Picture Book Basics - Character Dynamics

In the third part of a series on Picture book Basics we're looking at characters. Successful Picture Books, especially those for younger children, can hinge on the design of it's cast. So what makes a great character? Here are just a few ideas to explore.


We all have different styles, techniques and approaches, so I'm not attempting a universal guide, but I hope this is of relevance to all illustrators, nomatter what your style. For me, the key elements of a good character are:

• Immediacy - it should be instantly recognisable. 
• Pathos - it should carry an emotional appeal for the reader
• Flexibility - the character should be adaptable to a variety of situations and be easy for the illustrator to reproduce in successive spreads. 

Simplicity is the key to strong characters. Some illustrators convey convincing emotion with the most minimal of designs or simplest of lines, for example....

© Peter H Reynolds

Find some element or detail that makes your character unique within the setting, something that makes it stand out from other background figures, for example striking hairstyle, identifiable clothes, distorted facial features or expression. Using colours or patterns that stand out from the background and which contrast with other figures can be very effective. Accessories can also help - you only have to think of Peter Rabbit's blue jacket, or the Cat in the Hat's hat. sometimes these elements can be the springboard for stories.

David McKee's iconic Elmer - strong character colours against a more subdued background. In many of the Elmer books the patchwork colours are the key to the story, the nature of the character itself creates the tales. ©The Andersen Press

Illustrators often start with sketching character ideas. So, look at your character studies and consider, is this a picture of the character at the beginning of a story, or at the end? Sometimes the very thing that makes the character unique can be the source of a story. How did they reach this condition?

Expression

Experiment with the size and position of facial features, the eyes, the nose, mouth, forehead etc. We’re programmed to find babies faces attractive (both animal & human!), thus characters with infant-like feature proportions are appealing, larger heads on smaller bodies, smaller chins, lower faces etc. Try drawing the character’s face in different emotional states - happy, sad, surprised, cross etc. 

Avoid cartoon generic stereotypes, like big bug eyes with white highlights (ala Disney), perpetually grinning "happy" faces, or manga - cartoons use these graphic short-cuts to thrust their message forward, picture books on the other hand are more sophisticated and subtle, they invite the reader into a more refined world, and characters should reflect this. 

Pose

Once you have an idea of the appearance, try drawing the character in various poses, from various angles. Include plenty of movement - running, climbing, bending over, sitting down etc. Personally I tend to design characters in curves rather than angular straight lines as this naturally leads to more naturalistic figures. Don't worry about reproducing every muscle, but it might help to keep in mind the poise and lightness of ballet and the stage, also how emotion and movement is conveyed in silent movies - body language that is emphasised, but not over-exaggerated. Try holding the pose yourself, feel where your weight rests, which muscles are used, the tension of the pose. Then exaggerate slightly in your drawing. 


 

a progression of early development sketches - all curves!

While comics often require very dynamic characters, in picture books vulnerability can be very effective, as it again appeals to our subconcious love of helpless infants - aim for tenderness and charm, but not over-sentimentality. Characters should be attractive, but not maukish.

Character Connections

Think how characters interact with each other and their environment - show them exchanging glances, use body language to indicate their connection with others on the page, look for the visual dialogue offered by the composition. The character should fit in with the world around them, the setting may also dictate the mood of characters. How does the environment affect your character? How are they feeling? What are they thinking? Place yourself on the page with the character, consider how their surroundings might affect them.

© Tor Freeman has a masterful sense of narrative

These are just a few things to ponder, I hope these ideas help to grasp characters that connect with readers. 

All images © the artists and publishers
-------------------------------------------------------------

John Shelley is the Illustration Feature Editor of Words & Pictures and current Central East Network coordinator. 
He's illustrated over 40 books for children, many of them published in Japan where he lived for many years. His latest title The Stone Giant is out in Japan now, and will be released in English by Charlesbridge in the US in Spring 2014.   www.jshelley.com

Network News: Case Studies

The writer’s life can be lonely. Often we juggle to fit in our work around a day job and /or a family until we’re earning enough from our writing to support ourselves. It’s a funny old thing - so often we write and write and write, yet we don’t know whether it will ever get out there. And even when it does, we’ll often hit a snag. Confidence levels swing up and down.
So it’s good to have some support and it’s great when that is quite local. I’ve asked five people I know value their local network to tell me exactly how being a member of a local SCBWI network has helped them. This is what they said:

Case study 1: 

 More than anything I value getting together with other writers and celebrating small successes and sharing disappointments. It’s only a short bus ride away. Some of the other members of the group have become my closest friends.

Case study 2: 

I just really value our critique group. We’ve learnt to be strict but constructive in our feedback. I know working with my network chums has helped me to make my work 200% better.

Case study 3: 

The first time I went to our local coffee morning I was scared to go in on my own. Then I spotted a couple of people who were obviously part of the group – they were talking about books as they went in. I introduced myself and I was made really welcome. I rarely miss a meeting now. Wouldn’t be without our local network.

Case study 4:

 I was thrilled to get the opportunity to speak to a visiting editor about my work. She made some really interesting points. And I didn’t have to travel all the way to London. Now I’m gearing myself up for the conference and meeting lots of other people involved in the writing industry.

Case study 5: 

I’d forgotten I can actually draw! The scrawl-crawl was a real eye-opener. Now, I really admire the illustrators amongst us, and I don’t think I’ll ever be that good, but drawing pictures, I found, really helps me to think of ideas. And there’s something about doing it in situ that makes it even more effective. I’m glad someone thought this one up.


Tempted? You must be a member of SCBWI-BI in order to join a local network, but we’re certain you’ll consider it worth it. Find out more here.

