Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)

A PiBoIdMo Warm-Up with…Bob Dylan?

October 20, 2010 in Children's Books, PiBoIdMo 2010, Picture Book Review, Picture Books, Writing for Children | Tags: Bob Dylan, Corn Flakes with John Lennon, Inspiration, Man Gave Names to All the Animals, Robert Hilburn | 9 comments

Venerable LA Times rock critic Robert Hilburn recently penned Corn Flakes with John Lennon and Other Tales from a Rock n’ Roll Life, a revealing memoir-style series of vignettes featuring the great rock icons of the last 50 years.

In the book, Hilburn recounts his seven-piece Times series on the most influential and prolific songwriters of the rock era, which was published earlier this decade. He chose Bob Dylan as his first subject. Hilburn wanted to learn about a songwriter’s creative process: what inspires them, how they begin to lay down the music and lyrics, if success or failure of past work influenced future songs. The interview with Dylan earned Hilburn his third Pulitzer Prize nomination. And, Dylan’s words may give other writers—perhaps even picture book writers—inspiration for their own work:

“Some things just come to me in dreams,” Dylan told Hilburn. “But I can write a bunch of stuff down after you leave…about say, the way you are dressed. I look at people as ideas. I don’t look at them as people. I’m talking about general observation. Whoever I see, I look at them as an idea…what this person represents. That’s the way I see life. I see life as a utilitarian thing. Then you strip things away until you get to the core of what’s important.”

And picture books are indeed about what’s important; every picture book features an emotional truth, whether it be about family, friendship or fitting in. If you strip away what’s on the surface—the pirates or the penguins or the princesses—what remains is a story about the human experience.

Noted illustrator Jim Arnosky found inspiration in Dylan’s music. “From the first time I heard [Man Gave Names to All the Animals], the lyrics created pictures in my mind of a land of primeval beauty,” said Arnosky. Dylan gave his permission to create a picture book, and the work was released by Sterling in September.

So that’s your inspirational thought for the day. Well, two inspirational thoughts! People and songs.

What do other people’s actions say to you? How do those actions translate to story? What music boosts your creativity?

And don’t forget, there’s much more inspiration to come when PiBoIdMo begins in November. Consider this a warm up, or as Dylan might say, a sound check.

An Itty-Bitty Giveaway for a Micro-Magazine

October 19, 2010 in Children's Writing, Fiction, Flash Fiction, KidLit, Parenting, Writing for Children | Tags: Abe's Peanut, Children's Magazine, Contest, Contests, Giveaway, Giveaways | 10 comments

[UPDATE: The winner is Sheryl Tilley! Congratulations and enjoy!]

My story “The Juggler Triplets” will appear in the November issue of Abe’s Peanut, a micro-magazine for kids ages 6-10. Delivered in four postcard installments, the story appears on one side with full-color illustration by Lichen Frank on the other.

Independently published by editors Anna and Tess Knoebel, Abe’s Peanut launched this year after the success of Abe’s Penny, a micro-magazine for adults: “Off-set printed on double thick matte card stock, each issue dispenses art and literature while becoming a collectible, temporal object.” (In kidspeak: “They look cool tacked to your bedroom door.”)

Recent Abe’s Peanut contributors include Audrey Vernick, author of Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?, and Lisa Tharpe, author of P is for Please: A Bestiary of Manners.

Kids love receiving their own mail, so here’s a chance to receive four postcards with your child’s name on the label.

Leave a comment naming your child’s favorite picture book for one contest entry. Mention the giveaway elsewhere for two additional entries. A winner will be chosen on Friday, October 22nd.

And stay-tuned for PiBoIdMo in November, when there will be several itty-bitty (plus some hugantic) giveaways!

Write What You Know, But What Do You Know?

October 12, 2010 in Children, Children's Books, Parenting, Picture Books, Writing for Children | Tags: Abrams, AZA, Halloween, Halloween Books, Quackenstein, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen | 9 comments

by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Authors always say that we write what we know, and it is completely true—you cannot tell an authentic story if it doesn’t come from a place of truth. The trouble, though, is when you write picture books for kids, how do you define what it is that you know?

