Talking Critter Books and Me

    Books where the main characters are animals are among my favorite.  Charlotte's Web is forever and always the one book I would take to a desert island.  I love the work of picture book authors Kevin Henkes, Carolyn Crimi and Lisa Wheeler, who often place their stories in the animal world.  (If there is a Hall of Fame for picture book authors, those three should definitely be included.)

     I love what I call "talking critter" books, in which the animals are anthropomorphic.  I just can't write them.

    To me, anthropomorphic books are a form of fantasy.  Animals don't talk or go to kindergarden or wear sneakers. Fantasy.  I don't write fantasy. I can't write fantasy.  My creative mind just doesn't work that way. My stories are mostly rooted in the real world of children. I'm a literal sort of person.

    I have published two "talking critter" books.
Surprise Soup was written about little boys. Something about that manuscript inspired the art department and the illustrator to make the little boys into little bears. Changing the species of the character made it a much funnier book...but I can't take any credit for writing an anthropomorphic book.  The illustrator did it for me. (Thank G. Brian Karas!)

     The other book, Camp K-9, was inspired by my dog, Nilla. She was a cocker-spitz mix, with floppy ears, a thick white coat, and a joyful personality.  In fact, Nilla was far more popular with the neighbors than the Downing family.  She was actually invited to parties that we weren't! Nilla was so human-like, it wasn't hard for me to imagine her as a teen-age girl.  My husband and I would invent adventures for her. Nilla as a Laker Girl.  Running up a phone bill.  Hanging out at the mall with her (also imaginary) BFF, Stacy.

     When we traveled, we boarded our "child" at a kennel called Camp K-9, which had a cute logo of a dog toting a sleeping bag and a tennis racquet. That got my imagination going.  What would dogs do at camp? I used my own experiences as a camper and a counselor to put together a day as a "doggy camper." I used a lot of dog puns and references to add humor.  The other "campers" were based on the dogs in my neighborhood.  That was pretty easy.

    After that, I had to find some tension, a problem, that my girl dog might experience with her bunkmates. That was the hard part. I fiddled and fiddled with the story for four or five years. Finally, after many many critiques by my friends and writing group, I felt Camp K-9 was as good as it was going to get. (Fortunately, my publisher liked it.)

     Will I write another "talking critter" book?  I don't know.  I had been inventing "Nilla adventures" in my head for ten years before I tried to write one down, and it was the most difficult thing I've ever written.  Cute one-liners and puns are one thing; shaping them into a coherent story, with a beginning, middle and end. Who knows?  Right now I am "inventing adventures" for my extremely ill-behaved cat, Rosie.  (She's giving me the evil eye right now.) Maybe...

     Don't forget to enter our latest book giveaway for Stephanie Lyons' new book, Dating Down.  The deadline is midnight, May 15 2015, so don't miss out.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

With a moo moo here and a moo moo there

     I might have mentioned this before, but in a former life, I was a drama major. Perhaps this is why I think of picture books as "performance pieces." After all, picture books are meant to be read aloud. Jill started off this topic with her discussion of rhythm and rhyming picture books. Jill is a far braver soul than I. I have published six picture books (with another on the way) and none of them rhyme. My brain doesn't work that way.

    This is not to say that my stories don't have rhythm. They do. Jill covered this pretty well in her last post so I won't belabor the point here. I'll just say that if you aren't sure if your story has that "swing," read it out loud.  Better still, have a non-judgemental friend read it to you. If you find yourself stumbling over your own words, or if your friend's voice hits a word that sounds like an out-of-tune piano key, go back to Jill's post. 

     So if I don't rhyme, how do I (hopefully) hold my listener's interest?

     Repetition, for one thing.  There's nothing like a little group participation, whether you are reading to one child or seventy. If you want a good example of that, check out my First Grade Stinks. The title is also the main character's catch phrase whenever she is frustrated by yet another unfamiliar aspect of a new grade and teacher.  After awhile, the listener will chime in as well. (Loudly.)

    I love to play around with words. I'm a big believer in alliteration. In Camp K-9, Roxie goes to camp with a Pooch Pouch and makes friends with Pearl the Pug. A word of caution. Be spare with the mirroring consonants. When my daughter was small, there was one particular picture book (no titles mentioned here) that her father and I tried to hide at storytime.  Why?  Seemingly every word in this book began with the letter "p." It was not a short book either.  Two pages into it and my husband and I were sputtering and stuttering like Porky and Petunia Pig. Sometimes, we got so flusterated that certain expletives (not written by the author) slipped into the narrative. Not good.  Not good at all.

