Author/Ilustrator Events by Abie Longstaff

I don't often get to meet up with my illustrator, Lauren Beard. She lives in Manchester, I live in London; and the process of making a book together is often more separated than people imagine.

But I love seeing her when I can. We have the same sense of humour (so important when working together) and we both love the fairy tale world of Kittie Lacey that we've created.

So, when we were asked to do some events together at Seven Stories in Newcastle, we jumped at the chance.

We've never done an event as a twosome for The Fairytale Hairdresser before so we really wanted to get it right and plan something that would include both text and illustration.

We decided to travel up to Newcastle together so I picked up Lauren in Sheffield at a ridiculously early hour and we had a great time in the car plotting and planning the events as well as talking through the next Fairytale Hairdresser books.

 The story-telling space at Seven Stories is truly wonderful! It's up in the attic and there are books hanging from the ceiling as well as an enormous wooden chair to sit in. I loved reading the stories and seeing how much the children liked the books.

Lauren and I wanted to mix up the story and illustration and to pull out themes from the book to illustrate and discuss with the children. One of the themes we chose was emotion. In The Fairytale Hairdresser and Sleeping Beauty, the seven fairies are at first upset, then worried, then cross then happy. We asked the children to make the faces to reflect each feeling and Lauren drew the emotions in cartoon style.

We did some crazy hairstyles

and at the end I showed my writing books and Lauren showed her wonderful sketchbooks, and together we told the children how we make a Fairytale Hairdresser story.

It was so good to do an event with someone else. Occasionally events can feel a bit lonely and it was fantastic to have Lauren there! I also think it added so much for the children to meet both creators of the book and learn about both sides of the process.

I think they had a good time - afterwards there was certainly a long signing queue...

On being told what to draw. . . by Jonathan Allen

From 'Fish and Chips' - a book by Julia Donaldson for Oxford Reading Tree

I have, in my career, done a reasonable amount of illustration work for educational publishers, and found it enjoyable, and a good way of keeping the wolf from the door in the 'inbetween books' times that I assume most writers and illustrators go through.

Although ostensibly it is doing the same job as illustrating a picture book for a non-educational publisher, if that's the generic term ;-) there is a completely different relationship between artist and editor.

For a non-educational project, you get given the text, with the pagination pretty much sorted out, and are, by and large, left to work it into rough visual form. You can have input into the position of the text, and can make a case for changing the layout from the original guidelines should the visual dynamics be shown to demand it. So you are a key part of the creative process and your skill and experience is made full use of.

An educational book project isn't like that. The layout is as good as set in stone, and you usually get very detailed instructions about what should be in each picture and where, down to what seem sometimes to be pedantic levels. As someone who has made a living out of being original and creative, this prescribed approach was a bit of a shock the first time I encountered it ;-)

This isn't really a moan about me, the poor artistic type yearning to be free but being strangled by the pedantic demands of educational publishers, it really isn't. I actually enjoy switching off my creative side for a while and just doing a bit of 'Doing'. I know I can do it well, and I guess I am happy to trade my artistic skill for the money (especially what they pay these days, say no more!), but not my ingenuity. That's extra ;-)

Which leads me to my main question, which is, "How did this artist/publisher relationship come about?" It does seem overtly and anxiously controlling, and to me, a bit odd. I detect a distinct lack of faith in what illustrators are capable of doing. I smell committees. . . and hear the wheels of corporate decision making grinding. Maybe they are right, maybe illustrators come up with total garbage when not reigned in. . . I dunno, but right or wrong, it has evolved into 'the way things are done' in the educational sector and I am curious as to why. And why the non-educational sector is so different in it's mindset when, as I mentioned before, it seems to me that they are producing, by and large, the same thing.

Do writers have these sort of issues? I imagine writing for a very particular age group must have strict 'do's and 'dont's'. . .