I write books about talking pigs and lonely ducks, and I can assure you I am neither a pig (verbose or otherwise) nor a duck nor any other kind of animal featured in any of my books. And yet I feel very strongly that I only write about the things that I know and that almost every one of my picture books draws heavily from my own life.

Take QUACKENSTEIN HATCHES A FAMILY, for example, my newest book published by Abrams. In this story, poor, lonely Quackenstein looks on in envy as all the other animals in the zoo settle in with their families. So he hatches a plan to solve his problem—upon spying a sign for “orphaned eggs,” Quackenstein decides to adopt an egg to start a family of his own.

The previously cantankerous duck becomes a devoted father-to-be, even cooing to his “ducky-poo” that he will never be neglected. But when the egg finally does hatch, it is more than the eggshell that cracks—Quackenstein takes one look at his hatchling and runs off in terror.

Without giving away the whole book, suffice it to say that the hatchling eventually catches up to his father and a few choice words serve to melt Quackenstein’s heart and open his eyes to the fact that families can be different or strange but always find a way to work. Despite his fears, Quackenstein learns to be the father he wanted to be—and that his son deserves.

I wrote this story when I was pregnant with my son, Sawyer, who is my third child. I’d already had two girls, Isabella and Brooklyn, and I was convinced that baby number three was going to be daughter number three. So when the doctor told me that I was having a boy, my first response was, “No, I’m not, and you can’t make me.”

Turns out, I really was going to have a boy and nothing was going to change that.

I will freely admit being terrified at the prospect of having a son. After all, I knew lots and lots about how to be a good mother to girls, but knew absolutely nothing about mothering a boy. (Since then, I’ve learned that boys and girls truly are as similar as, well, ducks and platypi—they might as well be two different species.)

I honestly didn’t sit down to write a book about a parent who was both excited and terrified about having a baby. But looking back, I realize I did exactly that.

Had I written QUACKENSTEIN five years earlier, I am convinced it would have been a different story, because there were different things important in my life then. If I’d never written the book and started fresh on it now, it would definitely be a different story (and probably far scarier!).

As much as authors write what they know, the real test of a good story is whether the author has not only found his or her own truth, but also illuminated some truth for the readers. So I’ll leave you with this hope: that you can find a little Quackenstein in your own heart.

Thanks for giving us a warm-up for PiBoIdMo, Sudipta!

Want a sneak peek of QUACKENSTEIN? Look no further–the trailer is here! With every view, a donation will be made to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums!

Keeping Up with the Joneses, Literally

October 11, 2010 in Children, Children's Books, Parenting, Picture Books, Writing for Children | 13 comments

Last week, the NY Times published an article on the decline of picture books, claiming that parents are pushing chapter books on younger children because they want to advance their child’s learning. (Although a parent’s quote was taken out of context.)

Is this truly a trend? Are parents feeling pressure to keep up with the Joneses, literally?

I hate to say it, but the answer is yes. (But stay tuned, we’ll circle back to picture books.)

The pressure to raise intellectually superior kids starts even before a child is born. The Mozart Effect suggested that playing classical music for your fetus boosted intelligence. Pregnancy Today says exposure to music in utero may instill your child with a sense of confidence after they’re born.

Remember Baby Einstein? The name alone gets parents thinking about academic achievement in the early years.

You’ve probably heard of Your Baby Can Read. They boast that “a baby’s brain develops at a phenomenal pace…nearly 90% during the first five years of life!” They urge parents to “seize this small window of opportunity,” as if your child will never have the capacity to learn again.

A local preschool is cleverly named “Ivy Leaf.” Are they suggesting enrollment will guarantee your child admission to Yale or Harvard? Hmm…

Kindergarten used to be a half-day of painting, building with blocks and playing music. But now children are given summer tutoring in math and reading to prep for Kindergarten.

Look at the rise of tutoring companies like Kumon and Sylvan.

Rigorous school standards push parents to raise children who are smarter, faster. No one wants their child to be left behind.