---

 Gill James writes mainly for young adults. She is a member of the North-West Network.  Her latest novel, Veiled Dreams, was published in July 2013.     
 

Writing with Dyslexia

By Sally Poyton 

To start I’m going to share some of my all-time best spelling faux pas… 

This week one of my characters stepped out of the SH!T – (this should have been ship) whilst another ‘dialectally’ cut his food. Another went to borrow a book and had a conversation with a Libyan who was printing something off on her brothel printer. 

After all this I needed to have a drink so I headed to the nearest bra. 

Writing with dyslexia has it perils, most of them not too bad although in a recent submission (which I’d checked and re-checked), I noticed after I’d pressed send that the second word was spelt wrong; I’d spelt Witch with a B at the front (it was a 6-9 comedy). Needless to say I didn’t hear back! 

Yes, writing is a mine-field for a dyslexic like me, but still if you love it enough you press ahead. The first feedback I ever got when I completed my first novel was from a friend who also happened to be an editor, she said…

 “The concept seems sound, but it’s totally unreadable. It took me three hours to read the first page.” 

I'm dyslexic, but I'm also an optimist so I focus on the positive.

I’m dyslexic, but I’m also an optimist so I ignored the latter and focused on the positive, thinking that despite spelling defying me and finding grammar aloof, I’d solider on. My friend kindly took it upon herself to educate me in the ways of grammar, which has helped the readability of my writing infinitely, however spelling is a total other ballgame so I had to find coping mechanisms and here are a few of them… 

Spell checker - it is one of the things I rely on although it is by no way dyslexia proof. Here are a few tips I learnt about getting the best out of spell check. 

1. On a fairly regular basis it breaks, it actually has a strop about the sheer quantity of errors and shuts itself off. IGNORE THIS AT YOUR PERIL, AS IT’LL STOP HIGHLIGHTING AND PICKING UP ERRORS - this is not something you want to discover at the end of an 80,000 document believe me. 

2. If you are writing dialogue or have lots of your own made up words, create a custom dictionary. CAUTION – get someone you trust to check that you’ve spelt it correctly before you add it – otherwise you’re allowing misspelling to go unchecked. 

3. If spell check can’t recognise what you’re trying to spell, copy and paste it into the GOOGLE search bar, this will usually bring it up first time. It's because google has on file the list of what everyone searches for including the misspelling and what they click on, so they have a great wealth of experience with a bad speller. This usually gets you the correct word. 

General Tips 

• I have a grammar cheat sheet which I refer to that’s hung up by the PC which is a quick reference to; which which is which, and which their, there, they’re to use. 
• I write all my tweets in word and then copy and paste them into twitter to ensure my spelling is correct. 
• Whilst blogging – I write in word and check, then paste in blogger and check, then read through once it’s published as seeing it on the actual platform makes it easier to spot mistakes, then I edit to correct them. Then I promote the blog. It’s time consuming but it’s worth it! 

• I work visually like many dyslexics, so I use sketchpads and notice boards to keep my notes and character info etc, so it's easy to see what they look like and remember where all the information is. 

Let yourself be free - get the story out then convert it into something readable.

Most important tip! 

Don’t worry about any of it - spelling, grammar, in the first draft – get it done, get it written and then edit. If you worry about it you’ll be in danger that it’ll stifle your creativity, you’ll get writers' block and give up. Let yourself be free, get the story out and then convert it into readable English when you edit! 





Remember…  

Some of the most famous authors ever are dyslexic, if they can do it so can you… 

---

Sally Poyton organises The London Professional Series with David Richardson. She writes mostly YA Fantasy. Up until 2011 it was a secret pursuit, but now Sally's come out of the writing closest. She's dyslexic, so writing is not without its difficulties but she LOVES it. Sally is also an author on Space on the Bookshelf, a blog that celebrates children's literature with reviews, views and more.

Why NaNoWriMo?

By Katrina Charman

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

On November 1st, hundreds of thousands of writers around the world will embark upon a caffeine and chocolate fuelled (or maybe that's just me) journey to write 50,000 words in only thirty days. 


National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, was established in the USA in 1999. You can join in for free at nanowrimo.org, where there is a plethora of motivational tools to keep you on the path to writing a novel in a month. 

There are forums to meet fellow writers, either online or via your regional group, where you can meet up with fellow nano-ers in person, and stage write-ins or word wars to boost that all important word count. You can add your daily word count to your profile where it is shown on a satisfying graph which plots your daily progress. There are also a number of pep talks during the month from writers such as James Patterson, and Rainbow Rowell, to give you that little inspirational push when you need it the most. And it's not only for adults; The Young Writers Programme encourages people of all ages to jump in and have a go at writing a novel. 

To date, over 250 novels written during NaNoWrimo have been traditionally published, including Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Marissa Meyer's Cinder, Erin Morgentern's The Night Circus, and Indie publishing sensation, Hugh Howey's Wool. 

Last year, there were 341,375 participants, and this year, it is expected that 500,000 writers will join in the fray. So why do writers, or even people who wouldn't call themselves a writer - housewives, plumbers, lawyers - take part in the crazy ride that is NaNoWriMo? 

I asked some of my lovely writerly friends and fellow Scoobies whether they took part, how they prepared for the month (if at all), and what the benefits were. 

Why take part? 

For me, personally, NaNoWriMo takes away all of the distractions that I usually have - the inner editor that won't let me move on to the next chapter until I have polished the previous one to within an inch of its life; the endless list of mindless chores that just have to be done before I sit down to write; the hours procrastination spent on Facebook, Twitter, and my personal favourite, Pinterest. Because I have something specific to focus on - a deadline. A goal that I have not only set myself, but have stated publicly that "I am going to do Nanowrimo this year and I am going to write those 50,000 words if it's the last thing I do." And, for me, failure and public humiliation is not an option. 

