We'd love to celebrate a new Celebrations Editor - could it be you?

Sharing members' good news by editing W&P's Saturday morning Celebrations is a lovely job - everyone loves you!
If you're a @SCBWI_BI member,  have a sunny disposition, spend more time than is good for you on Facebook and can deliver members' good news with lots of joy, virtual cake and fizz, please do study this card!

Click to enlarge

Very much looking forward to hearing from you !

Visual Storytelling in Picture Books

© Chloe Yelland

Understanding the importance of narrative in picture books is a key part of development for writers and illustrators. Today, student Chloe Yelland offers her personal perspective on the way pictures and text work together to create stories. 


The thing that fascinates me about picture books are pictures and words as fragments of sequential imagery and language. Picture books not only visualize information, but also bring out meaning to the story as well as entertain and educate the reader. Parents who read to their children help them understand the importance of reading, as well as entertaining them.

In the fifteenth century, Leonardo Da Vinci pointed out that ‘the more you describe, the more you will confine the mind of the reader’, he felt it was necessary to draw and describe at the same time because colour, pace, rhythm and suspense are used to tell a story whether in a painting or picture book. Sequential illustration is an example – though it is mainly imagery with no words, narrative is addressed visually. The child develops the process of reading imagery in visual sequence, from left to right, and top to bottom.

Cover, The Very Hungry Caterpillar © Puffin Books

Some books which tell stories visually have unique ways of telling stories about life-cycles. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, first published in 1969, serves as a good example, showing a young caterpillar going through the stages of development into a beautiful butterfly. It educates the reader about the life cycle between a caterpillar and butterfly but also entertains them. By looking at the images and listening to the story, the child is also reading the pictures.

Sequential illustration can be transformed into animated short films or adverts, for example The Snowman, written and illustrated by Raymond Briggs and first published in 1978, a children’s book without words about a boy whose snowman comes to life. The picture book was such a huge success, it was adapted into a 26-minute short animated film in 1982, with new additions such as the snowman taking the boy to see Father Christmas. Also a theatre play was developed based on the book. Both versions became as successful as the book, being shown every Christmas.

Sequential images without words in Raymond Briggs' The Snowman ©Puffin Books

I had experience of sequential illustration during the first semester of my second university year. The task was to make a picture book based on the theme of circus – the storyline was a child attending the circus with her mother. I attempted to adapt elements from everyday life to intrigue the audience, e.g. using fun and humour in the book to promote the circus. After developing this theme in thumbnails and drawings, I researched more about the fairytale side of the circus and created characters, starting off with miniature sketches and then adding larger images with circus surroundings.

Chloe Yelland college project

Picture books are a very important part of the child’s intellectual and imaginative development. They are also educational because readers are learning about something, and through that something, there's a chance they may get to experience it in reality.

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Chloe Yelland is studying for a BA (Hons) Illustration degree at Derby University
Her blog is here

Marie Basting, Our New Networks Coordinator!

Marie Basting
@riewriting

SCBWI British Isles has a new Networks Coordinator!
The British Isles chapter is currently divided into ten area networks and SCBWI writer, Marie Basting has stepped up to coordinate SCBWIs from the south west of England to the south east of Scotland!

About Marie

After many years of working as a Change Manager, Marie decided she fancied a change herself. So she took redundancy and signed up for the MA Creative Writing at Manchester Writing School. Marie is now in her second year of the course, and as well as the academic side of things, has enjoyed being involved in delivering a range of creative writing and educational activities to school children as a University Ambassador.

Marie lives in Manchester with her husband, son and a stuffed koala called Tommy. She is currently working on two main projects. A chapter book for 7-9 year-olds, which she is rewriting for the six millionth time and a Young Adult novel set in 1990, which is based on her family’s appeal to free her Dad when he was a hostage in Iraq. At the time Marie was a student in Nottingham, so the novel is a bit Skins takes on Saddam Hussein. If she’s had enough wine at Winchester, she’ll probably tell some of you about it.

Marie says...

I’m really excited to have joined the regional team as Networks Coordinator. There are so many great things happening in our Networks already, and I’m looking forward to working with the Network Organisers to develop this further. I’ve spent the last few weeks getting to know the team and I’m so pleased to be working with such an amazing bunch. We’ll be meeting in Winchester, before the conference, to talk about our plans for the Networks in 2015.

