Dr Seuss Look Out?

                                

Rhythm and rhyme. Once I learn how to spell them, I've learned that they are two things I should definitely consider when attempting to write my picture book. (Please note I say attempting! I'm still not comfortable saying I am writing a picture book as there is so much more I have to learn!)

I told a few friends I was working on a picture book and their immediate response was "Will it rhyme?"

No, no and no! Writing this story in 1000 words (the goal I set) is daunting enough. Trying to do it in rhyme - the stuff of nightmares! Fortunately for me, it's probably not a good idea anyway.

Many editors will not look at a rhyming submission. Some publishers guidelines even state No RHYMING BOOKS. Why is this when children love rhymes?

The main reason is probably that it is so hard to do well. Most attempts at rhyming books fail. You need to have a clear understanding of how rhyming works to pull it off. You need to study things like iambic, anapest and trochee (see what  I mean it's not easy - if you're interested, Ann Whitford tells all in her book Writing Picture Books.)

Ann Whitford also states that it is easy to get swept up in the fun of rhyming and forget what the darn story is all about. Your word length grows by leaps and bounds as you dream up the next rhyming word - often a word that doesn't even express the meaning you want. When I taught creative writing in elementary school, by far the best poems the kids wrote were the ones that didn't rhyme. That's where the kids could really focus on what they wanted to say.

I'm not rejecting rhyme entirely from my work-in-progress. I have a couple of places where I threw in a rhyme and I think it adds to the read aloud fun.  But I think I'll leave rhyme to Dr Seuss and pay much more attention to the rhythm of my story.

More about rhythm in my next blog!

Favourite Kids Book of the Week:

Frog and Toad are Friends by Arnold Lobel

If you haven't already discovered this classic, go look for it now! Frog and Toad are such engaging delightful characters. Arnold Lobel is a master at achieving characterization with so few carefully chosen words.

There are three more books in the series and they are all gems:

Frog and Toad Together

Frog and Toad All Year

Days with Frog and Toad

BRAVE NEW WORLD CONTINUED!

My attempts to enter the world of picture book writing continue. I find it both daunting and fascinating! Who knew you could pour for hours over a fairly short piece of writing - my first draft ended at about 1000 words. I've since written and rewritten it at least half a dozen times but I'm no where near satisfaction.

I have my story line and my characters and I'm learning how to make them come alive in such a short number of words. Every word counts! I've heard that said lots of times about picture books but it never really hit home until I tried to condense my story into 1000 words. I knew I was in trouble when I'd only got started and had already hit 350 words! This is  what I'm finding out . . .

Description - don't need it. The illustrations will take care of it.

Character development - not really room. That doesn't mean your character can be flat or one dimensional. He's just not going to change a lot.

Colourful enriching vocabulary - yes! Most picture books are read aloud to kids by adults so you don't have to worry that the words are too difficult for a child to read. But they should be easily understood in context.

Probably the best thing I've done so far is check out a stack of quality picture books from the library and read and reread and reread them.

I'm learning lots but I'm still scratching the surface. I've found the book Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul useful. The other book I purchased from Amazon called How To Write a Children's Picture Book Volume 2 by Eve Bine-Stock is helpful in the beginning chapters but the second part loses me completely.

Ann Whitford lists the characteristics of kids aged two to eight years old that I think are worth repeating here:

Everything is new to children.

Children live in the present.

Children have had few experiences.

Sometimes childhood is not happy.

Children understand more than we think they do.

Children have short attention spans.

Children are self-centered.

Children long to be independent.

Children are complicated.

Children have rich imaginations.

All these are important things for me to think about as I carry on  wrestling with this fascinating, sometimes frustrating and always challenging project!

Favourite Kids Book of the Week:

Big Brown Bear's Birthday Surprise by David McPhail

This is a heart warming picture book with the wonderful characters of Big Brown Bear and Rat. It's a story of friendship at its very best. The illustrations are  charming.

A BRAVE NEW WORLD

                        

I'm heading into uncharted territory right now for me - the world of picture book writing! I have a kernel of an idea that's been niggling at me for awhile so I'm going to give picture book writing a go!

I know I have a lot to learn.  In other words, I haven't a clue how to start. I also know it's not going to be easy. Shorter does not mean easier.

I can visualize marvellous illustrations for my book but I'm a little vague about the words. I haven't read many picture books since my daughter passed that stage and I retired from teaching school. I'm full of questions - How long should it be? Do I include description? How many characters? What kind of vocabulary? Do I give the illustrator suggestions?

My journey has begun! I bought two books from Amazon on writing picture books and I checked out a dozen picture books from our local library. I've just got my toes wet but already I've learned a lot.

