Tips From Author/ Illustrator Bob Staake- A Special Guest Post by Denise Harbison

Author/Illustrator Bob Staake was the guest at our local San Diego SCBWI meeting. Since I was out of town, I asked fellow author and “Writer Mama” Denise Harbison to do a guest post. Denise is the author of “Solving the Violin Mystery” (Highlights Magazine) and just recently graduated from the MFA program at Hamline University.

If you want to be a picture book writer, it only makes sense get to know an illustrator or two.
After all, they do half the work, right?

Here’s your guy: Bob Staake. Speaking to both writers and illustrators at the San Diego chapter of SCBWI, he managed to dish out good advice to all.

He demonstrated how his work changed during the development phase, while working with the publisher. Conceptions, such as “white covers don’t sell,” affect the final outcome, which in one case meant agreeing on a book cover that wasn’t his first choice. But he advises to “trust your gut.” He had noeditorial input on his book THE RED LEMON before it was complete, allowing him to fully realize his vision without the interruption of judgment or critique. It is now the book for which he is best known.

He also uses instinct in deciding what stories to work on. Often he begins with an appealing image, adding details that build into a book. Admittedly, he wants his children’s books to appeal to adults, too, because they are the buyers. He enjoys inventing and adding funny written details into the pictures, such as a pig reading a book titled “Gone with the Swine”—which is cheered by reviewers. The hard part, he says, is knowing when to stop adding more details, to quit “when enough is enough.” From a writer’s viewpoint, these little quips and funny details demonstrate character and give the story energy.

Hearing Bob speak about the balance between text and picture made this writer think more like an illustrator—to understand how words can better interact and complete the pictures. Ultimately, though, to write and illustrate a great book, you have to understand the reader. To that he says he puts himself in the reader’s shoes.

“To inspire a child…to have them want to engage in books…there’s nothing more amazing than hearing from parents that your book changed a child’s life.”

 

Thanks Denise, it’s sounds like a great presentation.

Suzanne Santillan

Writing on the Sidewalk

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Tips From Author Alexis O’Neil

This week we have a special guest blogger. Denise Harbison is a fellow writer-mama and San Diego SCBWI member. She is the author of “Solving the Violin Mystery” (Highlights Magazine) and is currently enrolled in the MFA program at Hamline University. Thanks Denise.

We began with a song—an Irish song—because that’s the way it’s done at a big family gathering, according to author Alexis O’Neill. It seemed a fitting opening for the San Diego SCBWI meeting held closest to St. Patrick’s Day.

Singing with Alexis made me feel like part of a big family of children’s writers. Everyone in the room wanted to learn to be a better writer, or at least increase their chances of publication. But is it safe to assume we were also all there to connect with other writers? After all, why bother to get together at all when information can be found in books and on the internet? We get together to associate.

“Associate”—verb.

• To connect in thought, feeling, or memory.
• To unite; combine.
• To join together as partners, companions, or colleagues.

[Random House Webster’s Dictionary]

Sounds a bit like extended family to me. And Alexis was more than generous in offering some good family-like advice on manuscript submissions, such as:

• Hone your skills for finding an agent because that’s the future.
• Look at the Library of Congress’s one-line descriptions as a guide for learning to succinctly summarize your manuscript in one line.
• Give editors tools to work with in their presentation of your manuscript at acquisitions meetings, such as a compelling one-line synopsis.
• A one-page synopsis should demonstrate your ability to develop plot and character, told in a way that reflects tone and voice.

And here’s where our writing family comes in:

**Bring your synopsis and query letter to your critique group!**

Critique group, support group, professional association, family . . .

One message I walked away with from Alexis’s talk —spoken between the lines of helpful advice—was the benefit of supporting each other.  Her story of being a sixth grader who had to write a report on Ireland ends with her teacher making her read it aloud. “My classmates laughed in all the right spots.” Writing became fun. We can help each other that way—listen, respond, encourage.

A wee bit more of O’Neill advice, if you want to be a writer, “Read, write, paint, perform, and sing every chance you get—and spend lots of time with others who love to do these things, too!”

Thanks, Alexis, for starting things off on a good note.

At the end, I wanted to dance a jig.

Denise Harbinson

Writing on the Sidewalk

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