The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Character

In mid-June I spent a week at the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference (WIFYR) and was lucky to spend some time in Ken Baker's writing workshop. Ken is the author of several picture books for children such as Old MacDonald Had a Dragon, Brave Little Monster, and Cow Can't Sleep. His newest, How to Care for Your T-Rex will be released in April 2019.

In his workshop, Ken focused on how writers can create engaging characters. I am sure if you were to list some of your favorite characters, you would find that they harbor some common traits such as persistence, unique talents, compassion, wit, spontaneity, and unpredictability, along with some strong inner conflicts. In Writing the Break Out Novel, Donald Maass says that unforgettable characters whom readers end up talking about for years act in unusual and unexpected ways that are dramatic and irreversible. Characters like Charlie Bucket, Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen come to mind, along with Olivia, SkippyJon Jones, and Mother Bruce.

But how exactly do writers begin to create those kinds of characters? Have you heard the phrase, "It builds character?" Hopefully, you have because I heard these words a lot growing up; and I hope it wasn't because I was a frequent complainer of long chore lists, or because I had the unlucky habit of getting into trouble. But like raising kids, creating characters doesn't happen overnight and it doesn't happen in a first draft. Interesting characters come with a lot of back-story or baggage--however you want to look at it, so figuring out exactly who your character is takes a bit of digging--before, during, and maybe even after you're done writing--and Ken's workshop helped me see how to do that with a variety of different exercises.

One writing exercise that I found especially powerful for creating picture books involved making and comparing lists. Ken had us brainstorm a list of things that our character wants. This list was followed with a list of things that children want.  Then we compared the two. It became immediately clear that when writing for children, our character wants/needs should probably mirror those of child. I suppose this exercise would hold true for whatever audience you write for. This exercise helped me sharpen a couple of my manuscripts with some subtle word changes. It also helped clarify the underlying themes my stories were based on.

A second writing exercise involved comparing two other lists we made. One of admirable or likable qualities of our character versus one of traits or obstacles that are in direct opposition to those qualities. The most surprising outcome of this exercise was that I saw I could actually write my manuscript-in-progress from two different perspectives -- that of the character I was focusing on, or that of the opposing set of characters he was up against. Either way, I saw that I had two equally interesting approaches to one problem, depending on which Point-of-View I wanted to take. And since I am in love with both characters in the story, I was intrigued by this idea.

I'd be interested to hear the results that other writers have with these exercises, as well as any tricks that you use to dig deeper in character development.

Ken has loads of writing resources and information on his  website, so be sure to check it out. You can also find him on twitter @KenBakerBooks and facebook https://www.facebook.com/kenbakerbooks/

Happy writing!

Children's Nonfiction Picture Books. Notes from the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference with Author Sharlee Glann

I spent last week at the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference (WIFYR 2018) where I participated in the picture book writing class taught by author Sharlee Glenn.

I met Sharlee many years ago when I was first starting out on this writing journey, and I was so excited for the chance to reconnect with her in a small, week-long class where I could benefit from and become inspired by her wisdom, insights and experiences. I was also able to attend other classes taught by other authors in the afternoons, and I will be sharing bits of what I learned from them in later posts. But today, I am going to focus on Sharlee.

Sharlee Glenn's books include Keeping Up With Roo, Just What Mama Needs, One in a Billion,  Library on Wheels, which is her latest, hot-off-the-press nonfiction picture book, and Beyond the Green, which is a middle-grade novel scheduled for publication this coming fall 2018.

I absolutely love Library on Wheels for several reasons. First, it is about the very first mobile library in America, which many readers would recognize as a bookmobile. Need I say more? How cool is that? Bookmobiles have been a huge part of little Cache Valley, Utah, where I've lived for more than 25 years.

Second, the first mobile library was developed by Mary Lemist Witcomb who hails from my home state, New Hampshire. I love New Hampshire, return to it every year for a visit, and loved seeing the historic photos of places I recognized.

Third, I love the story of Sharlee's personal connection to the mobile library. Having grown up in rural Utah, Sharlee says she would not be the writer she is today were it not for the books that the mobile library brought to her on a regular basis when she was a young girl. For me, the local library in our area also played a vital part of my childhood. We didn't use the bookmobile, but my mother would drive my brother and I to the Nashua library once a week and let us browse the books in the children's section. I remember that the books were kept in wood boxes that jigsawed around the room. I could reach down into the boxes and pull out books. It seems odd that a library would be set up this way, but that is what I remember.

My mother also brought us to different art classes at the library.  My most memorable one involved making a paper kite with a wood frame. My kite ended up being almost as large as me. It was huge, and purple and green, and hung in my bedroom for several years above my bed.

Fourth, I think most writers can attribute their writing careers to the experiences they found within libraries as children, and I believe most readers continue to hold a fondness and appreciation for libraries for similar reasons. Libraries connect us to our local communities and to the world at large through their books, their programs, and the various opportunities that librarians provide for patrons. Thus, Library on Wheels holds appeal to a wide audience--both readers and writers, and its clear, simple, and interesting text make the history of the bookmobile accessible to young readers.

As for the children's picture book market today, Sharlee shared that if you are trying to break into publishing, the nonfiction market is growing and the best opportunities may be found there. The reason for the burgeoning market is the increasing focus on teaching a quality education to all students through a common core that has been adopted in each state. As a science teacher, I can attest to the need for engaging and relevant books for the classroom.

Thus, for new and established writers that are writing for the children's book market, it may be time to tap into your own interests and see if what you are writing or what you may want to write can be connected to the nonfiction market.

If you would like to learn more about Sharlee Glenn and her work, visit her website.

If you have additional information about trends in the nonfiction market, share them in a comment below.

Happy writing!