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***Registration officially closed on November 7th. You can still join in the challenge by reading the daily posts and keeping track of your ideas, but you will not be eligible for prizes.***
Cue the fireworks! PiBoIdMo 2013 Registration is officially OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
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But lemme whet your appetite first. Here is the schedule of 2013 guest bloggers!
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Pretty stellar, right? These authors, illustrators and picture book professionals will provide daily doses of inspiration to help you along on your idea journey.
And don’t forget—there’s Pre-PiBo beginning tomorrow, to get you organized and ready. And then in early December, there’s Post-PiBo to help your organize and prioritize your ideas.
Participants who register for PiBoIdMo and complete the 30-idea challenge will be eligible for prizes, including signed picture books, original art, critiques and feedback from one of nine picture book agents. This year’s agents are:
Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary Agency
Tricia Lawrence, Erin Murphy Literary Agency
Marietta Zacker, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency
Danielle Smith, Foreword Literary
Mira Reisberg, Hummingbird Literary
Susan Hawk, The Bent Agency
Lori Kilkelly, Rodeen Literary Management
Sean McCarthy, McCarthy Literary
Jill Corcoran, Jill Corcoran Literary Agency
Need more info about PiBoIdMo before you register? Read this.
So are you ready to register?
You need to do THREE THINGS:
This is so you don’t miss any of the daily PiBoIdMo posts.
If you already follow another way, via RSS or a blog reader, no need to do it again via email. And if you already follow via email, obviously skip this step.
Please, leave ONE COMMENT ONLY on this post.
DO NOT REPLY to other comments.
DO NOT COMMENT AGAIN if you forget to leave your FULL NAME. (I will fix it and/or contact you.)
If your comment DOESN’T APPEAR IMMEDIATELY, it means I have to moderate it. Please be patient and check back in 24 hours to see if your comment appears. It probably will.
Be sure to comment with your FULL NAME in the text of the comment. This is how you will be identified for prizes.
Here is the badge! Right click to save to your computer and then upload it anywhere you please.
If you do not have a place to display the badge, you can skip this step.
4. Purchase PiBoIdMo merchandise, like the official journal. All proceeds ($3 per item) benefit RIF, helping to put books into the hands of underprivileged children.
5. Add a Twibbon to your Twitter avatar and use the #PiBoIdMo hashtag when tweeting about the event….and follow @TaraLazar on Twitter.
6. Join the PiBoIdMo Facebook discussion group. This is a closed group meaning you must request to join and I will approve you. (Note: the name says “2011″ but it is the current group.)
7. Repeat after me:
I do solemnly swear
that I will faithfully execute
the PiBoIdMo 30-ideas-in-30-days challenge,
and will, to the best of my ability,
parlay my ideas into
picture book manuscripts
throughout the year.
That’s it. You’re golden!
REGISTRATION REMAINS OPEN THROUGH NOVEMBER 7th. You can still follow along if you’re not registered, but remember, those who register and complete the challenge are eligible for PRIZES.
Visit this blog for daily inspiration from the guest bloggers, then keep a journal or computer file of your ideas. There’s no need to post your ideas online or send them to me. KEEP YOUR IDEAS TO YOURSELF! As Sheena Easton croons, they’re “for your eyes only.”
At the end of the month, I’ll ask you to sign the PiBo-Pledge confirming you did create 30 ideas. You’re on the honor system.
Thanks for joining! I hope you enjoy this year’s PiBoIdMo! As always, if you have any suggestions for this event, please contact me at tarawrites (at) yahoo (dot) com or post a question on the PiBoIdMo Facebook group.
I will leave you with a quote that serves as PiBoIdMo’s motto…from Roald Dahl’s THE MINPINS…
*Photo credit Alessandro.
by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Next year—2014—is going to be a hectic year for me. In January, I’ve got a new book called DUCK DUCK MOOSE releasing, illustrated by the fabulous Noah Z. Jones and published by Hyperion. But that isn’t it for the year! No, I’ve actually got THREE more picture books and a couple novels in the pipeline. It’s going to be quite a year!
I can’t share all the upcoming books with you, but I am thrilled to be able to do this:
A DOUBLE COVER REVEAL!
That’s right, folks, not just one gorgeous cover, but TWO!