Over the coming months I’ll be looking to try and ensure that the Networks support the wider development agenda for the British Chapter of the SCBWI. It would be great to get the Networks more involved in delivering activity for our published authors and I’ll be talking with the Pulse Team about how we might do this. I’ll also be looking at our links with potential partner organisations, for example Universities and festivals, with a view to strengthening our local presence.

Finally, I’m keen to look at how we can build a stronger presence in the areas where we haven’t yet developed any local activity. I’m particularly interested in how we can support and involve members in some of our less densely populated areas, where because of geography face to face meetings might not be practical. Technology permitting, I’ll be exploring options such as on-line buddying or localised chat groups.

Effective communication and collaboration is a theme that cuts across all of these agendas and I’ll be working hard to build on our already strong relationship with members. I’d love to hear from you if you have any thoughts on how can develop Network activity.

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You can find out more about Marie via her blog http://riewriting.wordpress.com/ which you may have seen appearing in the Ten-Minute Blog Break.

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Agent Confidential: Erzsi Deak

Erzsi and her book Pumpkin Time!

Name: Erzsi Deak

AKA: Chick Hen

Agency: Hen&ink Literary Studio

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Genres represented: The children’s bookshelf: picture books, graphic novels, middle-grade and teen fiction and non-fiction. New Adult and some adult fiction and non-fiction.

Authors you represent and titles of books: I represent about 35 authors and illustrators, both new and established talent : Doug Cushman (Pumpkin Time!) Bridget Strevens-Marzo (Tiz & Ott’s Big Draw); Siobhan Curham (True Face); Susan Montanari (My Dog’s a Chicken); Andrea Zuill (Wolf Camp); Kate Banks (NoahBuilds an Ark); Ann Jacobus (Romancing the Dark in the City of Light); Joseph Lee (working title, Shadows of the Dark Crystal); Laura Gehl (Peep & Egg series); Whitney Stewart (Big Sky Mind).

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Recent Deals: Picture books and YA lately with a middle-grade non-fiction project we are excited about and about to sign, but that we can't quite discuss yet.

Wish List: Great voice no matter what – both in words and pictures. I love when I find something fantastic that I didn't know I was looking for – originality, voice and the unexpected are key.

The next Open Coop Day (limited open submission calls), I would be very happy to see:

• Richly woven middle-grade stories in the vein of Holes, The Penderwicks, Three Times Lucky, A Snicker of Magic;
• Smart funny tween girl scripts that whisper that the protagonist might be Georgia Nicholson’s half-cousin twice removed and a character so self-deprecating, honest and funny that the reader cries from laughing – possibly with black-and-white illustrations;
• New and innovative chapter books;
• Illustration samples that complement the Hen&ink list: sweet but not saccharine, whimsical, a great line, lots of movement, superb use of colour, and a dash of spirit; possibly cartoony, but still beautiful.

Your favourite books: There is an ever-growing list at http://henandink.com/submissions.html, but for starters, a few titles that touched me as a kid and still resonate with me: Charlotte’s Web, Where the Wild Things Are, Blueberries for Sal, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankweiler,The Story of Ferdinand… And a hodgepodge of books I've read over the last few years: The Kingdom of Silk series, Legend, Olivia, The Book of Three, Plant a Kiss, Duck & Goose, Dear Dylan, My Life Next Door, Frog & Toad, The Wind in the Willows, A Year Down Yonder, Throne of Glass,Ball…I’m a total fan of a blue donkey called Ariolfrom France.

Agent Style: Everything is individual in the end. That said, we have a “Coop” community and there is a good amount of exchange and sharing of news, tips, etc between Hen&ink authors and illustrators. I am an editorial agent and have been known to work an author through a number of revisions before submitting, so embracing revision is a plus. Once the author and editor have established a working relationship, I step back and am on-call, as needed.

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How to submit: We are currently only open to submissions from writers and illustrators met at conferences; by professional recommendation; and during Open Coop Days. Full submission details are available at http://henandink.com/submissions.html.

Note: SCBWI Winchester 2014 picture book attendees are invited to a Private Open Coop. Please look for the flyer at the conference.

Submission tips: We only accept email submissions and I cannot emphasize the need to study the favourite books list and to pay attention to the guidelines on the Hen&ink submission page http://henandink.com/submissions.html, (for example, if it says, no cover letter, please don't send one. We will get in touch via email if we would like to see more of your work and learn more about you, promise!).

