My son's illustration for one of his stories. It appears I'm being hit by an airplane, or maybe an alien invasion.
I recently finished the character development chapter in James Patterson's Master Class. Writing a believable and relatable character is key in engaging the reader, whatever the age. I find that the easiest characters for me to develop are the ones most similar to me, however, I love writing characters that I wouldn't normally relate to. In high school, I loved to play the part of the villain in our school plays. I think kids are like that too, characters that are a little bit, or even a lot bit, naughty are vicarious outlets for kids who feel like so much of their lives is controlled by overwhelming forces--namely parents. I think that's the appeal, in part, of Roald Dahl's characters. Pippi Longstockings is another and Curious George, to name a mere few. When it comes to more current children's authors, Mo Willems is one of the best in creating memorable characters with endearing foibles. We love Pigeon at our house, and we were lucky to find available tickets to the stage production of Elephant and Piggy at the Kennedy Center. My kids talked about that experience for weeks. Needless to say, I love the following videos, and I hope you'll find something of value from them too:
I hope everyone of you who celebrated Thanksgiving had a joyous one. If your Thanksgiving didn't go quite as planned, the video above should tickle your wishbone. Since we're starting into the mad rush of Christmas and holiday shopping, I thought the video below was a good reminder of the perils of taking a part-time job as a mall Santa.
Since there's only one day left of PiBoIdMo, I hope something will spark the idea center of your brain and land you the last ideas you need to complete the month. Have a lovely weekend.
For those who've read my post about humor, this will be a fitting follow up. I've been trying to pay attention to different types of humor as I've gone about my daily routine. I caught the video above on Facebook last week and enjoyed it.
As you watch it, try to hear the words separate from the visuals. The words are hilarious alone and when added to the context of the video, it's brilliant. Of course, the compilers of the video didn't create any visual humor, they just capitalized on existing footage by adding some pretty funny (and family friendly) verbal humor.
But illustrators have loads of opportunities to create visual humor in subtle and not-so subtle ways. Looney Tunes creators were masters at this, which is why their appeal crosses generations. One of my favorite Bugs Bunny cartoons is a perfect example of how an illustrator (and how an author with carefully played art notes) can add multiple layers of humor. Notice the name plates of the knights in the following clip:
Now moving into this century, I finally watched the Life of Pi. So much understated humor, which I love, but my favorite line of the moviehad to be when Pi's father was talking about their move from India to Canda:
Pi's Father: "We will sail like Columbus."
Pi: "But Columbus was looking for India!"
I wish I could have found a video clip for that scene, but this behind the scenes video captures some of the humor a lot of beauty that went into the film.
I hope something tickles your funny bone and your funny pen and I hope you have a great weekend.
Our regional kid lit group hosted a workshop on writing with humor by Erin Cabatingan, author of A is for Musk Ox and Musk Ox Counts. If you've read her stories, you know she gets humor. If you haven’t read her stories, you are seriously missing out. (See the trailer above.)
I took copious notes from her excellent workshop, but I was also able to ask Erin questions about her personal writer's journey and that is what I will share with you today:
Q: What was the evolution of your journey to find an agent and when did your Musk Ox books come into that phase?
A: My publishing journey started in college when I took a class about writing for publication. That was when I first started to understand how to actually go about getting published. Starting then, I began writing and submitting my work, but I didn't do much else to improve my writing or increase my knowledge of how publishing worked. It was about six years before that I got really serious about trying to get published. I joined a critique group. I started reading tons of blogs about publishing. I worked a little with Rick Walton, who helped me understand what it took to get a manuscript submission ready. I went to my first conference and workshop. It was also then that I decided I definitely wanted an agent. My A is for Musk Ox book came into the whole process at about this point. I had my musk ox book, and another one about a toucan that I really liked, and I took turns submitting them to different agents. When an agent rejected one story, I would send them the other.
After receiving lots of rejections, life got in the way and I stopped submitting manuscripts to agents. At the time, I thought I had received rejections from all the agents I had submitted to, so months later, I was surprised to get a voice mail from Nancy Gallt telling me that she was interested in representing A is for Musk Ox.
