Leave room for the illustrator!

If you are writing a picture book manuscript, here are a few tips from Deborah Underwood of The Christmas Quiet Book as she guest posts on The Write Routine blog. She writes: Leaving room for the illustrator is one of the most important lessons for picture book writers. And I’m sorry to say it took me about six years to learn it. SIX YEARS. I think that was because I didn’t really understand why we need to leave room, why we shouldn’t write a lot of description. Now--finally!--I do.

 

Me: When I’m in the middle of writing a story for a picture book, I visualize in my head the colors, the clothes, the setting, etc. Once the illustrator reads the manuscript and sketches and comes up with the final art, I am stunned. The end result is always so much more beautiful than I envisioned. It’s best to leave out some details and give the illustrator the space to create. Illustrators are the artists who bring our story to life. Let’s leave them room to do their thing. It is a collaboration between author and illustrator to make the book the best that it can be. 

Underwood goes on to write: Every descriptive word in a picture book limits your illustrator. Read her post on how she resisted, at first, to make changes, but in the end was happy to have acquiesced.

Dummy – A loose mock-up of a book showing placement of text and artwork. – Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market.  Here’s a link to creating a picture book dummy.

Rio Grande Valley School Visit and ESC Region One

High School teachers with author and illustrator.

Just got back from three days down in the Rio Grande Valley. It was such fun! My illustrator daughter, Carolyn Dee Flores, and I did a joint presentation at Sharyland High School in Mission, Texas. She presented the creative book process from an illustrator’s perspective while I presented mine from the writer’s perspective. We had two sessions of about 150 high school students each. We felt privileged to be presenting to such talented art students.

 

Librarians Janie Flores and Nicole Cruz with author and illustrator

 A really neat surprise that left me speechless happened when one of the art students, Eric Hinojosa, presented me with the portrait below. I shall frame it and put it up in my home. Thank you, Eric.

 

Author with portrait.



Artist Eric Hinojosa with author and illustrator Carolyn Dee Flores.

The next day, my daughter and I again did a joint presentation, but this time we presented to librarians from the ESC Region One area in Edinburg. We also had the pleasure of being on the same schedule as award-winning author (2014 Pura Belpre Honor for The Living), Matt de la Peña, who wowed everyone with his keynote speech.

 



Author Matt de la Pena and me

I first met Matt at the 2013 summer SCBWI conference in Los Angeles. I attended one of his workshop sessions. We had a bit more time to talk at the Edinburg event. He is a remarkable writer. Imagine my surprise when he came up to my table so that I could autograph one of my books for him. Yikes!!

 

At our Saturday meeting yesterday, our local SCBWI chapter discussed the three 2014 award-winning  picture books: Locomotive by Brian Floca (Caldecott), Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales (Pura Belpre), and Knock, Knock: My Dad’s Dream For Me (Coretta King Illustrator Award) by Daniel Beaty and illustrated by Bryan Collier. All three books were awesome.

 

Hasta luego! Until next time.

“Art is really the language of feeling.” – Steven Kellogg

Multicultural book awards - 2014-2015 Tejas Star Book Award Reading List

Exciting news for us. My bilingual picture book, Lupita’s First Dance/El Primer Baile de Lupita, which came out in November 2013 and is illustrated by Gabhor Utomo, is on the 2014-2015 Tejas Star Book Award Reading List. This award is sponsored by the Texas LibraryAssociation (TLA).

 

 

 

Also on the list is my daughter’s (Illustrator Carolyn Dee Flores’) bilingual picture book, Sing/Froggie/Sing/-Canta/Rana/Canta.  My daughter and I are thrilled! Congratulations to all the other authors and illustrators who made the list as well. Well deserved!

My never-fail secret to getting your book published … Write it! – Stephanie Gordon Tessler

Writing Tips/Articles for 2014

In the past few days, there has been much excitement about the announcement of the 2014 Newbery, Caldecott, Pura Belpre, and many other annual book awards. Here is Kate DiCamillo’s reaction to her win. And here is Brian Floca’s. Enjoy!

 

And here is a Publishers Weekly blog post you do not want to miss. Titled “Fall 2013 Flying Starts: Sustaining Flight,” the article covers interviews with such famous authors as Kate DiCamillo, Brian Selznick, Libba Bray, and some others that I met at writers’ conferences, i.e., Christopher Paul Curtis, Karen Cushman, and Laurie Halse Anderson. Find out how they got their start. Amazing read!  

 

And now I leave you with “62 of the Top Writing Articles from 2013 (That Can Help You in 2014) written by Brian A. Klem on the Writer’s Digest blog. Happy writing in 2014!

There is more treasure in books than in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island … and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life. – Walt Disney

Winners of 2014 Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Pura Bulpre

Publishers’ Weekly just listed the winners of the 2014 Newbery, Caldecott, Printz, Pura Belpre and many other awards. Congratulations to all who won and to those who got honors as well.  

 

And today, January 27, is Multicultural Children’s Book Day.

 

Libraries! Love ‘em. Love to roam in the aisles where shelves and shelves of books beckon. But today, libraries are not just for books anymore. They offer a lot more. Take a peek at what one library in Florida offers their visitors.

 

The hand of the artist, a little stained with paint around the fingernails, must be seen. The voice of the writer, passionate and idiosyncratic, must be heard. And whether it is through adventure or humor or pathos, the story and pictures must always touch the heart. -- Rosemary Wells

Where do I start my story?

Mission San Jose

Are you having trouble deciding where to start your story? As writers, we are told to have a good hook to entice our reader to want to pick up our book. We are told to start at the point where something happens. The blog Ingrid’s Notes, has a post dedicated to this topic – where to start. “Inciting incident” is mentioned. Ingrid writes in step 1 of 4 steps: Why is an inciting incident so important? It’s the kick off the game! It creates the initial energy of your project and starts the plot. Everyone is always waiting for that exciting moment when the game begins. If you wait too long, people might leave before the story even starts.

This post is worth looking into if you’re in doubt about where to start your story.

You might want to read Publisher’s Weekly article on Newbery-Medalist, (Tale of Despereaux) Kate DiCamillo, the next National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.  

And here’s something cool on the thisiscolossal blog – visuals of paper books. You’ve got to take a look at these. Amazing!

Anthology - A collection of selected writings by various authors or gatherings of works by one author. -- Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market.

Tracking Your Writing Time

Are you like me? Trying to steal some time here and there to write? But sometimes we have the time but make up excuses and procrastinate because we dread sitting in front of the PC staring at a blank screen. I just finished reading the book, The Right to Write, by Julia Cameron, author of the million-seller book, The Artist’s Way. It’s an excellent, inspirational read for writers. About daily writing, she writes: “… writing is nonnegotiable. Writing is the art of motion. Progress, even if that progress is in baby steps, is what writing is about. Daily writing … is like keeping a pot of soup on the back of the stove… like soup, your daily writing doesn’t have to be fancy. A few simple ingredients are enough.”

 

Here’s a pretty good way to keep track of your writing time. A post on the blog, Ingrid’s Notes, suggests a writer create a writing timesheet (spreadsheet). She writes: “ … what if the year it took to write a novel only seems large because we worked on it in small pieces? What if we actually kept track of the time we spent on it?” For more on this topic and to see a sample of the worksheet, click here.  

 

If you have a manuscript ready for submission, you might want to visit the Children’s Book Council (CBC) for a list of publishers and addresses. Many do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, but some do. Best of luck!

"No matter how much formal education you've had, it's best to read as many classics as possible and keep abreast of today's popular reading especially in the area to which you hope to contribute." -- Writer's Digest Weekly Planner