Others have a different approach: 

"Although I've participated in NaNoWriMo several times over the last five years, I've only completed the full challenge once. But for me, it's not about the numbers, it's about getting words on paper, brain splurge. Sometimes I prepare, most of the time, I don't. I like being able to create without thinking too hard. And the beauty of NaNoWriMo is that you're only committing for a month so it doesn't really matter if your plot shoots off in strange directions or your characters decide to do their own thing. I've never written a working first draft during November, but some of the ideas have eventually morphed into novels. It's one of my favourite ways to brainstorm." ~ MR

How to prepare for NaNoWriMo 

Some people prefer to use the Pantster method of writing by the seat of their pants. Of putting one word down after the other and seeing where the story and the characters take them. Others, myself included, like to plot things out before November. I start with a general theme, idea, or character, and then slowly formulate the plot, using Blake Snyder's Beat Sheet from the book, Save the Cat. This helps me to ensure that I have all the elements I need for my story to work, and I develop those ideas from there. 

Then I write a sentence or two per chapter on index cards and revise them as I go. This ensures that I maintain focus so that my characters don't lead me astray too much. In 2010, I was writing a YA paranormal for NaNoWriMo, using the pantster method, and suddenly out of nowhere, the protagonist fell down a zombie-filled ravine. The story had nothing to do with zombies, so I have no idea where they came from, but you can see why I personally need to plot beforehand! 

"I didn't really prepare but I'd started it a few times and kind of knew what I wanted to write. Halfway through I did still hit a block but because I had to, I kept going." ~ TT 

"I also didn't plan beforehand, just tried to write without over-thinking. I suspect doing a lot of planning prior to November would make the writing easier." ~ SR 

What are the benefits? 

Getting into a writing habit - a routine where you force yourself to sit down for a set amount of time each day, setting a word count target and writing until you get those words down, no matter how terrible they are, is one of the biggest benefits for me. Often, setting a goal of 1000 words a day, for example, may seem like an impossible task. But taking part in NaNoWriMo showed me that not only was that goal achievable, but actually that I could write more than that on some days. It's then something that you can keep going after November and beyond. 

"Some of the benefits were the encouraging forums and word wars; the discipline of writing every day and having your stats recorded; getting the idea of being a writer out of your head and into a slightly more public sphere (albeit under an anonymous name!!)...After that first year of Nano, I found SCBWI and was emboldened to join the local crit group." ~ SR

"I loved doing Nano - mainly for motivational reasons. Normally if I don't do much apart from "Thinking" in the day, I'll leave it at that, but because I had to get my word count I would stay up late to do it." ~ TT

I was once asked what you win when you reach your goal? Well, apart from a pretty badge you can use as your profile picture for a while to show off, the answer is nothing, and maybe everything. Because the one thing I always keep in mind when I hit a wall with my writing, or when the words just won't come - is that it is easier to edit and revise something - even if that something is a jumbled mess of zombies and nonsense - than a blank page. So that's why I'll be participating again this year. Because maybe there won't be a completely formable, coherent novel at the end of it, but maybe there will be the start of one, which is all a writer needs. 

*Many thanks to all those who let me share their insights into Nanowrimo* 

 

---

Katrina is a member of the Words and Pictures Editorial Team, and lives in a small village in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three daughters and a manic-depressive hamster. She writes mostly YA Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and tweets sporadically  @katrina_charman.

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 29th October

Last week, I complained about there being too many good blog posts to choose from, and yet this week there are even more! Now, I'm not going to say you should write bad posts, but you're making my life difficult here, folks ;-)

Dave Cousins is popping up all over the place, thanks to ... erm ... Pop Up. That's the London Pop Up organisation (famous for their festival) who also run a project called Booklinks, which encourages children to study a book in detail and then meet the author. Dave blogs all about it and shares some great film posters that the kids made, promoting their very own production of Dave's 15 Days Without a Head.

Sam Zuppardi's been scrawlcrawling around York Minster this week, and trying to solve the problem of scale. Can you draw a picture that captures the immense majesty of such a building, or is it better to focus on the more intimate details?

Another binary question is vexing Sue Hyams: Setting or Characters – Which Comes First? I'm not spoiling anything by revealing that Sue prioritises setting in her stories, but the comments on her post demonstrate what a range of different approaches we all take.

Certainly the noisiest blog of the week comes from the inimitable George Kirk via The FunEverse. George is exploring rhythm in poetry, and her post is a multimedia extravaganza that takes you right to the beating heart of children's verse.

If you missed Sara O'Connor's SCBWI Middle Grade Masterclass at the weekend, panic not. Lorraine Gregory has a terrifically in-depth post all about it!

Finally, check out John Shelley's blog for a view inside the fascinating production of his latest book, Stone Giant. The book is, in itself, a "making of", as John and writer Jane Sutcliffe recreate the creation of Michelangelo's David, a job that required a huge amount of research and educated guesswork to depict Renaissance Florence as it would have appeared to the artist. Great stuff.

Nick.

---

Nick Cross is a children's writer, blogger and all-round techno-ninja. In 2010 he was a winner of Undiscovered Voices with his zombie comedy Back from the Dead.

This week on his blog, Nick is linking into Words & Pictures' Diversity theme, and discussing how a colleague's bravery challenged his preconceptions about transgendered people. Read about A Life in Transition.

