Speaking picturebook - Linda Strachan

Writing, for me, is like two sides of a coin. I spend a good bit of time on my own and at other times I am out and about meeting people of all ages and talking about books and writing.

When I am at home in my shed 'Tuscany' I am all on my own.  It is the place where I shut out the rest of the world and for some reason I find I can concentrate better there than almost anywhere else. 
Some writers write in coffee shops, surrounded by noise and people and they create their own bubble to work in.
 I admit I have done this at times but I am too nosy and end up people-watching instead of writing and it's not so good if I am thinking about a picturebook, because I like space to spread papers around so that I can sketch little images and look at how it will lay out over the pages.

Other writers work a table or desk in their kitchen or bedroom or study and I don't suppose it matters as long as you can find that quiet zone in your head where the ideas and characters can come to life.
 

Elm Park School New Zealand

The other side of my writing life is all about being with people, travelling around to visit schools talking to children, teachers and  librarians and talking at events or book festivals or conferences.

 Children love to be told stories and they enjoy picturebooks what ever age they are and whatever part of  the world they live in.

I never thought I would enjoy this side of things as much as I do.  I used to be too shy to stand up and speak in front of people but over time I have discovered that it can be a lot of fun, and sometimes a real challenge.  I love to speak to children, whether they are 3 or 13, or older.
 

Edinburgh

They are amazing, imaginative and interesting. You never quite know what they will ask you.

I cannot understand people who will not make time to listen to children.  They have such interesting things to say, such a fresh way of looking at the world.
 
   I love talking picturebook in libraries, schools and nurseries.




Picturebooks are so much about the characters and sometimes I have a trusty friend or two to accompany me.
 
I love having props when I visit schools, something to surprise the children, to get even the quietest child to take part.

Of course big  Hamish cannot come everywhere with me but I do have other creatures who often come to visit schools with me.

I've found that children are delighted to help tell the story of What Colour is Love? especially if they can get to hold one of the characters, or a colour card.

Telling Hamish stories with sally on the Falkirk Wheel

 I've read to children in all sorts of places, in
wildlife parks, haunted castles, and even on a canal boat high up on the Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk Wheel (the only rotating boat lift in the world)

Sometimes I am working on my own, but now and then I do an event with Sally J. Collins,  the illustrator of the Hamish books.  She gets the children drawing Hamish which is a lot of fun.

 This week I had a very special delivery, the very first Hamish cuddly toy,  which I will be taking with me as I start a month of events.  Between now and the end of March I will be visiting lots of schools and speaking to all ages and a lot of the time I will be 'speaking picturebook'!

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Website   www.lindastrachan.com
Blog BOOKWORDS
Linda Strachan is the award winning author of over 60 books for all ages, from picture books to teen novels, and writing handbook Writing For Children.

Creating loveable characters for a picture book -Linda Strachan

Hamish McHaggis

When I was first approached to write the Hamish McHaggis books I was just asked to write some stories about a haggis.


 A mythical creature is the Haggis!

 
Some would have you believe the haggis is a three-legged creature with two long legs and one short leg, that runs around the Scottish highlands.



Others may be familiar with the dish that is served on ‘Burns night’ on 25th January, to celebrate the great Scottish bard Robert Burns, accompanied by toasts, assorted speeches, and even the odd glass of whisky!



(Although we try not to mention eating haggis in the presence of our Hamish McHaggis.  He might get a little upset!)


So where would I start? Creating a character children will love is a fairly daunting remit, but we all know that what makes a great picture book is not only the wonderful mixture of words and images but also characters that endear themselves to our young readers.

It was important to have Hamish looking right but I wasn’t sure how I wanted him to look.   In this instance I was lucky enough to be able to work closely with my illustrator
(Sally J.Collins) from the very start, so we were able to bounce ideas around.

We discussed what a Haggis might look like.

 What you see if you go to buy a haggis in a shop is not particularly cuddly, it’s basically a mottled-brown ball.
But it occurred to me that if you buy a chicken in a supermarket it looks nothing like a hen in a farmyard, so a haggis would look quite different, too.
 

First sketches  © Sally J. Collins

I suggested to Sally that she might think about what kind of animal a haggis might be derived from.

She came back with wonderful drawings of cartoon-like cows and sheep, which were great fun but none of them seemed quite right. (Sally has kindly allowed me to show you these first sketches.)
 

Rory McHaggis © Sally J. Collins

 We settled on a more bear-like creature, after a couple of variations.
One was too babyish and another was a bit too old and had a long beard - he eventually became Hamish’s grandad Rory McHaggis.


