Graphic Novels

Graphic Novels for Kids and Teens
Are you like me? Clueless about graphic novels? Here are 15 resources to get us up to speed! THere are resources for writing, illustrating, reading, evaluating and submitting graphic novels.

Value of school visits

Yo-Yos v. Author
When I first started doing school visits, I was uncertain, trying to figure out what to do and why. That’s when I had a near encounter with a yo-yo.
I went to a rural elementary school a week after a yo-yo company had performed at the school. The yo-yo people had charged the school [...]

How to Write a Children’s Picture Book

Ebook: How to Write a Children’s Picture Book
It started out as 30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book. But now, (drum roll, please), it’s an Ebook. Expanded from it’s original format, it now includes new sections on

boring characters in novels

I’m worried. :-/
Are my characters boring?
One-Note Characters
One common difficulty is to create characters with a wide range of emotions. Yes, your character may be chronically sad or mad; but

33 pages

The 33 page picture book
No, there are no 33-page picture books. Not yet.
At a recent conference, though, I had a discussion about why picture books are usually 32 pages. One person suggested

Smackdown

Do you need to revise something this month? I do! I have a MG novel that I need to go through (again!) and then send it in.

Summer Revision Smackdown: Revision Accountability
So, I’m heading over to Jolie Steckly’s and Holly Cupola’s blogs for their Summer Revision Smackdown (Powered by Licorice, Bum-glue, and You).
It’s easy.
You just post [...]

Picture Books 5

7 Children’s Picture Book Manuscripts in 7 Days

I’m taking the 7 in 7 picture book challenge.

Report on 7 in 7 for the first week of May, 2009
Overall: This was an interesting exercise that I’d like to repeat in a slower month, not May. Why is the Nanowrimo in November and this had to be in [...]

SF Retreat

Extended Novel Revision Retreat
The San Francisco chapter of the SCBWI is hosting a Novel Revision Retreat on July 16-19, 2009, but there’s one twist. It will be an extended retreat, lasting one day longer than normal.
There’s never enough time! If you’ve attended a retreat, you’ve heard me say that over and over. Revising a novel [...]

Manuscript Length

How Firm are Book Publisher’s Guidelines on Book Length?
I had a question come up last week: how hard and fast are the rules about the length of a picture book manuscript? Can you get by with 1900 words? 2000 words? 2500 words?
The length requirements for every genre, from picture books to easy [...]

Touchstones

Touchstones: a reader’s way into your story
In this guest post by Martha Brockenbrough, grammarian, freelance writer, columnist, and author discusses how to pluck the heartstrings of your reader.
When I worked as a freelancer for a company that created really special games—games designed to draw out the best talents of each player—I learned [...]