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Making a Difference with Diversity
by Tara Michener
I have been blessed to have my own informal mini-focus group for picture book ideas. I have been mentoring children alongside my husband Jason for over five years. If you listen really closely, kids will tell you what they want to read by the questions that they ask.
We work with a diverse bunch of young people and we often have heard questions like Am I pretty? and What am I? and Why can’t I be like everybody else? I provide answers to these questions in my first book Who I Am, Not What I Am.
Main character Janelle is bi-racial and finds that her classmates ask her lots of questions about her race, which in turn makes her question herself.
I had a great chat with a lady of mixed heritage at one of my book signings. She told me that she wished that she had seen more books like Who I Am when she was growing up. She mentioned that people always wanted her to claim a race and they did not understand her as an individual. The idea of being a part of more than one racial group boggled their minds.
Jason and I thought deeply about the types of books that we would want our future child to read considering we are an interracial couple. We also observed the bond of friendship in those we mentor. A child may not be happy or outgoing but when he/she finds that special friendship, something magical happens. That magic belongs in a book to show children how important it is to be a great friend. 100% Real, my second book, explores a friendship between Janelle and a newly-adopted child in her class.
Children need to see themselves in books and find the answers to their questions in regards to self-worth. They also need to have a greater understanding of those around them. This helps them to see the world from a diverse perspective and allows them to embrace those who are different from themselves.
How can you explore diversity in your writing?
Have you ever considered researching a neighborhood that differs from your own?
Be creative and remember that diversity is more than just race.
Think about reaching a demographic that is under-served in the kidlit genre.
Explore the shelves at the bookstore. Be active in outreach and community service and find out what is missing from those shelves by your best resource… the reader.
I am blessed to be able to be around so many young people to help but also to observe issues that may challenge them so that I can use the written word to help them through the tough times.
The best ideas come from thinking outside the box.
Read something great!
Tara Michener is an author and speaker who teaches children and adults the importance of diversity and self-esteem.
Putting Your Best Paw Forward
by Jennifer Swanson
Who’s an animal lover? Come on raise your hand. Do you own a pet now? Did you once? Besides being empathetic friends to us when we are down or energetic reasons to exercise, pets can also be great inspiration to aspiring picture book authors. What child doesn’t love to read about the crazy antics of the myriad of dogs in Go, Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman. And of course, who can forget the hours of enjoyment from The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess or even the best known hippopotamus friends, George and Martha by James Marshall. Animals or pets in general are found in abundance in children’s picture books.
So, why not use your own pets for inspiration? That’s what I did when I created my dynamic canine detective duo, Penny and Rio. My two real dogs (who are also named Penny and Rio) served as the creative map for my characters.
Luckily my real dogs had very distinctive personalities and were always doing crazy things. That’s what caught my imagination.
In this picture, Penny had just dug out our flower planter at the end of the deck. She used to lie in this for hours, just staring at the yard.
Naturally, this meant to me that she was a pet detective determined to solve a mysterious case. This is how I got my plot for my first book, Penny and Rio: The Mysterious Backyard Meeting.
For me a mystery was the logical choice as I have been a die-hard Nancy Drew fan since I first began to read, but you could have your pets do anything.
Perhaps your cat will become an astronaut and fly through space to land on a planet inhabited only by mice. Or your pet fish possesses super powers so that at night it flies out of the tank to save the lives of the Palmetto bugs living in your garage. Maybe the fireflies you catch at night are really beings from another planet and wish to take over the world.
Your imagination is limitless. So next time you are stumped for a picture book idea, take your notebook and observe some animals. Go to the zoo if you can. See how they interact. Then give them human characteristics and situations. Make the elephant set out on a quest for magic peanuts. Have the lion be a bus driver. Whatever you want? The more outrageous the better.
If you are still stumped, read the newspaper or the internet for articles on humans or animals. I’ve actually written several stories from the ideas I’ve seen in the newspaper.
Whatever you do, have fun and don’t forget to always, put your best paw forward.
Jennifer Swanson is the award-winning author of the Penny and Rio early reader series.
Jennifer is generously giving away a signed copy of Penny and Rio: The Locked Doghouse Mystery.
Just leave a comment to be entered. You do not have to be a PiBoIdMo participant to enter.
Winner will be chosen randomly at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo!
Cheaper by the Dozen
by Mark Ury
Ideas are not a dime a dozen. They’re closer to $0.0001. That’s because they’re commodities. Everyone has them, everyone can think of them, and, as a culture, we’re saturated with them. Like most raw materials, ideas are worthless unless you turn them into something else, something of greater value.
