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We all know them.
Jumbo shrimp. Baby Grand. Awfully good. Soft rock. School food.
Have you ever told them to a kid? Children think they’re hysterical.
And then there’s puns. Every year Lisa Yee holds a title contest, where she asks writers to change one or two letters of an existing title—or rhyme a title—and then create a new storyline. (This year she’s asking for synopses in Six Word Memoir style. This is right up my alley cat.)
Here’s some of my examples from past years:
Peter Tan: A boy who claims he’ll never grow old thwarts his philosophy with an unhealthy tanning bed obsession.
Lorna Boone: A young heiress is nearly murdered for singing one too many verses of “You Light Up My Life.”
National Velveeta: A fourteen-year-old girl wins the Kraft national cheese cook-off.
The Jungle Cook: A young boy’s tasty recipes for didactic anthropomorphic animals.
Silly, huh?
And when’s the last time you saw a kid NOT totally lose it when you said, “underwear”? The phrase “I see Paris, I see France, I see your underpants” has not gone out of style in the past 40 years.
I’m not saying any of these could be real books, but what I am saying is that you should play with familiar words and give them a new twist. Change one letter of a silly phrase and see if you come up with something even more hilarious. Or, grab an oxymoron. Does it make a good title? Would it make a good piece of dialogue? What kind of character would say something like that? In what kind of situation?
There’s lots of words out there waiting for you to play with them. Scramble them up. Tickle them until they tinkle. (Yeah, kids find that funny, too. But if scatological humor ain’t your thing, just move on.)
So, how’s it going today?
Last year I attended the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature One-on-One Plus conference. (Phew! That’s a mouthful. How ’bout I just say RUCCL from now on?)
It was my first big conference. It was my first conference, period. I thought I was prepared. I don’t get nervous in large crowds of people, nor do I find it difficult to go right up to someone and chat. And I love public speaking and performing. I’m not easily intimidated.
But, when I arrived, I realized it. I hadn’t fully prepared myself.
The day went by quickly. Those organizers pack the event chock full of excellent speakers and interesting topics. (See my post-conference notes from last year.) The time you have to meet people is the time it takes to walk from one presentation to another.
I didn’t get the opportunity to talk to many editors or agents. True, I had only just begun to write for children, and thus, I didn’t know who I should be chatting with anyway.
So I decided that I would try to help other first-timers. Here’s a list of lessons I learned last year. I hope they help you make the most of your day.
1. Research the faculty in advance.
2008 RUCCL mentors arrive
Find out which editors and agents are interested in the kind of work you produce. Make a list of their names, and if possible, look up their photos online. No, I’m not encouraging anyone to be a stalker! There are 80 professionals mixing it up with 80 attendees, all wearing name tags. If you don’t want to squint at people’s chests all day trying to figure out who is who, go online and see if you can find a photo to recognize people by sight.
Approach editors/agents only during appropriate moments. Don’t interrupt another attendee or tap the editor’s shoulder while they’re taking a big honking bite of sandwich. You should know that the restroom is a no-no! The best time you’ll have to approach professionals is between sessions. Another good time is when they announce where mentors and mentees should meet. (They will announce pairings via alphabetical order and ask “A-F” to meet in a specific area, like near the fireplace.) When I went to find my mentor for my 45-minute session, I didn’t immediately see her…because another attendee had already pulled her aside to talk.
And I’ll say it: lunch is a good time to talk. They will seat mentors at numbered tables that correspond with the five-on-five assignments. Although not everyone sits in the right place, it will be easiest to find people during lunch. But again, if someone is chomping on chicken salad, it’s probably not a good time to interrupt.
Why is it important to talk to the faculty directly? Because they may not accept your submission post-conference if you don’t make contact. Now that’s contrary to what I had heard about conference submissions, but I did get one submission returned after RUCCL, citing that they don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts. (Yes, RUCCL was clearly marked on the envelope and in the cover letter.)
