PiBoIdMo Art Gallery #2

This is the second art gallery by illustrators who participated in November’s 30-picture-book-ideas-in-30-days PiBoIdMo challenge. You can see ideas taking shape–in the form of characters. (If you didn’t already know, editors are keen on character-driven picture books these days.) And just think, once these stories are published, you can say “I knew them when…”

Loni Edwards

“This is a sketch from my story about going to Nana’s house. I’m entitling it ‘Two Kids in a Sandbox’ until I evolve the story more. I sketch, then I ink using a light table. I scan the piece into Photoshop where I color with a Wacom Tablet.”

Lynn Anne Bemis

“I have not taken lessons as an illustrator. I am a ‘wannabe’ and this is the first year I started adding drawings to my story ideas. So as simple as they are, I am showing them to you. I am, you could say, ‘A work in progress.’”

Debbie Ridpath Ohi

“Regarding the first sketch, this is how I brainstorm sometimes and I figured I’d try it for PiBoIdMo. As you can tell, um, my sketches are VERY rough.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the juxtaposition of cute and scary. The monster guy in the second drawing was inspired by Little Nightmares, which I’d eventually like to include in a picture book. The girl is a character I came up with for my Snarkface cards and she demanded to be included in the drawing as well.

“The third sketch looks drawn on paper, but I actually did it in Corel Painter. I find that experimenting with different virtual media is fun, plus I enjoy trying out different styles. I did this sketch to accompany a text picture book idea. One of the reasons I enjoyed PiBoIdMo so much was because it not only inspired me as a writer but also as an illustrator.”

One more gallery to come, kidlit fans! Stop back soon for more insight into the illustrative process.

PiBoIdMo Art Gallery #1

Drawings and sketches and art, oh my! Several children’s illustrators participated in November’s PiBoIdMo challenge by moleskining their way through the month. Below you can see what makes an artist’s brush tick…err, I mean flick.

And…this is just Gallery #1 in a series of 3. More illustrators and galleries to come!

Courtney Pippin-Mathur

“I’ve had these ideas bouncing around in my head for a while now, thanks to PiBoldMo, they are now on paper where they hope to grow into picture book dummies one day.”

The Bodyguard

Fritz

Erin Nowak

“Attached is a sketch of the two main characters I got from this little sketch session: Warm & Toasty. Warm is a sweet cup of hot cocoa, and Toasty is her buttery wheat bread buddy. The VERY rough idea is that they’re used to being served up together on cold winter days, but the problem they’re having is that neither wants the other to shine too brightly. A friendship dealing with a little jealousy I guess. I also included my entire sketchbook page from that day as well, complete with scribbles and misspellings, just to give insight into the different ways illustrators work.”

Bonnie Adamson

“The working title is “Robot Rodeo,” made up this summer while illustrating the bookshelf of the main character in Heather Burnell’s picture book, Bedtime Monster. It popped back into my head when I was trying to come up with an idea for day three of the PiBoIdMo challenge. The title was about all I had until I started sketching, and then the robot steer with his knobs and levers began to take on a sort of gentle steampunkish look, which gave me a bit more of a hook for the story. I’ve got a very rough first draft down, featuring a showdown between one of the battered old cowboy robots, Piston Pete, and the ’shiny stranger,’ who’s, um, not from around here.”

More galleries to come, kidlit fans! Stay tuned…

Picture Book Review: Black Diamond and Blake

Once there were crowds, and clinging jockeys, and horses to ride against in the razor-fine seconds it took to be first across the finish line.

As an aspiring author, I’ve been told countless times about the importance of a first line. Never before has a picture book opening reined me in so tightly, so swiftly as Deborah Blumenthal’s Black Diamond and Blake, the story of a racehorse saved by friendship.

Black Diamond, a beloved racehorse, hero of the grandstand crowds, wins race after race. His jockey and owner feed him sweet apples, warm him with a red velvet blanket, and wrap him with such kindness that the horse only wants to win and make them proud.

But no athlete can dominate forever. Black Diamond grows sore, tired and eventually becomes injured. His fans boo instead of celebrate, ripping their losing tickets and tossing them to the ground. The sweet apples and sweet attention disappear.

A gruff, cigar-smoking man purchases Black Diamond and takes the horse to a prison rehabilitation program. The author was inspired by a New York Times article about inmates who cared for retired racehorses. “I read of the deep emotional connections that some inmates made with the animals, so that in the end, men saved horses and horses saved men,” Blumenthal explains.

