From the desk of Phyllis Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, If you are writing a book that requires illustrations, you will need an illustrator. That may be you or someone else. Some helpful suggestions if you are looking for an illustrator and for working with one are as follows: Find someone … who you are comfortable working with, who has a style you fall in love with, and who communicates like you do. Then as you write your story think about how each sentence or idea on each page might be illustrated. Ask yourself, “Do these words provide a picture to the reader?” If yes, then the illustrator will be able to draw it. If no, you might have to revise. But, sometimes you won’t have to revise and that’s when you add a note to the illustrator. An illustrator note offers the idea of what you are saying. It’s easy to make a lot of illustrator notes (illo. notes), but try not to fall into this trap. Only supply an illo note if you know the meaning of the sentence is not clear or there is some meaning that is truly special to you that you would like to see it in an illustration. Share your text with the illustrator only after you have it paginated. Then discuss the story together. Have an open question and answer dialogue. Talk about the characters, the theme of the story, and be sure that the illustrator really understands how you see your pages. The illustrator will send you thumbnail sketches of each spread. Once you both agree on the design and development, expect the full sketches for each spread within the timeline agreed upon. After that, the final illustrations will fall into place. Happy Writing! See you next time. Cheers, 😊 Phyllis
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From the desk of Phyllis Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, You may remember we spoke about Knowing Your Audience in Post #8. Now we are going to carry this one step further to: Think Like Your Audience. What do I mean by this? Watch and listen to the age group you write for. How do they talk? What do they like to do? What makes them laugh? Knowing these insights will help you write a story that they’ll ask for again and again. Why? Because either your readership sees themselves in the story or they can relate to the story. Happy Writing! See you next time. Cheers, 😊 Phyllis From the desk of Phyllis Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, You begin to write a story about something that really interests you. You are excited. You are ready to shout, “Everyone is going to love this!”. But, hold on. Sit back and ask yourself, “Who is going to read this and feel the same way I do?” Once you have the answer to that question, then that’s considered knowing your audience. Another word for audience in the writer’s world is ‘readership’. Before sitting down to put those ideas on paper, know who you are writing for. You, yourself, of course! But, then after that???? Who is your audience? For me, my readership is those who read board books, picture books, etc. So, I know I’m going to use words that are age appropriate. I know I’m going to write sentences that paint emotional and physical images. I know that my words are written to be illustrated easily. In order for your book to be marketed successfully and for you to gain a loyal following, knowing your readership is crucial. Happy Writing! See you next time. Cheers, 😊 Phyllis From the desk of Phyllis
Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, Good writers have their own style. But styles evolve. From where? To what? How? Through reading, adapting, and writing. By reading, you’ll learn the framework of what makes great stories great. Discovering an author’s style, that you like, introduces you to ways you can incorporate or adapt those styles. This leads you towards creating your own writing style. Begin by asking your librarian to help you choose twenty well-known books that are asked to be read year after year after year. Then, find a comfy chair and start reading to begin your amazing journey. As you read through each book make two piles : Stories you like and stories you don’t like. Then reread the stories you like. This time look for the words the author uses to paint a picture in your head. Look for words that make you like the main character and feel for the main character’s journey. Does each page make you want to turn the page to find out what’s next? Are the characters relatable to you? Does the story make you feel good, happy, sad, and/or excited? Does the story make you feel that you want to read it over and over again? Is it a book you will want to have forever and forever? Some of my favorite days are spent at the library collecting picture books, stacking them as high as a skyscraper next to my comfy chair, and getting lost in the joy of discovering new stories. Happy Reading! Happy Writing! See you next time. Cheers, 😊 Phyllis From the desk of Phyllis Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, A critique group is made up of friends you know who are supportive, honest and want to see everyone