The Gingerbread Man gives his writing tips. Be sure to see the related post, Poor Gingerbread Man for funky cookie cutters.

Event Repeat

The story of the Gingerbread Man uses an event-repeat type plot. An event is repeated several times, with only a minor change. When the Gingerbread Man escapes and runs away, he meets several people who want to eat him. Each character is added to the parade as the Gingerbread Man runs away, until the Fox outsmarts him at the last.

Chorus

“Run, Run, Fast as you can, you can’t beat me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.”
Using a Chorus is effective in short stories and picturebooks.

Changing Setting

Especially for the picturebook format, it’s important to keep the setting interesting, so the illustrations are exciting. By sending the Gingerbread Man across the landscape, the illustrations have visually exciting possibilities.

Folktale Mode

This story is in the folktale mode, which treats characters as a general type. For example, the ugly stepsisters in Cinderella, have a role as mean, ugly stepsisters, and not much more. When Gingy is added to the Shrek movies, though, his character is made more interesting by giving him individual characteristics. Decide if your story needs a general, folktale type character or a more individual character.

Folktale Morals

Folktales and fables often add a moral at the end of a story. Of course, the Gingerbread Man should not have trusted the Fox! It’s seldom that picture books and stories today have such an explicit, straight forward moral. Instead, it’s usually implied and the reader is left to verbalize it for him or herself.

Writing Tips from Other Characters

Frosty the Snowman
Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus

Just for fun, here’s the plight of the Gingerbread Man.

Poor Gingerbread Man #1

Poor Gingerbread Man #2

Who is the Gingerbread Man

Gingy’s Life Passes Before Him

Time to Market

It’s time to market those novels, nonfiction projects, picture books and magazine articles. And there’s solid help available in the 2009 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market which just hit the bookshelves.

This market guide is like a big telephone directory of publishers, including contact information, how to query, what types of books each publisher wants, and tips from publishers. The front of the book is a wealth of articles — I often keep outdated market guides just for the articles.

This year, I have an article included: “What’s In? What’s Out? An Expert Panel Talks Trends.” This was a fun article because I interviewed a book seller, a librarian/blogger, an agent, a writer, and a teen/webmaster of teen review site.

It was great fun to see the differing points of view!

Just in time for Back to School

Back to School Lesson Plans — FREE download

(Use the link below to EMAIL THIS POST TO A FRIEND — your teacher friends will thank you!)

After an event-full month with lots of ups and downs, a month where only Friday Ideas kept me working, I’m wondering about using some of these events in fiction.

Life is NOT fiction, but. . .

Use emotions, not necessarily events. I know that life doesn’t equal fiction; yet the emotions of life can and should affect my fiction as i write. So one approach to using life events might be this: the mingled disappointment and anger of finding our house trashed by intruders can find expression in the disappointment and anger of a teenage character who finds a parent has gone through her drawers.

Life is stranger than fiction. When my son took parenting class, he was required to do a final project that included a display board (think science fair displays), a five-page paper and a three minute oral presentation. The teacher passed around a paper bag with topics and my son drew one of the absolute worst for a fifteen-year old male: breast v. bottle feeding. He objected, “This is a topic for a girl.” The teacher said, “Too bad.”

Let’s all pause here for a visualization: a 15 yo male bringing to class a display board with graphic illustrations of breast feeding. Or this one: a 15 yo male giving a three minute oral presentation, complete with visual aids of a set of baby bottles and, to make it exciting, perhaps, a breast pump. Okay. Not the best choice of topics.

They went to the computer lab to do research and the computer teacher shut my son’s computer down for looking at pornography. Okay.

We finally got the assignment changed to “Age appropriate toys, ages 1-6.”

Could fiction be any stranger or have more possibilities for humor? No.
In this case, I could almost lift the experience event by event.

Change Names to Protect

If and when I do find places for events from my life, I will change names. Not just to protect the innocent, but also to protect myself! Without getting into any legal discussions, I know that I just want to be sure not to hurt any one in any way. So, I will always change something about a story.

Change Anything and Everything to Fit the Story

The biggest danger is sticking too close to life. “But it really happened” is not a good excuse for a bad story. You must be willing to change anything/everything to meet the needs of your story. In the end, you may only have a tiny piece of reality and that’s OK, if the story works. Steal from life, but only the tiniest amount possible to make your story work!

Coming in August: 30 Days to a Stronger Picturebook

DH sends this question about finding the name of a submissions editor:

Sometimes, Life is Hard. But sometimes, Life is Exciting.

Welcome, Baby

I am a mother of a mother.
Our first grandchild arrived yesterday!

I’ll be out next week, playing with her. (We’ve already read a book together!)

Coming in August

Coming in August is 30 Days to a Stronger Picturebook

Do you have concerns, questions, worries about writing or revising a picturebook? Post any questions here and I’ll try to answer them or find answers for you.

Subscribe to the RSS Feed, so you don’t miss this! Easy instructions.

The deadline is fast approaching for registration for the Writer’s Toolbox Retreat.