     My favorite writing technique (in novels as well as picture books), is the use of sounds.  (There is a polysyllabic word for this that I can't spell, and I am using a computer that doesn't have autocorrect.)  The stories I remember from my own childhood were actually songs, like "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and "The Wheels on the Bus."  When I began writing my own stories, without really thinking about it, a "moo moo" here and a "cluck cluck" there showed up on my pages. Sounds are fun to write, fun to read, and give the listener another opportunity to "read along." (The only one who doesn't enjoy my "sound technique" is the copy editor who sends me notes questioning the correct spelling of "va-va-varoom.")

    If you want to see me go crazy with the sound effects, check out Surprise Soup.  In fact, when I was writing it, I began by listing all the kitchen sounds I could thing of.  Here is a partial list: chippity-chop (a knife), ka-rickety-ritch (a manual can opener), splishety-sploosh, slippety-slop, shakety-shake (ingredients going into the soup pot.) Once I had a list of thirty-something sounds, the story wrote itself. 

    A successful picture book is one that a child wants to hear over and over (and that the reader can read over and over without wanting to rip out his/her hair.) I think playful language is the grace note that adds zip and zing to "Jill's swing," and a little fun for the adult reader as well.

   Don't forget that the deadline for our latest book giveaway Forget Me Not by Carolee Dean is this Thursday, Oct. 11.  Good luck!


Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

Revision Week, Random Acts of Publicity, and Blogosphere Buzz

The International Reading Association (IRA) has declared Sept. 5-9, 2011 to be "Revision Week." Visit the IRA's Engage: Teacher to Teacher Blog this week to read/hear comments about revision from several well-known children's authors, including Cynthia Lord and Kate Messner.

Classroom teachers often tell me that one of their greatest challenges is helping students understand that a first draft is only the first step in the writing process. And many adult writers also dread the "R" word: Revision. Yet, as Kate Messner says today on the Engage: Teacher to Teacher Blog: “Revision is where writing really happens.”
(In the audio interview, Messner also talks about making time to write while working full-time and raising a family.)

One of the best ways I've found to help writers of all ages appreciate the benefit (and necessity) of revision is a bit of "show and tell." I "show" the drafts of my novel Rosa, Sola with all the post-it notes from my editor and I "tell" about how that feedback helped me polish that story. You can see some photos of one of my drafts and read a bit about that process in this post from last year.

For both young students and adult writers, it's often difficult to look at our own work objectively. Below is a revised version of the Writing Workout I shared last year. (Yes, even blog posts and writing exercises get better with revision!) The Workout is intended as a way to help trick ourselves into reading our work as though it were written by someone else.     

Speaking of revision, the next session of my Craft & Critique Workshop, which is held in Oak Brook, IL, begins on Tuesday, Sept. 27. That class is ALL about revision. For more information, see my website. If you don't live in the Chicago area and are looking for some feedback on your writing, check out the Blogosphere Buzz below for help finding a critique partner.

In addition to Revision Week, this is the third annual Random Acts of Publicity week, a chance to celebrate and publicize the work of our fellow authors. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that THREE of the TeachingAuthors have new books out this year. If you're new to our blog, please read these posts to learn all about them: JoAnn Early Macken's Baby Says "Moo!", Mary Ann Rodman's Camp K-9, and Esther Hershenhorn's Little Illinois.
 

I'd also like to celebrate a wonderful new nonfiction book by my friend, April Pulley Sayre: Rah, Rah, Radishes! A Vegetable Chant. This book is a fun way to introduce children to the beauty and wonder of vegetables. (And maybe even get them to eat a few!) Click the photo below to learn more:
 

Blogosphere Buzz

• If you're looking to connect with a fellow writer to get feedback on your manuscript, check out agent Mary Kole's "Critique Connection" post on her Kidlit.com blog.
• There's a brand new Carnival of YA literature site, courtesy of Sally Apokedak. The TeachingAuthors have a link on the inaugural roundup, which you can read here.
• A member of my critique group sent me a link to an interesting blog post by an Australian writer on Whither the Children's Book? Some good food for thought.   

Writing Workout:
Revision=Re-seeing (Revised edition!)