ORANGUTANGLED:
Two orangutans reach for some mangoes, fall, and land in a gooey, gummy mess. Other animals join the fray until there’s a big ball of mango-juice-covered animals rolling down a long hill to the ocean—will they be okay? Or will they make a gooey-gummy tiger treat?
Illustrated by Aaron Zenz
SNORING BEAUTY:
Tucked in his little bed inside the castle walls, Mouse is eager to get a good night’s sleep before his wedding tomorrow. But just as he begins to drift off, he’s awoken by a tremendous roar. SNOOOOGA-SNOOOOOM! KER-SCHUPPP! Sleeping Beauty is snoring . . . again! When the handsome Prince Max arrives, Mouse thinks he’s found the perfect scheme: He’ll convince the prince to kiss Beauty and wake her up! But when Prince Max learns that Beauty is the one making such monstrous noises, will he still want to kiss her . . . or will he run away from the noisy princess, leaving her snoring for another hundred years?
Illustrated by Jane Manning
Now, these covers are in no way alike at all. BUT…what strikes me about both of them is that they are screaming to be captioned!
What are those tangled Orangutans saying?
What is the Princess thinking as the prince gets closer? Like this:
CAPTION CONTEST!
IN HONOR OF THE DOUBLE REVEAL, I’m happy to announce a new giveaway. Here’s what you have to do—just write a caption for one of these covers and put it into a comment below. We’ll keep it open for 7 days and then I will pick my favorite one. The winner will receive a signed book of his or her choice as soon as the books become available!
Good luck, and I’m looking forward to reading your captions!
You know the Piña Colada song, right? Getting caught in the rain?
Well, imagine that song in a picture book for kids (without the dunes of the cape, of course). Two besties have great times together, but they get stuck in a rut and go off to seek other adventures…only to rediscover each other.
That’s the premise of Tiffany Strelitz Haber‘s charming OLLIE AND CLAIRE. The light and cheery watercolors by Matthew Cordell feature sketchy lines that suggest fun and frolic. A delight to read aloud, your voice just skips along like the two friends do. Tiffany’s a master of rhyme and one of the two ladies behind The Meter Maids.
Besides having two successful picture books to her credit (the other is THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN), Tiffany has branched out into ebooks. She recently released HUNGRY HARRY with StoryPanda and MORE CHEESE, PLEASE with KiteReaders. I interviewed her to find out about the ebook process and this emerging opportunity for children’s book writers.
Tiffany, what attracted you to ebooks?
To me, ebooks are just another way for kids to experience reading. In some cases there are interactive aspects to the ebook that can really help them learn, and in other cases it might just be a nice opportunity for a more reluctant reader to enjoy stories and story time in general.
Did you write HARRY and CHEESE specifically for an ebook format, or were these traditional picture book manuscripts first?
I have this sort of arsenal of completed picture books. Some have been subbed out widely. Others to just a couple places, and others have never actually seen the light of day! I picked two stories that I liked a lot and just rolled with those. Not sure CHEESE was ever subbed out anywhere and HARRY went to one place, actually got to editorial, but didn’t make it through. Wait. Does that even answer your question? Kind of, right?!
How did you go about researching ebook publishers and in what format did you submit?
Oh, I googled the bejesus out of ebook publishers and chose to submit to ones that I felt the most comfortable with. There’s a lot of communication available with the actual publishers and marketing directors etc., so you can really get a feel for who you would be working with before you actually work with them.
I hired illustrators (after exhaustive searches on freelance websites) and submitted completed manuscripts (text and art) to the ebook publishers. The illustrators I chose were those willing to accept a flat fee for the work, and OK with the fact that I would retain the rights to the images as well. Hopefully it is some good publicity for them, and also additional work to add to their portfolio when searching for agents, etc. There are so many wonderful artists out there!
How was the ebook editorial process different from a traditional picture book process?
Um…it’s different in that it’s ALL YOU. Period.
Care to expand upon that?
It’s basically self-publishing your picture book online. You need to edit it, and make all the art decisions, and check the spelling and punctuation, etc. There isn’t an editor or an art director to do that with you—although with HARRY I did work with someone at StoryPanda to create the interactive elements of the story.
The sounds all the crazy stuff HARRY eats sure are fun!
What recommendations and cautions do you have for other picture book writers about delving into the world of ebooks?
I think it’s too soon for me to make any cautionary statements OR recommendations about ebooks yet. It’s something I am experimenting with, and really enjoying so far…but definitely too soon to say much more than that!