Website: Http://henandink.com

Twitter: @ErzsiDeak

Upcoming events: I am on a book tour in the US, dropping in on Portland, Oregon; San Diego and San Francisco, California; and the Texas book festival in Austin and meeting with publishers in the U.S.

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Do you have questions for Erzsi? Leave them here in the comments. You have more than 140 characters!

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Read Nicola Morgan: How to find a good agent

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If you are an agent and would like to be featured in Agent Confidential, please contact us at writers@britishscbwi.org

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 28th October

Attribution is an interesting subject in publishing. The writer is often credited as the sole creative force, but what about all the editors and designers behind the scenes? And what if the book is illustrated as well?

Attribution certainly became a big issue for Sarah McIntyre, when her book Oliver and the Seawigs was nominated for the Carnegie Medal, but only her co-creator Philip Reeve was listed for the award. You don’t need me to tell you that Sarah did not take that lying down, as her crusade to change the submission rules proves!

I know I featured the fight against Liverpool City Council’s plan to close eleven of its libraries last week, but:
A) You can never make enough fuss about library closures
B) I was much taken by Paula Rawsthorne’s letter to Mayor Joe Anderson, which argues the case for public libraries both from the heart and the head.

To live your creative life fully is to accept a constant process of evolution. To that end, I’m very much enjoying watching Maureen Lynas (who I once saw as primarily a writer) spreading her artistic wings. Her Klimt-inspired Red Riding Hood is a lovely image.

Marie Basting is getting in touch with her inner small person this week, in a bid to perfect her voice and point of view. Prepare to tie a towel around your neck as a makeshift superhero cape when you dive into her blog post.

Finally, a couple of SCBWI bloggers are focusing on the importance of reading to improve your writing. K.M. Lockwood provides her own take on the Kathleen Hale story about stalking book reviewers (which appeared in the Guardian recently). As a writer and a reviewer, K.M. gives a very positive perspective on the perks of being a reader. Elsewhere, I found myself nodding in agreement with Vanessa Harbour, as she complains about some writers of children’s fiction, who somehow think it’s appropriate to claim that they don’t read other children’s books. Not big and definitely not clever!

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine (September issue out now).

Nick's most recent blog post takes a look back at a year of Stew Magazine stories and teases out the common threads that bind them. What's the Story?

Ask a Publisher: Ali Dougal, Editorial Director for Egmont Press

@AliDougal  talks to @HouseRowena

Recorded June 20th 2014 in London at Egmont UK

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Rowena House is a journalist by trade - an ex-Reuters foreign correspondent in Europe and Africa, now a sub-editor specialising in international affairs. She turned to writing fiction for young people to meet a deep desire to tell gritty stories that are true in an emotional sense, without being constrained by ‘the facts’. She's recently been published by Andersen Press in the War Girls anthology with her short story The Marshalling of Angelique's Geese. Rowena lives in rural Devon with her remarkably tolerant family and their less tolerant dog, a grey-and-white sheep dog called Fletcher.

Of what stories are you made?

If you're lucky you'll have a deep seam of stories running through your core. Rich and resonating. Characters that carried you off, worlds that swallowed you up, and pictures forever imprinted in your memory stores.

I only have to think of the Bad Baby, and I'm there riding on the back of the elephant, going rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta all down the road.


At the beginning of our life's journey, picture books take us by the hand and lead us into the sphere of the imagination. If ever there was a parallel universe, it is here, where anything can happen.

My visual recall is so vivid it seems to be more strongly imprinted in my mind's eye than memories themselves. Edward Lear's the Quangle Wangle Quee, Maurice Sendak's In The Night Kitchen (not to mention Where the Wild Things Are), Pat Hutchins' Rosie's walk, Angela Banner's Ant and Bee, Richard Scarry's Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm. I can 'see' them all more readily than I can remember what it was like to be that child lost inside the pictures.

I remember Dad reading to us at bedtime, watching his upside down mouth moving around the words

When we get a little older, memories become mixed with stories. Before I was eight years old I shared a bedroom with my sister. I remember Dad reading to us at bedtime, watching his upside down mouth moving around the words. I remember the wallpaper, the pink repeated cluster of houses and trees. I could even lose myself in there.

