Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)

PiBoIdMo Day 6: Tammi Sauer Fills in the Blanks (plus prizes!)

November 6, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: GINNY LOUISE AND THE SCHOOL SHOWDOWN, Roar, Tammi Sauer, Your Alien | 614 comments

by Tammi Sauer

A few months ago, I introduced a new character—Ginny Louise. In Ginny Louise and the School Showdown, illustrated by Lynn Munsinger, it’s clear that Ginny Louise’s defining characteristic is that she is irrepressibly cheerful. No matter what comes her way, she is happy, happy, happy.

ginnylouisehighrescover ginnylouise.spotart1

Soon afterward, another character of mine crash-landed in a boy’s front yard. In Your Alien, illustrated by Goro Fujita, I wanted to create an irresistible alien that every earthling would love to have for his or her very own.

youralien alien

In my latest book Roar!, illustrated by Liz Starin, a young boy is the main character. His defining characteristic is that he wants, wants, wants to be a big, scary, fire-breathing dragon.

7a_COVER roar.trio

Knowing those characters inside and out helped me to make each book feel authentic.

Sometimes I really struggle to come up with an irresistible character. This calls for some brainstorming. By figuring out the details about a character, I can often uncover his or her story.

For this brainstorming exercise, fill in as many blanks as you can. You won’t use a lot of this information in your manuscript, but these details will help you to get to know your character. Sometimes all it takes to get a story started is discovering a character’s disposition, pet peeve, or fear.

Who knows? Maybe YOUR character is just what an editor is hoping to introduce to the world.

PB CHARACTER BIO
BASICS
Type (kid, monster, chicken, alien…):
Name:

FAVORITES
Color:
Food:
Item of clothing:
Book:
Type of music:
Class:

EXTRAS
Disposition:
Hobbies:
Talents:
Pet Peeves:
Flaws:
Secret:

THE BIG THREE
What is his/her biggest fear?
What does he/she want more than anything?
What is stopping him/her from getting it?

Tammi Sauer is a former teacher and library media specialist who has visited hundreds of schools and spoken at various conferences across the nation. To date, Tammi has sold 24 picture books to major publishing houses (Bloomsbury, Disney*Hyperion, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Simon & Schuster, and Sterling). In addition to winning awards, her books have gone on to do great things. Mostly Monsterly was selected for the 2012 Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories program. Me Want Pet! was recently released in French which makes her feel extra fancy. And Nugget and Fang, along with Tammi herself, was featured on the Spring 2015 Scholastic Book Fair DVD which was shared with millions of students. Visit her on the web at tammisauer.com.

Tammi is giving away a signed copy of ROAR!

ROAR!, written by Tammi Sauer and illustrated by Liz Starin, stars a little boy and two dragons who discover what it takes to ignite a friendship.

The trailer for ROAR! includes cameo appearances from some of today’s fiercest authors and illustrators. You’ve been warned. Please view responsibly.

Tammi is ALSO giving away a picture book critique!

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

These prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

PiBoIdMo Day 5: David Michael Slater Listens (plus a prize!)

November 5, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: David Michael Slater, The Book of Nonsense, The Boy and the Book | 465 comments

by David Michael Slater

My picture books are nearly all the product of a love affair with words. I listen and they bring me ideas:

THE RING BEAR was born when my sister told me that her five year-old caused a ruckus at a wedding after she whispered to him that the ring bearer was about to come out. He heard it wrong. And panicked.

the-ring-bear-400

CHEESE LOUISE! was born after I heard someone say that “everyone has holes,” meaning “no one’s perfect.” Which lead me to wonder whether Swiss Cheeses mind having lots of problems.

cheeselouise

NED LOSES HIS HEAD is about a boy who…loses his head. (Mom told me I’d lose mine if it wasn’t attached.)

nedloseshishead

7 ATE 9 was born after my five year-old told me the old joke: “Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 ate 9!” And I had to ask why. (It’s just a joke, Dad!)

7ate9

THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED is about a saw who isn’t, well, the sharpest tool in the shed. Until he is.

sharpesttool

But idioms, misunderstandings, jokes, and silly expressions generate ideas, not stories. How do we get from one to the other? A great idea, while exciting, can actually be paralyzing, so it’s helpful to understand the distinction between a simple and a fertile premise.

Idea: A story about a slice of Swiss who doesn’t like having holes.
simplepremise
Problem: There are an infinite number of possible story paths.

