24 Apr

Spring is here and one more year!

Posted by Hunter Shea in Anything Goes, The Dandelion's Tale. Tagged: , , , , , , .

It finally feels like spring in New York today. Seems like we’ve been trapped in little winter forever. Today was the first day in months that I didn’t have to drag myself out of bed. It’s amazing what a little sun and warmth can do – even for a guy who loves the winter. Snow and cold can be fun, but after a while, a change of scenery is mandatory.

Spring also means that I’m one year away from seeing the publication of my first picture book, The Dandelion’s Tale, through Random House. I know it’ll fly by, but the wait is killing me! Until then, I figured I’d share a nice pic of some dandelions. They may be weeds to some, but they’re gold to me.

DANDELIONS

26 Mar

Stashing My Kids in the Drawer

Posted by Hunter Shea in Writing Children's Books, Writing Essentials. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

Now, before you call social services on me, this post isn’t as bad as you think.

When I say ‘kids’, I’m referring, in this case, to the children’s books I’ve written. My agent hates it when I call my work my kids because she’s always asking me to delete parts and change them and trash sections that don’t work well. As a man, though, this is the closest I’ll ever come to giving birth.

Why am I stashing my kids…books…in a drawer? Simply, because not everything I write is pure gold, or ready for the world at this time, if ever. Writing for publication is a hit and miss game. My golden idea that sounds perfect in my head may not sound so wonderful to my editor. Or, the idea may be similar to something that was recently published, or is on the docket (that I can’t see) to be published within the next year.

Writing in any genre is about skill, luck and timing. All three have to come into play at the exact same time to lift your book from your laptop to the printed page on a book shelf. And even after you’ve landed your big fish, that doesn’t mean you’re going to pull up a marlin every time you drop your line. (and if you’re fishing for marlin, make sure you have a crew ready to help!)

Over the past 2 years, I’ve written several picture books and 2 middle grade novels. Where are they now? My drawer. Some aren’t just right…yet. Others need some tweaking. One may never see the light of day. So what’s the use of writing these books and sticking them in your drawer? Because that drawer will become your portfolio somwhere down the line. That book that your editor passed on may be just what another is looking for.

So I have a drawer full of kids, waiting to come out and play. Until then, I look in on them from time to time to make sure they’re well fed and happy.

If you want to increase your drawer, I mean portfolio, you may want to look into Julie Hedlund’s 12×12 course, where you work with experts and other authors to write 12 picture books in 12 months. These are 12 first drafts, mind you, but it’s invaluable to have them at the ready.

How many kids do you have in your drawer? How many have gone from the drawer to publication?

My actual kids were not harmed in the making of this blog post. In fact, they were out getting their nails done. :)

12 Mar

Writing Tips: Keeping Track of Time

Posted by Hunter Shea in Uncategorized.

Reblogged from Shannon A Thompson:

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How many times have you been following a television show, and there is a full moon every episode? Or their clothes don't change? Or the weather stays the same all year long, unless snow, rain, or sunshine is used for symbolic enhancement?

It's unrealistic, and it drives me crazy. It may be a personal pet peeve of mine, but I doubt it.

Read more… 562 more words

I've found during my many editing sessions that my inability to keep continuity with time in my work is a major issue. It's especially hard for longer works or manuscripts where you take several breaks from and just plumb forget the time of day when you pick it up again. Shannon A. Thompson has provided some great tips for avoiding these pitfalls. Writers take note!

7 Mar

Easy Ways To Get Ideas and Pictures For Your Next Picture Book

Posted by Hunter Shea in Writing Children's Books, Writing Essentials. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

If you have a toddler, then finding ideas for picture books on a daily basis is very easy to do.  If your children are a little older now, reminiscing might be all it takes to come up with a few good ideas!

I am going to go through a typical day spent with my toddler (Hazel) and the different picture book ideas, each activity can bring to light.

In the mornings, we generally go to a toddler group of some description, where Hazel will play with all sorts of toys.  When thinking of picture book ideas, I think about the toys she picks to play with, what she might be learning and how she interacts with the other children.

From toddler group, this morning, I thought that we could create a jammed packed picture book adventure story, as she rode on a zebra, crashed a car, fell off a tractor, stood on a turtle and hurtled down a waterfall (okay that was a slide)!  I could get photo proof of each of these activities to include in the picture book.

As Hazel has bucket loads of energy, we need to take her for a few walks a day.  She loves running around the fields and in the woods.  It was her love of nature and looking at trees that inspired us to create a picture book series about the sneaky things that squirrels do when people aren’t looking.  There are plenty more animals out there, who could get a similar treatment, not to mention what your pets might do when you are sleeping!

Hazel-Nutt

Shopping is a very exciting event for Hazel, she loves walking around shops picking up absolutely everything she can!  She also loves chasing pigeons, so they could get the squirrel treatment mentioned earlier. Another good picture book idea might be to be create a shopping treasure hunt that you need to go to different shops for.

When it comes to bath time, Hazel has all sorts of toys in the bath with her.  Plenty of ducks and squishy water pistol ones.  She has one particular one that is an octopus, but it looks like a pig with eight legs – we call it Pigopus, so we could create a picture book around Pigopus and it’s adventures.

Every night I sing to Hazel and the songs I sing to her are either very modern, or traditional ones.  One that I sing to her to help her fall asleep is “Mama’s Going to Buy You a Mockingbird”.  The lyrics to this song are in the public domain (so you can make changes to them, as you wish).

We have come up with a few verses that include Daddy a bit more – it’s a work in progress, but the point is there are plenty more nursery rhymes that are in the public domain, which could do with the same treatment – who can come up with a better line than “The Dish Ran Away With the Spoon”?

A note about pictures:

I know that many people are put off creating picture books because they don’t want to (or cannot) draw pictures, in today’s world there are plenty of ways to get around this.