When I was eight I had my own bedroom at the top of the house. How blissful it was to climb into bed with the Swallows and Amazons, and the Famous Five (it never got too crowded in there). The magical combination of cosiness and lost-in-a-bookness. The thought of children across the world who never experience such security, of being wrapped up in warmth and magic …

How blissful it was to climb into bed with the Swallows and Amazons

Stories rapidly become our friends, our go-to places in times of need. My mum frequently recalls the Millennium when our entire family was struck down with 'flu – not because it was the stepping over into another century, but because she lay in bed comforted by Stephen Fry's reading of The Philosopher's Stone.

I can use the memory of reading to place myself, to pinpoint precisely where I was at the time. In my teenage years I am lying in bed (appears to be my optimum reading place) hungrily devouring Virago titles; the dark green edged books lined up on my shelf: Rosamund Lehman, Anita White, Maya Angelou. And a healthy sprinkling of Ian McEwan.

There have been gaps in my reading when life itself became the main story. Yet having children draws you back in, and together you share the wonder all over again. Now that I'm a middle-aged rock, my seams are made up from whatever I fancy. A good story is a good story is a good story. None of this reading to type and age nonsense.

A good story is a good story is a good story. None of this reading to type and age nonsense 

My rock strata looks something like this: Philip Pullman's Dark Materials, Patrick Ness' A Monster Calls, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy, Sebastian Faulks, Raymond Carver, Terry Pratchett, Isabelle Allende, Kate Atkinson, Mal Peet … to name but so very few. All the stories created by these brilliant authors are equally embedded and enriching.

These stories date me like minerals inside a rock. They also give me a strong foundation. I have learned through the shared life of fictional characters what it means to be human. I have laughed and cried, gasped, and felt my heart race. I have re-read climactic paragraphs, pored over illustrations searching for hidden clues, rejoiced when justice is served, and ached over not so happy endings.

Thank you creators of the story world. I couldn't have made it this far without you (and thanks to you for reading. I promise to be less wordy next time).

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Don't Forget

K. M. Lockwood wrote an inspiring piece about the significance of images in the creative process, posted on Monday

Nick cast his Tuesday net deftly over the sea of wonderful blog words

Wednesday found Catriona Tippin taking us through some useful proofreading tips

Thursday announced two unmissable conference competitions, and Kate Peridot reported from the Picturebook masterclass with Pippa Goodhart

Friday - Jion Sheibani's ProCATsination shows just how easy it is to do anything but get on with it

Saturday Badge Winners – two super designs to pin on with pride at the conference

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Look forward to

Monday  A new Ask a Publisher podcast - Rowena interviews Ali Dougal editorial director of fiction at Egmont Press

Tuesday  Another hot pick of the blogs from Nick

Wednesday Agent confidential with Erzsi Deàk, president & founder of Hen & Ink

Thursday  Surprise! (we're not quite sure what it'll be yet)

Friday Mike Brownlow shows us How to Draw a Robot

Saturday We celebrate SCBWIs nominated for the CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway prize

And of course Friday, Saturday & Sunday bring us the 7th British Isles SCBWI Conference!

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From Around
the WWW

SCBWI British Isles on Facebook is always a wonderful resource for shared ideas and information. Check out a link shared by Debbie Coope, of Pixar's 22 Rules to Phenomenal Publishing

The child's eye view of death: the power of picture books to explain, can be found in the Guardian this week


Nancy Saunders is gradually stepping in as the new Editor of W&P, with a generous helping hand from Jan. You can find her short stories here, and on Twitter @nancyesaunders

Bravo Badge Winners!

We're delighted to announce the winners of this year's badge competition.

First prize goes to Sally Poyton and Katy Dynes - Katy turned Sally's text into a unique image and our judges loved it - well done Katy and Sally.

Second prize goes to this batty beauty from Jo Byatt:

And congratulations to our runners up - well done Benjamin Scott, Sarah Broadley & Dave Gray, Jenny Moore, and Paul Morton - you're all fabulous!

Thanks to everyone that entered, your badges were brilliant, if only we could print them all. Our winning badges will be on sale at this years conference - come find us there!

Badge Winners 2014

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Kathy Evans is an all round star volunteer for SCBWI. She created the W&P celebrations editor role, organised the South East area network with Mariam Vossough, is now finance ARA for SCBWI British Isles and is again organising this year's conference badge competition. She is represented by Sophie Hicks.