Let’s pause for a moment to discuss structure. I believe that understanding traditional story structure is wise. And so does screenwriting guru, Robert McKee:

tradstructures

And so remember this from school?

plot

You know: set up/complications/climax/resolution. It helps. A lot. But this helps even more…

plot2

Because…

movingstories

And watch this…

plot3

Linking (one way or another) the incident that sets your protagonist off on his/her quest for change to the climax of the story creates a powerful effect. Ideally, this effect:

beststories

So back to this:

simplepremise

Now let’s adjust.

fertilepremise

A fertile premise requires an Inciting Incident, which means we need to determine what causes our cheese to dislike her holes. There are many possibilities of course, but the choices are manageable. (Decision: she gets teased.)

And our knowledge of structure tells us that, one way or another, in the climax, she must use her holes to “save the day.” (Decision: she uses them to outwit the one-eyed cat in the kitchen.)

inciting

The traditional structure imposed limits that guided these choices, but these limits were helpful:

creativelimitation

If this feels formulaic during your drafting…hang in there. You are yet to internalize the traditional structure. Once it’s instinctual this isn’t something you consciously consider as you write. Yet it’s nearly always detectible in the final product, even if it has been creatively altered. (For example, Cheese Louise! employs two superimposed story arcs.)

Keep in mind that the subject matter of your story is not original (sorry). What should be original is the specific way you package and present it. Here is Mr. McKee to the rescue one more time:

archetypal

I’m hoping that the story of coming to believe one’s flaws can be one’s strengths has never been told in the context of refrigerator life. Similarly, that blending families can be fraught with misunderstandings has never been conveyed via a story about a boy who intentionally turns himself into a bear to wreck his mother’s wedding.

Can one reject traditional story structure entirely and still produce a successful story? Of course, though in my opinion doing so pretty much guarantees a limited audience. Unless you hold the trump card.

trumpcard

Not that one.

This one:

horseteeth

If you are hilarious, no one cares what happens in your story. But guess what the hardest thing to do in writing is?

PiBoIdMo is a gift because the more ideas you can muster the better. You never know which one will be the one that blooms.

Good luck!

David Michael Slater is an acclaimed author of books for children, teens, and adults. His work for children includes the picture books Cheese Louise!, Flour Girl, The Boy & the Book and the on-going teen series, Forbidden Books, which is being developed for film by a former producer of The Lion King. David’s work for adults includes the hilarious comic-drama, Fun & Games, which was included on Steven Spielberg’s start-up magazine, Heeb’s, Best Books of the Year list. David teaches in Reno, Nevada, where he lives with his wife and son.

You can learn more about David and his work at DavidMichaelSlater.com.

bookofnonsense boyandhisbook

PrizeDetails (2)

David is giving away one of two prizes, your choice:

either a free Skype session for a classroom/group
or a picture book critique.

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for this prize if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

PiBoIdMo Day 4: Marcie Wessels Gives You Permission to Play (plus a prize!)

November 4, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Marcie Wessels, Pirate's Lullaby Mutiny at Bedtime, Tim Bowers | 613 comments

Photo Credit: Roxyanne Young

by Marcie Wessels

Time to confess.

I am probably the worst person Tara could have picked to talk about inspiration.

Why? Because blank pages terrify me.

For me, the most difficult part of writing is coming up with a good idea.

I have a lot of ideas, don’t get me wrong. But good ones? Those are rare.

But is that really true?

Go back and look at that fourth sentence again.

Notice the adjective modifying idea. I said I have difficulty coming up with a GOOD idea.

That’s my inner critic at work. She’s already qualifying, judging, and editing the idea before it’s even written.

Perhaps that’s just one of my neuroses. But I wonder if it might be true for you, too.

It’s DAY 4 of PiBoIdMo. Perhaps you have already generated 20 ideas. Good for you.

But if you’re like me, you may not have jotted anything down yet because your inner critic is at work.

My inner critic always seems to come out when I feel pressure.

Pressure to produce, to perform, to be perfect.

Consider the story of how I came up with my debut picture book, PIRATE’S LULLABY: Mutiny at Bedtime (Doubleday BFYR), illustrated by Tim Bowers.

Pirate's Lullaby COVER

At the end of May 2012, we had a flood in our townhouse. My family and I ended up moving out of our house and living in a hotel for two months during the repairs.

FLOOD 2 FLOOD 3

I was enrolled in a picture book writing class at the time and I had to come up with a story idea for our first assignment. The weekend before it was due, my husband took the kids to the park and left me behind in the hotel to write. I sat down in front of the computer and, yup, you guessed it – I drew a blank. Try as I might, I couldn’t come up with a good idea. I spent several unproductive hours spinning my wheels and then my family returned. My writing time was over and I went to bed that night no closer to having a story than when I started.