What's The Magic of Wordless Picture Books? by Pippa Goodhart

I love the lyrical text of a picture book such as Malachy’s ‘Dancing Tiger’.  I love the pow zap language action of comic strip stories.  I love the expressive font usage of particular words in Lauren Child’s ‘That Pesky Rat’.  I love the use of pictures as if they were words in Polly Dunbar’s ‘Penguin’.  But I also love picture books with no words in them at all.  In fact I have an ambition to be the author of a book with no words in it at all.  I want to dream-up visual story or stories that will be realised by somebody else – an artist – and I want my picture ideas to be enough without words.

Why?  Because pictures on their own leave the audience to do the work of noticing all there is to notice; the job of joining the visual story dots to create the story that is probably more truly their own personal version of the book story than is the case when there are words to guide you. 

Many modern reading schemes now begin with simple wordless picture books in order to give children the experience of ‘reading’ a story in a way that all can access, without the skills for decoding text being necessary.  They get children into the habit of reading story (as they will with text) from left to right, turning pages from beginning to end. 

But, more excitingly than that, wordless books make children use their story imaginations, and gives them the chance to express those stories in their own words.  And this isn’t just true for small children, of course.  Shaun Tan’s ‘Arrival’ is a wordless picture book that stretches adult imagination in the most brilliant ways. 

These books become story creating experiences that hand story power to the audience.  Instead of listening to an adult reading out prescribed words, any words (if any are even needed) come from you.  That’s exciting, and involves an author/illustrator who dares to trust their audience to handle the story themselves.

 Apparently studies have shown that parents ‘reading’ wordless picture books to children use much more sophisticated language than would normally be found in a picture book text.  So maybe, ironically, wordless picture books extend children’s vocabulary more than those with words?

What are my favourite wordless picture books? 

Beatrix Rodriquez wonderful stories about a ‘Fox and Hen’ are exciting, funny, moving and memorable. 

Raymond Briggs’ ‘Snowman’, shown in wordless cartoon, has of course become a classic, although many versions of the story now have words added, which seems a shame.

Jeannie Baker’s ‘Home’ is most moving and challenging ‘Home’ and other titles are important books for a wide age range. 

Quentin Blake’s ‘Clown’ is another moving tale.

Come to think of it, all these examples are of quite challenging stories.  Perhaps wordlessness is a way to cope with what might be uncomfortable if it were to be articulated?  What do you think?

Go on, try an experiment with your picture book writing, by Paeony Lewis

If your story just isn't working, you could screw it up and fling it in the bin. We all have ideas that need to be abandoned. We also have ideas that don’t appear to work, but we’re not ready to give up. There’s something there, but what? Maybe it needs more than the sort of revision that merely moves words around? Maybe it needs you to slip on your white coat and start experimenting?

Sometimes experiments fail, sometimes they succeed. I prefer to concentrate on the successes and conveniently forgotten the failures. And don't forget, the great thing about picture books is that they’re short, so if your experiment fails, you won’t be engulfed in an explosion of thousands of random words.

A Small Experiment: Change the Point of View
Often it’s easier for a young child to understand a story in the third person (he, she). Therefore I began writing my first Florence and Arnold story in the third person. Hmm… Florence’s personality was there, but I wanted more of her feisty determination to shine through. So I experimented and wrote the story in the first person (I), and her attitude burst out of the page. That was the Florence I wanted, but something still wasn’t quite right. 

Florence and Arnold in
No More Yawning,
 illus by Brita Granstrom

Here they are again in
 No  More Biscuits, 

illus by Brita Granstrom

Another Small Experiment: Change the Tense

For my next experiment I changed from the past tense to the present tense. Ah ha! Now I felt the sense of immediacy I’d been fumbling for in an exuberant young girl, like Florence. Using the first person, present tense, seemed to reflect Florence’s character. Florence’s voice could be clearly heard and a publisher (Chicken House) took two stories (No More Biscuits and No More Yawning).

New US edition (Tiger Tales), 2013
by Paeony Lewis, Illus Penny Ives

A Fundmental Experiment: Change Direction
My story, I’ll Always Love You, was also an experiment, although it was written in the traditional third person and past tense. The experimentation for this story came earlier and was far more basic.