Q: Where did the idea for your Musk Ox character come from?
A: I needed an animal that began with “m," so I found a website that listed "m" animals. Musk Ox happened to be the first one that I liked. The personality of the musk ox came as I wrote the story.
Q: How did you pitch to your now agent? Did she contact you right away or ask for revisions first? What was the process?
A: I was one of those dredged from the slush pile. I wrote a query letter to Nancy Gallt, having no connection to her at all--I hadn't met her at a conference or anything like that--and she liked my manuscript enough to want to represent it. In fact, she already had an editor who was interested in it when she contacted me.
Q: What were some pivotal moments in your search for an agent that got you to the point you’re in right now?
A: Probably the most helpful thing was my "internship" with Rick Walton. He's the author of over 90 published books, many of which are picture books. He had projects for me to work on and in return, he would help me with my manuscripts. The projects themselves helped me become a better writer.
One thing he had me do was go over editors'/agents'/authors' blogs and find all the parts that talked about how to be a better writer. That really helped me understand the publishing world better. And then he worked with me on my writing. With his help, I drastically changed a manuscript I was working on and made it much better. I haven't yet published that manuscript, but I learned so much from working with him on it. And maybe one day it will get published.
Q: Did you have a writing background? What did you study in college?
A: I didn't finish college--all I managed to do was get my general education requirements done. And the only writing background I have is what I did in high school and the two writing classes I took in college, one of which was writing for publication.
Q: Once you landed your agent, what has changed for you as a writer, mom, wife, person?
A: I’m not embarrassed to tell people that I'm a writer any more. I'm still shy about mentioning it, but not embarrassed. I also don't feel quite as guilty spending my time writing, since there's a little more hope that I might sell something else. Or at least I can tell myself that. Other than that, I can't really think of anything. Maybe more will change if/when I write a book that is much more popular, or if I sell more manuscripts.
Q: Any favorite moments/responses when talking to or hearing back from readers of your books? A: I’ve had a few. There was one time when I went to the book fair at my kid's school. They had A is for Musk Ox there, and I overheard one lady gushing to the PTA president and cashier about how much she loved my book. That was really fun to hear.
It's always fun when I meet someone who has read my book, likes it, and is excited to meet me. That's only happened once or twice, but it's pretty fun. It's also fun to hear kids laugh when I read one of my books to them. That's maybe my favorite.
Q: When is the third book in the Musk Ox family coming out?
A: September 30!
Q: What are your favorite picture books?
A: Besides my three picture books? Hmmm. That's a hard one. I really like Where the Wild Things Are, probably in part because I remember reading it with my dad. I still remember rolling my terrible eyes and gnashing my terrible teeth with him. I like There's a Nightmare in My Closet, King Bidgood's in the Bathtub, Bedtime at the Swamp, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type, and many others.
Q: Name your favorite part in your books.
A: That’s another hard one. Probably the holes in their covers. I had mentioned having a hole in the manuscript for A is for Musk Ox, but I wasn't sure they would actually put one in because I knew it would cost more money. I was excited to see it there. I wasn't expecting a hole in Musk Ox Counts, so that was fun to see. And the third one has a hole as well! Holes are fun.
Q: What advice do you have for writer’s struggling to land the agent or publishing deal?
A: Keep going! If you love writing, and want to be published, don't ever stop trying. Keep improving your craft--search the internet for information about writing and publishing, go to conferences, have others look at your manuscripts, read books. Eventually you'll make it. Just don't give up.
Erin is repped by Marietta Zacker at Nacy Gallt Literary Agency.
I first heard Emma critique queries through Julie Hedlund's 12x12 forum. Her insights impressed me enough to want to take her course. The video above is an excellent resource in how to write a query.
I recently completed Emma Walton Hamilton's Just Write for Middle Gradecourse. Sigh...I miss it. In 14 weeks I was able to accomplish something I'd been struggling to do for over a year: turn my middle grade novel idea into a workable draft. Oh I still have lots to go, but an idea-that-wouldn't-let-me-go-until-I-had-to-write-it is finally getting it's own legs. Emma's class was an easily digestible, 14-week, online course set at your own pace. The topics included: Plotting, Characters, Theme, Dialogue, Revision, Setting and more.