But our minds work in mysterious ways.

The next morning, I woke up and the first line of Pirate’s Lullaby popped into my head.

“Yo, ho, ho! Me lad, heave ho! It’s time to go to bed”

And what a wonderful first line it turned out to be! Not only did it give me the characters for my story (pirates) but it also provided the theme (bedtime).

PiratesLullaby_INTERIORS-3

Do you think that it’s a coincidence that my subconscious offered up that first line?

No, it makes perfect sense! Floods and pirates have water in common.

But I wasn’t able to come up with the idea when I was stressed out about coming up with an idea.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this: the ideas will come.

It’s okay if they aren’t perfect.

Relax. Slow down. Open yourself up to inspiration. It’s all around you. Let it in.

But take a step back, too. Give your imagination the time and the space and the room to create.

Give yourself permission to play. Have fun!

And that inner critic?

Invite her back when you have a first draft and it’s time to revise.

Marcie Wessels received a B.A. in English and Spanish from John Carroll University, an M.A. in Spanish from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in Latin American Literature from Tulane University. Pirate’s Lullaby: Mutiny at Bedtime (Doubleday BFYR), illustrated by Tim Bowers, is her first children’s picture book. She lives with her husband and their two children in San Diego, California.

Visit Marcie online at MarcieWessels.com, on Twitter @MarcieDWessels and on Facebook.

PrizeDetails (2)

Marcie is giving away a copy of PIRATE’S LULLABY to a lucky winner!

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for this prize if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

PiBoIdMo Day 3: When Grace Lin’s Picture Book Idea Isn’t a Picture Book (plus a prize!)

November 3, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Grace Lin, Ling and Ting, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon | 577 comments

by Grace Lin

I laughed a little when Tara asked me if I’d like to guest blog for PiBoIdMo. My last picture book was published over five years ago, around the time we were all trying to figure out if the report of the death of the picture book was greatly exaggerated. One might wonder that about my picture book career.

However, in the last five years, I have published two novels and three early readers (with a fourth coming out TODAY!). And when I thought about it, I realized that PiBoIdMo is about picture book ideas. And I realized every single one of my books has begun as a picture book idea.

For example, my first Ling and Ting early reader, was once a picture book dummy originally titled Ling, Ting and Ming (sorry, Ming, you got axed). In my youth, I had loved the Flicka, Ricka and Dicka picture books—so much so that I have always harbored a not-so-secret wish that I, myself, was a triplet. And since all writing is a kind of wish fulfillment (which is a blog post for another day) I made Ling, Ting and Ming Asian-American like me.

And I thought I had a good story idea for these characters, too. I’d emphasize their identical appearance until the punchline of a haircut mishap! Funny! Chuckles! Lots of laughs!

So, like I said, I made a book dummy and included it in my portfolio as I made the rounds in NYC (this was in the olden days where you could make appointments with editors). I even received a bit of interest in it. One or two editors actually asked me to send it to them after my visit, even though they worried it might be “a bit slight.”

But I didn’t send it. Because every time I watched an editor leaf through it, something felt wrong. And on the bus ride home, I realized what it was. Not only was it a bit slight, the book was also unintentionally reinforcing the “all Asians look alike” stereotype. And as much as I wanted Ling and Ting (and even Ming) to be born, I knew I didn’t want them to be seen in the world that way.

I attempted to revise, adding, cutting—even making the characters into animals. But nothing felt right. And that was because for this idea, the picture book format wasn’t right.

Picture books are beautiful things. It’s distilled storytelling– refining an idea to its purest. They are the pearls of children’s literature.

But some ideas shouldn’t be distilled. Extracting only the essential story can make it lose it nuances. Some ideas need many facets to shine.

Which was the case with Ling, Ting and Ming. Many years later, I realized it was an early reader. The story of the haircut was too slight for a whole picture book, but as the first story in a series of stories that would fill out the characters—it was perfect.

LT_notexactly

So what I am I trying to say? You’re going to come up with a lot of ideas this month. There might one or two you love but when you write them into manuscripts, they just don’t work. Your critique mates might not be able to tell you what’s wrong, editors might just simply reject it. But before you throw yourself into a pit of despair, consider this: maybe your picture book idea is not for a picture book. Maybe it’s the perfect idea for an early reader, a novel, a board book, or short story.

LT_silly LT_sharebirthday LT_weather

Because picture book ideas have been and continue to be the backbone of my entire career. And they can be the backbone of yours.