But should we give chapter books to young children? If they want to read them, sure! Education.com says “choice is vital to reading engagement. As children learn to self-select their reading materials, they become discriminating and independent readers.” That’s a fancy way of saying children who select their own books are more likely to become life-long readers—and learners.

That brings us back to picture books. They are intellectually stimulating:

Reading with your child early and often helps develop the parent-child bond. (It’s a nice tradition, folks.)
Illustrations help children comprehend the story when they don’t understand the language. They learn context.
Picture books expose children to art. Some of the finest illustrative work in the world can be found in picture books.
The repetitive phrasing common to picture books helps children recognize words.
Rhyming picture books help children recognize word patterns.
Children learn story and narrative structure in a concise format. They get a beginning, middle and end in less than 1000 words.

And, come on! PICTURE BOOKS ARE FUN!

I bet the Joneses read them, too.

Pick Up Your PiBoIdMo 2010 Badge!

October 9, 2010 in PiBoIdMo 2010, Picture Books, Writing for Children | 14 comments

For those of you who are hungry for PiBoIdMo to begin on November 1, here’s something to satisfy your craving: a delicious PiBoIdMo 2010 badge for your blog, Twitter or Facebook page. Nom, nom, nom!

Just right-click on the image and save it to your computer. Then upload wherever you’d like! I ask that you link the badge back to this blog. I said “ask” because it’s most appreciated, but entirely optional.

Thanks to the talented James Burks for designing this year’s PiBoIdMo logo and badges. (Yes, there’s a “PiBoIdMo Winner” badge, too, but you don’t get to have that one yet!)

If you’re a Twitterholic, you can also add the PiBoIdMo Twibbon to your avatar.

Watch for the PiBoIdMo 2010 kick-off post to appear on Halloween!

PiBoIdMo 2010 is Coming!

October 6, 2010 in Children's Writing, PiBoIdMo 2010, Picture Books, Writing for Children | 24 comments

Lately many writers have wondered, “Are you hosting Picture Book Idea Month again in November?”

Since this is a children’s lit blog, I have to tone down the language of my reply:

HECK, YEAH!

We’re gonna make NaNoWriMo novelists wish they were PiBoIdMo writers this year!

We’ve lined up great guest bloggers.

And three picture book agents to provide feedback to three winners.

And prizes! Oh, the prizes!

Just remember, you’ll have to complete 30 ideas in 30 days to qualify for the prizes. And you’ll have to officially sign up, too.

Watch for the kick-off post and sign-in on Halloween! You’ll have from then through the first week in November to sign-up.

And for now, I’m signing out!

Picture Book Progress: What Happens After a Manuscript is Bought?

September 25, 2010 in Children's Books, Children's Writing, Picture Books, The Monstore, Writing for Children | Tags: Editing, Revising, Revision | 23 comments

What happens after a manuscript is bought by a publisher? Well, you pop a cork of bubbly and break the glass shade on your kitchen chandelier. But don’t worry, your advance will cover the repair. (That’s what I told my husband.)

I received an offer for my first picture book, THE MONSTORE, from Aladdin/Simon & Schuster in early May and accepted, after brief negotiations, shortly thereafter. By the end of June, my editor sent me the first round of edits, with the first revision due August 1st.

I opened the Word document and couldn’t believe all the RED.

Stuff was slashed. Crimson comment boxes asked me to change words…and entire passages. And most baffling of all, I thought my editor didn’t like my ending. I felt overwhelmed.

That’s when a good agent swoops in and saves you from having a toddler-like meltdown. A conference call was what I needed to understand the reasoning behind the red. The following week, my editor, editorial assistant and agent called and we ran through every detail. And, guess what? I didn’t feel so overwhelmed anymore. That’s what. (Sorry, there’s a little Junie B. Jones creeping in.) My editor had a great vision, and I agreed with every change she suggested. Big sigh of relief.

Then I had a month to make the changes.

I tried procrastinating. I played a lot of online Boggle. (My high score is 174.)

Honestly, I didn’t know how to tackle the revision—how I would solve the little problems that, at the time, seemed HUGE.

