 our
text
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| "Hay
Mounds" card from the "Pika..." book by JRJ |
HOMEWORK:
write
a contact letter to a publisher
Mo Willems
weekly format
|
Last
time we talked about when to select an agent: after securing a commitment
from the publisher. keeping us on track as we put the entire book
together. After the initial idea, the story board is the most important
element in writing a book. It can serve as the guide book, much
as the "bible" so called in soap operas is used to keep
the pieces coherent and the company on track. It might be referred
to as a continuity tool.
One
aspect of writing that every author abhors, but each practices,
is self promotion. From TV interviews to Book store readings to
book signing & personal appearances, promoting the book benefits
the author as well as the publisher. Since we can't do most of those
practices here, we will instead produce a greeting card
that includes story line, character description or small vignette
- provide a glimpse inside the book and whet the appetite of the
potential reader. As in my example, deal with credit information
as if it was already an accomplished fact. As Dale Carnegie proposed:
see it, believe it in your own mind and you will have no problem
convincing others. Convince yourself first and all others will be
easy.
As
mentioned before: Images are a big part of children's books, whether
written or drawn, they paint the pictures we see when we read the
books and influence how the story is accepted or remembered. Whether
we choose picture book or story book, the job of the illustrator
is integral. Remember that we are telling two stories, one with
words and word pictures and one with actual pictures, designed to
stand alone apart from the writing to convey almost the same story
as the words, but designed to augment and enhance the experience
of the word pictures. Neither should be dominant, as far as we are
able to control such things.
Every
week we will follow the same format. We will look at the homework,
discuss class samples, draw in class, discuss next week's homework
and end the class with a critique tag game. |