Many of the ideas she taught seem instinctive in successful writers, and perhaps they are for some, but the course helped me see that these "instincts" can also be learned. I feel like some of that happened for me. Ideas I'd read about started to solidify. The lesson on settings and world building was particularly helpful. It showed me how to create a setting as alive as my MC, something I hadn't considered before, even though the setting is integral to my MC's story. Here's a snippet from that lesson:
"Having your characters interact with the setting on a sensory level allows the readers to experience it more viscerally themselves. Revisit each section of your story where you interact with or describe your setting, and consider it from the point of view of all five senses. Is there a detail you can zero in on with respect to what a character can see, hear, smell, taste or feel?"
I enjoyed the exercises that went along with each lesson. Writing a jacket flap, listing each character's backstory and threading themes or symbols into the writing, were among some of the most rewarding. And best of all, Emma made her lesson easily accessible, print-outs or PDFs that you can take notes on and keep handy. I now have a binder with worksheets about my novel that I didn't have before taking the class. Each one added life to the idea I started with.
So now that my novel has legs, I'm ready to give it wings and I feel better prepared, after Emma's course, to do that. One other final note, we held another workshop with our regional group. This time Erin Cabatingan, author ofA is for Musk Ox, and Musk Ox Counts, talked to us about using humor, but that is for another post, which I hope to do soon. It's a busy time for my family, full of many good changes. Have a great week.
We're winding down after a busy spring break, so something short and sweet is on the menu for today. Above is a short video on the difference between a writer and an author. Below is a fantastic resource. It's story boarding for writers, but not the way you story board for a picture book. This is a three-act structure device and a great one if you are struggling with your plot:
And finally, just for fun, a clip from my favorite YouTube channel, Bored Shorts.
Here's a fun way to start your weekend with two of the funny guys of children's lit: Lane Smith and Molly Leach talk about cover design and other good stuff and Joh Scieszka...well, he's just Jon in his very fun, adorable way.
And on a more serious tone, here's a link to The Nuts and Bolt's Guide to Writing Children's Books (by Linda Ashman) that came highly recommended. I want to check it out myself: http://www.lindaashman.com/newsletter.htm
P.S. Here's one more by Jon. Well worth the 14 minutes. He discusses boys for books and his organization, Guys Read. Anyone who wants to write for boys...it's worth the time to watch this.
As shocking as this may be, I'm not a huge John Cleese fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed his lecture on creativity. Thanks to Brain Pickings for tuning me into this:
"For 21 days, beginning on January 5th, a talented array of authors and
illustrators will be sharing insights into their writing practices and
providing a writing prompt/exercise to complete. Each day you complete
the given exercise, you earn an entry to win one of the grand prizes.
What are the grand prizes you ask? So far, there are 4 AGENT critiques, 2
EDITOR critiques, and proofreading services from a COPY EDITOR up for
grabs."
Of course, don't forget Judie Hedlund's 12x12 coming up in January too. All those great ideas you picked up from PiBoIdMo or Start the Year off Write can be used to draft a picture book a month. Yep, 12 pictures books by the end of the year. Brilliant!
Doing PiBoIdMo and/or NaNoWriMo? Feeling a bit acronymous? No, it's not in the dictionary, but it should be. It seemed fitting for the feeling I'm having switching back and forth between PiBo and NaNo...or is it PiNo...or NaBo...or BoNo...AAAGH. I'm starting to feel like an Irish rock star with a government job.
Here's one more acronym for your weekend. This time its TED, as in TED Talks and this one is with Sandra Boynton. Just perfect...and its short so you can get back to your PiBo and WriMo ROS. MTFBWY!
In case your weekend plans don't include much time for writing, here's a few links to help assuage any writer's guilt: Folio Lit Co-founder, Scott Hoffman, and NYT best selling author, Brendon Burchard, have a 50-minute video (it's worth every minute) for writers on how to develop a platform.
They discuss working with agents, self-publishing, traditional publishing and solid tips on how to write and market yourself. See here: http://www.foliolit.com/nytimesbestseller/