How do you add value to ideas? With other ideas.
The concept of wit—one of our most enjoyable forms of ideas—is premised on taking one cliché and combining it with another to make something unexpected and remarkable.
An arrow pointing right is a cliché for a courier company. But burying it between the negative space of the “E” and “x” of FedEx makes it new. It makes the image memorable, if not surprising, and the idea valuable.
“You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks” is the written equivalent of the FedEx logo, as are many of Dorothy Parker’s best quips. “Take care of luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves” and “It serves me right for keeping all my eggs in one bastard” whip two lazy ideas into shape and keep them marching for decades.
The economics of wit are 1+1=3. When your ideas are competing for a publisher’s or reader’s attention, those are valuable numbers to have on your side.
How do you create wit? The simplest technique is to tinker with clichés since they contain recognizable patterns that your audience can latch onto. For example, the cliché “ideas are a dime a dozen” gives you three things to mess about: ideas, money, and—thanks to the word “dozen”—eggs. If you were drawing, you might play with the notion of ideas as light bulbs and then substitute them for the eggs in a carton. You now have a new image to play with and the shadows of a scene. Who needs ideas? Inventors. But why cheap ones? Well, perhaps this inventor is down on his luck. Can’t you see him there at the register, digging into his empty pockets looking for a dime? Around him are other wealthy inventors, buying cartons of the stuff. But he can only afford one bulb for his last, terrible experiment…
The key to playing with clichés is to think visually AND conceptually. Sometimes the images line themselves up, like the example above. Other times, the concept is unlocked through narrative interplay. For instance, you might start with the visual of ghosts, creeping around in a mansion and scaring people. But then you flip to the narrative pieces and start toying with their DNA: the ghosts aren’t the antagonists. The ghosts don’t know they’re ghosts. The audience doesn’t know they’re ghosts. Before you know it, you’re in Spain with Nicole Kidman filming The Others.
In fact, if you want to study the blending of routine ideas into something fresh, Hollywood has a not unsuccessful record. Alien is the fusion of the shark thriller (Jaws) and outer space (Star Wars). Mad About You was pitched as thirtysomething, but funny. The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Village—many of M. Night Shyamalan’s films—rely on flipping everyday ideas to produce entertaining new ones that “unpack” their meaning as you watch.
That’s the benefit of folding two ideas into one. The audience experiences it in reverse: one idea unfolds into two and the brain has the joy of connecting the dots to find the hidden meaning.
Don’t worry about great ideas. Look for everyday, unbankable ones. If you invest and repackage them, they’ll outperform your reader’s expectations.
That’s my two cents.
Mark Ury is the co-founder of Storybird.
If you’re a picture book writer, you’ve read hundreds of picture books. Maybe even thousands. (And if you haven’t, I’m sending you to bed without supper!)
I know you have favorites. But have you ever stopped to analyze why a picture book has earned your top rank? Is it the premise? The voice? The twist on the final page? Does the book’s heartfelt sentiment or cheeky sense of humor hook you? Is it all of the above?
Timothy Knapman’s Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood stands out among recent reads. Why? When I began Knapman’s story, I assumed it had a been-there-done-that premise: boy discovers a creature in the forest. But on the third page, I was thrown.
This is no ordinary boy-meets-dragon story. It’s dragon-meets-boy.
Told from the dragon’s point of view, Dragon Wood turns a common premise upside down. When the young dragon finds a boy “called a Benjamin,” he brings it home and asks his mom if he can keep it. Slowly the dragon uncovers strange facts about the human world—the Benjamin’s striped boots aren’t his feet, his eyes leak when he’s sad, and he loves a game involving a black and white ball. But the dragons have a tough time learning soccer. They just want to burn down the goalposts and eat the ball.
In Dragon Wood, young readers know more than the main character. And kids love that. Think about it—all day long they’re in school, being told how much they don’t know. When they can be smarter than a picture book character, it’s a fun feeling. (Just like when we adults are smarter than a fifth grader.)
Knapman’s book has several things going for it: surprise, humor, a unique voice, kid sensibilities and adult appeal. Let’s not forget that a picture book should keep the grown-up—the one with the wallet who’s reading—entertained as well.
When I boil this dragon tale down, it’s a story about friendship. I could also argue that it’s a book about the importance of family and finding one’s true place in the world. These are universal themes that will never go out of style.