ProCATsination, by Jion Sheibani

Click to enlarge

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Jion's Illustrator Showcase Gallery is here, She can be reached at jionsheibani@gmail.com
Click here for her personal website.

Keep it short! Pippa Goodhart’s Picture Book Author Masterclass

Kate Peridot

I jumped at the chance to meet Pippa Goodhart and listen to her words of wisdom at the recent SCBWI Author Masterclass on Writing Picture Books in London. My children love her book You Choose; it’s so well thumbed it’s fallen apart! You Choose is a concept book with just 220 words. The words are mostly page titles or captions around Nick Sharratt’s catalogue-style illustrations. In the Q&A session I asked Pippa how she pitched You Choose to publishers. “It wasn’t easy,” she replied. “The concept was rejected by nine publishers. If you believe in your idea you have to be persistent.” The book went on to become a bestseller.


The number of words in picture books was a recurrent theme during the workshop. Publishers want manuscripts from zero to five hundred words; less is definitely more. Newbies like me tend to overwrite, and I admit, sometimes I only think about the pictures once I have drafted the story. Pippa explained the story is in both the pictures and the words, and sometimes in the gaps in between such as a page turn or a change of pace. Thinking about how the child participates in the story is very important.

Pippa showed us some favourite picture books of hers, This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen, Mr Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown and Handa’s Surprise by Eileen Browne.

Writers, she advised, should think about a story in pictures and let the pictures do the ‘showing,’ 

Writers, she advised, should think about a story in pictures and let the pictures do the ‘showing,’ reducing text to a minimum. There can be considerable power in no words at all. It feels rather brave as a writer to leave a page blank with just an illustration note, but many of the best writer/illustrator picture books do just that to create impact. Pippa also recommended rough sketching the twelve double page spreads to help visualize the book.

All workshop attendees had the chance to request a short one to one with Pippa to discuss their own works in progress – or to workshop them briefly in the class. Pippa critiqued my story Ming’s Dragon. The basic idea was fine, but it needed a complete rewrite. The story was too long and the character motivation and story message weren’t crystal clear.

Concept, pictures and words must work together intuitively to resonate with young audiences.

I plan my longer novels and the short stories I write for magazines, but with picture books there’s a tendency to think, ‘It’s only four hundred words. Why do I need to plan?’ Pippa explained a picture book should have one, maybe two clear themes. Character, motivation, plot and emotion all have their place, as in any story. Concept, pictures and words must work together intuitively to resonate with young audiences. Idea evaluation and story planning is essential.

Later in the afternoon, Pippa set a group creative writing exercise to rework an old fairytale. This was fun, writing is such a solitary occupation it’s great to bounce ideas around with other writers. SCBWIs are a creative bunch; there were some impressive narratives and near meter-perfect rhymes, all generated in under an hour.

And yes, they were all appropriately short!

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Kate Peridot grew up with her nose in a book but only started writing fiction quite recently. A primary school teacher once told her she couldn’t write because she had the ‘worst handwriting she had ever seen’ and her spelling was ‘deplorable.’ Fortunately along came computers. Kate types like a demon and makes up words like ‘fantabulous‘ and ‘huggle’ just to annoy the spelling police. Her first published children’s story is part of the Mumsnet/Walker Book of Animal Stories. She’s working on further picture books and a sci-fi young reader. She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and children. Her blog Adventures in Fiction can be found at kateperidot.wordpress.com.

Pitches and Pictures - Two Conference Competitions!

George Kirk & Loretta Schauer

Who wants to win feedback from a top industry professional?
You all do of course!
That is why the conference team are super excited to bring you not one, but two topppity top professionals to judge this year’s conference competitions (and you may not even have to attend to enter).

Read on to get your creative juices flowing over that competitive edge!

Ten Word Pitch Competition

We all know the importance of a great pitch. But can you pitch your book in 10 words or less?

Go on, have a go!

Entries can be added to the pitching board in the main foyer where all manner of editors and agents will be passing. Maybe yours will catch the eye of our competition judge none other than Chicken House's Barry Cunningham. Yes you did read that right, BARRY CUNNINGHAM!

Barry will read the first 2000 words of your children’s book or your complete picture book manuscript.

And not only is Barry going to be our judge but he is also providing a fabulous prize. Barry will read the first 2000 words of your children’s book or your complete picture book manuscript. He will then provide you with a written review or a one to one. Whichever is best for you, the lucky winner out there.