How have you gone about marketing your ebooks?
Well, again—this is all very new to me, but I’ve started sending them out for reviews and of course there’s social media. And on a larger scale, I am trying to work with schools to get the books on their computers, etc. Definitely a very entrepreneurial endeavor; but I think if you’re up for the challenge, it’s also lots of fun with somewhat limitless possibilities!
So you’ve now published two traditional picture books and two ebooks. What’s next for you?
Hmmm…I’m working on a middle grade novel right now, which is taking up most of my writing time—but still juggling a bunch of picture book works in “progress”, although I use the term “progress” loosely, as they seem to be at a dead stop for the time being!
Well, jump back into it because you’re a perfect rhymer and the world needs more great rhyming books!
Thanks for stopping by to let us in on the ebook process!
Blog readers, don’t go yet. Tiffany has a copy of HUNGRY HARRY and MORE CHEESE, PLEASE to give away. Just leave a comment below to enter the giveaway. Two winners will be chosen one week from today. Good luck!
It’s NOVEMBER ALREADY?
Well, almost. October will whip by in a sugar-induced haze. Especially because a) I’ll buy candy way too early and eat it all; and b) my kids will change their minds about their Halloween costumes umpteen times. “I wanna be Frankie Stein! No, Draculaura! No, a zombie mermaid! Ooh, I know, a picture book author! I can trick-or-treat in my jammies with a story stuck to my forehead! You’re sorta like a zombie, right, Mommy?”
Um, YEAH.
October is NOT the month of jack-o-lanterns, candy corn (BLECH!) and costumes. It’s the month of PiBoIdMo-eve!
Don’t know what PiBoIdMo is? Check it.
Our 5th anniversary logo, banners and badges have been designed by the kawaii-cutie, author-illustrator Joyce Wan.
Joyce knows my penchant for hot-air balloons. (My husband almost proposed on one. But I think he was afraid I’d drop the ring.)
So this year’s theme is IDEAS TAKING FLIGHT!
WAIT A MINUTE! DID THE BANNER UP TOP SAY 5TH ANNIVERSARY?!
Yep, it sure did. Which means I’ll have to come up with something super-snazzy for this year. So how ’bout JANE YOLEN?
Besides the legendary Ms. Yolen, here are some of the authors and illustrators who’ll be blogging all November long, helping you to fill your idea notebook with 30 picture book concepts:
- Drew Daywalt
- Michael Garland
- Melissa Guion
- Leeza Hernandez
- Lenore & Daniel Jennewein
- Renee Kurilla
- Mike Allegra
- Elizabeth Rose Stanton
- Bitsy Kemper
- Julie Falatko
- Adam Lehrhaupt
- Wendy Martin
- The McQueen Brothers
- Pat Miller
- Pat Zietlow Miller
- Anne Marie Pace
- Betsy Devany
- Paul Schmid
- Annette Simon
- Tammi Sauer
- Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
- Kami Kinard
- Dianne de las Casas
- Dorina Lazo Gilmore
- James Proimos
- Marcie Colleen
- Karen Henry Clark
- Maria Gianferrari
- Laurie Keller
- Katie Davis
- Ryan Sias
- Zachariah Ohora
- Kelly Light
- Steve Barr
- Greg Pizzoli
And even more to be announced…
Official registration will begin on this blog on OCTOBER 24th and run through NOVEMBER 4th. Watch for it! (It’s easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy if you just follow this blog. See left column.) Only officially registered participants will be eligible for PRIZES, like a consultation with a picture book agent!
But you can grab the “Official Participant” Badge NOW and proudly slap it on your blog or social network site. Kindly link it back to taralazar.com/piboidmo so folks know where to join the challenge. You can also grab the “Ideas Taking Flight!” slogan above.
Do you Tweet? Add a PiBoIdMo Twibbon to your Twitter avatar. Just visit the PiBoIdMo 2013 Campaign to upload it.
And here’s some adorbs lightbulb balloons! Use them when you’re blogging about PiBoIdMo to express yourself!
The only thing that’s missing is the PiBoIdMo 2013 merchandise to benefit RIF—like your official idea notebook—so I’ll be announcing that soon.
In the meantime, let us know how YOU’RE gearing up for PiBoIdMo. Blog about it or leave a comment below. What are you looking forward to this November?