When I first started writing I wrote quirky tales that appealed to my ‘individual’ sense of humour (imagine a dragon on a motorbike in the wild west?). I’d had lots of positive comments, but no contract. So I took another look at the picture books on the shelves in bookshops. Many were cute cuddly tales that oozed emotion and love. They felt a little twee, but hey, I decided to experiment with my ideas and writing.

On a long car journey I asked myself what mattered most to very young children. I thought of my own children and I recalled that my little son, strapped into the car seat behind me, sometimes worried that I wouldn’t love him any more if he was naughty. Of course I would, and I was sad that he’d think otherwise. The words, “Will you still love me?” haunted me for the rest of the car journey. That was the inspiration for I’ll Always Love You (Little Tiger Press). By experimenting I discovered that adding emotional depth to a story can make it resonate.

A Scary Experiment: Start Again

Will my chickens inspire me?

Right now I’m experimenting with chickens and shoes (perhaps I’m reverting to my quirky ways). I sent the original story to my agent and heard a big fat nothing. So I put it aside. Then a year later I decided I didn’t want to give up on this story. However, hearing a big fat nothing made me suspect it needed more than just revision, so I’m experimenting by not even taking a peek at the original story. I’m starting again, from scratch. Plus as I’ve been attending poetry classes for a year, I may use a poetic form. It might work. It might not. It’s an experiment, so it doesn’t matter!

So go on, be brave, experiment with your writing. And if you've tried a writing experiment that failed or succeeded, do tell…

Paeony Lewis is a children’s book author and writing tutor.

www.paeonylewis.com

To Rhyme or Not To Rhyme? by Natascha Biebow

A recent submission to Blue Elephant Storyshaping has got me thinking again about rhyme . . .

People frequently ask: is it OK for a picture book to be written in rhyme? Editors usually shudder and say that unless you are really good at writing rhyme, you should give it a miss. One of the main reasons is that rhyme is difficult to translate. In a market that is increasingly feeling the pinch and where publishers need to build up a print-run of co-editions in various languages to make publishing a new book financially viable, rhyme can be an instant turn-off.

Another reason is that many rhyming texts submitted are poorly-written with rhymes inserted for convenience rather than to further the story. Plus if the rhythm is off, it’s a huge turn-off and your manuscript goes straight to the rejection pile.

Books in prose by far outnumber those written in rhyme, including many award-winners. So, what makes a rhyming book one that children ask for again and again?

The answer is simple: these are the books where the story comes first.

Anyone can rhyme ‘mouse’ with ‘house’ . . .

But do you have a gift for writing in rhyme or are you in the shallow end of the literary pool with arm bands?

How not to do it:

Sometimes, the tendency is to add a rhyme to round out the stanza. The author opts for a word that is not the most obvious choice, which can lead to the use of unlikely phrases, concepts or vocabulary. As a result, the narrative isn’t coherent. A good test is to ask yourself, “If I were telling this story to a pre-schooler, would I tell it in this way and/or use these words/terms?”

In this example:

“For my birthday, she gave me the best gift ever,
a beautiful fan, made from a feather.”

In picture books, it is important to try to keep the imagery and words child-centred. The gift of a fan is probably not the most obvious one for a small child. Would the author have chosen a ‘fan’ made from a ‘feather’ if it weren’t for trying to find something to rhyme with ‘ever’?

The key to writing an un-put-downable picture book in rhyme is that even if you were to translate the words into another language or prose, you would still choose those same words to tell your story. If you choose a word simply because it rhymes in English, then when it is translated, the book falls apart:

“Milly Molly skipped out of her house
Said hello to a mouse
Who was nibbling some cheese
And jingle jangling its keys.”

The association of the mouse with cheese is logical in English, but ‘keys’ and ‘cheese’, though they rhyme, are completely random objects that would be depicted in the picture, yet not really be very logical in Spanish, for instance.

Forced rhymes will ruin a story.