Guest Blogger: How to Be An Author By Candy Gourlay

So three whole years after Book Number One, Book Number Two is finally out. Bow.

Gratuitous image of Book Number Two

When Shine came out last month, I posted this on my blog:

It's kind of funny to think of how long it took for me to finally get beyond 'debut author' to just plain 'author'. The other day, a librarian told me that she thought I'd been around a long time and had written a lot of books!

I wish.

Getting from Tall Story to Shine was an education - I learned how to be an author ... and on the way, I learned something about myself as well.

Here's what I thought I knew:

• I thought making a living as an author was about selling books.

• I thought marketing was all about social media, having bookmarks to give away, and having a book trailer.  

• I thought promoting my book meant getting readers to read it.

• I thought I could write.

Here's what it turned out to be:

• Book sales - in the short term - do not a living make. Unless you are a bestselling author, the living is made by day jobs, paid school visits and, of course, spouses and partners with real jobs. 

• There is only so much a tweet and a book giveaway can achieve. It's real relationships that lead to opportunities. Being human is the best kind of marketing.

• Promoting to the reader is as effective as trying to sell stuff from door to door.  

• I can write. But slowly. 

There are plenty of exceptions of course. Many jobbing authors make a living by diversifying or by managing to write many, many books in a year. I have learned that I am not that sort of author (yet).

YOU NEVER LEARN TO WRITE A NOVEL

I often quote Neil Gaiman - "You never learn to write a novel - you only learn to write the novel you're on.'  Tis so true (as I wrote in this post back in 2012 when I thought I'd finished my novel only for another year of rewriting to pass).

Anyway, thinking about why it took me a long time to learn how to write Shine, I think I can sum it up in one word: Fear.

Some of you will probably be amazed and disgusted that I would dare to claim fear. After all, my debut book Tall Story has done well enough to use the word 'acclaimed' in its publicity. And, as a good friend reminded me when I was whinging the other day, my dream has come true, unlike some.

But let me explain.

Unlike other shorter forms of fiction, a novel is a slow unfolding of story. And it was as Shine unfolded in my laptop that my life changed irrevocably from unpublished author to published author.

And when that happened, I discovered that - whether I liked it or not - the measure of who I was had changed.

Suddenly it wasn't just me doing my own thing. It felt like there was a world out there passing judgement. Reviewers, bloggers, editors, publishers, readers, teachers, librarians ... it felt like there was a great weight pressing down.

Suddenly writing became excruciating. Every word I produced had the possibility of failure. I typed and deleted. Typed and deleted.

All my attempts felt weighted with responsibility. It was a lot like that scene in Tall Story when my hero Bernardo suddenly discovers that the world is sitting on his shoulders ...

"Too heavy, too heavy ... it slipped down my shoulder and I could have cried out as the mountain peaks jabbed hard against my skin. My muscles ached as i tried not to buckle under the weight, my hands scrabbling to hold on to it, the dirt grinding under my fingernails ... Mustn't drop it. Mustn't drop the Earth." Excerpt from Tall Story

How did I get over it? I had to get over ME.

I HAD TO GET OVER ME

When I was a young reporter on a political magazine, my editor used to warn us writers: 'Remember, it's not about YOU, it's about the STORY.'

Easier said than done.

I tried turning off the noise by abandoning Facebook, refusing invitations to lunch, avoiding distraction.

But surprise, surprise! in the ensuing vacuum, creativity withered and died. I couldn't write at all. I learned something about myself.

I learned that I needed the noise. I needed life to go on. Because writing needs the oxygen of living to happen. I couldn't write when I couldn't breathe.

What I really needed to do was not cut off the outside world but inhabit the world that I was writing about. I needed to surrender to the story and that could only happen by not allowing the pressures that I had conjured in my head to get the best of me.

I got back on Facebook. But I also made more of an effort to see my friends in real space, have real engagements, really pay attention to my relationships so that the ones I was constructing on the page would go beyond a creative writing exercise to something honest and true.

It's about the STORY. Not as obvious as you think.

IT'S LIKE FALLING IN LOVE

The Printz winning author Libba Bray once wrote that writing a book is like falling in love. Here's a screenshot of a PDF I found online  - read the whole thing here, download it and pin it up on the wall in case it gets taken down, it's hilarious and it's all too true!

Click on screenshot to view full size. Or read the whole piece here

I don't even mind if you go off and read it then come back to finish reading this. It's that good.

Finished? Have you identified which stage you're currently experiencing with your work in progress? Yeah. Well, when I handed Shine in I was relieved and glad to see the back of it. But now that real people are reading it and responding to it and sending me kind messages - I feel good. I think I'm falling in love again.


Except of course I've started work on my next book. And I'm currently head over heels.

Ask me again in a few months time ...

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT REJECTION

So the other day, The Independent listed Shine in its 50 Best Winter Reads. I was happy and relieved, duly posting on Facebook as one must, but I revealed my soft underbelly in a comment: "Been feeling insecure about it. So nice to be on the list."

A friend replied: "... what hope for the rest of us!"

Me: "I know, I know! But this business is full of fear and rejection!"

To which another friend said: "And also love and acceptance."

I wanted to kick myself. There I was again, conjuring the bad over the good!

My husband tells me I'm in the habit of managing my own expectations. By talking myself down, I soften the blow of failure. Just in case.

LET'S ALL GET ON WITH IT

Here's a favourite scene from one of my all-time-favourite movies:

In case it doesn't play, watch on YouTube

Feel their pain as they try to prove themselves, prove that they have enough talent, enough passion, proving they can endure, proving they will keep going despite everything.