At the prison, Black Diamond meets Blake, a soft-spoken man who feeds the horse cinnamon candies and takes him on long walks. The two bond in friendship. And then, one day, Blake is released and Black Diamond becomes despondent and difficult, longing for his caretaker, his best friend.

As usual, I never reveal a book’s ending, but the book is titled Black Diamond and Blake for a reason.

The Art-Deco-inspired illustrations by Miles Hyman render bold forms with a soft pastel stroke, a visual juxtaposition befitting this tale of a strong yet sensitive racehorse. The book is gorgeous in all respects—from the language, to the theme, to the green hills of the final spread.

Parents may appreciate Blumenthal’s beautiful words more than children (“in a minute that grew heavy with time”) and those younger than five may not be able to sit for the entire tale, although my horse-lovers, aged three and six, were mesmerized. While the publisher claims it’s appropriate for children up to age eight, I foresee this book being enjoyed by children as old as ten or twelve, especially if they love animals.

Black Diamond and Blake never gets too sappy or sentimental, but instead tells a story of friendship and second chances from the thrill of the races to the gentleness of a rolling countryside.

Want it? Sure you do!

Black Diamond and Blake
Story by Deborah Blumenthal
Illustrations by Miles Hyman
Alfred A. Knopf, February 2009

More PiBoIdMo Winners!

Thanks to illustrator Bonnie Adamson, everyone who completed the 30 ideas in 30 days PiBoIdMo challenge has a winner badge to proudly display on their blog or website. Pick it up here!

If you’d like, link the badge back to the first PiBoIdMo post, so curious visitors will know what it is. This isn’t a requirement, just a suggestion.

Onto the Naoko Stoop print winners.

The winners of the prints were not drawn by random. Rather, I chose two people who were, in my opinion, the two most enthusiastic PiBoIdMo supporters. They commented frequently during the month and they both ended the event with nearly twice the number of ideas they were supposed to create.

Congratulations KELLY FINEMAN and JEWEL SAMPLE! You’ll receive an email to arrange delivery of your prizes.

The random winner of the signed Karma Wilson book Don’t Be Afraid, Little Pip is BETH COULTON! You’ll receive an email asking for an address.

The random winner of the signed Jennifer Swanson Penny and Rio book is LORI DEGMAN! An email’s coming your way, too.

Congratulations again to all the winners! You all deserve thanks for making PiBoIdMo a success!

And…stay tuned for a PiBoIdMo Art Gallery, brought to you by the many talented illustrators who sketched their way through November.

PiBoIdMo Grand Prize Winners!

Without further ado (I know you’ve been waiting all day), here are the PiBoIdMo Grand Prize winners! With the help of Random.org, winners were selected from the eligible pool of 51 picture book writers who signed the PiBoIdMo pledge.

Grand Prize Winner #1:

AUNTIE FLAMINGO! You have been assigned to agent Jill Corcoran of Herman Agency Inc.

Grand Prize Winner #2:

AMBER ALVAREZ! You have been assigned to agent Lauren E. MacLeod of Strothman Agency.

Grand Prize Winner #3:

LONI EDWARDS! You have been assigned to agent Elana Roth of Caren Johnson Literary Agency.

Congratulations to the three winners! You’ll receive an email soon with instructions asking you to contact your assigned agent by December 7th. So start picking out your 5 best ideas!

Congratulations to everyone else who completed the month with 30 ideas. It was quite a challenge and YOU DID IT! Please come back next week! There will be a winner badge for your blog and more prizes: the Karma Wilson signed book, Jennifer Swanson signed book, and the Naoko Stoop prints.

Thanks again to everyone for making PiBoIdMo a success! See you next year! (Um, well, I hope I see you before that! Lots more kidlit goodies to come!)

Take the PiBoIdMo Pledge

OK, time’s up! Do you have 30 new picture book ideas? You do? Excellent! Time to take the PiBoIdMo pledge to qualify for one of our keeno-Yaccarino prizes. (Sorry, there are no Dan Yaccarino books to give away. I just like that phrase.)

I do solemnly swear that I have faithfully executed
the PiBoIdMo challenge, and will to the best of my ability,
parlay my ideas into picture books from the list of 30 I have created.