“Lola shares a room with her brother, Zain,
All their toys and their toy train”

This author has used a rhyme in the first stanza to set up the story, but chose ‘toy train’ to rhyme with the name ‘Zain’. The problem is . . . there is no mention later in the story of the toy train!

The following verse comes at a dramatic point in the plot, where two boys are pretending to be caught up in a storm:

“I wonder what it’s like at sea, caught up in a gale,
Swirling winds and crashing waves as you try to sail?”

If the book were narrated in prose, the voice would shout something like, “Look out, the boat is about to crash!” Would the author have chosen the word ‘gale’ if she weren’t trying to rhyme with ‘sail’? Because the author is trying to make a rhyme, the voice comes across as distant and a bit too self-aware for a pre-schooler.

Remember, though short, in a picture book, each word needs to be intentional! The rhymes in these examples do not further the story.

“But . . .” you say, “rhyme is so delightful to read aloud and makes learning to read so much easier for pre-literate children.”

Yes, it’s heaps of fun – when it’s done right!

How the successful have done it:

The classic example of an internationally bestselling book in rhyme is, of course, The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler.

Though Julia Donaldson admits that she chose the name ‘Gruffalo’ for its rhyme, the important thing to note about the book is that it tells a gripping, original story. The rhythm of the tale is constructed beautifully in classic picture book style.

A repetitive, cumulative opening phrase:

“A mouse took a stroll through the deep dark wood.
A fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good.”

Building up suspense:

Each time, the Gruffalo’s characteristics are slightly different and scarier.

Rounded off by a catchy refrain:

“A gruffalo? What’s a gruffalo?”
“A gruffalo! Why, didn’t you know?”

from The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

This pattern continues with the mouse meeting an owl and a snake.

The author follows the classic picture book ‘rule of 3’s’ in which three things happen before the turning point.

The denouement follows in reverse order, with the Gruffalo meeting the owl, the snake and then the fox. For young readers, the delight of the story comes, of course, from being in the know that the tiny mouse is cleverly tricking everyone!

Importantly, the ending is so very satisfying after the excitement of the narrative.

Another series written in rhyme that I just love, is the Duck series by Jez Alborough. This author is a master of using clever rhyme to further the story. Pre-schoolers also love Duck and his friends’ adventures because they are so funny!


In Duck in a Truck, Duck’s truck breaks down and he needs some help getting it out of the muck. The story follows a classic plot:

First, the protagonist gets into a tricky situation . . .

“This is the Duck driving home in a truck.
This is the track which is taking him back.

This is the rock struck by the truck
and this is the muck
where the truck becomes stuck.”

. . . things get worse (the truck remains stuck despite Sheep and Frog trying to help push it out).

Then Goat arrives . . .

“This is the happy sleepy Goat
relaxing in his motorboat”

(Arguably, the ‘motorboat’ is a random choice to rhyme with ‘goat’ but, importantly, it works to advance the plot since Goat’s rope is what helps pull the truck out of the muck. In future stories, the Goat’s motorboat is central to the narrative.) Plus this memorable turn of phrase stays with you after multiple readings.

There is a clear turning point . . .

from Duck in a Truck by Jez Alborough

(a great pause, where the characters think what to do)

. . . and finally everything is resolved.

Ha, ha! The helpers are now stuck in the muck, an irony that won’t be lost on pre-school audiences!

Recently, I came across Stanley’s Stick by John Hegley and Neal Layton. Whilst not totally written in rhyme, this book is a poem that tells the story of a boy’s journey to the seaside with his special stick. The short text has a wonderful rhythm to it, driven by the alliteration of the word ‘stick’ and ‘st’ sounds:

“So here is Stanley standing on the station,
taking his stick for a short stay
at the side of the sea with his mum and dad.”

When Stanley gets to the beach, there is a clear turning point to this story, too:

“Stanley hurls his stick into the wide tide.
Gosh.
What a tiny splosh for something that has been so big in Stanley’s days.”