A good starting point for me has been the idea of a story question and a story answer. In her book Writing Picture Books, Ann Whitford emphasizes the importance of knowing your story question. Note: one question because picture books are short. It might start with What happens when . . . ?  What happens when two friends find an abandoned boat? What happens when a dog is bored? What happens when a baby bat is separated from his mother? A story question will keep your story focused. The story answer should be specific to your story and should be only one sentence.

I set myself some homework and wrote down a story question and a story answer for each of the dozen books I got out of the library. These are all quality award winning picture books and they all had a clear story question and answer! So it does work.

Do I know my story question? Not yet. It's okay to start playing around with the first draft before I'm sure exactly what it is my story is about, but I think I'll breathe a little easier when I can write my question on a card and stick it above my computer.

I'm loving this new challenge in my writing life and will keep you posted on my ups and downs as a wanna-be picture book writer, as well as other useful tips I come across!

My favourite picture book of the week:

Stanley's Party by Linda Bailey

A rollicking picture book that I guarantee will change the way you look at your dog! There's lots more in the series, all hilarious.

 

THE INVISIIBLE SAID

Often writers who are new to the craft panic at the long line of "he said" and "she said"  on their page. They try it solve the problem by searching their thesaurus for synonyms for "said" - shouted, explained, retorted, intoned, exclaimed etc.

I tried inserting "said synonyms" into a passage from my book "Whiteout." This is what it sounded like:

"I don't eat meat," April explained.

Molly's eye's widened. "None?" she questioned.
April buttered a bun calmly. "Nope," she replied.
"Since when?" Robin shouted.
"For awhile. I thought I told you about it," she retorted.
"I guess I forgot," Robin muttered.

Sounds terrible, right? Said is considered an invisible word. The reader doesn't notice it. But the reader will notice all these other variations of said. They are distracting and just plain annoying.

That doesn't mean you should never use a synonym for said. But use said most of the time.

Especially watch out for synonyms that are physically impossible - he laughed, he giggled, he smiled, he grimaced.  "I don't like onions," he grimaced. "Come to my house," she smiled. Try it. Hard to do, right? "Come to my house," she said with a smile works much better.

Said is invisible, but a long string of them can be monotonous. Use a beat of action instead. Back to that passage from "Whiteout."

"I guess I forgot." Robin stirred grated cheese into her steaming chili and watched it melt.  The action of Robin and her chili tells us who is talking. You don't need "she said" as well.

When the dialogue goes back and forth between two characters, it is often obvious who is talking and you don't need anything.

"Dad?" Robin said.

"Yup."
"Did these steaks come from one of Kim's family's cows?"
"Yes. What's the matter? You're not going over to the other side too, are you?"
"Never."

You can go along like this for awhile, but it will read better if you stick in an occasional beat of action. You never want your reader to have to stop and figure out who is talking.

Another pitfall to avoid: propping up your "saids" with adverbs. He said angrily, she said wearily, they said enthusiastically etc.

The emotion should be contained in the dialogue.

"I can't believe you did that to me!" he said angrily. Angrily is unnecessary and distracting.

 

The best way I know to steer clear of these problems is to read your passage of dialogue out loud. Even better, record it and play it back and listen to it. You will naturally hear where to insert the beats, when you need to up the emotion in your dialogue, how to eliminate the distracting words.

"It's fun to read your dialogue out loud," the author said. "You can pretend you're on the stage."

"I'm going to try it." The reader reached for her manuscript.

"Good luck!"

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff

Hollis Woods has been in so many foster homes she can hardly remember them all. When Hollis is sent to Josie, she’ll do everything in her power to make sure they stay together. This is a Newberry Honor Book and has been made into a movie with Sissy Spacek.

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Hollis Woods has been in so many foster homes she can hardly remember them all. When Hollis is sent to Josie, she’ll do everything in her power to make sure they stay together.

Show More

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A PLACE TO WRITE

Every writer deserves a place to write - even if it's a table tucked into the corner of the living room, away from the traffic of everyday life. It's a place where you can leave a few things of your own to inspire you, maybe your laptop, your writing journal, a stack of fresh paper.

For years, I shared a room with my husband's desk, computer and photography paraphernalia. It was not ideal (Too much stuff! Too much clutter!) but it served its purpose. When my stepson left home, I inherited his old bedroom and I've stayed there ever since. I can close the door and no one will disturb me.

My writing room isn't fancy. No interior decorator ever got loose in there!

But it is special. I've filled it with shelves of kids books and how-to-write books. I have a photo of my writing group, a bulletin board of inspirational sayings (my favourite is: "Never take the reader where the reader wants to go") and lots of stationary "stuff" ( my weakness) - multicoloured file folders, bright post-it notes, yellow legal pads, stacks of recipe cards. There's a cozy rug and a heater and I'm thinking of adding a kettle and a teapot!