Finally, we found our Hamish.

While Sally was working on Hamish had I started to think about characteristics or habits he might have. It would be fun to have the characters going on picnics, so Hamish has a picnic basket which he often worries about- where it is, what he can put in it for their picnic and if he will he get peckish on their trips away.

He also has a special vehicle called a Whirry Bang, designed by Hamish himself which can be a little unreliable at times.



Hamish needed a place to live and so he got a little grass and heather-covered house called a Hoggle.

 I thought Hamish should live in a secret hideaway in the Highlands and Coorie Doon (which, in Scots, means to 'snuggle down and be cosy') seemed like a good place.

Jeannie and Angus

 Hamish needed some woodland friends and I wanted to choose some that were less common creatures such as a pine marten (Angus) an osprey (Jeannie). As Hamish uses lots of Scots words and phrases an English hedgehog (Rupert) seemed like a good idea as someone who needs the odd word translated.

Rupert

Hamish also meets up with other friends and relatives during the series such as his grandad Rory (above)who lives in Glamis castle, the international clan members - McHaggises from all over the world who come to visit for the Clan Gathering.
There’s also Jeannie’s brother, Joe, on the isle of Skye, Shona the red squirrel who lives in the grounds of the royal castle at Balmoral and Nessie (the Loch Ness Monster).

Sally was not keen to draw clothes on the animals so we decided they would have accessories - Hamish has his hat, and Angus has a red cap which he wears backwards, Jeannie has pink beads and Rupert has a bow-tie and a pair of glasses.

There are now ten books in the series and the latest Hamish McHaggis and the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt was launched last weekend at the Kelvingrove and Riverside Museums in Glasgow.

This book has a new character, Maggie the Glasgow fox, who has a rather capacious handbag!



 Hamish has many fans of all ages and he often gets cuddles when he surprises them with a visit.

You can find out more about how Sally and I work together on a previous blog growing wings

There are also  Free downloadable resources for teachers on Hamish McHaggis books
 




Linda Strachan is the award winning author of over 60 books including Writing For Children   pub A. & C. Black. 
Website  www.lindastrachan.com
B;og  Bookwords

What is a picture book? - Linda Strachan

It is fascinating to see  just how wide a spectrum the term 'picture book' can cover.

It can be a board book.
This is one of our family favourites that has stood the test of time.   It is a series by Stephen Cartwright where the child has to find a different creature (Duck, Bird, Puppy etc) in each book.

 In the original version there were no words in it at all, but in later additions a few words were added to each page.  The simple familiar illustrations which are not too fussy, make this an easy book to read with babies and very young children.

I think I prefer the older version with no words at all and the discussion of the picture is something that makes sharing it with a child all the more fun.

A board book
 is a lovely introduction for very young children and the thick board pages make it easier for little fingers to learn how to turn pages, without destroying the book in the process.




Probably what we think of most frequently, when we say picture book, is the familiar large format book for small children, where the pictures take up a lot of the space on the page.

This is where picture books come into their own as the images help to tell the story allowing the writer to cut out any unnecessary words and hone the story so that it flows and has rhythm.
The text may look deceptively simple and will often involve repetition, and sometimes rhyme.


 Picture books for young children are designed to be read out loud.  But for many people reading out loud is not something they have had much opportunity or occasion to do, quite often not since they themselves were novice readers at school.
For some parents it can be a new and at times daunting experience. But for the child the flow of the story is so much more important than the performance or any little mistakes the parent makes.

One of the joys of reading picture books is how inventive they can be and how even quite young children can understand layers in the story.

 One great example of this is Man on the Moon by Simon Bartram. Bob does his normal job every day - clearing up the moon after the tourists have left - and he laughs at the idea that there might be such a thing as aliens.

 The delightful thing is that  behind him on the moon and even on the bus he takes home back on earth the reader can see little aliens are everywhere but Bob hasn't noticed them.  Of course the children see the joke right away.

Another book I discovered recently is Baby Pie by Tom MacRae and Nick Ward.  Three little trolls Oink, Boink and Moink are looking for a baby for their baby pie.

I wondered about this at first but my little granddaughter of two and a half loves it and she adores joining in when they say
                 'lick lips, pat belly, my oh my!'

But of course the trolls are... well I won't spoil it for you - just to say that the baby ends up smiling and the trolls get more than they bargained for!  A delightful story, the twist at the end and repetition makes it fun to join in.

There are also longer picture books
where the story is much longer but the illustrations still take up around 50% of the book. As children get older they still delight in being read to but may be able to read it themselves.