As I come up with ideas this month, I think about the theme at its heart. Will my theme stand the test of time? Can I write this theme with humor and an element of surprise? What have I learned from Dragon Wood that I could apply to my own unique story?
Other favorites:
In Cressida Cowell’s That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown, the relationship between a little girl and her favorite toy is magic, a love that everyone can understand because they’ve experienced it, too.
In The Louds Move In by Carolyn Crimi, the author balances seven distinct characters—an entire family of Louds plus three quiet neighbors. Even the names are brilliant: Earmuffle Avenue, Miss Shushermush, Mr. Pitterpatter.
In Laurie Keller’s Arnie the Doughnut, I guffaw at its crazy, quirky humor. Arnie is alive—and the poor chocolate-frosted treat doesn’t realize that doughnuts are for eating.
Okay! Are you ready to try it? Go play with a favorite book. What do you love about it? How can you create something lovable?
So, how’s it going today?
I am not like most writers. Ideas don’t just slam into me while I am out for a walk. I don’t get “Aha!” moments while luxuriating in a steamy tub. I have to work hard for my ideas. I have to dig deep to find them.
One of the ways I do this is by brainstorming with a partner. I find it so much easier to generate ideas when I can bounce them back and forth. It’s kind of like tennis. I can’t get a rally going without a partner.
Here is a sample of a very condensed brainstorming session with my partner, Becky.
ME: Jordan came home from school today with a new expression, “Flip Flop. Over the Top.” It’s how they learn to put their coats on. Catchy, huh? Love how it rolls off the tongue. What can we do with it?
BECKY: Hmm…over the top? The top of what? A fence? A wall?
ME: Could be a wall? What goes over? Football? Frisbee?
BECKY: How about a baseball. Two characters are playing baseball and one hits it over the wall. How do they get it back?
ME: Try climbing, scaling?
BECKY: Jumping on a trampoline?
ME: Shooting each other out of a cannon?
BECKY: Catapulting.
ME: Grabbing onto a bunch of balloons and flying over.
BECKY: All of the above?
We may use none, some, or all of the ideas in the end, but I am convinced that when it comes to brainstorming, the sum is greater than the whole of its parts. In other words, ideas will be triggered when we are together that NEITHER of us would have come up with if we had both brainstormed independently.
Give it a try sometime.
Can’t find a partner? I am always up for a collaboration!
And if you’re wondering how our characters get their ball back in the end?
They dig a hole…and go UNDER!
Corey Rosen Schwartz is the author of Hop! Plop!, an Eric Carle Museum Picture Book of Distinction. Her next book is due for release in 2012 (not soon enough in Tara’s opinion). She attended Brown University and has a Masters in Deaf Education from Gallaudet. Corey lives in New Jersey and spends a lot of afternoons at playgrounds with her five-year-old daughter, Jordan, and four-year-old son, Josh. Corey has no free time, but if she did, she would spend it scuba diving!
Brief Encounters of the Picture Book Kind
by Melissa Azarian
I think you can find a picture book idea in even the briefest encounter, and I’ll prove it.
Years ago, I celebrated my best friend’s birthday at Lucky Cheng’s, a Drag Queen Cabaret Restaurant. Lucky Cheng’s was not so lucky for me. All day long, I had a migraine brewing, and shortly after ordering dinner, I could not fight it off anymore. I ran downstairs to the bathroom, shut the stall door, and prayed to the porcelain Goddess of Migraines.
When I finally emerged from the stall, I realized I was not alone in the ladies room. A 6 foot 1 drag queen—6 feet 4 in those stilettos—was reapplying lipstick. He turned around, gave me the once over, and said, “Honey, you don’t look so good.”
As ill as I was, I had to smile. I don’t look so good? Certainly, I could’ve said the same to him. He overdid his makeup (such a pretty face didn’t need so much makeup), and that V-neck dress was all wrong for him! But why ruin the moment?
I told him that I’d had a lot of migraines and this was another doozy. He sympathized.
So how do you turn a migraine, a drag queen, and bathroom bonding into a picture book? Easy. Just view the whole scene from a child’s perspective. And tweak it a bit.
It could be a picture book about a girl who is excited to go to a party because she bought the perfect gift. She loses the present on the way, but she meets an unlikely friend, who makes her laugh and saves the day.
Maybe it’s about a quiet girl who gets paired up for a class project with a talkative, confident kid. She doesn’t think they can work together until she discovers that they each have something unique to contribute.
Or it’s about an outspoken child who is always hushed, but in the end, his outspokenness helps prevent a mishap at the park.
