about or what we want to explore deeply.

I’ve nurtured a sense of wonder since I was a child growing up on a farm building hay bale forts and mucking around in nearby swamps. Once I lived abroad for the first time, my interests expanded to learning about other cultures and ecosystems. I am curious about the world. That curiosity determines the topics I choose to research and to write about. (I write fiction and non-fiction picture books, but I lean mostly toward non-fiction).

My debut, FLYING DEEP, invites young readers to imagine themselves piloting deep-submersible Alvin two miles below the ocean’s surface to explore the unique ecosystem that thrives near hydrothermal vents. I am not an Alvin pilot. I had never been inside Alvin or even seen Alvin up close when I started the book. But I WAS fascinated by the idea of piloting Alvin. I was especially fascinated by the alien-looking animals that live near the vents. How could I not be fascinated by dinner plate-sized clams, six foot tube worms and an octopus with appendages that look like Dumbo’s ears? I knew I wanted to write a picture book on the topic because I was so interested in learning more.

FLYING DEEP was a Storystorm (PiBoIdMo) idea in 2014. At that point, I had no idea how I would write the book or even what kind of book it would be. I only knew I was fascinated by Alvin and hydrothermal vents.

My approach to Storystorm was to list every topic I could think of that I was interested in. I used a printed PiBoIdMo calendar and wrote my ideas in the boxes. I allowed each idea to be as big or small as it came to me. Sometimes it was a topic, or a character or even a kind of book I wanted to try writing. I didn’t put any rules on it except that I had to fill every box in my calendar. Just one tiny box per day. No big deal. And I didn’t actually write one idea per day. Some days I wrote 6 or 7 or 8. Other days I wrote none, but my subconscious was certainly at work. One nugget on that calendar became FLYING DEEP. Another nugget became a manuscript that is now out on submission. That one took me years to research and write. Am I bored by the topic? Nope. I still get excited when I come across new articles about my subject. (The remaining ideas on my 2014 calendar did not see the light of day because, well, they were junk. But that didn’t matter. I got two viable manuscripts out of that list.)

So, today, instead of trying to come up with a fully formed idea, try this:

Sit with your notebook, calendar, or laptop and brainstorm. What are the topics you love? What are your passions? What intrigues you? What fascinates you? Who do you admire? Write quickly. Get everything down.

Maybe you love pickles, or ceramic tiles or the way light streams through tree leaves in the late afternoon sun. Are these fully formed book ideas? Of course not. Are they all book worthy? Maybe not, but I can imagine ways these COULD lead to something interesting, funny, or educational. (There are books about bacon and pasta that came out in recent years. Why not pickles? I’m not going to write that story, but maybe you will). This is where you come in: you craft the book that’s right for you.

How many ideas did you come up with? Guess what? All of them count toward your Storystorm total!

Michelle Cusolito’s debut, Flying Deep, will be published by Charlesbridge in May. Flying Deep won the PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award and is a summer 2018 Junior Library Guild selection. Michelle climbed inside deep-submersible Alvin to complete research for Flying Deep. Michelle has lived in the Philippines and in Ireland. When she isn’t mucking around in the world, she’s usually in her home office or local coffee shop weaving these experiences into stories for children. Learn more at MichelleCusolito.com.

You can connect with Michelle on Instagram @mcusolito, Twitter @MCusolito, and Facebook.

Michelle is also making a special request. Her favorite local Indie, Eight Cousins, suffered a catastrophic flood last week. Eight Cousins is an amazing local business run by true booksellers. The storefront is closed until sometime this spring, but they are open for on-line orders which will be staged out of a temporary location. Last fall, Michelle had already arranged for pre-orders placed through Eight Cousins to be signed by both Michelle and Nicole Wong (the illustrator) before being shipped to purchasers on publication day (May 22, 2018). To sweeten the deal, she’s adding a chance in a special give-away. Learn more here: http://www.michellecusolito.com/my-books/.

Please support independent bookstores. If you plan to pre-order Flying Deep, will you order through Eight Cousins or your own favorite local book store? Thank you for your consideration.

Michelle is offering a critique of a fiction picture book up to 700 words or a non-fiction picture book up to 1200 words.

Leave ONE COMMENT on this blog post to enter. You are eligible to win if you are a registered Storystorm participant and you have commented once below. Prizes will be given away at the conclusion of the event.

Good luck!