But here's my takeaway:

Enough with dwelling on rejection and fear. Let us all get on with the business of being authors. Remember ...  it's about the story.

Today, Words & Pictures' monthly guest post is by Candy Gourlay, whose new book SHINE recently made The Independent's 50 Best Winter Reads as well as BookTrust's Books We Like for October.

Down to business

The business for me this week is to focus. This is me focussing. My WIP end is in sight and I aim to get there imminently, very soon at least.

We have plans - Paul Morton is doing a splendid job of collecting contributions for a Words & Pictures Advent Calendar. Thank you very much to the illustrators so far who have contributed seasonal images for our December posts.

Are you an illustrator and do you have a 'seasonal' image for our December posts? 

Seasonal can be winter or another December faith/cultural celebration as well as Christmas. It would be wonderful to have at least 24 illustrators represented! If you would like to contribute please contact Paul via FB, the SCBWI yahoo group  or The Ning. We are only accepting contributions from SCBWI British Isles members but we are delighted to share the results with everyone!

When we post our 'Advent' images in December we'll be inviting Tweet length comments inspired by the day's image - we'll tweet each day's best 'comment' from @Words8Pictures and @SCBWI_BI. Im still thinking through out exactly how that will work but it would be fabulous to collect lots of pithy tweety seasonal ultra short fiction to enhance the illustrations.

Don't forget the current Slushpile Challenge's deadline is this Thursday 31st October.

If you're waiting for a new Chalkface Challenge, apologies that it will probably now be after Christmas but one 7- 9 yr old fiction is still very much on the cards if you know a school who'd like to be involved please do let me know. Don't forget the current Slushpile Challenge's deadline is this Thursday 31st October.

Are you going to the conference and would like to be part of the W&P reporting team? 

Are you going to the conference and would like to  be part of the W&P reporting team? Please do let David know via events@britishscbwi.org. Also I'm looking for a photographer to take pictures of each person participating in the conference mass book launch - could you take lots of joyful author with book shots?

I'm doing well all very business like so far...

Last week not to be missed were:

• K. M. Lockwoods diverse suggestions for trying something new
• Amanda Lillywhite's brilliant profile of her 11 year old daughter's reading choices
• Gemma and Molly's extremely useful critiques of two query letters - thank you brave and splendid people for sending them in!
• Julia Groves's fascinating post about traditional vs digital printing

Also I hope you had a coffee with Nick, you've remembered what's happening on the 5th of November and you've admired this years wonderful set of conference badges.

Now next week...

• Candy Gourlay is our Guest Author Blogger yay!
• Joint Writing Features editor, Katrina Charman, has turned contributor for a fab post on why NanoWrimo
• Sally Poyton will be sharing her strategies for overcoming her dyslexia to blog email comment, write books even!
• And we have another brilliant Picture Book Basics Post from John Shelley

I wish you all many words and lots of productivity,

Jan Carr

---

Jan Carr is the editor of Words & Pictures. Her fiction is older middle grade, she blogs occasionally and loves to write in magenta. You can contact her at editor@britishscbwi.org.

And The Winner is.....

Bridget's winning snail!

It’s nearly conference time again  and I can’t wait! A chance to catch up with friends old and new; energise the creative parts of my brain; network with the great and the good (what a line up we have this year); and get involved in all the amazing competitions and promotions and  I’ve hijacked Celebrations to share with you the winners of our very first 2013 conference competition...

The Badge Competiton!

This year our panel of judges have chosen 12 winning designs from a host of fantastic entries, and one wonderful winner….drum roll please….the winning badge is….

Congratulations to Jo Franklin for her inspiring (and instructive!) words and for Vikki Gibson’s bright and engaging design. You are a pair of worth winners.

In joint second place were Paul Morton with this uplifting design:

And Julienne Durber with a very accurate portrayal of exactly how I feel:

Our other runners up were: Anna Violet in collaboration with Jo Franklin; Catherine Cooper; Amanda Lillywhite celebrating our very own Duck and Bear; Benjamin Scott, Nicky Schmidt in collaboration with Vikki Gibson and Olivia Palmer. All the wonderful designs will be on sale at this years conference here's a preview!

Winners from Kathryn Evans

Well done all and thank you for taking part. Don’t forget there are plenty more competitions at the conference. Hope to see you there!

---

Every year Kathy Evans splendidly organises The Conference Badge Competition. She manages SCBWI British Isles finances, is South East Network Coordinator, brought Celebrations to Words & Pictures and is represented by Sophie Hicks at Ed Victor. Wow!

Traditional vs Digital Techniques in illustration

Julia Groves offers some observations on blending time honoured printing methods with modern computers. 




As a printmaker and illustrator I have developed a rather eclectic method of making images, utilising both traditional and digital media to create images which retain a ‘hand-made’ quality. 

I consider myself rather fortunate as I had a traditional art education in the (almost) pre-digital age of the late 1980’s/early 1990’s.Training first as an Illustrator at Cambridge School of Art, working almost purely in traditional non-digital media such as paint, collage and printmaking, typography was hand-rendered and we used the library for all our research, no Google back then! My love/hate relationship with printmaking continued as I pursued a Post-graduate Diploma in Fine Art printmaking at Brighton University, where I discovered that traditional methods of printmaking are both time-consuming and frustrating, but there is also a wonderful sense of achievement in the hand-made.

Isabelle Vandenabeele illustration from Een Griezelmeisje ('A Horrorgirl' written by Edward van den Vendel, published by De Eenhorn 2005)

 The recent revival in traditional printmaking techniques and the rise in popularity of beautiful children’s books with a ‘hand-made’ aesthetic may be viewed as a reaction to computer generated illustrations and the digital book. As much as we embrace the digital world, we are seeking the tactile familiarity of the books of our childhood memories as a counter point to the screen. 