Now I’m not saying all 30 ideas have to be good. Some may just be titles, some may be character quirks. Some may be problems and some may create problems when you sit down to write. Some may be high-concept and some barely a concept. But…they’re yours, all yours. Small seeds that may sprout into a story.

You have until December 3rd at 11:59:59PM EST to sign the pledge. Remember, this is an honor system pledge. Those who sign will be entered into the random grand prize drawing: review of your best 5 ideas by a literary agent. There are three grand prizes! Thanks to Jill Corcoran of Herman Agency, Inc., Lauren E. MacLeod of Strothman Agency, and Elana Roth of Caren Johnson Literary Agency for volunteering their time and expertise to PiBoIdMo.

In addition, I have two adorable kidlit prints by illustrator Naoko Stoop to give away–something to keep you inspired throughout the year.

Winners will be drawn and alerted on December 4th. Grand prize winners must contact their assigned agent no later than December 7th. Winners will be given full instructions…when they win!

If you’re an illustrator who participated and want to display your artwork, when you sign the pledge, please let me know that I should contact you to collect images. I’ll create a special PiBoIdMo art gallery to showcase your sketches.

Illustrator Ryan Hipp, who so generously created the PiBoIdMo logo and participator badge,  is busy making you an “I did it!” badge to proudly display on your blog. Everyone’s a winner, so it will be posted when the grand prize winners are announced.

Finally, a ginormous THANK YOU to everyone who participated in PiBoIdMo, from the guest bloggers to the aspiring writers and illustrators to the authors and agents. This has been a inspiring month full of creativity and imagination and, not to sound corny, but I couldn’t have done it without your support and enthusiasm!

*Sniff, Sniff*

So enough of the sappy stuff, go sign the pledge. When you leave a comment, be sure to put your email address in the email field so I know how to contact you. You do not have to put your email address in the comment itself. And, you do not have to submit your 30 ideas–they are yours. Treasure them. Just your name and “I did it!” will suffice. Let everyone see your virtual John Hancock. Or maybe that should be a virtual Jon Scieszka?

PiBoIdMo Day 30: Paula Yoo Sums it Up

Paula Yoo photo courtesy Jennifer Oyama, Audrey Magazine

30 picture book ideas in 30 days?

Are you CRAZY?

Oh wait. You’re a writer. OF COURSE you’re nuts!

And I’m a writer, too. Which means we’re both in the same boat.

Tara asked me to give you some words of advice as you hunker down for that final idea for Day 30 of the 2009 PiBoldMo–Picture Book Idea Month!

I thought I’d talk a bit about my “other” job to give you some ideal inspiration! In addition to my YA novels and picture books, I am also a TV writer. I’ve written for NBC’s The West Wing, FOX’s Tru Calling, and currently The SyFy Channel’s Eureka.

As a working TV writer in Hollywood, I have to come up with ideas every single day. In fact, I have to come up with DOZENS of ideas every single hour of every single day when I’m working on a TV show.

Here’s how most scripted TV shows work: several writers are hired to literally sit around in a room called “The Writers’ Room” all day long and come up with ideas for episodes. Each show is run differently, but the basic day usually involves the writing staff discussing what storylines should happen in each episode, along with in-depth dialogue about character development and themes. It’s a really fun job when you think about it–you’re getting paid to make up stuff!

At the same time, it’s also a really TOUGH job. You can get burned out very easily when trying to brainstorm episode storylines and figuring out which character does what and why. It’s often like solving a puzzle–there’s a ton of logic and plausibility that you have to consider when pitching ideas.

I’ve learned a lot from having worked in TV about how to brainstorm effectively when it comes to ideas. Of course the sky’s the limit when it comes to brainstorming–anything from a pebble on the beach to a squirrel running across the street to the cranky lady standing in front of you in line at the bank can lead to an amazing story idea for your picture book.

But a cool image, compelling character, or interesting conflict isn’t enough to create a fully-fleshed out idea. You have to combine all three areas–image, character, conflict–into one idea in order to have a viable story for a potential picture book.

As a TV writer, I was constantly told that story equals intention plus obstacle. Memorize this formula!

INTENTION + OBSTACLE = STORY

In other words, your main character has an INTENTION. But there is an OBSTACLE standing in your character’s way. This creates CONFLICT… which is another way of saying STORY! Ah ha! So STORY EQUALS CONFLICT! And how that character overcomes that obstacle reveals his or her journey towards that end goal.