Most people can take a photo, and for some picture books all that is needed is an image on a white (or other colour) background, with a photo manipulation program (like Photoshop or GIMP), this can easily be achieved.

You can also turn photos into black and white sketches (which you could then color in), or into oil paintings, or create all sorts of other effects.  It will take a little experimenting to get it to look good, but you don’t have to draw.  Failing that, you could go to a site like Fiverr.com and get amazing pictures drawn for you for $5, which you can then legally claim as your own.

I hope you liked these ideas that I shared with you today and that they help you brainstorm and come up with some amazing picture books.

This was a guest post by Lord and Lady Doherty – Parents of the Pen-name “Hazel Nutt”.  Hazel Nutt likes blogging her toddler opinions and advice on how to train your parents (http://www.HazelNutt.com) and in her spare time chats to squirrels and writes funny picture books about them (http://www.WhatSquirrelsDo.com)!

25 Feb

Q&A with Michael B. Kaplan

Posted by Hunter Shea in Children's Books in the News. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

I found this on Publisher’s Weekly. Click here to read the full Q&A.

One of the best things you can do as a writer is follow the journey, pitfalls and successes of other writers. It  helps you to build a roadmap to your own success. Michael is most certainly a success story.

In her first outing, Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake (2011), the precocious preschooler wants to eat nothing but chocolate cake, and in the subsequent Betty Bunny Wants Everything (2012), she has her heart set on buying everything in the toy store. Michael B. Kaplan’s heroine returns this month in Betty Bunny Didn’t Do It, which has the crafty rabbit blaming the Tooth Fairy for a broken lamp. This Dial picture book features illustrations by Stéphane Jorisch, as did the series’ earlier installments. Kaplan, who is also a playwright and has worked as a television writer and producer on 12 prime-time shows (including Frasier, for which he received an Emmy for best comedy series as a member of the producing staff), talked to Bookshelf about stepping into his new role as children’s book author.

Betty Bunny obviously came to be well after you’d established yourself as a writer in other media. How did you first find your calling as a writer?

I started writing plays in high school, and continued writing plays and musical revue material for the Triangle Club when I was at Princeton. When I graduated, I moved to New York to try to become involved in theater. My playwriting there led to my coming to the attention of a TV agent. I was always interested in TV and film, but had no idea how to access them. This was my opportunity, so I moved to L.A. to write for TV, which I’ve been doing for more than 20 years. And now I’ve added children’s books to my list of writing activities.

Betty Bunny

Click here to read the rest.

19 Feb

The Big Cover Reveal

Posted by Hunter Shea in The Dandelion's Tale, Writing Children's Books. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

In my previous post, I wrote about how as a picture book writer, you need to construct your prose with the illustator in mind. Well, today I’m thrilled to show everyone the cover to my forthcoming picture book, The Dandelion’s Tale! It will be released in spring, 2014, but at least now I have a cover to prove to folks that I actually have a  book coming out (flashing my book contract just didn’t seem right).

978-0-375-87032-3

Taa-daa! I’m extra excited about the cover because I’ve been waiting a loooooong time to put my little eyeballs on it. You see, I first signed my deal with Schwartz & Wade Books back in December of 2010. Over the course of the early part of 2011, I worked with my editor, the highly esteemed Anne Schwartz, on more revisions than I can count. Once Anne polished it up, she then went to find an illustrator that would match well with the book.

I was very fortunate that she chose Robert Dunlavey. His work is brilliant and pretty much mirrored exactly what I was thinking – even though we’ve had no communication. Pretty cool…if not eerie.

So here we are in 2013 and I have one more year to go.

The constant rule of publishing is very much in place here. Patience, my boy. Patience.

It does pay off.

So, what do you think of the cover? And what are some of your all time favorite picture book covers?

12 Feb

Writing For Your IIlustrator

Posted by Hunter Shea in Writing Children's Books, Writing Essentials. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

OK, this one is for the picture book writers out there who draw like their hands have 5 thumbs. Yes, I include myself in this category. I’m envious of those writers who are the double threat and can do both. One, you get to make your book look exactly the way it does in your head. Two, and maybe more importantly, you don’t have to split the advance or royalties.

For the rest of us mere mortals, we have a little more heavy lifting to do when crafting our stories than those multi-talented writer/illustrators. What do I mean by that? Isn’t it the job of the writer to…well, write?

Yes. And then some. You see, when you set out to write a picture book, you have to realize that if it gets accepted (and mega kudos to you if it does – celebrate!) it’s going to be sent to an illustrator you’ve most likely never met or maybe never even heard of. Publishers have their stable of artists, both tried and true and up and coming. It’s then their job to interpret your words and translate them into images. You don’t get to meet with them and tell them what you’d like to see, just like they don’t sit over your shoulder while you write, suggesting you undangle that participle. You have to trust in their own creative process.

Knowing that, it’s vital that every page clearly conveys strong visuals, complete with motion and emotion. Every word you commit to paper in a picture book is more valuable than gold…or a a tank of gas these days. When you write, you have to use those words to paint the picture long before your illustrator puts his or her brush to canvas.

One way to make this easier to envision is to print your book with all of the page breaks. A typical picture book will need about 25-30 pages. Read those pages aloud, stopping to consider the words before moving to the next page. Did you give your illustrator enough to work with? Is there movement? How does it flow from the page before and to the next?

Remember, you need to do this with the bare minimum of words. You can’t add every detail, just the major ones. Author Darcy Pattison has a fantastic series of tips that can help you. Putting the Picture in Picture Books is a great place to start.

While you write, picture a tiny artist sitting on your shoulder. From time to time, look over and see if he’s smiling or confused. Just don’t talk to him. People will think you’re crazy.

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