Me? Tonight I’m hosting one of NJ-SCBWI’s PiBoIdMo kick-off parties at the Manville Public Library. Maybe I’ll see some of you there? I promise I won’t be a zombie.
I seriously debated posting this, since it’s a subject not often discussed. But heck, I’m known for my honestly, so let’s giddy-up…
How do authors handle being asked to donate individual book(s) to worthy causes? Honestly, they’re all worthy, but let’s shed some light on an aspect of publishing most people don’t realize: authors DO NOT get their books for free.
Oh yes, we receive author copies, but a very limited number which are for our own collection or have already been promised to family and close friends. My author copies for THE MONSTORE were gone the week they arrived. I don’t have any more. If I want my book, I have to buy it. This holds true for all authors. While we did write the book, the publisher edited it, printed it, warehoused it, marketed it and distributed it. And that costs money. Someone has to pay for it!
Authors do receive a discount off the retail price, but it’s not a staggering discount. And, the copies we order this way are recorded as “author copies” and don’t count toward our sales figures. And if you ask any author, if the Publishing Fairy could grant their most favoritest wish, it would be for higher sales figures.
So if we’re going to buy our own books, we tend to buy them like any other consumer would—online or at a book store, wherever we might get the best price.
Now let’s circle back to donations. When someone asks an author to donate their book to a school fundraiser, church tricky-tray or Elk’s basket auction, it’s not free to that author. True, the author might ask their publisher to donate the book on their behalf if it’s a really well-known cause, but otherwise, a small, local organization’s fundraiser is not going to sway the publisher. So then the author must decide if they can spend about $15 to donate their book to the cause (the cost of a picture book, plus shipping, plus any SWAG).
Imagine an author gets about five of these requests a month. That’s not an unreasonable number, especially if they have multiple books in print. If the author generously says “yes” to all requests, that’s $75 a month. Multiply by 12 months and it’s $900. That’s not an insignificant amount of money. In fact, that’s more than some book advances!
Now, if an author says “no” to a donation request, this does not make them a bad person who does not understand the worthiness of the cause. It simply means they cannot afford to do so. They cannot honor every request. While they probably *want* to donate to someone’s school or house of worship, they do have their own schools and houses of worship to support as well. So it’s more likely that they’ll donate to their local organizations than to a stranger’s cause.
Please know that the last thing authors want to do is hurt anyone’s feelings. Authors write books to make people feel good, to entertain, to bring smiles to faces. We love our readers. We don’t want to disappoint them. It’s difficult for us to say “no”. But sometimes our own wallets force the decision.
I haven’t been asked to donate much, so I’ve tried to oblige when I can. But the simple fact is that I have not logged any income as a writer this year, only expenses. Shocking? Not really. My first book was just released and I haven’t made a new book sale in 2013 yet—and even if I do, it’s so close to the end of the year, by the time the contracts are signed and a check is cut, it will probably be 2014. I’m not the only author spending this year in the red.
If you really LOVE an author’s work and want to share it with others, why not ask your local bookseller for a donation of that author’s book(s) instead? They may donate if they’re a neighbor who supports the same school, the same church, the same Rotary Club. They’ll receive advertising out of the donation and can probably expect locals to visit the store as a result, especially if they include a coupon or gift card to redeem. And if they unfortunately say “no”, it probably means they can’t afford to do so, either. (See comment thread about why I don’t mention “advertising” for authors. Good points made on both sides.)
But it never hurts to ask, right? We can all ask, but we can also understand the reasons behind the answer.
Do you have any thoughts on this? It’s a subject that ‘s tricky to discuss…
In THE MONSTORE, Zack just wants to buy a monster to spook his pesky little sister, Gracie. (As you may know, things don’t work to plan.)
But when I do school visits, I’ve found that kids have all kinds of things they’d like a monster to do for them.
- Shoot cupcakes from their feet.
- Hide under their bed and scare away OTHER monsters.
- Walk their pet pot-belly pig.
- Eat clouds so it stops raining.
- Reach the shelf where Mom keeps HER chocolate.
And even more outrageously clever tasks.
So here’s your child’s chance! What would THEIR monster do? What would it look like?
Print out this MONSTORE coloring page (courtesy of illustrator Wendy Martin) and then email me a pic of your child’s monsterly creation by October 17th. (My email button is in the top left column of this blog.)
I’ll pick 5 finalists and post them here, then you’ll have a week to vote for the winner.