So find editors. Ask if you may submit. Ask for a business card. Don’t give them yours unless they ask. Be professional, courteous, polite and to the point! There’s not a lot of time, so don’t ramble. Which brings me to my next lesson…
2. If you know your manuscript needs direction, say so.
My submission last year was a novel I had only recently begun. I was not yet clear on the plot or direction. But when my mentor asked me about it, I meandered. I had two general ideas of the possible direction in my head, but I wasn’t certain which path I should take. Instead of asking my mentor what she thought, I tried to make it sound like I was clear. And I obviously was not.
Another attendee had it right. She told me, “I explained to my mentor that I had started the novel but stopped because I was stuck. I told her I wasn’t sure the direction it should take. She then gave me some very good ideas and we brainstormed the possibilities.”
3. Don’t be afraid to speak up and ask questions.
During the five-on-five, the mentees had an opportunity to ask questions of the professional panel. But our discussion leader asked questions off a prepared, suggested list of topics. They weren’t necessarily the questions I wanted answered, but I didn’t speak up and ask what was on my mind.
Remember, this is your day. The conference is arranged to help you, the mentee, take the next step in your career. So if you don’t find the topics to be of interest, speak up. Politely interject and ask if you can introduce a question instead.
Mixing it up at lunch
4. Prepare a list of questions.
Questions about your submission, questions about the market, questions about the publishing house, questions about your other manuscripts. Whatever questions you have, take them with you. Refer to them. If there’s information you want to collect, this is the place to do it.
Another good idea is to bring a list of your manuscripts with one-line descriptions. Even if you just have ideas, ask if they’re good ones. A mentor might tell you to pursue idea A and D but not B or C because of current market dynamics, competition, or other factors (remember, one of those factors might be personal taste).
5. Have fun!
This is your day. It’s a step forward in your career. Enjoy it, use it to your advantage, learn from it. Congratulations and have a great day!
FYI
I added the schedule from last year as I recall it, for those interested in how the day is structured. Please realize this may not be similar to this year.
2008 RUCCL Schedule
• Arrive, get folder with schedule/mentor assignment/faculty bios, read through it, have breakfast, free time to mingle with other attendees
• Introductory speaker (2008, Kay Winters)
• Mentor session
• Panel Discussion (2008, “How a Manuscript Becomes a Book”)
• Lunch
• Five-on-Five Discussion (You, your mentor and four other mentor-mentee pairs)
• Keynote Speaker (2008, K.L. Going)
[10/19/10: UPDATE! PiBoIdMo 2010 is almost underway. See announcement.]
[11/1/09: UPDATE! PiBoIdMo 2009 has launched! Click here for details!]
November is only a few weeks away, so while novel-writing friends gather up their character notebooks and plot outlines, I’m preparing to do exactly what I did in November 2008: generate one new picture book idea a day.
This is different from Paula Yoo’s NaPiBoWriWee last May, when writers wrote one new picture book a day for seven days. (Phew! I couldn’t keep up with that.)
And it’s different from YA author Jo Knowles’ JoNoWriMo, where children’s writers take a month and a half more (from mid-September to November 30) to complete a kidlit project.
This November’s writing challenge is all about ideas.
They say it takes 10 to 30 days to form a habit, so I’m encouraging picture book writers to get in the daily habit of idea generation. Do it for November, let it continue into December, and start off the new year still collecting tiny seeds that may some day sprout into a story.
An idea for a picture book could be as simple as a title, like Misfit Museum. Or you could take a fall stroll one afternoon and be inspired by foliage floating on a lake. (You might jot down “watercolor pond.”) It doesn’t have to be a full concept, or even a good one. Heck, I’m sure we’ll all have some stinkers in there. But by creating an idea file, you’ll have a document to turn to when you’re low on inspiration.
Why is this a good idea? During an online chat with literary agent Sean McCarthy last year, he was asked about the qualities his ideal client might possess. “Prolific-ness” was his answer. Agents like when their picture book authors are constantly creating. That means there’s more potential books to sell.
At the end of November, you should have 30 new story starters (or close to 30…we do have Thanksgiving festivities to think about). Last year I walked away with 22 ideas, four of which turned into picture books. And I refer to that idea file at least once a week.