in the group succeed. There is no jealousy or dishonestly. The purpose of a critique group is to help each other get their writing to the best it can be. One of the best ways to start a group is ask your librarian or teacher for help. They may know of other writers who would benefit being in this group. The easiest way to hold meetings is online as virtual visits. Schedule a regular time and day. Hold the meetings once a week, or twice a week, or once a month. A few days before the meeting, everyone emails a limit of 5 pages or less. This gives the members time to look over the stories and make comments. One person from the group can send weekly reminder emails of the up and coming meetings. Editing Rules: 1. Critique with a kind heart. Don’t critique the writer, critique their work. 2. If you have to say something negative, do so in a thoughtful but honest, constructive way. Never say, ‘This is bad.” Instead, be specific like, “Would you consider …”, or “While this sounds good, it might soar if you ….” 3. Keep the group to eight people or less. Any larger, you won’t have enough time. If you meet for an hour and there are four of you, give everyone 15 minutes. 4. When your pages are being critiqued, try not to interrupt. Listen patiently. Then when they are done, respond to their suggestions. Do not be defensive. Be open to suggestions and remember you are the owner of your words so you do not have to accept the comments. 5. If you feel the suggestions are correct, take those and revise. If you feel one or more do not fit your vision, then toss them. However, if the entire group makes the same comment, chances are you should consider their recommendation. 6. Always start a critique and end a critique on a positive note. Be sure to send your comments as an attachment to the writer as well as the whole group. Some groups ask that you delete their pages when you are done. Some things that are important to consider when critiquing are: Does the story move forward at a good pace? Line editing. This means grammar checks. Try not to rewrite someone’s work. Offer suggestions instead. Try hard not to use filler words such as 'so', 'and', 'but', and stay away from adverbial phrases. (We'll discuss this in later lesson.) If you notice the writer uses too many of the same words, ask them to do a word 'search and find'. For example: A word search for pronouns like “I”. Once the meeting is done, and if time allows, talk about anything new you have heard or learned about. Sharing and networking are priceless! Happy Writing! Happy Critiquing! See you next time. Cheers, 😊 Phyllis
From the desk of Phyllis Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, Some writers begin writing without a clear direction or outline of their storyline. You may be that type of writer. I was for a long time. Then I realized how much time I wasted. How so? Without a clear direction, a writer may lose valuable time, experience frustration, and lose interest. So, I developed a ‘1st steps’ to use as a guide. I compare my ‘1st Steps Guideline’ to the first steps a toddler takes when learning to walk. Without those first foundational steps, one doesn’t get very far. You already are ahead of the game. Why? Because in Post 2 we discussed writing a Pitch and in Post 3 we discussed writing the Title. Those are 2 parts included in the following 6 point outline😊! For now, here is my ‘PAL’s 1st Steps Guideline’ outline. It’s yours to try and to use. Toss it if you don’t like it. Enjoy it if you do😊. PAL’s 1st Steps Guideline Step 1: PITCH. Write the PITCH (Explain your story is about in 3 sentences, 50 words or less). See Post 2 for details. Step 2: TITLE. Decide on a TITLE. If you can’t, then skip this step. It will come as you put together your pages. See Post 3 for details. Step 3: THEME. This is what I call the focus of your story. Write one sentence summing up the story’s message that will run from the beginning of your pages to the end. Examples are: Friendship, Family, Multicultural, First Day of School. Step 4: WISH. State the WISH: The main character (MC) wishes (hopes, wants, etc.) _____. This is the MC’s problem that he/she must overcome. Knowing this will keep you focused on the theme. Step 5: PLOT. The PLOT is what happens in the story. Start by stating the problem and then tell how the MC resolves the problem (how they get their wish or want). When you explain the PLOT follow this outline: Introduce the MC and state their problem. Let them try and fail, three times. Then show how they overcome their problem or wish. Step 6: GROWTH. How has your MC changed/grown from the first page to the last? How has the MC changed the way he/she looks at the problem? What did they learn from overcoming the problem? What is the moral of the story? By having a guideline to follow, my thinking becomes and stays clear. There’s a lot less wondering what to write about and what direction to take. Happy writing! See you next time. Cheers, Phyllis😊 From the desk of Phyllis
Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, Sometimes, choosing a title is harder than it looks. A great way to start is simply by writing one. Once finished, then ask yourself: Does the title hint at what the story is about? If the answer is ‘Yes’, keep it. If the answer is “No’, follow these steps below: 1. Write a title that gives a strong hint as to what the story is about. 2. Add the main character’s (MC’s) name. (optional) 3. Draw the reader’s curiosity in so they say, “I must read this story!” 4. Think of a title that is descriptive so it will lend itself to a great cover illustration. Look up successful books in your genre to get a good idea of successful titles. And, remember that titles can easily be changed. Don’t be surprised if you start writing your story and it begins to take another direction. Which means, title change. P.S. Definition of genre (pronounced: Zjhawn-ruh): Categorizing books, art, music, movies, etc. to make it easier for everyone to discover what he or she likes and will want to write, read, see, listen to, watch, etc. Think of it as a library catalog system. We’ll discuss this further in another lesson. Happy writing. See you next time. Cheers, Phyllis 😊 From the desk of Phyllis
Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, Writing is like learning how to walk. Those first steps are important. Without them, one doesn’t get very far. So, what are a writer’s first steps? Let’s think about this. You have an idea or a topic. What do you do with that? Hmmmm…..! You do what they do in the movies. You write a movie trailer. What that’s? Go online and type in movie trailers for your favorite movies. In less than a few minutes, they grab your attention and get you saying, “I want to see this movie!” It’s the same thing with writing. The first thing we do is write a ‘Pitch’. That’s our term for a movie trailer. It’s a creative way to explain what your story is about. Pitches are 50 words or less, too. A standard formula to use is: When this happens, the main character (MC) must/wants to (state the goal/purpose) but can’t because (state the problem). When (something happens), the MC can (state the way they figure out how to solve the problem) and (state the how they go about it). Example: When Spot goes to the park he wants to play with the others animals but can’t because he is afraid to make friends. When the ball rolls over to him and lands at his feet, he kicks it back to the players and joins the game. Once you have your Pitch, you have given yourself a direction to take the story. Happy writing! See you next time. Cheers, PAL😊 From the desk of Phyllis
Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, So you have your idea, you’ve done your research, now what? Write. Write. Write. 1. Start out simply by writing. Your ideas are fresh, so get them down on paper. Don’t worry about anything else. 2. Now that’s accomplished. Wahoo! The second step is to revisit what you’ve written. We’ll call this the ‘sloppy copy’. Why? Because you’ll find typos and will want to rewrite a few things. Pretend you are an editor. Search for typos, grammatical mistakes, sentences that can be tightened up. 3. Once you are happy with what you have written, get some trusted critiques. What do I mean by ‘critiques’? If you happen to have friends who like to write or if there is a writing club, get together and share your stories. After reading the stories, everyone offers their supporting opinions. You can accept what they have to say or toss it. But, note, if everyone has the same opinion, good or bad, listen to it. It is a sure sign of it being good or having problems. 4. After you revise, set your work aside for a day or so. Then when you read through it, you’ll have a fresh approach and see things you didn’t see before. Or, you’ll love what you’ve written and not make any changes. Woohoo! In the coming lessons, you’ll learn some steps to take that go beyond this advice today. However, today’s advice is the cornerstone of great writing. Happy writing! See you next time. Cheers😊, PAL From the desk of Phyllis
Picture Book Author Ciao Writers, Writing is Awesome! And, I’m so glad you are here to have fun! Let’s start with a question. Ask yourself, “Why do I write?” Make a list of all the answers you can possibly come up with. Did you surprise yourself? I bet you did! The purpose of writing is to communicate feelings, ideas, thoughts, instructions, hopes, wishes, memories, and so much more. When we express feelings, positive and negative, it makes us feel better. Way better than screaming or hitting, or feeling lonely and sad, or feeling frustrated that no one hears us! All of which do not help us feel better nor find the answers we need. Why? Because by placing our thoughts, positive or negative, on paper, we begin to work through them and find resolution. It empowers us! Now that we understand why we write, we can begin to learn the How To’s. Happy writing! See you next time. Cheers😊, PAL |
AuthorI love to write stories, letters, cards, you name it...writing is what I enjoy. How about you? Archives
November 2022
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