(Click on the image for larger version, mouse over for a + magnifying glass, click, then you can then print 8 1/2 x 11. Or, click here for a PDF: Monstore Draw Your Own Monster.)
The winner will earn their class a signed book and a SKYPE VISIT from me on HALLOWEEN! (And if the child is homeschooled, I’ll Skype with them at home or anywhere they choose.)
The contest is open to kids through age 12. Whole classes can enter. If I had a lawyer, you might expect a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo to appear here. But I don’t. So there isn’t. (PHEW!)
Any questions? Ask away below.
Happy creating and I’ll hope to SEE YOU on HALLOWEEN!
Hippity, hoppity…
Come meet some new kidlit authors with the Children’s Author Blog Hop!
I was invited to participate by Darlene Beck-Jacobson, an author I know from NJ-SCBWI whose historical middle grade novel WHEELS OF CHANGE releases next year. It’s set in 1909 Washington D.C. and follows a young girl who attempts to save the family carriage business during the proliferation of the automobile. (Really cool premise I cannot wait to read!)
To participate in this hop, you don a pair of your fluffiest Hello Kitty socks and…wait a minute! This isn’t the Children’s Author SOCK HOP? Oh darn. And I was itching to do the mashed potato, too.
Darlene and me at a NJ-SCBWI book signing
To participate in the BLOG hop, you answer four questions, then pass the torch onto three other authors. One of the great privileges of writing this blog is to promote other talented kidlit professionals. I’m so pleased to introduce you to PiBoIdMo participants and authors you may not know yet—Elaine, Angie & Jacque—but you will!
And now the four questions…
Why is this night different from all other nights?
Whoops. Sorry. That’s the first of the Passover four questions. Maybe my Jewish friends had a chuckle. The rest of you are going HUH?!
1. What are you currently working on?
As you may know, I host Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) every November. It’s the picture book writer’s alternative to NaNoWriMo. The challenge is to create one new picture book idea daily.
I caution PiBoIdMo participants NOT to post their ideas anywhere online. Concept is primarily what sells a picture book, and you don’t want someone to snatch your hook-y concept.
So I’m going to follow my own advice and be a little cryptic about what I’m working on. It’s a magical story about someone who’s not happy with magic.
My usual M.O. is to begin with a title, and that’s what I’m doing yet again. It’s got a snazzy, catchy title, something that will make people wanna snag it right off the shelf. The bad news is that I’ve already written this story once before—and revised it at least a dozen times. But it just didn’t work. In fact, I set aside this story for an entire year before I re-read my final draft again just last week.
WHOA! WHAT A STINK! WHAT DIED IN THERE?
In my zealous quest to perfect the manuscript, I darted further and further away from my original intentions. The story didn’t resemble anything I’d like to call my work. And so, it got filed in the circular file.
This week I began again with nothing but the title. I’ve got the opening down and I can already see it’s going far better than it did last year, but I’ve still got a long way to go.
I’m also putting final edits on LITTLE RED GLIDING HOOD, a punny skating adventure coming from Penguin Random House Children’s in October 2015. All your favorite fairytale characters will be along for the glide—Humpty Dumpty, Old MacDonald, even Jack Sprat and his wife.
2. How does it differ from other works in the genre?
The magical story will feature an adult. In fact, it opens with an adult. I know this is typically a no-no, but the adult is not an ordinary grown-up. You’ll see. Know the rules, but know when to break them, too.
3. Why do you write what you do?
I have always had a love affair with the short story. I prefer the brilliance in their brevity. And with picture books, I adore the juxtaposition of words and images. It’s like playing for a living.
4. What is the hardest part about writing?
Not letting the words get away from you. Sometimes the words have a way of writing themselves, pulling you in a direction you didn’t want to go. You have to learn to tame your words, and that’s no easy feat.
And now, ladies and gentleman and children of all ages, I’m pleased to present the three authors I’ve chosen to hop to: Elaine Kiely Kearns, Angie Karcher and Jacque Duffy!
E. Kiely Kearns is an elementary school teacher and a member of the SCBWI. She earned her Masters in Education from Fordham University. She dreams up wild and wonderful stories in New York State where she lives with her husband, two children, and menagerie of animals. She lives on coffee, chocolate and humor. Mostly humor. Get your “Book Smarts” fix at EKielyKearns.com.