The word choices sometimes seem a little sophisticated for pre-schoolers, yet, the lilting read-aloud qualities of this kind of writing are a great invitation for learning new phrases. Each word is carefully measured.

“Soon he stumbles upon a stick alone upon the shore.
It is quite different from the stick he had before.
It is wonky."

The stick is an unusual saxophone.
Stanley thinks of home and begins to blurt a tune for Bertie.”

from Stanley’s Stick by John Hegley and Neal Layton

It’s another way to think about telling a story using rhyme.

So, there we have three examples of how it can work. Sure, you can learn the mechanics of writing in rhyme, but will you produce a must-have book? The market is flooded with rhyming picture books that are just ‘OK’. They sell and they are read, but are they memorable? Do they have a compelling and strong story that pre-schoolers beg for again and again? Should you write in rhyme?

If you have the gift . . . yes!

Many thanks to our Guest Blogger, Natascha Biebow, Author, Editor and Mentor. You can find Natascha at  www.blueelephantstoryshaping.com

Blue Elephant Storyshaping is a coaching service aimed at empowering writers and illustrators to fine-tune their work pre-submission. Natascha is also the author of Elephants Never Forget and Is This My Nose?, editor of numerous award-winning children’s books, and Regional Advisor (Chair) of SCBWI British Isles.

Five Tips for Writing a Page Turner - Lynne Garner

We all want to write a book that is reviewed as a page-turner. But how do you achieve this with a picture book? Well here are my five favourite tips:

One:

Make your reader fall in love with your character or at least care for them, even if they don't like them. If they don't care what happens then they'll not want to read to the end of the story.

Two:

End your page with a cliff-hanger. This is a device used time and again in television programmes. The writers know when the advert breaks are coming so they time cliff-hangers to happen just before a break. This ensures viewers will return. If it works for them it'll work for you.

Three:

Don't complete your sentence but end with three dots then finish the sentence on the next page. To increase the desire to turn the page you could finish the page with such words as 'and...' 'then...' or 'but...' 

Four:

Pose questions where the only way the reader can discover the answer is to turn that page.

Five:

Ensure each page moves the story forward. This could be answering a question, solving the cliff-hanger set on the previous page or it could be setting up the next cliff-hanger. 

Hopefully by using these tips your next story will be one an editor will love and will want to publish.

If you have any of your own favourite page-turner tips please do share them here.

Lynne Garner

I also write for: Awfully Big Blog Adventure, Electric Authors, The Hedgehog Shed and Fuelled by Hot Chocolate.  

P.S.
I have three new distance learning courses commencing in November via Women On Writing:

How To Write A Picture Book And Get Published

Five Picture Books In Five Weeks - Advanced Course

How To Write A Hobby Based How To Book 

The Dancing Tiger - from birth to rebirth, by Malachy Doyle

 

It’s 1996 - two years before I become a published author.  I’m trying to write a series of animal poems.  They’re not particularly brilliant.  I go for a ride on my bike.  I find myself singing a little tune.

There’s a quiet gentle tiger,

in the woods below the hill…

I jump off the bike.  Climb over a gate into a field.  Write it down.  A poem spills out, like a dream.

In time, I get an agent.  Things start to happen.  But not with the animal poems, which have become a picture book idea called ‘Cards from Uncle Joe’.  Each poem is a postcard / birthday card / Christmas card from Joe to his niece, with a little toy animal attached.  It's a nice concept, but never really clicks.

It’s 2003.  I’m having lunch with Simon and Schuster.  I read my editor some scripts.  They’re not quite working.  I pull out my Dancing Tiger poem.  I get to the end, and there's silence.  And then I notice the tears, pouring down her face.  We’re in business.

They take on a top American husband and wife team, Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, to illustrate it.  It’s quite, quite beautiful. 

The Dancing Tiger sells to Viking Penguin in the US, to Australia, Korea, Japan, Spain…  Hits shortlists in Ireland, Scotland and America…  It gets amazing reviews.  People read things into it I’d never even thought of. 

