Monday, August 10, 2009

Bonny Becker: Be Wise, Revise--Beginnings

The first things picture book writers need is a premise, she says.

Then she gets into her first draft of the story. She's reading an early draft of a Bear and Mouse story in which she had problems with the middle. When that happens, Bonny says, you probably have a problem with the beginning.

In the draft she's reading she realized that her story started too far back from the premise.

Bonny quotes Ursula Le Guin:

"In revision, as a rough rule, if the beginning can be cut, cut it."

She revisited and tweaked her premise, and went back and revised her beginning, starting closer to the action of the story.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

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