Now all we need is a flashy name. NaNoWriMo-lite? (Way, way lite. With extra cream and sugar.) Nah. Something snazzier. Give it a try! It needs a name!
If you’d like to participate, please comment below. I promise to post ideas for idea generation all November long and check in with progress reports.
Come visit a new website that lets kids spread their storytelling wings.
Storybird is “collaborative storytelling for family and friends.” When I first heard the tagline, I scratched my head. What is this all about? Then I got the beta tester invite. And I played on the site for hours. Days. My daughter begged, “Mommy, can we make another Storybird?”
So what is this high-flying new creature?
Storybird helps you create a tale with an intuitive book-like interface and a whimsical selection of artwork. (We’re not talking stick-figures here. These are high-quality images from some of the most talented “undiscovered” children’s illustrators today, like Irisz Agocs and Victoria Usova.)
Select an artist’s work to begin. A page appears in the center of the screen, surrounded by thumbnail images. Simply drag and drop an image onto a page, then write text to accompany the picture. Add as many pages as you like and you’ll soon have a bonafide book—one that looks professional, one that can be read online over and over again. You can choose to keep your Storybird private, or you can share it with the Storybird community. And they can read it online over and over again.
But the smartest feature of Storybird brings family and friends together. Is Grandma in Gary, Indiana? Cousin Kate in Kalamazoo? You can invite them to write a page in your story. Or two pages. There’s no limit…and what’s better, there’s no fee to join Storybird. According to CEO Mark Ury, “Making, sharing, and reading Storybirds online will always be free. Printing and premium services—when we introduce them later this year—will have a fee associated with them.”
Read this Storybird
(Uhh, Mark, could you please hurry up with that? My daughters want a copy of The Runaway Rabbit in their hands right away.)
Other planned features include the ability to: choose artwork based upon theme, upload your own images, and record your voice to accompany Storybirds. For those on the go, an iPhone app is coming, too.
What’s more, Storybird wants your ideas to improve and enhance the service. The site has only been live for 6 days, but educators in over 100 countries have already asked for a multi-user platform to help teach literacy skills in classrooms. Ury says his company is working on a teacher log-in that would enable students to work under that account without having to submit their information. Storybird be nimble, Storybird be quick.
And Storybird be popular! Some stats from their not-quite-a-week online:
- 1,000 users in 100+ countries
- 8,000 unique visits
- 76,000 page views
- 7-minute average visit
- some Storybirds viewed 325+ times each
Families and teachers will see enormous benefits in Storybird, as will artists. Storybird creates a marketplace to share your work and develop a fan following. If you’re an aspiring children’s illustrator, I encourage you to sign up.
So what are you waiting for? Slide a kid onto your lap and flap your wings on over to Storybird. (Or, if you’re like me, you don’t even need a kid. The child inside you will have plenty of fun on her own!)
Kidlit Book Trailers
Bookselling is changing rapidly with advances in technology and the belt-tightening economy. Publishers and authors are having an ongoing discussion of electronic rights, trying to anticipate the future of digital books.
But the forces of technology aren’t all daunting. Heck, authors are having a blast creating book trailers to promote their titles. What better way to capture the attention of an increasingly online, plugged-in audience?
Award-winning storyteller Dianne de Las Casas has created a Ning community for sharing and discussing kidlit book trailers. Authors are invited to post their trailers and other videos (like a school visit). Bibliophiles can browse the selections to discover great reads.
http://kidlitbooktrailers.ning.com
Haven’t seen a book trailer? Here’s a gorgeous one from the site: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by author/illustrator Grace Lin.
The Unread
Here’s where you cover your ears because I’m gonna toot my own horn. Picture book author Heather Ayris Burnell (Bedtime Monster, Raven Tree Press 2010) interviewed me for her Unread series of aspiring authors. As you may have guessed, there’s almost as much talk about food as there is about books.