As long as you can make this equation work, you’ve got yourself a viable story idea! It’s actually a fun formula to apply to published books, movies, and TV shows to break down a completed project to its very essence–the idea. Sometimes working backwards and analyzing published books and figuring out their basic idea can help you as you brainstorm your own ideas.

In other words, try this formula on published books or movies etc. as a “warm up” exercise before you begin your own brainstorming. For example…

In Mo Willem’s Knuffle Bunny, Trixie and her dad go to the laundromat. Trixie accidentally leaves her stuffed toy, Knuffle Bunny, behind. She is unable to speak in full words yet, so complications arise when her father has no idea what she’s talking about when she tries to convince him to take her back to the laundromat to rescue Knuffle Bunny.

So Trixie’s INTENTION is that she wants to return to the laundromat to get her toy!

The OBSTACLE is her inability to speak in words yet to communicate her thoughts!

INTENTION (Trixie wants Knuffle Bunny back) + OBSTACLE (can’t speak inwords yet) = STORY (Trixie must figure out how to communicate to her father that they must return to the laundromat to rescue Knuffle Bunny!)

And how Trixie overcomes this obstacle shows her delightfully feisty personality and inventiveness.

See how that works? Try seeing if you can simplify your favorite picture book down to this formula. It’s a lot of fun and a good warm up exercise to jump start your own imagination!

Then apply this formula to your own original ideas–if you can create a compelling character who has to overcome an obstacle to reach his or her goal, then you’ve got your 30th picture book idea for this year’s PiBoIdMo!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

And now that you have your 30 ideas, please join me this May 1-8, 2010 for the second annual NaPiboWriWee event sponsored by my website at http://paulayoo.com!

For more information on NaPiBoWriWee, check out this link:

http://paulayoo.com/content/natl-picture-book-writing-week-may-1-7-2009

NaPiBoWriWee is short for National Picture Book Writing Week where I challenge writers to write an entire picture book every day for a whole week–7 picture books in 7 days!

See, I told you we were crazy!

Best,
Paula Yoo

Paula Yoo is the author of the YA novel GOOD ENOUGH (HarperCollins ‘08) and the children’s non-fiction picture books SHINING STAR: THE ANNA MAY WONG STORY (Lee & Low ‘09) and IRA Notable SIXTEEN YEARS IN SIXTEEN SECONDS: THE SAMMY LEE STORY (Lee & Low ‘08). She is also a TV writer, whose credits include THE WEST WING, TRU CALLING, and SIDE ORDER OF LIFE. She is currently a co-producer on The SyFy Channel’s series, EUREKA.

 

Tara’s Note:

Thanks, Paula! No one could have summed up PiBoIdMo better.

Everyone, stay tuned tomorrow for the PiBoIdMo pledge.

What’s the PiBoIdMo pledge? It’s your word that you have 30 ideas. I’ll ask you to leave a comment letting me know you’ve completed this month’s challenge. (Please note you do not have to submit your 30 ideas. Those are yours to keep!)

You’ll have until December 3rd to take the pledge, then on December 4th I’ll announce the randomly-selected PiBoIdMo prize winners.

Good luck!

PiBoIdMo Day 29: Boni Ashburn Loves Bad Books

I loved Tara’s post from Day 22 because I get a lot of my ideas in the opposite way. Re-read your favorites and examine what you love about them? I like doing this too, but it completely freezes my creativity. I end up thinking I could NEVER write anything THAT wonderful and I go eat a pint of chocolate ice cream instead.

I would LOVE to be inspired by good books, but (sadly) I’m not. My biggest-ever writing epiphany (next to understanding rhyme) was learning this about myself: good books are bad for me.

No, what I need to feed my creativity is bad books. Nothing gets me more fired up than a book/story/idea that I think could be improved. Books that I read which annoy me in some way that I recognize instantly, or the ones that gnaw at me weeks later, asking me, “Why…? Why…? Why…?”

Books with ill-conceived plots that obviously should have gone This Way instead of That Way (obviously to ME, anyway–ha!) Books with poor structure. Books with over-worn themes that bring nothing new to the world. Characters that should be funnier. Characters who do things I don’t understand. Settings that don’t matter, but could–or should! Why did the author set it there when here would have been so much better?