Then I remembered Anne LaMott’s BIRD BY BIRD. So that’s what I did. I took it bird by bird.

The first day I changed the manuscript from 1st person to 3rd. Send over the red button from Staples because that was easy.

The next day, I thought visually. My editor said some of the objects and actions in the manuscript, like a bag of moldy bread, and a monster slithering, wouldn’t come across well in illustrations. She asked me to think of details that were more visually interesting—things that would be humorous to draw, but also fun to read aloud. And, one of those things had to tie into the denouement.

My editor had paginated the manuscript, and she asked me to think of each page turn as a mini-cliffhanger. She did such a bang-up job on the pages, I didn’t need to do much there.

Then came the ending. Remember how I thought my editor didn’t like it? Well, she loved it. She just wanted me to stretch out the denouement. But how? I spent days staring at the screen. I’d come up with an idea, then erase it. And another. Delete. Then save. Then trash. This went on for a fortnight, until, by George, I think she’s got it! (I’ve always wanted to feel like Audrey Hepburn. That was my moment.)

I finished the first revision on June 27th, with enough time to email it to my agent for review before sending it to my editor just under the August 1st buzzer. My agent was thrilled, I was thrilled that my agent was thrilled, and let’s just say the word THRILLED ping-ponged between us that week.

My manuscript had gone from 522 words up to 730 to fit in the changes, but I thought that would be OK.

I was wrong.

The second round of edits arrived in early September. MORE RED. Cut, cut, cut! My editor liked the new denouement, but it was too wordy, bogging down the pace of the story. “This can be shown in illustration,” she said several times. I agreed. (And added those devilish art notes.) I slashed and burned, taking the manuscript down to 589 words.

So now it’s ready to ship out once again, way ahead of my November 1st deadline for the final manuscript.

But guess what? I think there will a lot more changes from now until then, but they’ll make the story even better. That’s what.

Children’s Book Illustrators Creating a RIPPLE in the Gulf

July 7, 2010 in Children's Books, Illustrator Interview, KidLit, Writing for Children | Tags: Ripple | 4 comments

Children’s book illustrator Kelly Light recently launched RIPPLE, a cooperative of illustrators making small sketches in exchange for a donation to a non-profit effort in the gulf.

“A small sketch, a small donation, each small act helps. Together we can cause a ripple in the oil-soaked waters of the gulf.”

Most sketches are just $50 each. You must be the first to email RIPPLE to claim a particular sketch, wait for confirmation that you are the first, then make a donation to a gulf non-profit and provide receipt proof within the hour. The schedule of illustrators is posted so you can be ready to pounce!

Illustrators to come include Dan Santat, Jarrett Krosoczka, Pascal Campion, and later today–Mo Willems.

So head on over to RIPPLE and buy an original piece of art!

PiBoIdMo Success Story!

July 6, 2010 in Children's Writing, PiBoIdMo, Picture Books, Writing for Children | Tags: Barbara Karlin Grant, PiBoIdMo Success Story, SCBWI | 13 comments

Last November this blog hosted “Picture Book Idea Month,” a daily exercise for picture book writers. The object was to create one new picture book idea a day. (As an added benefit, it kept us from having NaNoWriMo envy.)

When I tried PiBoIdMo on my own the year prior, I came up with the concept for THE MONSTORE, which became my first book to be purchased. It’s set for release with Simon & Schuster in 2012. And, this week, my editor is meeting with the art director to talk about illustrators. Oh yeah, it’s a fun time.

Then this week I got word that Diana Murray won the 2010 SCBWI Barbara Karlin grant with one of her PiBoIdMo 2009 ideas! Wow! So I asked her to tell the story…take it away, Diana!

When Tara announced PiBoIdMo on the blueboards, I was thrilled. One idea per day was something I could handle time-wise and I was looking forward to an excuse to ramp up my picture book writing. It was more challenging than I expected, but the best part was, it helped me figure out my main problem: I’m a compulsive writer. As soon as I think of an idea, I run for my laptop and I can’t stop writing until I get the whole story out of me. I literally find myself waking in the middle of the night to jot things down. In other words, I’m completely nuts. In many ways, this can be a good thing. Motivation has never been an issue for me. But participating in Piboidmo forced me to delay my compulsion to write about anything that popped into my head, and for me, that ended up being more efficient.

