The Cambridge dictionary defines a challenge as:
something that is difficult and that tests someone's ability or determination.
And this is true. We face many challenges in our lives that tests our ability to overcome them and even tests our determination. When we give up, regardless of our abilities, we fail.
As a new writer all those years ago, I had the determination to write picture books. More than raw talent. I’m not one of those writers who writes a perfect word in a perfect sentence making up a perfect picture book in the first setting. (Does this mythical writer exist? If so, I don’t want to meet them).
I had determination because I loved picture books. I wanted to write them. I read hundreds of picture books and wrote hundreds of really bad stories. Perhaps I didn’t have the ability right away. But lucky for us writers, ability can be developed over a period of time, if only you had the determination to stick with it.
I learned by reading, writing, getting feedback from course leaders and peer groups. I never gave up. I just kept writing and writing and writing and through all this I was submitting too. If one idea grabbed my interest so much that I couldn’t shake it off, I held on to that idea. I wrote it and rewrote it in different forms and shapes. I modelled my text like an artist would model their paintings of great masters.
Until one day I got an acceptance. Not in the writing of it – but for the idea. And the editor, showed me how to cut my words, kill my darlings, and spruce up the word salad (take your pick of metaphors, I’ve got loads where this comes from) with an example of one spread.
It was my story and it was all there in my 1000 word essay. But she cut through all of that extra verbiage and created the first spread in 10 words. I’m a quick learner. Over the weekend I converted my 1000 words picture book novel into a 100-words PB manuscript. That was my first picture book and it did well. That story had stuck with me for years. I got some amazing rejections – a very famous editor from a big publishing house in the US sent me a 2-page rejection letter (if you must know, I’ve still got it). And my faith in that story paid off.
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| Illustrated by Priya Kuriyan and published by Tulika Books, India. |
But the lesson from that story is – don’t give up. Get better at your craft by putting in the work. Malcolm Gladwell’s famous 10000 hours of slog.
I’m still working at my craft, my ability to write picture books. I’ve published 20 picture books since – in India, UK and the US and they have been translated, shortlisted and even won prizes. But I’m still determined to make my craft better. I still work on every text for months and years, share it with my peer group, keep at the ones that tug at my heart and wake me up at night.
If writing picture books was easy, and it didn’t need determination and improving my ability, then I wouldn’t be doing it still. I would have gotten bored and gone to something else. If I hadn’t had the success I had about 6 years into my struggle, I’m not sure how much longer I would have stuck at it. Perhaps all my life, perhaps not after a decade…
But this is where the ability part comes in. Sheer determination is not enough. You have to listen and be open to new ideas, feedback, improving your craft. You have to brace yourself and share it with your peer group, send it out knowing it will be rejected, enter competitions (good ones!) and read, read, read. Compare your text with the masters and analyse why you can’t do what they do.
If you're not sure why you feel you're getting rejected after many years of work, also be aware the market is changing, what's being published is changing every day, and the readers are changing. The world is a different place every day and the kids of today need different books for today's world. You have to adapt with it and when your craft is solid, it will have the ability to flex and help you adapt.
So how do you improve without paying thousands for a course or even finding a critique group. Self-help will always be the first step towards improvement. Here is one of my analysis / improvement tips. It's in two parts - so try both one after the other. Don't skip the steps.
Writing Exercise 1
Step 1: Take a really good PB you love. Choose one that’s in the genre / tone / cultural context that you’d like to write in. Make sure it's critically acclaimed and not just one of your nostalgic ones. Find critically acclaimed picture books from places like Book Trust recommendations, Guardian children's round-ups, CLPE's recommended list, reputed magazines that cover books like Books for Keeps and reputed award lists like the Yoto Carnegie, IBC and Jhalak prize.
Step 2: Read this PB a few times.
Step 3: Copy it out word for word (by hand or type it up – doesn’t matter).
Step 4: This is the important step. Now put it away and tell the same story that you just typed up in your own words. Don’t judge it yet. Just tell the same story in your original words. Put it away.
Step 5: Come back the next day and compare what you typed up with what you wrote. What is the difference? What exactly did they do that you couldn’t replicate?
List the differences and analyse if
(a) It’s a craft thing. Was it the sentence structure or word choice?
(b) Is it a writer’s voice – what goes into it? Why is their text more appealing.
(c) Is it their unique way of looking at the world – are their metaphors and analogies and word choices different?
Is it one of the above or some of the above or all of the above? That’s one of the craft / ability areas you need to develop in yourself.
But how do you do that? Here is Writing Exercise 2. This must follow the above. No shortcuts on the path to glory.
1. Pick a topic that is adjacent or similar to the PB you copied.
2. Go through your analysis – what was missing last time. Read and remember and be conscious of your shortcomings.
3. Now write the new story in your own words – keeping in mind the things you need to improve.
4. Put it away for a couple of days.
5. Read it again after a few days and compare it to the master!
6. Compare it with your rewrite of the master in Exercise 1.
7. Analyse the following:
a. Are you making the same mistake?
b. Have you improved on the things you said you were lacking?
c. Is this text better than the one you wrote in Exercise 1
Repeat these two exercises with a few different acclaimed PBs you love. See if your craft is improving. See if you are finding your own style even though you’re emulating the best.
Hang on, don't run away to read and write yet. I've one more thing to add.
So now back to the Challenge! It’s a new year and a time to surge forward with determination. Last year this time, I set a challenge to the readers of PB Denners. Read it here.
There are not that many books about “being patient” for young picture book readers. Perhaps you can learn the art of patience by writing a story about it? That’s your new year’s challenge from Picture Book Den!
Be honest, how many of you actually did it? Did you submit it? Did you get it published, tell us about it. If you didn’t do it, why not? But I’m patient. You can have a go this year if you want.
Right, but that’s not the challenge I want to set you this year. My challenge is simply
do Exercise 1 and Exercise 2 for at least 4 books this year. That means by end of the year you will have at least 4 manuscripts that you can work on!
C’mon! You can do it! You have the ability to improve your ability and the determination to overcome your own procrastination!
Happy New Year to you all and hope that peace returns to Earth and picture books bring joy in times of strife and hardships.
Chitra Soundar is an internationally published, award-winning author of children’s books and an oral storyteller. Chitra regularly visits schools, libraries and presents at national and international literary festivals. She often runs writers' surgeries, courses and teaches writing to writers, teachers and children. She is also the creator of The Colourful Bookshelf, a curated place for books for children by British authors and illustrators.
Find out more at http://www.chitrasoundar.com/ and follow her on X (ex-twitter) here and Instagram here.
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