Good Luck!

Grace Lin is the author and illustrator of picture books, early readers and middle grade novels. Grace’s 2010 Newbery Honor book WHERE THE MOUNTAIN MEETS THE MOON was chosen for Al Roker’s Today Show Kid’s Book Club and was a NY Times Bestseller. LING & TING: NOT EXACTLY THE SAME, Grace’s first early reader, was presented with the Theodor Geisel Honor in 2011. Both of those books began as picture book ideas.

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Grace is giving away a copy of her newest LING & TING book, TOGETHER IN ALL WEATHER, released today!

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for this prize if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

PiBoIdMo Day 2: Josh Funk Dares You to Do Your Worst (plus prizes!)

November 2, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Josh Funk, Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast | 632 comments

by Josh Funk

I know it’s only Day 2, but I want you to get all your BAD ideas out today. I want you to think of THE WORST idea you can.

Right now.

What would NOT make a good children’s book?

Maybe it has a horrible lesson.

It could be something completely unappealing to kids.

Or perhaps something adults will hate to read over and over and over again.

Make sure to think of something seriously flawed.

Okay. Have you got one?

Now let’s find a way to make it work—cause it’s bound to be unique and amazing.

A baby with a mustache? That’s absurd. Who would publish that?
pibo-mustache-baby
Clarion. That’s who.

A vegetarian vampire? Not a chance!
pibo-vunce-upon-a-time
Or maybe…

A canine with intestinal problems? Potty humor is just for adult novelty books …
pibo-walter-the-farting-dog
… and children with a sense of humor!

In fact, a book about a paranoid adult afraid of a skunk and a book about an international con man just made The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2015.
pibo-the-skunk pibo-tricky vic

In my debut picture book, Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast (available now), the two main characters find out on the first page that there’s only a single drop of syrup left—and they both want it. And that exact conflict has been there since the very first draft. The resolution in print (I won’t spoil it for you) is also the same as that first draft.

Lady Pancake Cover Image

But when I brought the first draft of Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast to my critique group, I originally had the two main characters arguing about who deserved the syrup more and why. For the entire story. Just dialogue. (I believe I was inspired by the debates prior to the 2012 U.S. Presidential election.)

Yes, the argument escalated. I tried to heighten tension as it progressed. But one member of my critique group suggested I stop working on this project because there simply wasn’t enough illustratable space in a closed refrigerator to make a picture book work.

Instead of giving up, I took it as a challenge. My critique partner was right. But how could I make it work? I needed to expand the world. I realized I needed more action, not just two static characters and dialogue. So I turned this political race into an actual race. There was my action.

So today, go wild. Think of something crazy. Something that makes absolutely no sense in the picture book world. It’s bound to be unique. So try to make it work.

Maybe you’ll come up with a story about a city-wide power outage,
pibo-blackout
or a noir-style horror homage with villainous carrots,
Creepy Carrots cover
or a story about an elderly zoo worker with a cold.
top10asickdayforamosmcgee

Those ideas are award-winners!

Now it’s your turn.

Josh Funk is the author of LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST (Sterling), as well as the forthcoming picture books DEAR DRAGON (Viking/Penguin 2016), PIRASAURS! (Scholastic 2017), JACK! [and the beanstalk] (Two Lions, 2017), and more.

Josh grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes picture book manuscripts. Josh is a board member of The Writers’ Loft in Sherborn, MA and the co-coordinator of the 2016 and 2017 New England Regional SCBWI Conferences.

Josh is terrible at writing bios, so please help fill in the blanks. Josh enjoys _______ during ________ and has always loved __________. He has played ____________ since age __ and his biggest fear in life is being eaten by a __________.

Find Josh Funk at joshfunkbooks.com and on Twitter at @joshfunkbooks.

PrizeDetails (2)

Josh is giving away two Swag Sets, one each for Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast.

Each Swag Set contains:

1 Tote Bag
1 Magnet
1 Pin
1 Collectors Card
for the assigned team (either Lady Pancake or Sir French Toast).

tote-bags pins and magnets cards

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

These prizes will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for these prizes if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

PiBoIdMo Day 1: Joan Holub Gets Fresh (plus a prize!)

November 1, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Goddess Girls, Grimmtastic Girls, Heroes in Training, Joan Holub, Little Red Writing, Mighty Dads, The Knights Before Christmas, This Little President, What Was Woodstock? | 571 comments

by Joan Holub

Yay, you guys, for taking part in PiBoIdMo 2015! Below are 3 things that work for me in my writing, and I hope you’ll find something in here that works for you.