I came up with most of my ideas during little “holes” in time throughout the day, like while pushing the stroller or putting my kids to sleep. Some of these ideas were pretty awful, like: “Tabby Moves to Dogtown” and “Mabel’s Amazing Hat,” about a do-everything hat with a remote control. Ha! That one still cracks me up. Some of the ideas were worth investigating and I kept getting tempted to drop everything and start writing. But I held back in the interest of coming up with at least one new idea each day. I knew that if I started writing, I wouldn’t be able to stop and move on to thinking of other ideas. I held off as long as I could.

Finally, on idea #23, I couldn’t take it anymore. The idea of a stubborn, messy witch who keeps losing things resonated with me (Gee, I wonder why?). It’s a very personal experience, of course. An idea that works for one person may not appeal to somebody else. But for me, it just clicked. For a few days, I thought about it and planned it out in my head. Actually, idea #23 had been brewing since idea #1 (to borrow a metaphor from my MC, Grimelda). That’s the good thing about ideas: even the bad ones can ultimately lead to something that inspires you. By the time I started writing, I was overflowing with creative juices and the whole manuscript just poured out.

So, long story short, I’m a PiBoIdMo loser! My compulsion got the best of me, and I didn’t get past idea #23. But the good news is, I won the 2010 SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant and learned something in the process.

For the record, I announced my participation on the blueboards but not on Tara’s blog. Let’s just say I was a little new to the concept of blogs at the time. Luckily, I was able to read all the inspiring posts after the event.

Congraulations, Diana! I hope you’ll let us know when your manuscript gets purchased!

Do you have a PiBoIdMo success story to share?

Let’s Get Behind “The Year of the Picture Book”

June 18, 2010 in Children's Books, Children's Writing, Picture Books, Writing for Children | Tags: Booksellers | 15 comments

Editor and author Ken Geist recently spoke at the New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council, asking independent booksellers to get behind picture books, as reported by Publishers Weekly.

Why the impassioned plea? While picture books aren’t disappearing from the market, they have been a tough sell lately. Jacketed picture books are $16.99–not an inexpensive purchase–and customers seem unwilling to buy unjacketed titles. Lower-cost paperbacks aren’t usually produced until the hardcover has proven sales. And big retailer Barnes & Noble is removing its picture book wall and instead showcasing higher-margin activity books. (Say it isn’t so!)

The most interesting tidbit from the article–one that contradicts the word count guidelines heard lately (500 to 700 words, the less, the better)–is that “many [consumers] don’t know what a picture book is, and those who do are looking for more text.”

More text?

Can it be that picture book consumers feel slighted by the $16.99 price tag when they only get 400 words? Does this mean picture book word counts might be on the rise? This is difficult to tell, considering the article also mentioned that 4- and 5-year-olds are being pushed toward chapter books. Lower word counts serve the younger audience this suggests. But do we believe that 4-, 5- and even 6-year-olds are going to give up on picture books completely? Are teachers going to stop using them in their Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classrooms?

And could picture book series be turning off some parents? Once there’s a hit book, publishers release new titles with the same character. Is this strategy a sure money maker, or are parents getting tired of the same premise repeated a half dozen times?

On one hand, familiarity is a strong selling point. Think of the popularity of chain restaurants–customers know the menu is the same in Boston or Boise, so they are assured an enjoyable meal. So a picture book with a character they and their children already know is appetizing, but when do they get full? Editors have been asking for character-driven manuscripts to take advantage of sequel potential, but will this trend level off?

I’m curious to see if publishers will change their acquisitions strategies in light of bookseller changes. What do you think?

One of the booksellers at the event suggested a grass-roots effort to make 2011 “The Year of the Picture Book.” I’m all for that! Who’s with me? What can we do to help a sagging picture book market? (Besides the obvious–write awesome books!)