Angie Karcher’s first book, WHERE THE RIVER GRINS: THE HISTORY OF EVANSVILLE, ILLINOIS came out in November 2012. It was part of the city’s Bicentennial celebration and is a resource book for local history in all third grade classrooms in Evansville. Her current project, THE LEGENDARY COWBOY JONES, about a 70-year-old jockey who’s still racing, comes out after the first of the year. She is a former Kindergarten teacher and professional storyteller. Read more of her story at AngieKarcher.wordpress.com.
Born in Brisbane, Australia, Jacque Duffy has always been creative and entrepreneurial. She has written, illustrated and self-published seven children’s books in a series. These books were sought and purchased by the Queensland State Government and placed into schools and libraries. In 2014 her first picture book THE BEAR SAID PLEASE will be released by Wombat books. Follow her down under at JacquesArtandBooks.com.
Happy hopping!
Two years ago at NJ-SCBWI, someone mistook Tory Novikova for my daughter.
Eek! Am I that OLD? No, really, Tory is quite young, so let’s just say that if I were a teenage bride, it could be a possibility. I mean, look at those eyes and hair! Totally plausible.
While Tory’s definitely not my daughter, she does work with her mom, and that’s pretty cool.
Torynova’s adorbable Mushroom Fairy Print leggings.
Her mom played a heavy role in inspiring the styles for Tory’s own fashion company, Torynova Couture.
“The woman had me drawing as soon as possible, so kudos to that child-rearing dedication. She’s a fashion designer, graduated from Moscow’s Textile Institute and had worked for the top fashion houses there and also made costumes for theater and ballet. Even my great grandparents worked on costume and stage production for the Bolshoi Theater, so one could say appreciation for the classics runs through my blood.”
With Tory’s talent and drive—she also illustrates for video game, comic and apparel companies—I knew picture books couldn’t be far behind for this Pratt Institute 2010 BFA. Flash forward to NOW and her book TUKE THE SPECIALIST TURTLE is swimming your way!
Tory, how did you land the job illustrating TUKE?
I was approached really out of the blue (for me, anyway) by Jim Ritterhoff about illustrating this children’s book he had written and meant to publish through his company, Chowder Inc. Profits were to benefit CCMI, the Central Caribbean Marine Institute and the Central Reef Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to sustaining coral reefs in the Caribbean. He seemed really dedicated to the marine ecology of the reefs, being a diver himself. So I came on board and drew him Tuke.
Your illustrations for TUKE are so vibrant and fun. They really bring the ocean and Tuke’s personality to life. Could you give us a little background on your process for creating the art?
I think there is a natural juiciness to my color palette and aesthetic, no matter how far I try to run away from it. It must be a side effect from having my eyes stuck to the TV, growing up watching too many cartoons for it to be healthy. Thankfully, it came in very handy with Tuke because the story takes place in the Caribbean Reef. Though I’ve never seen it in person, I’ve researched enough about it to know that it’s riddled with colors beyond imagination. In fact, the very first spread I finished in full color was the entire reef, which comes in right after the introduction. The reaction I got from Jim, who is an avid diver and knows the reef so well, was pretty much like—YES! This totally works! So after that point, there were no doubts about color constraints. Though, I did get to play around with different depths of blues, which was lovely.
As far as my process goes. The entire book, 60+ pages, was laid out in clean pencil sketches like a storyboard. And for me, clean is a relative term…since my lines are pretty gestural and loose (I really dislike the look of pencil lines that have been traced over lovely loose sketches). Anyway! After each page or spread was drawn, I went over it with an ink brush, picking up and adding textures that I could snap up and use later for the finish. Eventually these were all scanned and saved for later. Then came the flat vector shapes. I really enjoy drawing freehand in Illustrator – is that strange? There is a satisfying gravity about a solid mass that contorts to form the daintiest of details. The expressions of the animals were probably my most favorite parts to draw!
And finally, the image is completed in Photoshop, all the bits are assembled, and the color is fully applied. It may be a little tedious of a process, but it lent itself a lot to the look of the book, and Tuke! And of course there were many moments of going back into inks, rescanning, and altering the finished pages by administering bits of texture for the final polish.
So, what’s next for you, Tory?