To gain perspective on a manuscript, it helps to let it "cool off" by putting it away and not looking at if for awhile. After you or your students have completed what you believe is a polished draft of a piece of writing, try the following:

1. If the work is on a computer, print it out in a font you don't typically use. For example, if you usually print in Times New Roman, try an Arial or Verdana font, and maybe change the font size to slightly smaller or larger, too. If you're working with students who have written something by hand, have them type up and print out their work. If possible, print the draft on colored paper. I picked this suggestion up form Newbery-winning author Sharon Creech, who blogs about it here and includes photos of her drafts.)
2. Put the work aside for awhile, preferably, at least a month.  No matter how tempted you are, do NOT look at the manuscript at all during this time.
3. While the work is "cooling," keep reading and writing. Read the kinds of things you like to write and/or books about the craft of writing. At the same time, start a new writing project, brainstorm future writing topics, or write daily in a journal, even if for only a minute. (See April's post about this.) This step is VERY important--you want to continue your growth as a writer while your story cools.
4. At the end of the month, pull out your "cooled" draft. When you read it, pretend it was written by someone else. What do you like about the piece? What don't you like about it? What would make it better?

Happy writing (and revising)!
Carmela

Announcing the Winner of our Camp K-9 Book Giveaway

The winner of our latest giveaway is Megan Bickel, who blogs at The Write-at-Home Mom. Congratulations, Megan!

Megan will be receiving an autographed copy of Mary Ann's terrific new picture book, Camp K-9.
Megan posted that she plans to share the book with her three boys. I'm sure they'll all enjoy it.

A big THANK YOU to all who participated in the contest. Don't forget, there's still time to enter our Second Annual Blogiversary Critique Giveaway. You could win won of two manuscript critiques. See this post for all the details.

And, as always, happy writing!
Carmela

Buddies, Bullies and Blankies

     Roxie and her pals sat in my "possibilities" file while I wrote and sold two more picture books, and researched my next novel. I kept thinking of one of my first editors who told me "There's a story in there somewhere." She was referring to Yankee Girl, which, at that point, I had been writing for over three years. I knew there was a story in Camp K-9. . . somewhere.
    I would like to say that I had one big "Aha!" moment and found that story.
    I didn't. Instead, I had a lot of little "Oh" moments.
    One "oh"came when I realized that most of my camping experience had been as a counselor. I was fourteen when I had my only experience as a camper.  I thought of Roxie as an eight-year-old in "people years." Most of my personal camp memories would have to go.
    Great.  My manuscript was vanishing, not growing.
    Another "oh" moment came while stuck in Atlanta traffic, which happens at least once a day.  I was planning a writing exercise for one of young writers' day camps. I decided I would have them write about their most precious possession.  I needed to give them an example of something or someone you are deeply attached to. I didn't want a lot of essays on X-Boxes or their latest birthday present.  What had been my most precious possession?
    From nowhere (because I wasn't thinking all that hard) I thought "my quilt." When I was born, my Grandmother Rodman made me a quilt from corduroy remnants. It was the size of a twin bed coverlet. I wasn't as bad as Linus and his blankie, but I dragged "the Quilt" everywhere.  I called it "Meemaw's Quilt" after it's creator. After I started school, the Quilt left the house only for road trips and sleepovers.  Since everyone took bedrolls to sleepovers (in the days before pink My Little Pony sleeping bags) no one ever noticed the quilt.
      I had taken it to that 8th grade camp, rubbing on s particular corner, worn velvet soft, comforting myself to sleep.
     I had just enough time to scribble "M'maws quilt" on a Wal-Mart receipt before the traffic on Georgia 400 once again took off like the Indie 500.
     I was actively thinking about Roxie as I was taking the MARTA train to the airport one day. Specifically, the conflict between Roxie and Lacy. Lacy was a bigger dog. Would that be enough to make her so disagreeable?  Would it be enough for Roxie to fear her?
    The answer; no. What if Roxie had a secret she didn't want anyone to know, especially not Lacy?
    I heard the voice of one of the many superstar writers I had listened to over the years.  I don't remember who it was, but the voice said "It isn't enough to get your character into a jam.  You have to put them in as much peril as you can without killing them. And remember, they have to figure it out for themselves. No fairy godmothers, no magic genies coming to the rescue."
    Now the voice didn't say that the Situation (not the one from Jersey Shore) must be life-or-death. The character didn't have to be tied to the train tracks with a locomotive roaring in her direction. "You find  the worst thing to happen to your character. It might not be life-or-death for you, the reader, but you must understand how perilous this is for him/her."
    Not an "aha" moment...just another question I couldn't answer. I scrawled "life or death for Roxie" on a Walgreens receipt before I was shoved out by the crowd at the Airport Station.
    That night I was in an unfamiliar city, trying to sleep in an unfamiliar bed. I always fret over these presentations, no matter how many times I have done them before. A good bed helps. I recall with fondness a room in Miami with one of those cloud-like coverlets and a pillow to support every part of your body, and fabulous Egyptian cotton sheets.
    Well, some schools and organizations have more money than others.  This bed had the scratchiest linen ever and feather pillows.  I am allergic to feather pillows. The TV didn't get Comedy Central.  I can't sleep without Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Oh, and the thermostat was one of those locked ones, and the room temperature hovered in the low 80's. Yeah, I was really going to be on the ball in the morning.  I left The Weather Channel on and wished for something, anything to comfort me to sleep. Like Meemaw's Quilt.
    At that moment, sweaty and half asleep, the Big AHA shot through my brain. Of course, Roxie would not Lacy to know about her blankie, but what if...?  And what was camp really all about anyway? I opened my computer and typed away with The Weather Channel droning in the background. This time I knew I had nailed it, and the good folks at Peachtree agreed and bought it.  And it only took four years.
    Some of my fellow writers never read their reviews.  I do, because quite frequently the reviewer will tell me what my book was really about. For instance, A Tree for Emmy is about the deadly sameness of suburban life, feminism and ecology...none of which crossed my mind while I was writing it.
    So far, the reviewers have told me that Camp K-9 is "a cosy tale of friendship" which, in the end, was what I was aiming for. But another review stopped me short when it mentioned it was a story of how to deal with the growing problem of bullyism. Really? Hmm. I guess it is.  I was just telling a story about dogs having a good time at camp.
    As for Meemaw's quilt, I still have it, as carefully preserved as my wedding dress. Why?  Because I always want to be reminded of that eight-year-old who could soothe away her troubles by stroking a corduroy quilt.