Arkansas SCBWI Fall Retreat

The Writer’s Toolbox:Nonfiction, Fiction and Marketing Skills
September 19-21, 2008
The Lodge at Mount Magazine.
Space is limited. The Arkansas SCBWI Fall Retreat is an intensive weekend retreat that focuses on specific craft issues for experienced writers. This year’s retreat is open to all writers and features three great speakers! (Well, two great speakers and me.)

Michelle Andelman: Literary Agent

Michelle Andelman has been an Associate Agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency since 2005. She works out of New York City as its East Coast representative, handling projects across the children’s and adult markets. Michelle brings to her work experience in book publicity and book-to-film, which allows her to guide clients at every stage of a book’s life, from development prior to submission through publication, promotion, and the exercise of sub-rights. She specializes in all categories of children’s books, with interest in middle grade and YA fiction that ranges from the literary to the commercial, and especially features both a literary voice and commercial hook across the genres. Michelle’s recent deals include The Third Try (Simon Pulse/Simon and Schuster), Spark (Jabberwocky/Sourcebooks), The Yuckiest, Drooliest, Stinkiest, Best Valentine’s Day Ever (Harcourt), Girl in Waiting & Third Grade Baby (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and Last Midnight (Hyperion).

Carla Killough McClafferty, Non-Fiction Specialist

Award-winning author, Carla Killough McClafferty, began her writing career with an adult Christian book titled Forgiving God (Discovery House Publishers, 1995). Since then she has been writing middle grade nonfiction books. The first in this genre, The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone: The Weird, Wacky and Wonderful X-ray (FSG, 2001) was a Junior Library Guild Selection; NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Trade Book; and on the NYPL List for the Teen Age. Her next book, Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium (FSG 2006), was named an IRA Children’s Book Award Winner; NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book; NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book, NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book; ALA Best Book for Young Adults; ALA Amelia Bloomer List; Junior Library Guild Selection; Booklist top Ten Sci-Tech Books; NYPL List for the Teen Age; Arkansas’s Charlie May Simon Reading List; and got a starred review in School Library Journal. This fall, her third book for young readers will be released, titled, In Defiance of Hitler: The Secret Mission of Varian Fry (FSG, 2008). She is currently working on her next book. Carla is the SCBWI regional advisor in Arkansas.

Darcy Pattison, Fiction Specialist

Darcy Pattison, an author of both picture books and novels, has been published in eight languages. Her books include Nineteen Girls and Me (Philomel,), Searching for Oliver K. Woodman (Harcourt), The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman (Harcourt). Her books have been recognized for excellence by starred reviews in Kirkus and BCCB, Child magazine Best Books of the Year 2003, Nick Jr. Family Magazine Best Books of the Year 2003, and the 2005-6 Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award Reading List . The video version of The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman (Nutmeg Media Children’s Picture Books on Video, June 2005) was named an ALA Notable Video 2006. The story will be included in the forthcoming reading series from Houghton Mifflin and a paperback version in 2009. Darcy is also widely published on the topic of creative writing and has two books available for adults. For those interested in writing or revising a novel, she provides help in Novel Metamorphosis: Uncommon Ways to Revise (Mims House). Her teacher resource book, Paper Lightning: Prewriting Activities to Spark Creativity, (Cottonwood Press) helps teachers as they work with student writers.

Register NOW! August 1 is the deadline to register.
Download the Full Brochure and Registration information (PDF)

When life is hard, how do you keep on working?

We got back from vacation to find our house had been broken into, our computers stolen.

That meant we had to do all the Identify Theft precautions, in addition to everything else.

Then, yesterday, in a sudden summer rainstorm, my son totaled out vehicle. He’s unharmed! (Life could be very hard indeed; instead, it’s merely hard.)

How do you keep on working when life is hard?

It’s not like we punch a time clock. We’re self employed. We can work or not work, as we want. Of course, no work, means no paycheck. So, what are some coping strategies?

For me, it goes back to quilting. When my kids were little and I wanted to make a quilt, I divided the task into short chunks. One day, I cut. The next, I sewed Square A to Square B. The next, I ironed all the AB Squares. The next, I sewed Square C to Square D. The next, I ironed Square CD. The next, I sewed Squares AB and CD together.

(My daughter’s wedding quilt.)

No day produced tons of work. But by constantly chipping away at the work, I got it done.

Today, I finished up a bibliography.
Tomorrow, I will proofread a proposal.

Life is hard. But by chunking the work into small sections, this slow rabbit will finish the race.

In writing or revising a novel, it’s always a balancing act, deciding which scenes to fully develop and which to skip, to skim, or to forget.

Events NOT worthy of a full scene?

In my current WIP, I’ve sketched out the scenes I plan to write. But I’ve been stumped the last few days by one scene of a character mowing the grass. I need the character to do that mowing (for various reasons), but I finally realized that I could cover it in just a couple narrative sentences and still accomplish the same thing. It wasn’t a conflict or action worthy of a full scene. Once I had that insight, I’ve been working steadily again.