Hmmm…what IS next?!?! Well for starters, I’m about as knee-deep into education and new media as I’ll ever be. In fact, I’m currently involved in the creation of an entire educational game world revolving around children’s books and characters due for release in 2014. So I’m definitely still deep in pursuit of creating for kids—video games, books, products, cartoons—you name it! But it’s always been a dream to illustrate picture books. So I’m very much looking forward to the next opportunity that comes my way! 🙂 Any takers?!
Well, I’ll bet there will be plenty of takers for our special TUKE giveaway!
One lucky blog reader will win a custom sketch of Tuke made especially for them! You can even enter twice!
Comment or leave a question for Tory here on the blog for one entry, then Tweet or Instagram an image of the book with hashtag #TuketheSpecialistTurtle and tag @torynova for another entry. Contest ends September 21st and a winner will be announced shortly thereafter.
For more about Tory and her various projects, visit ToryNova.com.
by PENGUIN CHA-CHA is my first book as both author and illustrator, so my process was very different than when I’ve illustrated manuscripts written by other authors.
Usually I receive a manuscript from a publisher, I read it over—that first read tickles the first glimpses of images into my head—and then I decide if that manuscript is one that I want to spend months illustrating.
Illustrating stories by other authors gives me a chance to illustrate ideas that I wouldn’t have had otherwise and brings variety to my work.
For example, in THE GOODBYE CANCER GARDEN, the author Janna Matthies wrote about a family growing a healthy vegetable garden as Mom recovered from cancer. It’s a powerful story of healing. Since I’ve never gone through something like that, I wouldn’t have thought to write that story, but Janna experienced a very similar cancer battle in her own life before writing this hope-filled story. As soon as I read that manuscript, I knew it would be an important book for many families. It was an honor to be able to illustrate it.
Another part of illustrating someone else’s manuscript is to add my own voice to the book through the illustrations. I need to figure out what to add to the story they’re telling, and that may mean showing things in the illustrations that the author never thought of. (That’s why publishers like to keep the authors and illustrators away from each other.)
In the picture book CORA COOKS PANCIT by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, Cora feels ignored at first by her family. To echo her feelings, I drew a little dog that follows Cora around wanting to play, so he brings her more and more toys on each page. Cora ignores him.
Just as Cora gets her happy ending, the dog gets his own happy ending when Cora finally plays with him. The dog wasn’t part of the text by the author. The dog is my own contribution to rounding out the story with the illustrations. Since parents are usually busy reading the words, they may not even notice the dog, but be assured that the kids who are hearing the story and studying the illustrations definitely notice that dog! Kids are master picture readers, so that’s always something I think about as I decide how to draw my half of the story in books written by someone else.
My process for PENGUIN CHA-CHA was different from the start because the illustration came first instead of the manuscript. Way back in 2007, I drew an illustration of penguins dancing. I used to be in a swing and Latin dance group and I liked penguins, so I decided to combine two things I liked to create a fun portfolio piece.
Around the same time I had tried my hand at writing my first picture book manuscripts about other subjects. I had a meeting with an editor and showed her my picture book manuscripts and also my portfolio. She remarked about how much more my face lit up when we got to the dancing penguin illustration than when I talked about my manuscripts!
So I realized I really needed to write about the things that make my face light up. Makes sense, right? So I wrote story after story about dancing penguins. It was much harder to write a wonderfully marketable picture book than I thought it would be! What remained constant were the dancing penguins, but the plots of the stories were all over the place. Those penguins danced for years as I figured out my story. I even licensed them out as wrapping paper at some point. I finally sorted out my story as it played as images in my head. I only wrote down the words that I felt were necessary and not shown in the illustrations. In the end, my editor at Random House asked me to add in a bit more text. I may be the only picture book author that’s happened to—usually they want to cut words!
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Writing my own books allows me the freedom to draw my favorite subject matter and favorite kinds of characters and things that make my face light up like dancing penguins. And the story usually starts with an image for me. Illustrating someone else’s manuscript brings more variety to my work and new experiences. So I love both!
Speaking of new experiences, I’m currently illustrating a picture book written by Danielle Steel called PRETTY MINNIE IN PARIS. For research, I visited Paris—what a lovely city to experience! The story combines Paris, a fashion runway show, a long-haired teacup Chihuahua, and a stylish little girl. Oh la la! Watch for PRETTY MINNIE in the fall of 2014.
Thanks, Kristi, for giving us a glimpse into your process!
PENGUIN CHA-CHA releases today! Happy Book Birthday, Kristi!