I could probably come up with ideas all day, based on this one incident. And it’s because, at its core, this is a story about a memorable character.
Think about someone you met briefly and have never forgotten. What quality makes this person so unforgettable? Maybe—if you tweak it a little—the brief encounter will inspire your next picture book.
Melissa Eisen Azarian is the author of The Amistad Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie (Enslow Publishers 2009). A former assistant district attorney, legal editor, and newspaper reporter, Melissa is now a children’s writer. She co-chairs her local PTO’s Visiting Authors Committee. Besides occasional migraines, Melissa suffers from revisophobia, a condition that causes her to write new manuscripts rather than revise existing ones. She is thinking of starting a support blog for fellow revisophobics.
What Is Your Voice?
by Jeannine Q. Norris
As we are in the middle of PiBoIdMo, ideas are flying fast and furious, right? And are you hearing voices in your head? Hooray for you! When writers hear voices, that’s a good thing. The tricky part is identifying the voice that will get you published.
With the tight economy and a tough picture book market, publishers are looking for a unique angle. Chances are good that your picture book idea has already been published. The challenge is finding a way to make it unique, and that often involves a different voice.
While you are brainstorming, and the creative juices are flowing, choose to look at your manuscript from a different perspective. A unique voice is how I landed a contract with Tonight You Are My Baby: Mary’s Christmas Gift (HarperCollins, 2008). Certainly, there are countless Nativity books on the market, and more every year, but the voice of a mother speaking to her baby was my hook. Christmas suddenly had a different perspective.
Look at your manuscripts and try to push the envelope a bit. Can you find a different voice? Something that sets you apart from the other fantastic books that have already addressed the subject. Perhaps you are writing about a cowboy. Can you write about the cowboy from the horse’s perspective? Picture book about the new kid in school? How about the new kid from the bully’s perspective? You get the idea.
Be open to new ideas, new voices. Sometimes you have to search. If you are lucky, they magically appear—like our dog, Harry Potter, trotting past me in a denim skirt and pink bandana. Our daughter had dressed him in her clothes, and he was proud and embarrassed at the same time. That was a eureka moment for me, and two picture book manuscripts were born. The voice, of course, is our long-suffering dog.
Good luck with your writing and listen carefully to those voices—they’re trying to sell your manuscript!
Jeannine Q. Norris comes from a family of authors—her mother and brother are also published. She’s a mother and an animal lover who wanted to be a veterinarian when she grew up. Jeannine and her husband created the At Least Kids Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization dedicated to assisting children with brain tumors. ‘Tis the season for her debut picture book Tonight You Are My Baby, so she’s busy visiting schools all through December.
Inspire and Be Inspired: Volunteer
by Heather Ayris Burnell
Sure, inspiration is all around us, but it doesn’t hurt to give our inspiration arsenal a little boost. Going new places, having new experiences, and meeting new people are sure-fire ways to have ideas. How can we do these things without leaving on a long, expensive vacation?
By becoming a volunteer.
Don’t be fooled, the act of volunteering can be mutually beneficial. We certainly don’t have to limit ourselves, but since we’re picture book writers we might benefit most from volunteering at places we can interact with our audience–kids. Being around books doesn’t hurt either. There are two obvious places where we can volunteer: schools and libraries.
Schools are always in need of volunteers and right now cutbacks are making them even more appreciated. You might be able to help with the school’s reading program. My kid’s school has a HOSTS (Help One Student to Succeed) program where a mentor works with a child one on one for about forty-five minutes once a week. They read together, and it looks like they even have a good time.
School librarians might love some help with shelving books or perhaps could use a knowledgeable adult to help students find the type of book they’re looking for, whether it’s just for fun or for figuring out what books they are allowed to read according to their reading level. Major bonus: you will be surrounded by children’s books. Think of all the cover illustrations and back cover blurbs you will have the chance to take a look at!
Public libraries love volunteers too. Most have at least a weekly storytime for children. Volunteer to be a reader or an assistant. I know my library is always looking for more people to help with storytime. The Summer Reading Program is another fun kid’s program that your library might love help with.
Not feeling like interacting much? You can volunteer to shelve books or help with the book sale. I absolutely love shelving books, so many different books cross my path that may not have otherwise. As for book sales, they can be quiet events with lots of book sorting, but my fellow book sale workers and I have a running list of “The World’s Funniest Book Titles” that we add to every sale. Possible book sale bonuses: camaraderie and great book discussions.