Traditional illustration seems to have come full circle, from falling out of favour to photography in the early 1990’s to being superseded by CGI and vector graphics as digital technologies evolved. There are now more opportunities than ever for a broad spectrum of traditional and digitally created images (or better still a combination of the two) in picture books. 

I admire Illustrators such as Marc Boutavant, who creates all his work digitally, yet his images have a beautiful mid-century auto lithography aesthetic, combining retro colours and charming animal characters. Belgian artist Isabelle Vandenabeele creates beautiful illustrations combining traditional wood cuts, which are then scanned in layers and coloured and composed using Photoshop. John Lawrence works in a similar way, his intricate wood engravings are again assembled using digital techniques, this method was utilised to great effect in his illustrations to Treasure Island (Walker Books, 2010) and more recently Wayland written by Tony Mitton (David Fickling Books, 2013).

A wood engraving by John Lawrence (© John Lawrence/Walker Books)

Although I now regularly use Photoshop as part of the process of making illustrations, I also have a genuine respect for traditional methods and this will always be the starting point of my work.

Printing from traditional wooden fonts in the letterpress studio at Cambridge school of Art

The final text, scanned and digitally coloured using Photoshop

I have long been fascinated by the idea of printmaking without a press and combining various techniques into one illustration. I enjoy making mono-prints, transfer drawings and hand-cut block prints, all of which can be done with very basic equipment. I use water-based inks for speed of drying.

Monoprints are created by rolling a very thin layer of printing ink onto a smooth surface (such as plastic, glass or even a table top), next place a piece of paper over the ink and draw on the paper. The pressure of the pencil transfers the ink onto the paper, creating a beautiful ‘feathered’ line. Interesting effects may also be achieved by painting printing inks directly onto the clean surface with a brush, laying paper on top and taking a print by applying gentle pressure with your hand. Different effects can be achieved by wiping ink from the surface with a rag, or drawing into the inked areas.

Making a Monoprint

Printing blocks can be created by cutting shapes from sponge or rubber and gluing onto a wooden (or mdf) block. These can be inked with a roller and pressed onto paper, rather like a rubber stamp. Linocuts are also easy to create at home without a printing press. Use a linocutting tool to carve your design onto a piece of lino, ink with a roller, place a piece of paper over the inked lino and apply pressure by ‘burnishing’ with a spoon.

Rolling ink onto a linocut

I usually print everything in black ink or sometimes I’ll cut just shapes out of black card, scan and then colour and assemble the final illustrations in Photoshop.

Printing from handmade relief blocks

The final illustrations, coloured and composed digitally using Photoshop

The important aspect of this process for me is the sense of retaining the original traditional starting point in the finished digital illustration.

I also recommend Martin Salisbury’s books (Illustrating Children’s Books, Play Pen: New Children’s Book Illustration and Children’s Picturebooks: The Art of Visual Storytelling)

All images © the artists and publishers.
__________________________________________________________

Julia Groves works as a lecturer in Illustration and graphic design, but is also currently in her final semester on the MA Children’s Book Illustration course at Cambridge School of Art.

Follow her blog here.

Network News: Remember, remember...

... the fifth of November is the next London Professional Series Event: Poachers Turned Gamekeepers.

Ahead of this event,  here’s a little teaser with some tips from folks who are professionals within the publishing industry by day and writers by night,
The line-up is impressive...

 Robin Stevens, Editorial Assistant at Orion and soon to be published author of Murder Most Unladylike (Random House 2014)

Non Pratt Editor at Catnip and author of Trouble

Phil Earle Sales Director at Bloomsbury and author of Saving Daisy

With your WRITER'S HAT on, what's your top tip for writing?

Non Pratt - I wrote a blogpost over on Author Allsorts about the Seven Deadly Sins and how they apply to writers. My top tip is probably number five…

Phil Earle - Love your characters, but be horrible to them....

Robin Stevens - Just keep going! There seem to be an unbelievably large number of words in a book, especially when you’re in the middle of writing one. But you have to finish it so you can go back and improve it later.

With your EDITOR'S HAT on, what's is your top tip for writing?

Non Pratt - Write because you love it: it shows.

Phil Earle - Don't give up the day job. Have another way of earning money!

Robin Stevens - Don’t be afraid to ask yourself big questions about plot and character, and to make huge changes if you or your early readers think they’re necessary. The book will be so much better for it.

---

Sally Poyton organises The London Professional Series with David Richardson. She writes  mostly YA Fantasy. Up until 2011 it was a secret pursuit, but now Sally's come out of the writing closest. She's dyslexic, so writing is not without its difficulties but she LOVES it. Sally is also an author on Space on the Bookshelf, a blog that celebrates children's literature with reviews, views and more.

Ask an Agent - with Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn, from the Bent Agency

 

Are you looking for a query critique from those in the know? Or do you have a question you've always wanted to ask an agent? Each month, agents Gemma Cooper and Molly Ker Hawn from The Bent Agency are offering just that.

This month, they critique two queries sent in to us by our readers.


Original Query One:

Dear AGENT NAME,

 

The Unusual Education of Ellie Anderson is a contemporary YA novel about a Scottish seventeen year-old’s adjustment to life as an exchange student at a Chicago high school. Complete at 78,000 words, I am currently sending it out to a few carefully selected agents in hope of representation. 