And lucky readers, Kristi is giving away a PENGUIN CHA-CHA prize pack! You’ll receive a signed book, magnet, bookmark and sticker! Just leave a comment below by September 5th to enter, and if you’d like to ask Kristi a question, you can do so there, too.
You can learn more about the book at PenguinChaCha.com and download a Storytime Activities Kit.
Also follow Kristi’s blog at KristiValiant.blogspot.com.
by guest blogger Julie Falatko
In 2011, after several months of taking picture book writing seriously, I heard about PiBoIdMo and thought, “Sure, why not?”
If I’d realized how much Picture Book Idea Month would change everything, I might not have been so glib about it. But at the time I didn’t realize that the work done during PiBoIdMo would get me an agent and a book deal.
That year, I came up with 48 ideas, one of which was good. I didn’t realize that at the time. At the time I thought they were all good. But as I wrote them up, I learned that sometimes what seems like a good picture book idea…maybe isn’t. Or at least not for me. I thought a story about a stalk of depressed broccoli would be great (spoiler: it wasn’t). A girl who puts on ridiculous clothes every morning? Snore. How about a kid who wants to be a writer? How about I bonk the reader on the head with boring bricks?
But PiBoIdMo 2011 took a wrench to an Idea Faucet that was rusted shut in my head, loosened it up, and oiled it with a big can of Pay Attention.
After that November, the ideas kept coming—drip, drip, drip—slowly, and, in most cases, terribly. But I like my brain. And I trust it enough to listen to it. So when it told me an idea, no matter how ridiculous, I wrote it down.
On November 1, 2012, I started my second year of PiBoIdMo. What I didn’t know was that my brain had gotten a much bigger wrench for the occasion. And instead of opening up the Idea Faucet a little more, my brain clean knocked the whole faucet off—THWACK!—and let the ideas spurt up like a fountain at the park.
November 2012 I got 30 ideas. Four were good. One I wrote up immediately and it was better than anything I’d written before. Something was happening.
And then one night in late November I was making dinner, thinking about how I like books that let kids know we trust them and think they’re smart. And FWOOSH there it was, an idea, but more than an idea, the entire story, not just the plot, but the words, dumped into my head.
I ran. Bolted from the kitchen, so afraid of losing the sentences swimming in my head. I yelled to my husband that he had to finish dinner, and typed up my story as fast as I could. It was exhilarating and maybe a little scary.
When I was done, I had SNAPPSY THE ALLIGATOR (DID NOT ASK TO BE IN THIS BOOK). Snappsy was the story I sent to Danielle Smith at Foreword Literary. She liked it and asked for more—I sent her the story from the one good idea from PiBoIdMo 2011 and the other good one I’d written during PiBoIdMo 2012. She became my agent. And SNAPPSY was my first book deal, on July 16. It’ll be published by Viking Children’s in the summer of 2015.
Snippets from Julie’s idea notebook
Since November, the ideas have kept coming. None have come out as quickly as SNAPPSY, but some have been close. I keep notebooks and pencils everywhere. And I still write down everything my brain tells me to in my PiBoIdMo notebook. Because while some may seem like a random string of words (“accidental octopus/Georgie, oh Georgie”), or just my brain having fun (what am I supposed to so with “Mr. Codfish is quite pleased with his new trousers,” exactly?) those ideas pave the way for the ones that become good stories.
Well, Julie, hat stories have been very popular lately
Writing is practice. Preparing for writing takes practice too. PiBoIdMo forces you to play. Thirty ideas is a lot of ideas. Not all of them are going to be brilliant or fully formed. Probably very few of them will be. But you write down what you can, and you teach yourself to look for ideas in the world around you and to listen to your brain when it whispers in your ear. PiBoIdMo is fast, but writing well can take time. Keep at it. Don’t give up. Take yourself seriously, and trust in the process.
Highlights submission?
Thanks for sharing your success, Julie, and congratulations on SNAPPSY, which I cannot wait to read!
I hope many of you will join us for the 5th Anniversary of PiBoIdMo this November!
Julie Falatko lives in Maine, where she works tirelessly trying to bribe her four children into doing housework so she can spend more time writing. In the end, they just bake cookies and call it a day. She blogs at worldofjulie.com, tweets @JulieFalatko, and reviews picture books for Katie Davis’s Brain Burps About Books podcast. She can often be found transcribing her brain’s random word association games into her PiBoIdMo notebook.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 