Besides Unread, Heather’s blog is dedicated to author interviews, book reviews and being a writer and librarian. So there’s lots of reasons to visit regularly.
http://frolickingthroughcyberspace.blogspot.com/2009/08/unread-interview-with-tara-lazar.html
Mitali Perkins’ Fire Escape
I am in awe of this woman. Not only is Mitali Perkins an amazing novelist, she shares the most compelling kidlit news and information via Twitter and her blog, with special emphasis on multi-cultural issues. If you haven’t visited, you really need to.
http://www.mitaliblog.com
http://twitter.com/mitaliperkins
Meet Eric Carle
August 23, 2009 marks Eric Carle’s 80th birthday and there’s a big bash at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA. Crayola will unveil “The Very Hungry Caterpillar Green” crayon as part of the celebration. Wow, getting a crayon named after your work. Now that’s iconic.
http://www.carlemuseum.org/Programs_Events/Upcoming/Meet_Eric_Carle/
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen’s Picture Book Intensive
On November 15, picture book author Sudipta (yes, she has earned one-name status) will lead a four-hour picture book intensive workshop in Princeton, NJ for the NJ-SCBWI.
Some topics she’ll cover:
- Choosing Timeless Themes
- Ebb & Flow of Tension
- Creating Emotional Attachment to the Main Character
- Finding Ways to Make Your Book Re-Readable
- Humor and Heart
- Query Letters
- Marketing
I know I’ll be there!
For more info:
http://sudiptabq.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/picture-book-writing-intensive-workshop/
To Register:
http://www.newjerseyscbwi.com/events/091115-pbintensive.shtml
Do you have any can’t-miss kidlit links to share?
Remember Andy from the movie Funny Farm? Chevy Chase in his post-Caddyshack and SNL days, sliding down fame’s slippery slope, but still hilarious as a wanna-be author who moves to rural Vermont to pen The Great American Novel.
Instead of peace and quiet, Andy gets a crazy mailman and an acute case of writer’s block. It’s a fish-out-of-water story, one that inspires his wife Elizabeth to name a squirrel after him in her first children’s book—a book that a publisher accepts with a $5,000 advance. (She asks, “Is that much for a first book?” as he reels.)
Many children’s book editors warn against submitting talking squirrel tales. Seems they’re overdone. Was Elizabeth from Funny Farm to blame for an influx of fluffy rodent submissions? The world may never find out.
Despite the creature caveat, I’m writing about squirrels. But non-fiction, based upon our recent experience.
A violent July storm blew a squirrel’s nest from a tree near our property. A neighbor and I found day-old squirrels on the bike path. Gently, we moved the nest onto the grass. I assured her since the tree was closest to my home, I would contact the proper authorities. I assumed the police or animal control would be the right call.
I was wrong. Had I telephoned those authorities, the squirrels might have been destroyed.
Instead, I found an informative resource in Squirrel-Rehab.org. I learned that if the babies were cold, the mother would not take them back. The nest was covered in hail from the storm. The pups were indeed cold and wet, squirming and chirping, in obvious distress. I followed the instructions to warm the babies and tried to reunite the family, but by 10pm, the mother was still missing as another raging storm began. I brought the babies into my home.
I cared for them for nearly 48 hours and then brought them to licensed wildlife rehabilitators Wild Baby Rescue in Blairstown, NJ. The video below documents our short time with the squirrel pups, the inspiration for a new story. Elizabeth, you ain’t stopping me.
I’m back from vacation.
We unlocked the door and dumped our bags, adding to the stray belongings flung about during our packing tornado. Then big sighs on the couch, surveying our natural disaster.
This stinks. Or maybe I should say the house stinks, being closed up for two weeks with a cucumber rotting in the fridge, mossy and shriveled like a dead pickle.
We’re home and I’m in a funk. There’s no sugar-coating the post-vacation blues. (And since the cupboard is bare, I have no sugar anyway.)
There was no fiction writing on vacation. I barely even thought about writing. I snapped a photo of the charming Beach Haven Public Library to serve as inspiration for a new story, but that was it. The needle is pointing to “E” on my inspiration gauge.
So how do I jump back in the saddle again, I wonder? From where does the motivation arise? I sent nothing out on submission recently, and my middle grade work in progress has been frozen in mid-chapter ever since I received conflicting feedback at the NJ-SCBWI conference.