It is the start of a new academic year, and while her friends and boyfriend are starting university fifty miles from home, Ellie is following her own dream four thousand miles away. Her expectations are based on the glamorous sets and storylines of shows like Gossip Girl, but Ellie quickly discovers that the reality is entirely more gritty. Placed with a family that is even harder work than her own, and socially rejected despite her best efforts to fit in, Ellie is plotting the fastest route home when she makes a friend and things start to change.

My novel follows Ellie through the first two months of her ten-month stay in America as she deals with heartbreak, betrayal and culture shock. Through social blunders, sexual mishaps, the negotiation of school politics and new friendships, Ellie is about to learn a lot more from her extra-curricular activities than she will in Health class.

Although a work of fiction, my story was inspired by a year I spent as an exchange student in the US, touching on the issues I was running from, the dreams that I was running towards and the many, many humiliations I experienced in the process.

I am a cognitive psychologist with a love of words that led me to a Masters in Psycholinguistics. With work experience in adolescent psychiatry and Disney entertainment, I hope that I am well placed to write for teens in a way that understands while it entertains.

I see this as the first in a three-book series, and am currently working on the second.

With many thanks for your time and consideration,

Here's what Gemma and Molly said:


Dear AGENT NAME, The Unusual Education of Ellie Anderson is a contemporary YA novel about a Scottish seventeen year-old’s adjustment to life as an exchange student at a Chicago high school. Complete at 78,000 words, I am currently sending it out to a few carefully selected agents in hope of representation. You don’t need to tell me it’s a multiple submission—I always assume submissions aren’t exclusive. 

It is the start of a new academic year, and While her friends and boyfriend are starting university fifty miles from back home, Ellie is following her own dream four thousand miles away. Her expectations are based on the glamorous sets and storylines of shows like She’s expecting her new life to be as glamorous as Gossip Girl, but Ellie quickly discovers that the reality is entirely more gritty. placed with a family who are that is even harder work than her own, and socially rejected despite her best efforts to fit in, Ellie is plotting the fastest route home when she makes a friend and things start to change. 

My novel follows Ellie through the first two months of her ten-month stay in America as she deals with heartbreak, betrayal and culture shock. Through social blunders, sexual mishaps, the negotiation of school politics and new friendships, Ellie is about to learn a lot more from her extra-curricular activities than she will in Health class. 

This is really vague. What’s the central conflict? Who’s this friend that she makes? What does Ellie want? Most importantly – where’s the hook? 

Although a work of fiction, my story was inspired by a year I spent as an exchange student in the US, touching on the issues I was running from, the dreams that I was running towards and the many, many humiliations I experienced in the process. 

Nice! This shows me why your personal experience makes you the person to write this book. 

I am a cognitive psychologist with a love of words that led me to a Masters in Psycholinguistics. With work experience in adolescent psychiatry and Disney entertainment, I hope that I am well placed to write for teens in a way that understands while it entertains.Not needed.  

I see this as the first in a three-book series, and am currently working on the second. 

THE UNUSUAL EDUCATION OF ELLIE ANDERSON is complete at 78,000 words and is a stand-alone novel, though it could also begin a series. 

I’m seeing a lot of series fatigue from editors. In my experience, it’s easier to sell a novel if it can work as a stand-alone or as the first volume in a series. 

With many thanks for your time and consideration, 

This sounds like it might be an interesting project, but the query is wordy and vague. A great query usually has one or more of the following: 

• A great logline: A catchy sentence or two that tells me what your book is about. 

• A fabulous hook: A fresh, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that idea that shows the reader makes this project different, like “Boy decides to eat himself to death live on the internet” (that’s BUTTER, by Erin Lange), or “Girl drowns on her 16th birthday, then shows up at school three months later as if nothing happened” (that’s BLACKFIN SKY, my client Kat Ellis’s forthcoming YA novel).

• Spot-on comp titles: Successful books, movies or television shows your project could be compared to, e.g., “In the tradition of A MONSTER CALLS and SKELLIG…” or “SKINS meets GAME OF THRONES” (gosh, can you imagine?). 

This query starts with a logline, but it would be more successful if it were punchier. I’ve been a seventeen-year-old exchange student myself — I know there’s drama to be found in this situation! Show me some of that drama in your logline and it’ll be impossible for me to stop reading. 

It can be hard to find a really good hook for a contemporary YA novel, I know. But unless you can get close, your book runs the risk of being “too quiet” to catch an agent or editor’s attention. Try to convey some conflict in your query so that we get a sense of how high the emotional stakes are for your main character. 

Comp titles can be a pain in the neck to research, but they can make all the difference in nabbing that request for a full manuscript. Sometimes, when I’m writing pitches, I canvass the TBA agents for help with comp titles so I can be sure I’m not overlooking something perfect – so ask around your beta readers or critique group (or hey, Twitter works too) if you’re having trouble coming up with comp titles on your own. 

Above all – avoid clutter in your query. Keep it snappy and to the point. I usually comb through 30-50 queries at a time, so anything you can do to make yours stand out will raise your odds of catching my eye. 



Original Query Two:

Dear Molly and Gemma,

EVIVRUS – the other evolution.

I am seeking representation for my upper middle grade novel complete at 41,000 words. It is a hybrid fantasy/SF novel, a kind of Narnia meets Primeval. It is intended as a series but is written as a stand alone book.

After a top secret experiment, super scientist Nain disappears.

Intelligent, slightly insular Win, who prefers animals to people, is persuaded by his clever, rebellious older brother (Stan) to break into the old research lab, follow the clues, recreate the experiment and find Nain.