What is Barry looking for in a great pitch? 

Can he tell us in ten words or less?

‘Passionate with a purpose, a structure and a twist.’- Barry

Well there you go, yes he can! If you can too then this is definitely the competition for you.

"My Creative Life" Comic Competition

Do you dread facing the blank sheet of paper? Do you find yourself wandering endlessly down Procrastination Street? Have you had a series of rejections that have left you feeling paralysed? Well, let's turn the dreaded creative block into art- and poke a bit of fun at it in the process!

We are searching for a comic sequence of 4 to 6 panels on the topic of 'My creative Life'. Your comic can be arranged as a strip, or in a portrait or landscape A4 layout, and can be black and white, or in colour.

a one-to-one with Sam Arthur, Director of Nobrow Press, and your comic featured on the banner of the SCBWI British Isles Graphic Novel Facebook page

All entries will be exhibited at the Conference, and the winning entrant will be offered a one-to-one with Sam Arthur, Director of Nobrow Press, and your comic featured on the banner of the SCBWI British Isles Graphic Novel Facebook page.

This competition is open to SCBWI member illustrators, author-illustrators and even author and illustrator teams. Plus, you don't have to be attending the conference to participate! But don’t delay! Entries from participants not attending the conference need to be winging their way to us by 25th October!

For further details of how to enter this competition, plus top tips, inspiration and other opportunities for illustrators, visit the conference website illustrator page.

http://britishisles.scbwi.org/conference2014/for-illustrators/

So what are you waiting for? Polish those pitches, create those comics. We can’t wait to see them, and you, at our 7th annual conference!

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Proofreading Tips: Common mistakes, errors, lapses and typos

This week, Catriona Tippin aka @ProofReadingTip highlights some common errors in English usage...  











Less and fewer

If you can count them, there are fewer. If you can’t, use less. Here are a couple of sentences demonstrating why this matters:

The editor wants fewer pedantic articles. (The editor wants a lower number of articles, but as pedantic as ever).

The editor wants less pedantic articles. (The editor wants the usual number of articles, but seeks a reduction in the pedantry contained therein).

Try and 

Try and usually means try to. Some argue that as we say try and so often in colloquial speech it has become acceptable in writing. I still amend this when proofreading though, as it doesn’t work if you change tense, so I don’t thinks it has earned its place in the English language yet.

For instance, here’s a phrase from a recent mailing from a bank which had me cringing:

“...If you don’t have enough money in your account to a pay a standing order when we try and make the payment...”

Try that phrase in the past ‘when we were trying’ or in the future ‘when we will be trying’ and you’ll see what I mean.

Could of 

Could’ve is not could of though we all pronounce it as if it is. If it needs spelling out it’s could have. Use your Find function to make sure could of has not slipped in when typing fast. It’s easy to let could of appear in dialogue as your characters’ voices play in your head!

Who and whom 

Use of whom is disappearing, and is now at the stage where you’d only use it to convey a specific tone in a character’s speech. The test for correct usage is to remember it’s the objective form of who. Turn your sentence around and if you need a subject (he, she, it or they) it’s who. If you need an object (him, her or them) it’s whom.

Plus a couple of pet hates, do you have any? 

Ground rules 

Do you really mean ground rules? Ground rules are specific rules for specific sports grounds. St Lawrence Cricket Ground in Canterbury has a tree within the boundary so it has ground rules. Wrigley Field Baseball Stadium in Chicago has an outfield wall covered in ivy so it has ground rules. It’s rare that you need to refer to ‘ground rules’. You probably mean... rules.

Pleonasms/tautologies 

You know the sort of thing:

• combined together
• summarise briefly
• a temporary respite
• a round circle

Sometimes this sort of repetition is appropriate in writing for children of course – there’s the teeny-tiny voice that says “Give me my bone!”
 
Catriona Tippin aka @ProofReadingTip will be back next month with more proofreading tips. 
To see previous tips, click on this proofreading link.

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Catriona Tippin has been a member of SCBWI since 2006 and helps organise venues for SCBWI North East. Details of her writing and illustrating here. She proofreads study guides, house magazines and publicity material for two national educational charities, in addition to working on a variety of proofreads and copyedits for the growing self-published world. Her monthly column is intended to give you food for thought, remembering “Any correction of the speech or writing of others will contain at least one grammatical, spelling or typographical error” (McKean’s Law, named after its inventor Erin McKean, editor of the Oxford American Dictionary). 