Wasted opportunity–that’s what basically gets my creative juices flowing. It plays into re-tellings and re-interpretations and parodies very nicely (and I write a lot of those), but you can also use the ideas you come up with in original stories.

When I grew tired of singing Hush, Little Baby to my twins several times every night, wondering at the wisdom of giving breakable (a mirror), small (a diamond ring) or potentially stampeding (a bull and cart) items to a baby who’s screaming, wondering at the lack of funny lullabyes to entertain the parent AND send the child off to Sleepyland with a laugh in their heart, those cogs in my brain just started grinding away.

Most versions I could find at the time were built around a human baby (although several others have proliferated in the last five years), but what if it was a baby… dragon? What would his mother bring him that both made more sense AND was funny? When I thought of a princess to eat, I laughed and started writing.

Most versions of the song Over In The Meadow center on animal communities. And there are so many different versions, every ecosystem on earth! Geesh- nothing new there. But wait. What about all the people at a busy place… like a castle! I did some research, and Bingo! Book #2.

I wrote a twin manuscript because I was tired of picture books that only showed the twice-as-nice, double-the-love side of twins. If you have twins, you KNOW this is only half of the story. Where are the twins who love each other but ALSO shove each other because they’re tired of 24/7 sharing? Mine DO that! So I wrote it.

When I’m stuck, I go to books. I read good ones and say, “Oh, that’s lovely. I wish I could write like that!” And I put them back on the shelf. Then, I find books that I don’t like and say, “Wow, I know how to take an idea/character/plot/theme/whatever like that and make it better.”

Bad books–I love them!

Boni Ashburn lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with her husband and four kids. Her first book, Hush, Little Dragon, was called “Sweeney Todd for the sandbox set” by the San Francisco Chronicle and she can now die happy. First, however, she’d like to publish a whole shelf-full of children’s books. Boni’s next book, Over At The Castle, comes out in March, 2010, and she has two more picture books under contract for 2011.

PiBoIdMo Day 28: Dana Lardner Wanders, But She’s Not Lost

Not All Who Wander Are Lost
By Dana Lardner

Languages and cultures have always been a fascination of mine. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to visit foreign places, exist in foreign spaces. I have been told repeatedly to slow down, put down some roots, and find a spot in the world to call my own. Every time I tried to heed this advice, however, it only seemed to stifle my creativity.

The challenge of ‘staying put’ had been something my head and heart had yet to reconcile until several years ago, when I spotted a bumper sticker in popular San Diego diner: “Not all who wander are lost.”

To this day, I find great solace in what I consider to be wisdom in two parts:

1. Just because people may like to move to different places does not mean that they have not found their “place” in the world.
2. Try not to apply judgment to things we may not understand.

So how does this apply to finding picture book inspiration? Regardless of if your bags are packed ready to hop on a plane to places unknown, or if you’ve lived in the same town since you were three years old, the bumper sticker is reminder to break out of the everyday patterns that often consume us.

We drive the same way to work. We read the same newspapers and blogs. We plan the same dinner menus week after week. How can we expect to see the world differently if we don’t change our daily perspective? If we don’t slow down and wander a little bit, how will we ever see what other grand things the world has to offer?

I therefore present the following suggestions to give you a jump start:

• Change the route you take to the grocery store once in a while even if it takes you longer to get there. What stores or subtle nuances on the street didn’t you notice before?
• If you typically drive a car, take public transportation. What types of people are riding with you and where do you think they’re headed?
• Take your children to a new park on the other side of town. How do they interact with the other kids and the play structures differently than at their usual park?
• Follow someone on Twitter or subscribe to a blog feed of someone who does not see the world in the way you do. What have they said that makes you stronger in your resolve or more open to new ideas?
• Take a stroll around your neighborhood and be sure to walk on both sides of the street. Has the neighbor done something new to the yard?

Remember: Not all who wander are lost.

Where will you wander today?

Dana Lardner has a bag waiting by the door to travel at a moment’s notice. She is currently developing picture books that teach children about culture and difference while also keeping her belly laugh in shape with her line of motivational workout towels called Words to Sweat By™.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Time to give yourself a PiBoIdMo break. You deserve it.

However, if you happen to find yourself staring into the mashed potatoes, carving out a new idea, remember to think like Richard Dreyfuss: “This means something. It’s important!”