They create a pathway to Evivrus,a distorted mirror image of Iron Age Earth populated by creatures of strange evolution, and suppressed by the illusive and powerful Sifr. They meet Nain's apprentice, Gefn, who helps them to survive this dangerous world and guides them to Nain's last known hiding place, a cave in the territory of the evolved wolf people, the Lycans. They arrive at Nain's cave, but they too are captured. Win tries to persuade the leader, Asena, not to feed them to the pack, but to help them find Nain. Asena agrees, but it is a trap.

Separated from Stan and Gefn, Win is taken to the Cave of Swords, Sifr's lair. There he finds Nain, bound and gagged. Win is used as a bargaining chip by Sifr to persuade Nain to release the codes so that he can carry out his plan that could end both worlds. But Win learns a terrible truth about his own identity. He must show courage if he is to stand up to Sifr and believe that the future is not yet set.

In accordance with your guidelines I have included the first ten pages at the end of this email.

I had the first draft of this novel critiqued by Cornerstones. I found the experience very helpful and knew I had issues with the book and was desperate to overcome them. I re-wrote the novel with the suggested change of direction and have since been re-drafting and working with the on-line critique group SCBWI Muddle Graders.

Last year I completed my MA in Creative Writing at Manchester University. I am a teacher by profession and a mum to three ace kids. I am a part time freelancer mostly writing the content for on line training.

Thank you for your time.

Best regards,

Here's what Gemma and Molly said:

Dear Molly and Gemma, 

EVIVRUS – the other evolution. 

I am seeking representation for my upper middle grade novel, EVIVRUS, complete at 41,000 words. It is a hybrid fantasy/SF novel, a kind of Narnia meets Primeval. It is intended as a series but is written as a stand alone book. 

After a top secret experiment, super scientist Nain disappears. 

As the first line to hook us, this is too vague as we don’t know who Nain is and why that’s important. Start with your main character. 

Intelligent, slightly insular Win, who prefers animals to people, slightly insular and preferring animals to people are sort of saying the same thing – your main character is shy. You have limited word count, so don’t say the same thing twice is persuaded by his clever, rebellious older brother (Stan) Don’t overload your query with names – stick to one or two, otherwise the reader will lose the thread. to break into the old research lab, follow the clues, recreate the experiment and find Nain.

I’m confused about how these kids know about the experiment if it’s top secret. Who is Nain to them? Teacher? Employer? Family? 

They create a pathway to Evivrus, a distorted mirror image of Iron Age Earth populated by creatures of strange evolution, and suppressed by the illusive and powerful Sifr. They meet Nain's apprentice, Gefn, who helps them to survive this dangerous world and guides them to Nain's last known hiding place, a cave in the territory of the evolved wolf people, the Lycans. 

At this point I am confused, and too overloaded with names to keep track of the plot. I would stop reading.  

They arrive at Nain's cave, but they too are captured. 

We don’t need to know every step they take to get from A to B – just the key plot points. 

Win tries to persuade the leader, Asena, not to feed them to the pack, but to help them find Nain. Asena agrees, but it is a trap. Separated from Stan and Gefn, Win is taken to the Cave of Swords, Sifr's lair. There he finds Nain, bound and gagged. 

Again, we don’t need a play-by-play of exactly what happens or the name of the lair. 

Win is used as a bargaining chip by Sifr to persuade Nain to release the codes so that he can carry out his plan that could end both worlds. But Win learns a terrible truth about his own identity. He must show courage if he is to stand up to Sifr and believe that the future is not yet set. 

This hints that there is some sort of destiny element here, but it’s not coming over that Win is special in the rest of the query. 

In accordance with your guidelines I have included the first ten pages at the end of this email. 

I had the first draft of this novel critiqued by Cornerstones. I found the experience very helpful and knew I had issues with the book and was desperate to overcome them. I re-wrote the novel with the suggested change of direction and have since been re-drafting and worked with the online critique group, SCBWI Muddle Graders. 

Last year I completed my MA in Creative Writing at Manchester University. I am a teacher by profession and a mum to three ace kids. I am a part time freelancer mostly writing the content for on line training. 

This line doesn’t make sense to me – if you are writing content online, explain what it is, and the frequency. 

Thank you for your time. 

Best regards, 

I think you might need to strip this back and start again. Introduce your main character. What does he want? What’s preventing him from achieving those goals? And what are the stakes if he doesn’t achieve them? 

I know it’s harder with a fantasy world, as you feel you need to explain everything, but you don’t have enough words to do this, and trying to will ultimately confuse the reader. 

Introduce your main character. Win is a science nerd? Or a relation of a scientist? Age? 
What does he want? To rescue/save Nain. 
What’s preventing his achieving those goals? Being captured by an evil overlord. 
And what are the stakes if he doesn’t achieve them? The end of both worlds. 

Keep it short and just focus on the main plot point. So a rough idea—without having read the story— might be: 

When fourteen-year old science nerd Win recreates a failed experiment to solve the mystery of his science teacher’s disappearance, he is transported to Evivrus, a distorted mirror image of Iron Age Earth populated by creatures of strange evolution. 

Win plans to rescue his mentor, but is captured by an evil overload who knows a secret about Win’s past and plans to use this to end both worlds. Does Win have enough courage to outrun his destiny?  

---

Gemma and Molly have recently updated their submission wishlists. Check out what they are looking for here:

Gemma's wishlist

Molly's wishlist

They will be back next month answering more questions and critiquing your queries. If you have a question you'd like to ask them, or are ready to start querying and would like some feedback from the professionals before you start submitting, email us at writers@britishscbwi.org 

---

@gemma_cooper 

@mollykh.

Gemma Cooper and  Molly Ker Hawn represent authors of books for children and young adults. For more information about Gemma and Molly see The Bent Agency website and blog.