Ten-Minute Blog Break - 21st October

Is there life after Amazon? Is your library the place to find love? Is Iggy Pop a fairy story? Is there any end to these rhetorical questions?

You'll have to read this week's Blog Break to find out...

If I was surprised that Iggy Pop was asked to deliver the BBC's John Peel lecture, then I was even more surprised to see someone applying Iggy's thoughts to the subject of children's illustration! But John Shelley's blog post does a great job of drawing provocative and intelligent parallels between the modern music industry and the UK children's illustration market. Anyone born after the 1980s may need help with that "Kajagoogoo" reference, though...

Sadly, the battle to save libraries looks likely to be one we're going to be fighting for a while. The latest flashpoint is Liverpool - where eleven libraries are soon to be closed - so Vanessa Harbour has written her own Love Letter to Liverpool Libraries to support the campaign.

Orion Childrens' Editorial Director and soon to be literary agent Amber Caravéo is no stranger to Words & Pictures. But this week, Space on the Bookshelf have grabbed her to talk specifically about developing series fiction, and how she works with authors to hone the finished product.

One of the reasons that authors like me shy away from self-publishing is all the research involved. Investigating book formats, layout, cost and distribution really eats into the time available for writing. But Larissa Villar Hauser is still boldly going through the self-publishing process and feeding back loads of useful info and stats along the way.

Storytime is a major new monthly children's magazine that has popped up on supermarket shelves recently. Like many others, I was wondering what it was all about, so I'm very grateful to Catherine Friess for her detailed review. I also checked Storytime's website, and although they aren't taking writing submissions at this time, they will look at illustrators' portfolios. More details here.

Nick.

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A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine (September issue out now).

Nick's most recent blog post takes a look back at a year of Stew Magazine stories and teases out the common threads that bind them. What's the Story?

Drawn to art

Gua Tewet, the tree of life, Borneo, Indonesia.

- an inspiration piece by  K. M. Lockwood




Human beings are compelled to create art. Some of our earliest surviving creations are paintings and to the best of my knowledge, every society has made marks that show recognisable beings. We are naturally visual - up to two thirds of our brain can be involved in processing what we see. So it's really not surprising that children love drawing - and pictures in books.

We give babies [quite rightly] books which are all images. Then as children age, the pictures give way to words. Sadly, it seems that in our culture, as the storytelling grows in difficulty, the illustrations diminish. I realise I am preaching to the converted, but I do wish there were more pictures in books for older children and young people everyone.

I wonder if this may be partly why boys often favour non-fiction: it's acceptable to have diagrams and charts and pictures if it's a fact book. Likewise, look at the appeal of joyously colourful comics, and the intensity found in graphic novels. People of all ages and stages are passionate about them.

V for Vendetta by Vendetta666 on Deviant Art

Here in SCBWI  we really know the complementary nature of Words and Pictures! But what can authors learn from artists? We already share a lot in terms of creativity - but what else can be learnt from the practice of drawing? Here are three thoughts:

• life studies imply truly looking at the world. We don't have to go as far as Turner and lash ourselves to a mast to experience a storm at sea, but using our own viewpoint, not received wisdom, can deepen our understanding.
• observation requires concentration. We need to pay attention to what lies beneath. What is the subtext of muscles below the skin of a conversation? Interactions have their own anatomy - and if we dissect real ones, we can create the imaginary.
• sketch - accept that not everything you create will end up in the finished text. Allow some work to be scruffy, quick, unfinished. Let there be pieces from a point of view you will not use. Be experimental - and remember that all of it infuses the completed piece with depth. Nothing is wasted.

Young Woman Drawing, (1801, Metropolitan Museum of Art) painted by Marie-Denise Villers (possibly a self-portrait)

Suggestions

• Go to an art gallery - many are free. You can always find a decent character or two - either in the portraits or in the viewers. 
• Try moving a person in one painting to the setting in another. Is there a story in that?
• If possible, watch an artist at work. If they don't mind, ask questions. Perhaps someone in your story world might paint or sketch.
• Alternatively, doodle, colour in, gaze, trace - don't think about writing and be refreshed!

by  K. M. Lockwood - who posts on her blog from time to time,  often tweets from her garret, and writes and colours-in

The mingling has begun...

