OVERCOME SELF-DOUBT, DEEPEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PICTURE BOOK WRITING, AND A GIVEAWAY

 

FIRST A LITTLE INSPIRATION

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, author of FOREST HAS A SONG and EVERY DAY BIRDS, challenged Today’s Little Ditty readers to write poems about small things— animals or objects you see everyday and don’t give much thought. I took the challenge, and I’m honored that my piece was selected as the poem that will close out Today’s Little Ditty’s month of small beauties.

Today’s Little Ditty is a great blog to follow. It offers tips and prompts for writing various forms of poetry, wonderful interviews, and fantastic examples of poetry. It’s well worth checking out.

Following is my little ditty.

 

 

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN NIGHT AND DAY
by Alayne Kay Christian ©2016

As the morning light steals the night
A new day is on the horizon
I am drawn to the eastern sky

In complete silence
The bright morning star calls to me
I am one with the Universe
Of this I am never more certain than
Somewhere between night and day

In the sharing of this poem, I wish you many moments of quiet peace.

OVERCOMING SELF-DOUBT and FREE GIVEAWAY

In January, I was a guest blogger for Meg Miller’s ReviMo challenge where I wrote REVISING YOUR WAY TO DREAMS COME TRUE. If you are struggling with frustration or self-doubt, you might feel renewed after reading this post. At the end, I offer a free checklist for polishing manuscripts and doing critiques and edits.

IMPROVE YOUR MANUSCRIPTS AND YOUR ABILITY TO ENGAGE READERS

This month, I had the honor of being a faculty member on the ReFoReMo (Read for Research Month) team. In my guest post, CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN READING AND WRITING, I encourage readers to look deeper than the surface when analyzing mentor texts or your own work. In considering ways to engage readers, I offer four questions to ponder while analyzing your stories or mentor texts.

DEEPEN YOUR UNDERSTANDING OF PICTURE BOOK WRITING

My picture book writing course ART OF ARC: How to Analyze Your Picture Book Manuscript continues to deepen writers understanding of picture books while helping them refine their work. Following are some of the latest comments from students who have completed the course.

I wish The Art of the Arc course existed a year ago. It would have saved me a lot of time. It gathers a lot of information that new picture book writers need all in one place. Alayne provides so many examples and even includes a few that don’t follow the classic arc. I found the reminders about what the reader should be experiencing at different points in the story especially helpful.

I appreciated how the worksheets made me take apart my own manuscripts so I have a better understanding of why some aspect isn’t working. I’m going to continue using the worksheets to guide my revisions. The Facebook group doing a monthly study of a picture book should help solidify what I’ve learned. Thank you, Alayne! – Mary Worley – Children’s Writer and Former Librarian

Alayne’s Art of Arc self-paced course not only teaches a writer about story structure but explains the specific parts of a story, in depth, and the importance of why each must be related, relevant, and remain connected. What I learned through her examples and exercises are the specific ways to break down a story using task analysis. This process helps me determine if the reader is “imagining and feeling” the story I want to tell reflected through my writing. As a writer who starts as a pantser, Alayne provided the organization I needed to analyze my own writing. – Keila V. Dawson, Author, THE KING CAKE BABY, Pelican Publishing Co., January 31, 2015

Alayne distills and clarifies picture book wisdom in a conversational tone. Her writing has earned a place on my reference shelf. Mike Karg – Children’s Book Writer

Art of the Arc teaches you to methodically analyze your manuscript or mentor text, and in doing so, pulls you back as the author to see your story through more objective eyes, able to evaluate it piece by piece. The course is well organized and contains a virtual plethora of resources. – Beth Anderson – Freelance Writer

This course was so helpful in showing me the areas where my manuscripts were not moving and how to fix that. Studying picture books suggested in the course focused this for me. The great thing is now I’ll be able to use this as I’m writing and, I hope, cut down on revision time. I highly recommend this comprehensive course. – Carol Crane – Children’s Writer

When asked, “How does this course compare to other courses you have taken?” One Art of Arc graduate said, “I haven’t taken other courses. The best comparison is Ann Whitford Paul’s WRITING PICTURE BOOKS. I love the depth and specificity of both. As with her book, your materials are worthy of re-reads.”

The following are not testimonials, but a few wonderful comments from the ART OF ARC Facebook group.

I just want to thank you, Alayne Kay Christian for putting together such a comprehensive course. I am only on lesson two, but I have already learned so much. The cost of this course is some of the best money I ever spent on learning the picture book craft. My mind is racing with all the possibilities for improving my manuscripts and writing new and better ones. I am truly blown away with how much work you put into this and how generous you are to share it with the world. Thank you!

I agree! And the ability to be in this group, ask questions and give answers is invaluable, too! Thanks, Alayne Kay Christian!

Click here to learn more about ART OF ARC and to read many more testimonials.

 

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REVISING OR POLISHING YOUR PICTURE BOOK MANUSCRIPT

Before I get started with this post, I want to announce my new professional picture book manuscript critique service. For more information on what I offer click here.  January 12-18, 2014, Meg Miller will be presenting ReviMo – Revise More Picture Books Week. She has interviewed me for one of her ReviMo posts. One of her interview questions was, “What is your revision process.” I decided to post a list of some things I take into consideration when writing and revising picture books. The list is similar to what I look for when I critique other people’s work. I hope it is helpful.

Read about the new Sub Six Series: ALL ABOUT SUBMISSIONS

THINGS I NATURALLY NOTICE WHEN POLISHING MY WORK

 Does it read smoothly or do I trip up a lot as I read?
 Does it make me feel emotion?
 Do I find myself smiling or chuckling?
 Do I feel anxious, excited or sad for the main character?
 Do I find myself cheering for the main character?
 Does it have a satisfying ending?

STORY COMPONENTS

BEGINNING PAGES

 Is the opening line or paragraph strong?
 Will it grab the reader’s attention immediately?
 Will it make readers want to learn more or continue reading?
 Does the setup and description go on forever? Or do the first couple of spreads reveal what the story is “really” about?
 Will the reader have a good sense of the main character and his desire or problem by the third spread?

CONFLICT

 Does the text move the main character and story forward through his attempts to get what he wants?
 As the main character moves forward, does he attempt and fail to achieve his goal?
 Do his attempts and failures increase the story tension and make me want to turn pages?
 Will readers feel like they are in the story, experiencing what the main character is experiencing?

STORY FOCUS

 Is there cause and effect throughout the story, connecting the dots from sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, scene to scene?
 Are there too many obstacles?
 Too few obstacles?
 Do the steps that the main character take make sense?

CLIMAX AND RESOLUTION

 Is there a strong story arc that builds to a turning point or climax?
 Does the main character experience a darkest moment that leads him to resolution?
 Does the resolution come just a page or two before the ending?
 Is the ending connected to the rest of the story and satisfying?
 Does it offer a twist?
 A nice tie in to the beginning?
 A moment of realization or satisfaction that the main character has grown, learned something, or reached his goal?

LINE BY LINE QUESTIONS

 Do all the story dots seem connected?
 Is time and place clear throughout?
 Is tense consistent?
 Is point of view consistent?
 Are there awkward, clumsy, or wordy sentences?
 Are there any missing or confusing transitions between scenes?
 Is there too much telling and not enough showing?
 Is there too much dialogue and not enough action?
 Are there places where the text is doing the illustrators job?
 Do all passages create visions or move the story forward in some way?

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