WRITING FOR CHILDREN © 2008

By

Shirley Parenteau

DON’T FORGET TO TURN

How often have you protested of a published picture book, “How is this a story and my work merely an incident?”

One answer to this question struck me sharply—and I think I kept the pain to myself—at the end of March when I met my editor at Candlewick Press.

I had flown from Sacramento to Boston, then took a taxi for the expensive trip to Cambridge, just northwest of Harvard University. After a night in a lovely chintz and ruffled Victorian B&B, I walked through very welcome sunlight to the publisher’s new office in nearby Somerville. (These cities are all very close together).

Sarah, my editor, welcomed me with a hug and took me on a quick tour past book-lined walls (oh, to linger) to meet all the staff. I’m happy to report that whenever BEARS ON CHAIRS was mentioned, everyone broke into a big smile.

Sarah invited me to sit in on a conference with the book developer where at last, I saw artist David Walker’s first sketches for my text. As Sarah said several times with an impish grin, “They’re unbearably cute.”

It was intriguing to see how the book developer chose where to arrange the text in relationship to each picture and where my out of rhyme exclamatory words such as “Oops!” and “Yes!” were placed on the page.

Sarah had invited me to put in my two cents’ worth of comments on the illustrations, but after seeing the artist’s—yes, unbearably cute—bears struggling to solve the problem of more bears than chairs, I told her I didn’t have even a half cent’s worth of complaints.

Then Sarah got serious and suggested we read the text aloud.

Have I said it before? A picture book is like a poem. Every word must be perfect.

And it turned out that a few of mine were not. The story is told in present tense (and in rhyme). So why had I used the word, “fell?” Should it be “fall?”

If we move “Oops” from the text to a location higher on the page, the stanza’s first line will be shortened. How shall we fix it?

The word “share” is used far too early. We need a different rhyming word to replace it.

Ever have one of those moments when your mind goes blank? I’d thought the book finished! Although I threw out a couple of suggestions during that conference, I later used the wait in the Amtrak station to rethink the problem stanzas.

I brought home a set of the illustrations along with the text and have since suggested a new stanza with a line using the word “square” to replace “share.”

At Candlewick, after joining a group of staffers for lunch in a nearby restaurant, we returned to Sarah’s cubicle for a discussion of a new picture book I’ve been working on with her, THE VERY NOISY BABY. This is where I got hit with incident versus story.

“The baby causes a problem and causes a problem and causes a problem,” Sarah pointed out. “Then the problem is solved. The older sister, Katie, needs a turning point.”

Picture me with a light bulb flashing above my head. Oh. Yes. Turning point. Crisis. Black moment. One of those.

It’s not enough for the baby’s quiet-loving sister to find a way to change his screams to laughter. His loud cries have to drive her to a moment when she must find a solution.

Something must be done and from then on, her world will be different. She will see it from a different perspective. She will gain understanding. She will face her Black Moment and triumph.

So I brought that manuscript home with me, too. And I think I’ve found a Turning Point for Katie. But I’m forcing myself to let it sit in a file for a few weeks longer until I can reread it with a cool editorial eye. (And for me—perhaps, for you?—this cooling off period is one of the hardest parts of writing).

Incident or story. How do you tell the difference? Read published picture books and locate the Turning Point in each. How does that moment force the story to change? Is the main character different from then on ? How?

In my counting book, ONE FROG SANG, it’s the moment a car drives by on the rainy street and group by group, the frogs fall silent. In BEARS ON CHAIRS, all the bears have climbed happily onto individual chairs. Then Big Brown Bear comes in and that bear wants a chair.

In Elizabeth Spires’ THE BIG MEOW, a kitten drives away the others with her noise until a dog harasses the lot of them, presenting a problem that can only be solved by the main character’s dog-blasting meow.

This last problem is a common theme. Some characteristic makes a story character different and lonely until the Turning Point. There, the difference solves a problem, making the character welcome in the group. One of the best examples would be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

There, of course, Rudolph’s red nose makes him an outcast. But let Santa need a light for his sleigh and Rudolph is not only needed, but appreciated. You suspect that next time, he’ll be chosen first in those reindeer games.

Take a hard look at your own picture book manuscript. Can you clearly spot a Turning Point? If not, how can you add a moment when the story must change? How will you show that your character’s life will be better from then on?

At Candlestick Press, Sarah walked with me to a nearby subway entrance to catch a train back to the main station in Boston. (A far cry from the cab ride out. The train cost only $2.00, if you don’t count the young man who entertained my car with acrobatics up and down the aisle, then collected donations).

In Boston, I caught Amtrak’s express train for a leisurely (and contemplative) ride down the coast to Penn Station in New York. There is an entire city on the station’s lower levels, with shops, newsstands, fast food and more. When I finally found my way up to the street, I was delighted to see the Novelists’ Inc. conference hotel located diagonally across the nearest corner.

Although the majority of the members are published in some form of romance, Novelists’ Inc. welcomes writers of any genre who have published at least two books. The average member, we were told, has published sixteen. The conference is geared toward business discussions: should you hire a publicist, what about internet publicity, is a book trailer too yesterday, are blogs useful or time sinks, etc.

The only discussion on writing for younger readers was a panel on writing for young adults. The most intriguing comment to me was that YA historicals are coming back, but that the books must be made accessible to the Gossip Girl market. In fact, a debut novel was mentioned, THE LUXE by Anna Godbersen, which was likened to “Historical meets GOSSIP GIRL.”

I later looked up a copy of the novel and was impressed by the lavish cover of a young woman whose ballgown spreads across both front and back covers. An epigraph quotes THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, while the back cover has an enthusiastic blurb from the creator of GOSSIP GIRL, making it clear what the reader can expect.

For those interested in writing for the YA market, I’ll pass on a few other bits of advice I thought worthwhile: Books for this age group run about 60,000 to 80,000 words. How the book will be marketed depends on the sophistication or naivety of your protagonist.

This generation is wired. Having a website is key to reaching them.

As always, these kids are struggling to gain control of their lives and feeling adult emotions without the experience to handle the challenge. To better understand this age group, writers should read My Space blogs. To pick up dialogue and drama, go to teen movies, sit behind the loudest group of kids and listen.

On another note, my counting book ONE FROG SANG was offered in book club and audio form in Scholastic’s April school catalogs. What great fun to see it there!

Once again, I want to remind you to check out the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrator’s web site, if you haven’t yet done so. You’ll find it at www.scbwi.org. You may enjoy the PASIC blog (published authors special interest chapter of the Romance Writers of America). Those who comment on one (or all) of the daily blogs are entered in a drawing for a weekly prize of a book by one of the authors. Find the blog at http://toberead.wordpress.com. And don’t forget to visit my web site at www.shirleyparenteau.com. Check the news page for book signings or events I’ll be joining.