Some stories are not written for  one particular age group. We all love a good story and stories such as the tale of Greyfriars Bobby, that faithful little dog who slept every night on his master's grave for many years, delight old and young alike.
Growing up in Edinburgh the statue of Bobby was a familiar landmark so when I was asked to write a version of  Greyfriars Bobby I was delighted.  It was great to be working once again with illustrator Sally J. Collins, whose images capture scenes of Edinburgh beautifully.

I often come across children of 8 and 9 who feel they are too old for a picture book and understandably they are still asserting their right to be  moving on from picture books, which can be seen as a sort of rite of passage.  But I think it is a pity that we tend to think that picture books are only for young children (although if you look for them, there are a few that are quite scary and definitely for older children and adults).

Do you have a favourite picture book?
 
www.lindastrachan.com
Linda Strachan is the award winning author of over 60 books for all ages, from picture books to teen novels and writing handbook  Writing For Children

Growing wings... by Linda Strachan

This is not a blog about fairies or flying horses

 or dragons


or even birds.
Just so that you know that up front! (Actually there may be mention of one bird, but her wings are already fully grown.)

Neither is it a blog about sprouting a set of beautiful feathery wings -  in case you had that in mind - which is probably just as well. I imagine it would make getting dressed a real problem!

I wanted to tell you about how a book, or a series, can grow wings and take off ...  often way beyond our expectations!

This week the 10th book in the Hamish McHaggis series (Hamish McHaggis and the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt )  will be ready to be sent off to the printers.
The book won't be launched until later April 2012 but it is so exciting to have arrived at this final stage.

Hamish McHaggis and the Great Glasgow Treasure Hunt 

 It is wonderful to be back working with Illustrator Sally J. Collins and I know that neither of us thought, when we started working together in 2004, that it would be the start of such a wonderful and exciting journey.

Sally and Linda with Hamish McHaggis

,

We have a lot of fun with the characters (Hamish- a cuddly haggis, Rupert- an English hedgehog, Jeannie- a rather dippy osprey and Angus- a cheeky pine marten.).  There have been some exciting book launches in amazing places such as Edinburgh Castle, The Falkirk Wheel, Stirling Castle, Glamis Castle and even at Balmoral, and this year we will be launching the latest book in Glasgow's famous Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

 
Sally and I work closely together and as soon as I have an outline for the story she begins to sketch out some ideas and work up any new characters. 
In this book we have an urban fox (Maggie) and her little fox cubs so Sally immediately began to work on getting Maggie just right.
 
Our animal characters don't wear clothes but they do have accessories, such as Hamish's tartan tammy and Angus has his red cap.

Rupert often wears his glasses and he has a camera and binoculars. Jeannie the osprey likes to wear pink beads and for this book she is sporting some new beads with a Rennie Macintosh style rose on them.   
So, as you can see here, we decided that Maggie the fox would have a handbag!

Once the story is complete Sally and I discuss each spread and nothing is set in stone until we are both happy with it.  What works so well for us is the way we get to bounce ideas off each other, right up until the book is in the final stages.

When I speak to people about writing picture books I think this is how they imagine most authors and illustrators work.  But I am fairly sure that we are in the minority.

I have written a fair number of highly illustrated books but I have never met or even been given the chance to speak to any of the other illustrators while the book is in progress.

Working on a Hamish book at sally's house

 So working with sally is a completely different experience and one I enjoy.  One reason that it works so well is because we actually live quite near each other and can meet up regularly to exchange ideas, but also because we respect each other's opinion and expertise.

I travel a lot, visiting schools and talking about my books, and the Hamish McHaggis books are a favourite with the children, not only here in Scotland. (you can find out a little about my trip to New Zealand schools last year here on my blog (Writing the) BOOKWORDS 

Sally and I were absolutely delighted when Scottish Book Trust (SBT) developed a set of teacher resources based around the Hamish books. Sally and I went through the books and listed some of the things we thought would be of interest and the lovely people at SBT added other ideas and also gathered material devised by some very enthusiastic teachers, as case studies, to provide these wonderful FREE downloadable resources for teachers.

I have always found it fascinating to see how much I discover about each new book.  It can be startling what you can find in a story to work with, and I often find things that I had never really thought about when I was writing it.  This becomes even more obvious when the time comes to think about how I am going to present the book to children.

So now it is time to have a deeper look and check out the wings our new book is about to grow - 





www.lindastrachan.com
Linda Strachan is the award winning author of over 60 books including Writing For Children   pub A. & C. Black.