I used to be in a hurry to get my work published. I had a timeline for getting stories done and accepted. I’m not making that deadline, and what’s worse, I feel guilty that I’ve let this self-imposed schedule slip. I have friends with new agents, friends with new book deals, exciting happenings that should shove me into gear.
But, no. I’m still sculpting sand mermaids on the beach.
Perhaps that’s as it should be. I hear you saying, “Everyone needs a break, even writers!” But for the past few years, I didn’t believe this to be true. I write because I must write. I possess a DNA code that compells me to be creative. Shouldn’t I be writing every free moment of the day? And if I’m not, can I still call myself a writer?
An epiphany came yesterday while out to brunch. An elderly woman stopped by our table. With her fingertips brushing the tablecloth she said, “You look like a happy family. That’s so nice to see.”
I nearly teared up at her kindness…and at the realization that my publication woes are stupid, silly. I have a healthy family. A good life. I am a writer. I will write. The stories will come. Someday, they will be published. I will keep working until they’re good enough.
So for now, I’ll ride Western side-saddle. No need to gallop when I can mosey back in.
How about you? Do you have the late-summer blahs? How do you get motivated again after a break? After a rejection?
Agents and editors have told me they occasionally receive calls from writers who are brand new to children’s books. These aspiring authors ask, “How do I get my book published?”
Kindly folks that they are, these agents and editors don’t slam the phone down. They’ll sometimes spend a few moments providing basic details. But this information can be easily found online. That’s what makes being a new writer so exciting these days: there’s professional advice available via websites and blogs, you just have to search for it. It’s not all so mysterious anymore.
So if you’re looking to launch a kidlit career, please don’t call an agent or editor to learn the basics. Let them read manuscripts, sell books and do their jobs. Come here instead…
A New Children’s Writer’s To-Do List:
- Write.
I knew you’d like that one. - Read children’s books.
Become familiar with the genre in which you write. Understand appropriate length and content for specific age groups. See what’s being published. Don’t follow trends, but know the competition. When pitching editors and agents, it’s often helpful to compare your book to another title. You can’t compare if you aren’t well read. - Join SCBWI.
Take advantage of their resources—local chapter events, national conferences, online discussion boards and publications. - Join a critique group.
Find fellow writers who work in the same genre as you. They provide support, motivation, and helpful feedback. (And if you can, find a group with writers who are more experienced than you.) P.S. Your mother, daughter, spouse, and neighbor’s 2nd grade class are not a critique group. - Attend workshops, conferences and events.
Seek out opportunities to learn and network with authors, agents, editors and writing peers. - Read books on the craft.
Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb
Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul
Writing for Children and Teens by Cynthea Liu
Writing with Pictures by Uri Shulevitz - Revise and rewrite.
It’s not going to be right the first time (or maybe even the second or the fifteenth). It’s just not. Resist the temptation to submit an early draft to a publisher. - Take time to develop your skill.
Your writing will improve with practice. Most professional authors need at least two years of serious writing to hone their craft, and it’s not unheard of to work for ten to fifteen years before becoming published. - Submit when you have more than one project polished.
Finished your first manuscript? Keep writing. If an editor or agent likes your manuscript, but not enough to make an offer, they may request other material. Have a few manuscripts at the ready. - Learn to have patience.
It can take many years to write publishable material, sell your first project, and develop a career. Even after you become published, the business is still full of waiting—waiting to hear from your agent and/or editor, waiting for a book to be released, waiting to earn out. You will never NOT be waiting. Patience and perseverance are key. - Call yourself a writer.
Because you are one!
If you have some newbie suggestions, let’s hear them. Please leave a comment.
Ever have one of those light-bulb moments when your manuscript finally gels? Your plot falls into place and you wonder why you didn’t think of something so simple and perfect before.
Sitting in on Sudipta Bardhan Quallen’s picture book workshop last month, I had a dozen lightbulb moments. She dissected picture book structure like a biology teacher dissecting a frog–she split it wide open and showed us its heart. (OK, maybe that analogy wasn’t good for the squeamish, but she has a science background, so I think it works.)