Had a lovely time with Nancy on Friday to start the handover process in earnest. We're doing this gradually - think of it like a gradient in a text box fill - one colour at one end of the box and another at the other and in the middle a delicious mingling of the two. That's where we are!





We're sharing the editor@britishscbwi.org email for a while so please make it clear which one of us you're after and be aware that we're both reading - seemed a lot easier than relying one of us remembering to cc the other for info.

Last week, along with other important reminders, Slush Pile Challenge, The Conference (do hope you booked), I flagged up this year's Advent Calendar. It was brilliant last year and we're doing the same again this year! Can't wait to see the seasonal images and read the tweetable microfiction comments you, yes you, are going to come up with to go with them!

Are you an illustrator with a seasonal image you'd be happy to let us include in our 2014 Advent Calendar?

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 Morton via the SCBWI Facebook group, the SCBWI yahoo group or email editor@britishscbwi.org with the subject: FAO Paul for Advent and I'll forward. We're only accepting contributions from SCBWI British Isles members but we're delighted to share the results with everyone!

I have dithered far too long on the Internet this morning so here's a shout out to the great posts we've had this week:
Ask a Picture Book Editor - spot the best Picture Book Cover EVER! Go on, tell me in the comments which one you think I think that is.
The Blog Break - this is the main reason I have dithered on the Internet!
YAY and Hooray for THE CONFERENCE VOLUNTEERS!  What a splendid bunch!
The Anatomy of a Monster  Nicola L. Robinson is the queen of monster making! and for the Big Draw she has some tips for you to have a go at creating one of your own!
Huge Congratulations to Sally! -  What a joy it was to post this:)

Being less than two weeks to the conference, we're balancing flexibility with scheduling as different conferency posts pop up, so look in through the week to see what's up!

But be sure to catch 'From Your Editor' next week. It'll be Nancy's first!

Hope you're having a great Sunday!

Jan Carr

* Have just realised what a ! heavy post this is. Hey ho, exclamation marks - they're the hundreds and thousands of the punctuation universe - how I love to sprinkle them:)

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

Huge Congratulations to Sally!

Charge your glasses and celebrate with SCBWI volunteer, Space on the Book Shelf Blogger and, among other competition successes, UV2012 Honorary Mention, Sally Poyton!

Sally has signed with Literary Agent Shelley Instone. Especially wonderful as Sally struggles with dyslexia. She wrote this beautifully candid post for W&P last year. We're delighted how Sally's persistence has paid off!

Over to Sally for how it happened...


I started writing in 2007. Like many writers, I stayed in the writer’s cupboard for a few years until I was coaxed out by other likeminded folk when I joined my first critique group. Since then I have embraced writing life, joining and volunteering for SCBWI. Like every aspiring writer, I have beavered away furiously; writing, editing, polishing, blogging and submitting. And like every writer I soon came to expect rejection, and despite trying to be the metaphoric rhinoceros, found each one would dip me down on the yo-yo of despair, to be pulled back with renewed hope (or stubbornness) to continue submitting.

In September, I stumbled on a new agent, Shelley Instone, and after researching her and finding she had worked with fellow SCBWIer, and UV12 Honorary Mention, Lara Williamson on her Début Novel A Boy Called Hope, I swiftly submitted. I then sat back with the expectation of a long wait and a lovely thank you but no response, to find three days later an e-mail from Shelley asking to see other work, and a request to meet up.

After I met Shelley, I quickly put my autograph on the contract and poured a rather large glass of something bubbly.

Being somewhat of a spreadsheet fanatic, I've kept records of all my submissions; here is my writing journey, to the point of signing with Shelley in numbers…

Books written – 2 Novels, I Novella, 5 Picture Book Texts

Agent Submissions – 31

Agent Requests for Full Manuscripts – 7

Agent Rejections – 30

Agent Signed - 1

Publisher Submissions – 7

Publisher Requests for Full Manuscripts – 7

Publisher Rejections – 6 (still waiting on one)

Competitions entered -10

Competitions won – 1

Competitions Long-listing – 2 (The Times Chicken House 2013 & 2014)

Competitions Honorary Mentions – 2 (Undiscovered Voices 2012 & Winchesters Writers Conference 2012)

Congratulations Sally, you're an inspiration!

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