Sure, writers can benefit from volunteering at other places like museums, art galleries, or wildlife preserves too. Find a place that appeals to you and give it a try. Don’t be afraid if you don’t have much time to spare, any little bit will be appreciated. Snippets of conversation, different points of view, fascinating or silly ideas, and looking at the world with the help of someone else’s perspective are all things we might be inspired by when volunteering.
If we go into it with our eyes, ears, and hearts open, we just might get back more than a good idea for a book.
Heather Ayris Burnell started volunteering at her local library because she was there all the time anyway. She has run the book sale, organized a storytelling festival, and put on an author fair, among other fun things. Her first picture book, Bedtime Monster (illustrated by Bonnie Adamson) comes out in 2010 from Raven Tree Press.
Illustration by Leeza Hernandez
Whistle while you write? You might not want to put your lips together and blow, but maybe a little music could lighten your mood…and your mind.
Last Sunday at the NJ-SCBWI picture book intensive, illustrator Leeza Hernandez led writers in a creativity exercise by playing random musical selections. The idea was to help us generate ideas. (Sound familiar?)
Leeza played two-minute tunes, and during each piece, she asked us to think of a single story element and write whatever came to mind.
So let’s try Leeza’s exercise today!
Go to Pandora.com.
Enter an artist or song. A new music station will be created for you, with songs similar in style to what you submitted. (Aim for instrumental, although music with lyrics will likely pop up. I entered “Vivaldi.”)
Alternatively, you can choose a genre station: classical, blues, dance and a dozen others.
Set your timer for two minutes. As the first song plays, focus on element #1 and write. Don’t stop until the timer goes off.
Next, click the [ |>> ] button on the Pandora player to switch to the next song. Now focus on #2 for two minutes.
New song, #3…and so on…
1. Character
2. Scene
3. Supporting Cast
4. Conflict
5. Emotion
6. Resolution
Leeza’s sixth instrumental did not conjure up a resolution for me. Instead, I envisioned a boy on a farm at sunset, herding all the rowdy animals into the barn for the night, only to have them escape again.
However, the boy in the musical mayhem was the character I created during the first piece—and I didn’t even realize it until I was done writing. I subconsciously felt a connection between the two songs.
Do I have a story? Maybe. Maybe not. But I do have some ideas that floated out of thin air. (Truth be told, I had just received an advance prototype of Michael Sussman’s IdeaCatcher.)
Being an illustrator, Leeza sketched her ideas as the music played. For #6, she drew herself jumping up and down, holding her published book.
Keep working on your ideas, PiBoIdMo’ers, and that image may be you, too!
So, how’s it going today? Care to share your musical thoughts?
Everyone knows it can be tough coming up with story ideas. So, where do I get mine? Sal’s Literary Ideas & Auto Parts in South Boston. Sure, Sal’s prices are steep. But you can’t beat his 30-day warranty.
Seriously, folks. Where do ideas come from?
I concur with Robert Olen Butler, who writes that “art comes from the place where you dream. Art comes from your unconscious; it comes from the white-hot center of you.”
How can we gain access to this mysterious unconscious? The key is a relaxed and receptive inward focus. Allow your mind to wander, unhindered by critical analysis or judgment.
I find that I’m most receptive while walking, preferably in a natural setting. Any repetitive movement can help: jogging, bicycling, swimming, davening. A hot bath can also do the trick. Alternatively, just sit or recline in a comfortable position, allow your breathing to deepen, and enter into trance.
Sometimes what surfaces is a story title or the name of a character. I was walking along the Charles River when the name Wiggle-Me-Won’t appeared out of nowhere. This grew into a story in verse concerning twin brothers: Wiggle-Me-Won’t and Wiggle-Me-Will.
More often, an image will surface. I recently awoke with the image of a boy enveloped in a mattress, with only his head and feet sticking out. This image turned into The Sinkopedic 3000, a story about a boy who discovers a world within his mattress.
If none of this helps, consider purchasing my newly developed IdeaCatcher.
We’ve all heard that ideas are “in the air.” Employing the latest in windsock technology, my IdeaCatcher literally snags those suckers as they float by. For a mere $29.95, be the first in your critique group to own this revolutionary device!
Michael Sussman is a clinical psychologist and writer who resides in the Boston area. His debut picture book—Otto Grows Down—was published by Sterling, with illustrations by Scott Magoon. Dr. Sussman is also the author of A Curious Calling: Unconscious Motivations for Practicing Psychotherapy, and the editor of A Perilous Calling: The Hazards of Psychotherapy Practice.
Thanks to Debbie Ridpath Ohi for the IdeaCatcher illustration.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 