Don't forget our second blogiversary critique giveaway. Details at:
http://teachingauthors.com/2011/04/our-second-blogiversary-critique.html

And if you want to find out more about Roxy and Lacy, enter our book giveaway for Camp K-9. 
See Monday's post for further information.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

Meet Roxie, Lacy and Pearl the Pug

      When I get a writing idea, I usually live with it awhile before I start working.  ("Awhile" could be two weeks or two years.)  I never sit down right then and plough into it.
      Except sometimes. Especially if it has been awhile between good ideas. This was one of those times.  I had a character I already knew very well (Nilla) and more than enough scenes for a 32 page book. I banged away at the computer far into the night. What's more I finished it! In one sitting!  I went to bed, wondering which of my editors I would "grace" with my genius.
     I wait a couple of days before re-reading a picture book manuscript. You know, long enough to catch a bug here and there. I figured Camp K-9 needed so little "de-bugging," I would mail it that day.
    Hmm. This manuscript seemed unusually long for something that was supposed to be under 800 words. (I know editors like them shorter than that, but I have never which managed less than 775.)  I read on and on, then hit the word count command.
     2500 words. Gulp.
     I wasted three pages (usually the length of the entire manuscript) with a story "frame":  Nilla belonged to a little girl and this would be the first time they had ever been apart, and there was a wizard who turned the kennel into Camp K-9 every night and blah, blah, blah. What was I thinking?  I never use story frames, not even in novels.
    Things went from bad to worse when I realized that I had written a YA picture book for seven-year-olds.  For thirty seconds, I considered turning it into a graphic novel...until I remembered that I
can't draw.  And what editor would buy a graphic novel about a Valley Girl dog and her friends?  Who would read it?
   My hand hovered over the delete key.  I didn't want to give up on Nilla. I liked the title Camp K-9.  I would simply write about Nilla as a puppy.
    The trick to writing a picture book (if you are not your own illustrator) is to include a lot of action scenes to give the artist something to work with.  After three hours I had only two Nilla puppy memories.  She would fall asleep across your shoes, thus trapping you in place until she woke up. And whenever you came home, she would be so excited she would pee at your feet (not on them, thank goodness.) Not great visuals. And worse, no story.
    Sigh. I deleted Camp K-9, except for the title.  There would be a book called Camp K-9 some day.  Just not this day.
     Months went by with Camp K-9 in my mental "creative crockpot."  I had a critique group meeting coming up, and no manuscript to contribute. I re-opened the empty Camp K-9 file.
    Maybe the real Nilla was getting in the way of a fictional one.  I changed her name to Roxie, the name of the boxer who lived down the street. I suddenly realized that almost everyone I knew had a dog.
A dog with a human name;  apparently people don't name dogs Spot and Skippy any more. I quickly had a roster of dog campers with names like Bea and Hannah. I didn't specify breeds for any of the dogs, save two;  Lacy, who was a standard poodle who lived across the street. Since I planned for her to be "the mean girl," I thought the combination of a breed known for being "a chick dog" along with her sweet name, would be hilarious. The other "real dog" was Pearl the Pug, who incidentally belongs to Emmy of A Tree for Emmy fame.
     Once, I had those dog names, I could see them, doing all sorts of things that canine campers would do;  hiking, swimming, making paw-print crafts. Yeah, I gave my future illustrator a lot to work with.
I counted the days until critique group.
     "And now, Mary Ann's picture book," said the group leader. Was I being paranoid or was everyone taking a long time to find my manuscript in their files?  "Who wants to start?" asked the leader.
     Long silence. Someone's chair creaked. A throat cleared. A little nose blowing.  Usually, we all had a million things to say, suggest, critique and couldn't wait to say them. This loud silence was not a good sign.
     Someone said they liked the dog names.  Another long pause. Someone else said that the illustrations would be "cute." My toes curled. I hate the word "cute."
     Finally, the bravest of us said "This isn't a book."
     My heart dropped.  How many times had I heard that particular criticism?   A lot.