For example, she suggested inserting a “ticking clock” into our manuscript. A deadline makes the story urgent and exciting. (Eureka!) If you’ve never heard her speak, you’re missing out on one of the finest picture book tutorials anywhere.
Besides being wicked sharp, Sudipta has a nervous energy that’s endearing. Get her engaged in conversation, and she’ll talk non-stop about her love of children’s literature. (And high heels and shopping on Bluefly. Yes, she’s a girly-girl like me.)
Surprisingly, she never dreamed of becoming a kidlit writer. She’d thought of being a doctor (but she’s afraid of blood), a model (but she likes to eat), and the President (but she had a dissolute youth). So much for childhood dreams.
But now she’s the author of 11 picture books and 16 non-fiction books for children including The Hog Prince (Dutton), Ballots for Belva (Abrams) and Tightrope Poppy the High-Wire Pig (Sterling).
So Sudipta, if you didn’t want to be a writer, how did you get into the kidlit business?
I got pregnant twice in the span of 15 months and had to move from California (where I’d been going to grad school) to New Jersey (where a little piece of me dies every day). Like every other new mom in the world, I decided I had stories that I just had to tell my kids and so I started writing. I also had this idea that writing was totally a job I could do with two babies in the house, which was just stupid because you can’t do anything with two babies in the house.
Amen to that! I can’t do anything with two babies out of the house, either. (And by the way, I’ll let that NJ crack slide.)
When I started writing, everything was really bad. Some day, when I am super-famous, I will pull out my Alphabet book, and my going-to-the-zoo book, and all the other requisite bad stories we all write when we start. But eventually, I figured out to go to conferences and read up on the craft of writing, and I started to get things published.
How did you get your first big break?
About two months after I started writing, I wrote up a short story for Highlights. It was something that had actually happened to a friend of mine, with a bit of fictional dramatization. Highlights bought it and it was the first $200 I made writing.
I also randomly got a foot in the door of children’s publishing by mentioning my science background in a cover letter. I’d sent a picture book manuscript to Sterling, which they rejected, but in the rejection the editor asked if I’d consider writing a science experiment book for them. That became Championship Science Fair Projects, which still sells really well for me, and a few years later, my first picture book, Tightrope Poppy, was published by the same editor.
New writers are often told not to mention irrelevant information in queries, but your science background landed you a contract. What exactly is your science background?
I graduated Caltech in 1998 with a BS in Biology (by the way, with the passage of years and my gradual failure to remember even the most basic biology concepts, BS is becoming more and more appropriate). I spent a year at Harvard, but it really wasn’t for me, and then headed back to Caltech as a PhD candidate in developmental neurobiology. But those plans went off the rails when I had two babies. I had this crazy idea that I could write with two kids in the house—which you totally cannot do—but that’s how I got into the writing-for-kids business.
Normally, I recommend that you don’t mention anything other than kidlit in your cover/query letters, but if you keep it short and sweet, you can throw some things in there. I think the line I wrote was something like: “I have a Master’s degree in Biology from the California Institute of Technology and have published several scientific articles.” That doesn’t take up so much space that it is annoying.
What has surprised you most about being a published author?
So many things have surprised me about being a published author. Hard to pick just one. So I wrote a Top Ten list. I love Top Ten Lists. Except after I start writing and realize that I only have six interesting things to say. But who’s ever heard of a Top Six list?
Top Ten surprising things about being a published author:
- That the advances are so small that after everyone has had their cut and you’ve paid all your expenses (whether it’s permissions, or research costs, or just the cost of babysitting that allowed you to write the book) you have just enough money left over to take your family out to dinner. But only if they agree to go Dutch.
- That you can’t just show up at a book store and expect them to have your book. Or believe that you are a real author.
- That there’s a 50-50 chance that the number of kids that are biologically related to you who show up for a book signing will outnumber the number of kids that are NOT biologically related to you.
- That no matter how much market research you’ve done, there’s a good possibility that there is a really similar book out there that no one has ever heard of – except the person writing the review.
- That even though the publisher picks up the tab for producing the book, all of the marketing responsibility is on you. So if you want anyone beyond your mother and your best friend to know about it, you need to get your butt in gear.
