My stories have been enjoying a long cooling off period. I've been SO busy the last two months getting ready to teach at Highlights Foundation next week. There will be a class on writing picture books with the amazing Leslie Helakoski (see her new book here - really, if you're looking for a gift, this ...
Fiction Notes
Believe in Your Story
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Picture Books That Soar – With Leslie Helakoski
For the past few summers, I've co-taught a picture book workshop with author/illustrator, Leslie Helakoski at the Highlights Foundation. HOOT AND HONK, Leslie’s newest picture book, follows an owlet and a gosling, who have trouble adjusting to sleep patterns when they end up in each other’s nest. The spare text in this beautifully illustrated bedtime ...
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3 Ways to Show Don’t Tell
Classic advice to beginning fiction writers: Show, Don't Tell. I taught several sessions to teachers last week and they all nodded. Great advice. But how do you DO that in practical terms? How do you teach students to Show, Don't Tell? Show, Don't Tell: Why? In the old days of storytelling, it was fine to just say ...
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5 Ramblings for 2017
Today is a series of rambles, comments on a variety of things. Why do we keep on writing? I ask myself this at least monthly, if not weekly and daily. Why? And there are many answers. Because there's a story to finish. Because there are readers to please. Because I can't NOT write. Putting words into print seems to ...
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How to Spice Up Perfectly Good (but Boring) Scenes
In my work-in-progress, I'm studying a scene to see if I can tighten it in any way. It's a perfectly good scene. The characters go to a jewelry store. The protagonist's mother has a birthday next week and he's got to find a suitable gift. In the jewelry store, they pick up a crucial clue ...