I feel good when I go in my room and that's important because I spend a lot of time in there, alone with my characters.

Sometimes I venture out to write - to our shady porch in the summer or to our cabin in our meadow, where the views are a little too distracting! I have moderate success when I take my laptop to my mother's for a week long visit and no success when I take it on holidays. I'm not one of those lucky people who can write on planes and in hotel rooms. I just don't feel like it. Some of my "writing" occurs on a walk.  I take along a little pocket sized recorder (an Iphone would do the trick too) because some of my best ideas occur when I am far away from my writing room. I haven't tried to follow  in J.K. Rowlings footsteps and write in a cafe but I might one day. My daughter has a favourite writing place on a windy beach in Victoria.

Find yourself a spot, make it personal and make it yours and write!

THE DREADED WALL

                           

Writers call it "The Wall." It's that horrible moment that occurs in most first drafts when you can't move forward. You are immobilized by: fear, frustration, boredom, despair . . . even loathing.

You grind to a halt.

You have writer's blocK.

What can you do about it?

I find it helpful to do a diagnosis, just like a doctor, to find out what exactly is wrong.

The causes of my writer's block have included:

- literally not having a clue what happens next

- self doubt

- distraction (all those millions of things I would rather do!)

- the next scene is just too hard to write

Some remedies that have worked for me:

1. Take a break for a couple of days. Go for long walks with a tape recorder. Let the story percolate. Stephen King calls it letting "the boys in the basement" work.

2. Stop your daily writing in the middle of a scene.

3. Set a smaller daily word quota (maybe only a hundred words) until you get rolling again.

4. Set specific goals that are easily obtainable.

5. Be less judgemental of your writing.

6. Read out loud an earlier scene that you are proud of.

When you slam into The Wall, you need to know:

- when to forge on

- when to change direction

- when to allow yourself to stop.

Sometimes I am just not ready to write more. I need to do more outlining, research or some character profiles. Sometimes I need a vacation. Writing is a job, right? All jobs have some vacation time built into them.

If I have a lot of other things going on in my life, that might be a good time for a vacation from writing. It's better to declare a few weeks or even a month, or two,  of vacation time rather than feeling guilty every day because you are not writing.

During my vacation, I might meet with other authors, work on promotion, read OR I might do nothing related to writing. Then when I come back to my computer, I am refreshed and ready to go!

 Some advice from Nigel Watts in Write a Novel and Get It Published . . .

Sometimes the reason your writing refuses to budge is not because you are blocked but because the idea isn't ready. Like a seed in winter, your novel may be biding its time . . . If your idea is not ready, keep it watered and warm, check at intervals to see if anything is sprouting - but don't force its growth

MY FAVOURITE KIDS BOOK OF THE WEEK:

If I Just Had Two Wings by Virginia Frances Schwartz

Winner of the Silver Birch Award and the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fictio

Indigo Chapters review:  Thirteen-year-old Phoebe has always dreamed of leaving her life as a slave behind. She has heard whispers about a secret path to freedom, and she has seen what can happen to those who take it and fail. But freedom means more to Phoebe than anything, and when she meets Liney, a strong young woman who picks cotton next to her, they form a plan to escape together.

OPENING LINES

 

Some of my favourite opening lines:

Where's Papa going with that axe? Charlotte's Web

 On a Thursday afternoon, just after tea, Charlie Bone smelled smoke. Midnight for Charlie Bone

The ghost was restless. Awake and Dreaming

Keith, the boy with the rumpled shorts and shirt, did not know that he was being watched as he entered Room 215 at the Mountain View Inn. The Mouse and the Motorcycle

The wizard's house was tall and narrow, just like the wizard himself. The Minstrel's Daughter

One day, Grandpa wouldn't get out of bed. Stone Fox

Half the town's driving past our farm today, just to stare at a man driving a tractor. The Crazy Man

When May died, Ob came back to the trailer, got out of his good suit and into his regular clothes , then went and sat in the Chevy for the rest of the night. Missing May

If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. The Bad Beginning

I could tell right away that this wasn't a house that wanted me. Tumbleweed Skies

The best day of my life was the day that I found out that I was all alone in the world. No Ordinary Day

 

The day I almost died, the sky was a bright brilliant blue - a nice change from the rain earlier in the week. Word Nerd

I woke up knowing already that she was gone.  Almost Eden 

Everyone thinks children are as sweet as Neco Wafers, but I've lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten. Turtle in Paradise 

I'm not going to lie to you.  The Lit Report