- That you know no more about writing or publishing after the contract than you did before. Even though everyone expects that you do.
- That the more successful you get and the more books you publish, the less of your writing time will actually be devoted to writing.
- That when you and a group of writing colleagues meet certain editors (who may now be agents…), no matter how many books you’ve done, the first comment he will make is, “So… you all are *moms*, huh?”
- That it is a long time before you move “real author” into the list of things you consider yourself. I still haven’t really gotten there.
- That going to a school for an author visit is as close to being Angelina Jolie as you will ever get. And it’s a pretty cool feeling.
How did you begin to bill yourself as a speaker?
I started to volunteer to speak at conferences because I wanted to teach what I had learned about the craft of writing picture books to other aspiring writers. I got a lot out of SCBWI events in New Jersey, and I wanted to give back. Also, teaching helps you learn in ways that doing does not. For example, at this year’s NJ-SCBWI annual conference, I gave a workshop about rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. I talked about using a refrain in your picture book manuscript to give it narrative structure—and it was the first time I had consciously realized that that was something I do a lot in my own writing. Having to teach it, however, was what made me conscious of it.
Some authors say they learn something about themselves with each new book. What did writing The Hog Prince teach you?
In my workshops, I emphasize the importance of the market over and over again. I’m constantly saying that I only write what I know I can sell. But as I review my own body of work, which has finally grown large enough that I feel comfortable calling it a body of work, I notice that, within the confines of what I feel the market can bear, there are themes that I subconsciously explore time and again. And these are the themes that resonate most strongly for me.
In The Hog Prince, Eldon dreams of being something he is not. He believes that if he were to change by magic, his life would be better, that everything would be shiny and pretty and luxurious and grand. And while I run the risk of coming off as having no self-esteem at all (which is not true, I have an itty-bitty bit), I can say that there have been plenty of times in my life that I have felt this way. In fact, I don’t think it is just a childhood thing–I’m not sure that we ever completely grow out of feeling like everything about our lives would be improved if only we could change ONE little thing. Except that it is never a little thing, nor is it one thing, nor will your life actually get better.
What’s nice about the story is that Eldon figures out that he is worthy and precious just the way he is, and that the folks who really matter (in his case, Petunia) don’t want him to change one muddy little thing. I struggle with this lesson, and I think a lot of kids do, too. Hopefully, that’s what makes the story timeless.
So, here is what I learned about myself:
- I sometimes wish I could change into royalty;
- I use my books to sort out emotional issues;
- I think that every story is better is you replace the main character with a pig.
You may be right there. Who doesn’t love pigs? I mean pigs in literature. Real pigs, not so much.
Thanks for the interview, Sudipta! I think I know what the blog market can bear, and although I’d love to talk to you for another thousand words, something’s telling me to wrap it up here.
More of Sudipta’s serious-yet-sassy picture book philosophies can be found on her new blog, including a picture book writer’s Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not submit a manuscript before its time…
Check ya later, kidlit fans. There’s sand castles, seafood and South Carolina in my forecast.
I’ll be posting again in July. Y’all come back now, ya hear? ‘Cause you won’t want to miss an interview with the stupendous Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen. Or the artistic antics of up-and-coming author/illustrator Ryan Hipp (who contributed the robot fish above). Or the courageous story of YA debut author Albert Borris. Illustrator Kristi Valiant will talk about her latest book, Cora Cooks Pancit. I’ll also share some tips for making your own book trailer before you sell the book. And perhaps my talented friend Michael Sussman will make an appearance…
It’s all coming next month. And August. It may be summer, but I don’t plan on slowing down.
Well, maybe just a little bit, for now.
Before I take off, let me remind you to Take the Dare at Cynthea Liu’s website. There’s fabulous critiques up for auction from kidlit agents, editors and authors. All proceeds benefit Tulakes Elementary, a Title I school in Cynthea’s home state of Oklahoma. So show you care, take the dare!
This week also marks the YA Book Carnival, hosted by Shooting Stars Mag. Nearly 100 giveaways are listed, so go enter and grab a great read!
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 