     "You have a bunch of dogs running around doing stuff at camp, then they go home. So what?"
     Disappointed as I was, I knew she was right.  There was no conflict, no tension. Sure, Lacy and Roxie had a few run-ins, but they had no resolution.
     "Maybe this isn't your kind of book," someone suggested in a kind way.  "You write good novels.  Maybe you should stick to novels."
       This person is a friend, and I know she meant to be encouraging, but it wasn't. It just made me more determined that I would not waste perfectly good characters like Roxie, Lacy and Pearl the Pug.
       There would be a Camp K-9.  Some day.

Don't forget our second blogiversary critique giveaway at
http://teachingauthors.com/2011/04/our-second-blogiversary-critique.html

And don't miss out on a chance of winning an autographed copy of Camp K-9
See Monday's post for further information.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

Hooray, It's May; We're Giving Another Book Away!

     The above title should tell you why I rarely attempt poetry!

     The book for our latest giveaway is Camp K- 9 (Peachtree Publishers) by yours truly, with the most wonderfully funny illustrations by Nancy Hayashi. By now, you have probably figured out that this is a picture book about dogs going to camp, but more about that on Wednesday.
    Believe it or not, this book took me four years to write because I was stepping outside my comfort zone.
    What comfort zone? you might ask.  You've written picture books before. Lots of them.
   Ah, yes, but within the picture book genre, there is the book I find the most intimidating (besides anything that rhymes!) 
    I call them "talking critter" books, where the animals act as surrogate humans. Because some of my writing idols (Kevin Henkes, Carolyn Crimi and Lisa Wheeler) are masters of "the talking critter," I decided the field didn't need whatever measly effort I might produce.
    So what changed my mind?
   A dull Fourth of July neighborhood party. I was so hot and bored that I went home for the publisher's catalogs that I kept tossing on my desk to read "later."
   It was later.
   I was struck by how many "talking critter" books were in the picture books section, and how few involved real children (my genre). It hit me that if I was going to stay in this business, I better learn to write critter books and soon.
   The trouble is my creative brain doesn't look at a cat and see a barrio feline, whipping up dinner for his new neighbors, a family of mice, as in Gary Soto's hilarious Chato's Kitchen.  I see my psychotic cat, Rosie, doing cat things; sleeping, eating, chewing my face off because I am late with her grub. Not picture book material.
    Then I remembered our first dog, Nilla. Now she was a character. Nilla already thought she was human, and we thought of her the same way.
   When we got married, my husband wasn't at all sure I could handle motherhood, despite the fact that I had been school librarian, responsible for lots of kids every day for ten years.  Our pound puppy was supposed to be my surrogate baby. Really. If puppy turned out OK, it was assumed I would do equally well with a human baby.  Really.
   Nilla was part cocker, part spitz, so when asked, I said she was a pure bred "spitzer" (I will resist an Elliott Spitzer joke here.) Because she was pure white, and because the rapper Vanilla Ice (remember him?) was on Saturday Night Live that weekend, I named her Vanilla Ice, which soon became Nilla.
   Even as a puppy, Nilla seemed like a human teen-ager. We imagined that she hung out with Paula Abdul and the Laker Girls (we're talking early '90's here). We imagined she'd swiped our car keys to hang out at the mall with her "girls."  But most of all, I remembered Nilla going to "camp."
   I don't remember the actual name of the kennel, but I do remember its logo; a dog carrying a tennis racquet, golf clubs and a suitcase. "See," I told my guilty husband.  "We're not deserting Nilla to go on vacation. She's going to camp."
   We imagined what Nilla might do at camp. I thought she might French braid fur and give pedicures. My husband knew she was teaching the other "campers" poker, and that she probably cheated.
   Yeah, I thought, as I gathered my publisher's catalogs and headed for home, I can do this. I already have a great main character and premise.  I'll write a book about Nilla going to camp. I'll call it Camp K-9. I can write talking critter books, too.
   That was the easy part.  There is a part two. And three. Tune in Wednesday and Friday to learn about leaving your comfort zone (and freaking out), making mistakes (and fixing them!) See the instructions below to enter for your chance to win a copy of Camp K-9.

