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After flirting with the idea of doing NaNoWriMo, I decided instead to do PiBoIdMo, or Picture Book Idea Month, the 30 days of November in which I am supposed to come up with 30 picture book ideas. It makes sense. I am attending the SCBWI Eastern NY Falling Leaves Master Class retreat where five picture [...]
Writing is rewriting Guest post by Anastasia Suen For years I have been saying that writing is rewriting, and now I have a book that shows it quite clearly, my new picture book, Road Work Ahead (Viking 2011). This picture book is short, like most of my books. It’s only 120 words, but those words [...]
Over at Playing by the Books, the UK blogger (bilingual Dutch/English), is talking about picture books. The UK Secretary for Education, Michael Gove has suggested that kids read at least 50 books a year. Playing by the Books took up the challenge: I approached six brilliant UK-based illustrators and asked them to contribute towards a [...]
12 Updated Resources for 2011 State of the industry. First, a basic question: Are picture books dead? Not according to Karen Springen and PW. Don’t Write the Obit For Picture Books Yet, By Karen Springen, Dec 12, 2010 Writing Encouragement. Natl Pic Book Writing Week May 1-7, 2011 National Picture Book Writing Week is a [...]
Stop! Before you send out that picture book manuscript, cut it by at least one-third. Really. Make that revision. Biggest Mistake in Picture Book Manuscripts I recently read a picture book manuscript from a novice writer and it had the usual problem: too long.
Last week, after welcoming my new grandson into the world, I brought my 22 month old grand-daughter back to our house for a couple days. Of course – of course! – I took her to story time at our local library. Baby – Toddler Story Time If you want to write literature for the youngest, [...]
I’m currently revising a picture book and finding it to be a bit tricky because I created animal characters. Of course, in a fiction picture book, animal characters are often just stand-ins for kids. Why Use an Animal Character in a Fictional Picture Book? Get Rid of Adults. I wanted to have two characters playing [...]
Conflict, the type that motivates and moves a plot, comes from four sources. Yesterday, an editor asked for revisions on a very short piece which was meant for a kindergarten or first grade audience. The editor didn’t like the competitiveness between siblings. But when she contemplated taking out that conflict, she correctly understood that the [...]
Take a Reading Day Standard advice: read what you want to write. If you want to write a novel, then read mysteries or thrillers or teen or easy readers or whatever genre you want to write. Last week, I took a reading day and had great fun. I often advise people to read
Narrative Arc in Less Than 100 Words: Example 2 Very simple picture books still have a narrative arc, even though the word count is extremely small. Yesterday, we looked at an example of a great simple narrative in My Friend, Rabbit. Today, here’s a look at a narrative arc in 80 words (with the help [...]
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