1. Need a fresh way of inspiring new book ideas? Start with a title:

This is what R.L. Stine often does according to his interview with NPR. And about one third of my 130+ books began with a title (Goddess Girls series co-authored with Suzanne Williams; Zero the Hero).
Sources for titles you could tweak, mix-and-match, or reshape to inspire your next story include TV Guide, movie titles, book titles, idioms, fairy tales, folk tales, and nursery rhymes. Keep a list of intriguing, catchy phrases you dream up or overhear. Think: What could a book with this title be about?
Joan says to self: Little Red Writing. What could a book with this title be about? First thought: Main character is a red pencil. Second thought: This pencil is a student at Pencil School. With a teacher named Ms. 2 who tells her class to write stories. Next: I looked up positive attributes of the color red. Bravery is one. Aha! Now I knew what my Little Red pencil wanted—to be brave. Result: My Little Red Writing character is so brave that she foils the Wolf 3000, a crazed pencil sharpener pretending to be Principal Granny.

2. How do you decide which of your many ideas to spend your precious creativity and limited time on?

Try choosing an idea that is “interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. [Those two things] can be very different.” That’s a slightly paraphrased tweet I found, attributed to Emma Coats. I don’t think it means you should not have fun writing. I translate it to mean: What unmade movie would you really like to see, or unwritten book would you like to read? Write that idea. Make it the premise for your book. If your audience-self wants to read it, chances are good that there’s a broader audience for your idea as well.
Joan to self: “Wouldn’t it be funny if 3 silly knights would not let Santa into their castle to deliver gifts on Christmas Eve?”
Result: The Knights Before Christmas. Knights rebuff Santa. Santa catapults gifts over the castle walls. This book unfolded in my brain’s eye, scene after scene like a movie, and I think it reads that way.

3. Book idea just not working?

Maybe it’s too thin or needs pizzaz. Try enriching your project by combining two of your non-working ideas into one idea that works. (Don’t hoard ideas. You’re not wasting them by combining them. And you’ll get more ideas.)
Joan to self: “This dog story of mine desperately needs a twist. And this school-picture-day premise of mine is just lying there on the page, boring me. What if I combined them?” Result: Shampoodle, in which dogs go wild at the groomer’s before dog picture day.

Does every idea have the potential to become an amazing story? I think so. When you’re finished, you may not recognize it as the same idea you began with, but who cares? What matters is that you’ve successfully re-molded that original idea into a finished, great book. Here’s hoping PiBoIdMo 2015 gets your ideas flowing and zooms you all the way to the “finished” line!

Joan Holub is the author and/or illustrator of 130+ books for children including the acclaimed picture books Little Red Writing, The Knights Before Christmas, and Mighty Dads, a New York Times bestseller. Joan co-authors 3 series with Suzanne Williams: Goddess Girls (ages 8-12, Greek mythology with a middle school twist, 22 titles), Grimmtastic Girls (ages 8-12, fairy tale adventure), and Heroes in Training (mythology adventure chapter books). Coming in 2016: This Little President (NF board book) and What Was Woodstock? (NF chapter book).

this-little-president-9781481458504_holub_image 9780448486963 What Was Woodstock_ Joan Holub

Where to find Joan online:

http://www.joanholub.com/
Twitter @joanholub
http://www.facebook.com/JoanHolub
http://www.facebook.com/goddessgirlsbooks
https://www.pinterest.com/joanholub/
https://www.goodreads.com/Joan_Holub

PrizeDetails (2)
Joan is generously giving away this hinged, unpainted wooden castle, ready for the little knights in your castle to decorate and enjoy!

Here’s how Joan transformed her castle into a prop for The Knights Before Christmas events and school visits:

5 The Knights Before Christmas Joan Holub giveaway PiBoIdMo

This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You are eligible for this prize if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge. (You will have to sign the PiBoIdMo Pledge at the end of the event.)

Good luck, everyone!

Pre-PiBoIdMo Day 7: Write Jacket Flap Copy with Dianne de Las Casas (plus a prize!)

October 31, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Cinderellaphant, Dianne de Las Casas, Jacket Flap Copy, The House That Santa Built | 272 comments

by Dianne de Las Casas

Recently, I taught a picture book workshop to my local SCBWI chapter. One of the exercises I had workshop participants do was to create jacket flap copy (JFC). Normally, the marketing and sales department of your publisher handles writing that short blurb that describes your picture book. So why bother? Here are three compelling reasons why writing jacket flap copy can make you a better author.

1. Know Your Content
Have you ever heard of the elevator pitch? It’s that 30 second “commercial” that allows you to describe your product or service in a concise manner. JFC is exactly that. When people pick up your book, they open it up and read the JFC. That brief description will let them know if the content of the book appeals to them.

Writing your jacket flap copy, even as an exercise, will allow you to truly know the content of your picture book and be able to pitch it to anyone, anywhere, at any time.

2. Know Your Hook
A hook is a literary technique in the opening of a story that “hooks” the reader’s attention so that he/she will keep reading. Ideally, the hook will happen within the first sentence or two of the picture book. Do you know the hook of your story?

Your hook will also translate into copy on the jacket flap. Your JFC should hook readers into reading and/or purchasing the book.

3. Know Your Audience
We obviously know that picture books are aimed for 3 to 8-year-olds. However, the reality is that picture books can appeal to a wide audience. Do you know the audience for your picture book? Are you targeting 1 to 2-year-olds, as with a board book? Or are you targeting 8 to 9-year-olds as with a folktale retelling? Perhaps you are targeting boys with a sports or transportation picture book. Whatever your audience, you need to know whom you’re targeting with your story. Writing jacket flap copy can help you target your audience.

Here is some homework. Pick up any picture book. Read the jacket flap copy. Ask yourself these questions:

Does the JFC reveal the content of the book?
Does the JFC reveal a hook of the story?
Does the JFC specify the target audience?

What else do you notice about the JFC? Practice writing jacket flap copy for your next picture book project. Develop an “elevator speech” so that you can describe your picture book whenever, wherever.

Writing JFC will help you improve yourself not only has an author but as a bookseller. Ultimately, I think all authors are booksellers. After all who knows a book better than its author? So write that JFC with TLC and then treat yourself to KFC. ☺

Dianne de Las Casas is an award-winning author, storyteller, and founder of Picture Book Month. Her performances, dubbed “revved-up storytelling,” are full of energetic audience participation. The author of 25 books, Dianne was named the first International Reading Association LEADER Poet Laureate. Her children’s titles include The Cajun Cornbread Boy, There’s a Dragon in the Library, The Little “Read” Hen, The House That Santa Built, and Cinderellaphant. She is the Fairy Organizer of Once Upon a Storage and has a YouTube channel dedicated to home organization, home décor, and DIY. Dianne is also the proud mom of 15-year-old Kid Chef Eliana, an award-winning cookbook author, radio show host, and celebrity chef.

Visit Dianne’s website at diannedelascasas.com. Visit Picture Book Month at PictureBookMonth.com. Twitter & Instagram: @AuthorDianneDLC. Facebook: fanofdianne.

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housesanta Dianne is generously giving away a copy of THE HOUSE THAT SANTA BUILT! Perfect for the upcoming holiday season!

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You will be eligible for this prize if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge.

Good luck, everyone!

Pre-PiBoIdMo Day 6: Let’s Get Visual with Mike Ciccotello (plus a prize!)

October 30, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Mike Ciccotello | 378 comments

Today’s post comes from the mind (and pencil) of illustrator Mike Ciccotello.

Inspiring minds wanna know!

Mike is an aspiring children’s book illustrator. He received a BFA with a concentration in painting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He has 13 years experience working as a motion graphic designer at CNN and Fox Business Network. Mike is currently the Art and Design Director at Telos Corporation. He is a contributing member of AllTheWonders.com and a member of SCBWI. You can see more of Mike’s art online at Ciccotello.com.

He’s also on Facebook, Twitter @Ciccotello & Instagram @Ciccotello.

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Mike is giving away this original art! YES! THIS!!! (Scroll up!)

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

This prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You will be eligible for this prize if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge.

Good luck, everyone!

Pre-PiBoIdMo Day 5: See, Hear & Remember with Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen (plus a prize!)

October 29, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Kidlit Writing School, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen | 502 comments

by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

Thirty days, thirty picture book ideas. At first, that doesn’t sound too hard. And you’ll undoubtedly have terrific ideas in the first few weeks, nuggets that have been waiting to be uncovered for a while that PiBo is forcing you to excavate.

But then, if you’re like me…it’ll start getting harder. Maybe you’ll even hit the wall…and start to think you’ll never have another good idea again…and then maybe never any idea at all ever again…and then you’ll be tempted to quit the PiBo challenge and give up on your writing dreams and move to the Adirondacks and live in a small cabin you hand-make out of fallen branches so you’ll never have to face anyone ever again…

OK, maybe it won’t get that bad. But it is not uncommon to hit the “idea wall,” so to speak – and that is always disheartening. So before you start your official PiBoIdMo journey, I wanted to share three things you can do to re-fill your idea well if it starts to run dry.

(1) Words You Love:
My son and I have a secret password that we plan to use in case either of us suspects the other has been kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a life-like humanoid droid designed to help the aliens get a foothold into Earth society as they plan to take over the planet. That password is “Capuchin Echidna.” (Of course, I think we’ll have to change that now that I am announcing it on the internet!) How did we come up with that? Simple: capuchin and echidna are so much fun to say, and together, they sound HILARIOUS.

Capuchin. (Credit: David M. Jensen)

Echidna

When I wrote a book about the bond between parent and child (which I talked about during last year’s PiBoIdMo), my publisher wanted a super-fun phrase to serve as the call and response between mother and son. The result was RUTABAGA BOO—which, like Capuchin Echidna, is a ton of fun to say or shout or giggle.

Keeping your own list of words you love can serve as a source of inspiration for a full-fledged picture book idea. Often, these words are not just fun to say, but very evocative. Think of kerfuffle, or fidget, or crybaby – don’t they get your wheels turning? Or cantankerous, shenanigan, or fartlek (which is actually a training system for runners, not whatever first popped into your head)? What are you already imagining when you hear those words?

Your word list may never do anything for you but make you smile—but remember, it easier to be inspired when you are smiling than when you a frustrated, frowning, and pulling your hair out.

[Tara’s note: check out this word list!]

(2) Things You Hear:
I’ve long been a fan of stealing from children. Not candy, mind you – just ideas. If you have children of your own who are picture book age, you probably already know that listening to them playing with their friends or telling a joke they found hilarious can be a great source of inspiration. But here’s the thing – if you do have children of your own, at some point you will have bled them dry and you won’t be able to get a fresh idea out of them (also, things you find interesting in your own children can, from time to time, on occasion, be completely uninteresting to people who are not biologically related to you, as most of your audience will be).

So seek out some other children (not in a creepy way! Don’t stalk a school or surveil your neighbor’s toddlers!) and listen and take notes. Some great places for this: library story time, walking around a toy store, the subway, the bus, the aisles of your supermarket, the local ice cream shop. Sometimes it’s not a matter of stalking or pursuing so much as just keeping your eyes and ears open in familiar places. I know some of the most hilarious conversations I’ve ever heard have been while some weary, frazzled parent is trying to buy the groceries while keeping his or her children relatively close and relatively calm. Here’s one from last week:

“Daddy, can I have turtle?”
“No, honey, we can’t get any more pets.”
“No! I mean for dinner.”

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These eavesdropped ideas are free, and they get you out of your own ruts and thinking like someone new.

(3) Memory Mash-up:
Most of us have memories that make us smile. And I’m not just talking about the cute thing your daughter did when she was two or the time when you were five that you did that thing that your mother still talks about. Those memories are great—and you should definitely mine them for story ideas—but push that farther. Think of the stories your family tells every Thanksgiving that still make you laugh or the tale behind that photo your grandmother keeps on the mantle that makes her smile. Think about that story that makes half your family tear up every time—that also makes the other half of your family roll their eyes.

All those memories are a great place to find a story idea, if—and this is important—if you are willing to fictionalize them.

Remember that thing I said about other people not finding your children as interesting as you do? That pretty much applies to your whole family. So don’t be afraid to reimagine Uncle George as a buffalo or Cousin Edna as an ostrich. Grandma’s living room can become a swamp and Dad’s office can be a snowy mountain. Use the memories as a starting point—and then go in the direction your imagination takes you.

Happy PiBoIdMo and have a great month!

Sudipta is an award-winning author of over 40 books and the co-founder of both Kidlit Writing School and Kidlit Summer School. Her books include DUCK DUCK MOOSE, TYRANNOSAURUS WRECKS, ORANGUTANGLED, and over thirty more books that have been acclaimed by the Junior Library Guild, the California Reader’s Collection, the Bank Street Books Reading Committee, the Amelia Bloomer list, and many more. Find out more about her by visiting SUDIPTA.COM or KIDLITWRITINGSCHOOL.COM. She’s on Facebook and Twitter @SudiptaBQ.

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nerdychickscholar To help you put your PiBo ideas to use, Sudipta is giving away a free online picture book writing course in 2016 through kidlitwritingschool.com.

Leave a comment below to enter. One comment per person, please.

This [amazing] prize will be given away at the conclusion of PiBoIdMo. You will be eligible for this prize if:

You have registered for PiBoIdMo.
You have commented ONCE ONLY on today’s post.
You have completed the PiBoIdMo challenge.

Good luck, everyone!

Pre-PiBoIdMo Day 4: Account for Your Creativity Like Patrick Guindon

October 28, 2015 in PiBoIdMo 2015, Picture Books | Tags: Patrick Guindon, The Creative Daddy | 300 comments

by Patrick Guindon

Successful Creatives know that in order to succeed, you need structures in place. But wait! Doesn’t that go against everything “creative”? Don’t you need to live within an unorganized, tortured, magical mess in order to hit on the greatest ideas?

Um. No. You don’t need that. You won’t prosper with that.

I really like bow ties. I didn’t know that until I decided to be bold one day, and buy some bow ties, and wear them to work. I tried them. I loved them. I’m wearing one today!

Okay, your ideas and creative success are not like my bow ties. Noted.

But if you believe that your best ideas come during wild bouts of chaos, I dare you to try out some Accountable Creativity. You may end up loving it, like I love my bow ties.

As a firm believer that structures set people up for creative freedom, I want to share with you some Accountable Creativity Strategies that are working for me.

Write/sketch them (all) down. They all count. Ideas are like avalanches. Once a few appear, you may feel inundated with ideas! SO MANY IDEAS. Great ones, weird ones, awful ones, incomplete ones. Write them down.
Leave a sketchbook on the kitchen counter. If I don’t, I won’t. If it means going upstairs when my body is still mostly asleep, or sitting at the island and scrolling through social media feeds, I’ll pick the easier, fruitless option.
Feel productive by being productive. Butt in the chair, and get creating. (Or in my case, feet on the ground at the standing desk. Anyone else with me?)
Sharpen your pencils. Have your materials ready before you get there. See #5 for more.
Keep a journal. I call mine an “art journal” even though it’s not for drawing in. Some mornings I have more time before work (“more time” in a parent’s life means: I have 20 unscheduled minutes). The night before, I open my book, write down 2-3 focus-tasks that I know are achievable in 20 minutes, and then I leave the book open on my desk. When I wake up, I know I’ve written a goal, and I don’t have to spend 20 minutes wondering what I should sketch or write. I never leave myself large, intense, or thought-heavy tasks. Attainable and achievable – those are the jobs for the 20 minutes before work. By investing this time, you’ll make room for nooks and crannies of time to appear throughout your day.
This completed illustration is a direct result of the journaling I do, completed in just a week (whereas most take me longer than that). You can see the process work on my blog: thecreativedaddy.com.
Create a network that you trust. I have a critique partner. We send messages back and forth most days, and push each other to work harder. If I say, “I’m going to complete the girl illustration,” she is going to ask me about it all week, and send me back to the drawing board when I thought I was almost done. My wife also works as a true critique partner – she says what’s working and what isn’t. It’s sometimes painful, and sometimes hard, but in the end I have greater samples for my portfolio and stronger stories. (Hi Stephanie! Hi Jami!)
Put in the time. You might have 30 ideas at the end of PiBoIdMo. You might have 3. If they sit in your notebook for the next year, then why did you participate? I always encourage people who say, “I have no time! I’ll do it when I retire!” to take FIVE MINUTES a day and spend it creatively. If you are retired and are diving into this world now, put in the time. You owe it to yourself. You might refer back to #5 for prepping for this. In my experience, five minutes often turns into 30 minutes.
Work through the ugly. The most beautiful creative projects start out ugly, go through long bouts of ugly, and are ugly until just a few moments before completion. Roll up your sleeves and get to work, because those bad, awkward, weird ideas that you create this month? You’re gonna make ‘em beautiful.
Balance. As a busy teacher-researcher, husband, dad, art teacher, writer and artist, I know that sometimes you stay awake until 4am with a screaming baby. Well, I do. Sometimes it’s Parent-Teacher Night. Sometimes you are just dang tired. So give yourself a break – but not forever. Find a balance. See #7.
Invest in yourself. You’re a PiBoIdMo-er because you believe in yourself, and the idea that you are going to be a successful writer or illustrator, or both. Give yourself the time to create, improve and grow. Don’t stop believing. Hold onto this feeling.

Patrick Guindon is a writer/illustrator, teacher-researcher, and Creative Daddy. This is his FIFTH round of PiBoIdMo participation and he is shaking in excitement that he won the chance to write a Pre-PiBoIdMo blog. You can find him, and all of his social media links, on his website at www.patrickg.ca. You can also like his pages on Facebook, visit his blog TheCreativeDaddy.com, and follow him on Twitter @123patrickg.