And don't Forget About Our Blogiversary Critique Giveaway
For details click this link:
http://www.teachingauthors.com/2011/04/our-second-blogiversary-critique.html

To Enter Our Camp K-9 Book Giveaway: 
1. You must comment to today's post, telling us why you would like to win Camp K-9.  Will you be keeping it for yourself or sharing it with another young reader?
2.  You must include contact information in your comment.  If you are not a blogger or your email address is not accessible from your online profile, you must send us a valid email address in your comment.  Entries without contact information will be disqualified.  Note:  The TeachingAuthors cannot prevent spammers from accessing e-mail addresses posted within the comments, so feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions such as "dot" and "at." 
3.  You must send us your post by 11 pm (CST), Wednesday, May 11. Winner will be chosen at random via Random.org. and announced on Thursday, May 12.  Note:  Winners automatically grant us permission to post their names here on the TeachingAuthors website.
4.  You must have a mailing address in the United States.
5.  You must respond to the notification e-mail and provide a mailing address within 72 hours, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner chose.

Those are the official rules. If you feel like sharing a camp memory, that would be great, but certainly not required.
     To get the ball rolling here, I will share the only thing I remember about Girl Scout day camp.
     We had to make our own meals, and every day, dessert was boxed banana pudding. Every day, I would find boulders of unstirred pudding mix in my dish. To this day I shudder at the mention of banana pudding.

How about you?  It doesn't have to be sweet, embarrassing, or even super memorable (see "banana pudding.") Later on, you'll find out what camp means to Roxie, Camp K-9's main character.  
  I can't wait to hear from you.
Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

The 29 Minute Picture Book

     Remember when rock and roll songs had to be under three minutes to fit AM radio format? (when AM radio had actual music) I don't know why this was, but those 45's were all two minutes plus. I will wait while you look for your old Herman's Hermits collection. There was endless PR (mostly untrue) that such and such a song had been written in 15 minutes. My father, who is pretty open-minded about all kinds of music, said he doubted it took more than a half hour to write Meet the Beatles, the entire album.


     Some people have the same attitude toward picture books. (None of you, of course.) Not a week goes by when someone doesn't ask why I've written "only six "baby" books in ten years. (I also wrote two novels, but somehow people zero in on the picture books.)  I mean how long can it take to write 700 words or less? Or if you happen to be Maurice Sendak and wrote what is arguably the classic picture book, Where the Wild things Are in 160--something words.

    It takes me three to four times longer to write a picture book than one of my novels. Why? For one thing, I never ever intended to become a picture book writer. I was very comfortable in my 45,000 word count zone.  I was intimidated by people who could craft these little jewels of less than a thousand words (This was years ago when a picture book could be a thousand words.)

My first picture book, My Best Friend, sold in 2000, was 990 words. Today, adults often tell me they like the book "but it's so long."  Less is more...a lot less. Editors lust after the 600 words and under book. The best I've been able to do is 690 (Camp K-9, May 2011, Peachtree.) I'm still trying for that magic 600.