I’m invited to the Nestle Children’s Book Award.  It wins Silver.  Would’ve won Gold if some hotshot kid from Belfast (with a penguin in tow) hadn’t appeared on the scene, all of a sudden…  

The Dancing Tiger becomes a firm favourite.  I bring a big cuddly one with me to all my readings.  It’s the final thing I read, to settle everyone down.  Because it's a lullaby, really.  A lullaby to love, and family, and imagination, and the power of story.  Or so they tell me. 

A child comes out and dances with the tiger. 

We skipped in spring through bluebells,

in summer circled slow.

We high-kicked in the autumn leaves

and waltzed in winter snow…

Then, in 2010, the emails start arriving.  ‘I want / need / must have this book, but can’t find it anywhere.’  That’s when I realise it’s out of print.  That I’ve only two copies left.  I’m bereft.

The emails keep coming, from all round the world.  I reply that I’m as sorry as they are, but the publisher has no plans to reprint.  It’s on Kindle, but…

I start forwarding them to Simon and Schuster.  One a month, sometimes one a week.  I tell my editor that I know books go out of print – that's the business we're in – but this one… this one is special. The way people feel about it is special. 

Eventually, to my astonishment, they give in.  ‘I've good news for you, Malachy,' they tell me.  'We’re doing a small reprint.’

It's September 2013, and my tiger is back from the long dark night.  It’s only a thousand copies, but it means the world to me. 

He was lost but now he's found and, for another wee while at least, we’re dancing again.    

               

Never give up on your dreams!

You can hear me reading it, on World Book Day a few years ago, to a group of children in the offices of the Guardian newspaper, on http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/culturevulture/archives/wbd3.mp3

  

On Life, Death, Royal Weddings and Mice by Enid Richemont (Guest Blog)

This month's guest on the Picture Book Den is Enid Richemont, who is perhaps best known for her Young Adult novels such as The Game and The Stone That Grew. However here she shares how she recently rediscovered picture books.  

I have always loved picture books, and I can still remember being read to from one whose title and author have long since passed into (probably well-deserved) oblivion. It had a picture of a wasp circling around a plump, rosy-cheeked small boy who had just taken a bite out of the apple he was holding, and the text read: "Don't sting me," Fat Freddie said. "My apple you can have instead." Not the most impressive of verses (and these days, the word 'fat' as applied to a child would never pass), but my small, long-ago self was evidently grabbed by the rhyme and the rhythm.

By the time I had children of my own, we were feasting on books like Judith Kerr's THE TIGER WHO CAME TO TEA, Russell Hoban's unforgettable BEDTIME FOR FRANCES, Eric Hill's SPOT books,  Maurice Sendak's WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, all the MIFFY books, and of course, Pat Hutchin's  masterpiece of picture book writing, with its spare 35 (!!) words - ROSIE'S WALK.

Having always published much longer work, including Young Adult novels, in recent years I found myself falling in love yet again with picture books ( there are some splendid contemporary ones), but it was only when I picked up Debi Gliori's NO MATTER WHAT in my GP surgery waiting room that I realised just how much depth of feeling can be expressed in a few simple words and pictures aimed simultaneously at both the child and the adult reader. The theme of her book is simply of 'love, forever, up to and beyond death' (I believe the American version sanitised out the 'death' bit for commercial reasons, thus losing much of the story's depth). Little did I know that, within a month, her gentle and magical words would apply to my own situation.

I've been working on my own picture book texts for the past three years, and believe me, this form of literature is not easy. Like the best poetry, it's challenging and precise. But it's also fun. Two years ago, we were watching the royal wedding on TV, and, naughtily, among the frocks and the hats, I mentally inserted one mouse. This naughtiness was to grow into '...and NOBODY NOTICED the MOUSE', published this month by the lovely people at TopThat! It will be followed, next year, with 'QUICKER THAN A PRINCESS', a book with the theme of gestation and birth. Like I said - although fun, this stuff's serious.

To view more of Enid's work click here.  

To visit Enid's website click here.