 Each word has to carry its own weight. The words have to be lively but easy to read aloud. My husband still turns purple at the memory of one of my daughter's favorite books in which nearly every word began with the letter "p." One page, and he was sputtering like Porky Pig.

If all this weren't enough, you need actions that the illustrator can draw. "To be" "think" and "felt" are not words illustrators (or editors) want to see in a picture book.

     I have talked about novels simmering on the back burner of my brain for a year or two before I begin to write. By then, I know my characters, and the story arc.  Not so the picture book. They are on super slow simmer. I'm amazed they don't scorch, simmering so long.

     My Best Friend was a miracle. I wrote it in two hours. Two furious hours, because someone had been mean to my four-year-old and I wrote it to make her feel better. I failed; she didn't feel one bit better that I had given her real life problem a fictional happy ending. However, the nice people at Viking appreciated it and bought it. I have never again written a picture book in less than three years (which only goes to show what can happen when someone picks on your kid, and you are M-A-D!)

    Here's what usually happens. I get an idea. I write a first draft and put it away for a couple of months.
I take it out again, and discover that not only is the first draft way too long, the story is lame.
Write another draft. another couple of months. Another draft.  Around year two, I start sending the book around, even though I know it's not  quite right, but hey, maybe the editor won't notice. They notice, but they don't tell you how to fix it. Then I put the story back in the file, because you don't want to use up all your available editors.   Unless an editor says these words "This is almost right. Please revise and resubmit," do not revise and resubmit.  Being rejected by a publisher is a bridge burnt, And there are few enough publishers who will even read un-agented writers, like  me. But that's another blog.

At this point I used to pester my picture book writing friends for their input. I have since learned to ask for their critiques before I start wasting postage and editors' patience. At this point big things start changing. Like the entire concept. I can write and write and still not know what the story is about. For instance, Surprise Soup started off as a story of two brothers, stuck in the house on a rainy day, so their father teaches them to make an old family recipe,  And it was 300 words too long. When the book finally came out (seven years after I got the original idea), the only thing that remained from the original story was the word "soup." Even my human characters had morphed into bears (the wise idea of my illustrator G. Brian Karas) Not to give away the whole story (and lose a possible book sale!) what really changed was the focus....from bored boys making soup to family dynamics. And 300 words less.

At this moment, I have at least five picture books (plus my current novel) running on little gerbil wheels in the back of my head.  They have gone through all of the above agony, so it is time (when I find the time) to do what finally got Surprise Soup off the launch pad.

Writer's Workout

 1. See if you can sum up your story in one sentence of seven words or less. Not the plot, the theme.

If you can't do that, you're not "almost" there yet. Give it another couple of months.

2.  Sometimes you can ignore step one. All I knew about Surprise Soup was that I had two brothers arguing over soup-making. This is kind of ironic since my idea of soupmaking involves a can opener and a microwave. Soooo....

3. I made lists (I may have mentioned this in another post) of sounds you might hear. I didn't limit myself to actual words like rattle or clatter or clink. I made up words. I love making up words (although sometimes my copyeditors don't. Yes, I know it's not a real word. I made it up!) The list looked something like this--splooshety-sploosh, slippity-slop, plippity-plop, woosh, swoosh, whirrdiddy. Allowing myself to get silly with sound words encouraged me into the next part; sibling bickering.

4. Some of you could probably write volumes of taunts and name calling and the accompanying body movements. I am an only child who has an only child. However I grew up in a neighborhood with huge families, who could stage some colorful throwdowns. I remembered what they said, plus some choice pieces of snittering (I know it's not a word, but it's what you do when your entire fight takes place in whiney or all-knowing voices.) That list really doesn't need to be repeated although I can't resist saying

"you doodoo head...in  French accent" was on that list (but not the book)

5. One of my current lists (for a story I've been fiddling with for four years) looks like this; sand-itch, spliddle, spladdle, whooshswish, flippity-flap-flap,drippity-drip, bingety-bang, sproing, tickety-tackety.  Just writing this down makes my original concept do a 180.

6. Stay with tis list making for part of your writing time for a week (I do not spend four hours a day just making lists)  You may have an a-ha moment. You may finish that sucker up in 24 hours. Most likely, it will get you some new directions which....you know what I'm going to say...you should put it back in the file for a couple of months. By then, I'll bet you will not only know what your story is about, but that you can finish it as well.

Have  a happy writing week...and work in a few lists.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman