Picture-Perfect Pacing with Rotem Moscovich

Rotem Moscovich is the Editorial Director of Picturebooks at Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. She's worked with many talented creators, including Greg Pizzoli, Minh Lê, Dan Santat, Doug Salati, Julie Fogliano, Ryan T. Higgins, Mac Barnett & Shawn Harris, Antwan Eady, Doreen Rappaport, Adam Rex, and Marla Frazee. Rotem loves picturebooks with clever characters and inspired/ing art, and connect with chapter books and graphic novels with characters that have inherent motivation and earned agency. rotem.nyc

A special aspect of the picture book is that it has a dual audience. The book is meant to be read aloud. The physical act of reading the text out loud while looking at the pictures.

Some books to sit with and consider pacing, and how that pacing helps to satisfy.   

Rotem has attendees look at a typed manuscript of Snow by Uri Shulevitz and decide where they would put the page breaks.

Make a book map with your own manuscript. Using a picture book storyboard (32 or 40 pages). Here's a great resources for that: Debbie Ohi Resources

Print out your manuscript in 3 columns using 8-9 point font. Cut it up to find your best pacing. 

Attendees hard at work.

Keynote Conversation: Matt de la Peña and Christian Robinson on Creating The Picture Book

Buy MILO in the SCBWI Bookshop

Matt de la Peña is the New York Times bestselling, Newbery Medal winning author of seven young adult novels (including Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here and Superman: Dawnbreaker) and five picture books (including Last Stop on Market Street and Love). Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and his BA from the University of the Pacific, where he attended school on a full athletic scholarship for basketball. Matt teaches creative writing and visits schools and colleges throughout the country. You can visit Matt at mattdelapena.com, on Twitter @mattdelapena, or on Instagram @mattdelapena.

Christian Robinson was born in Hollywood, California. He grew up in a small one-bedroom apartment with his brother, two cousins, aunt, and grandmother.  He studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts and would later work with the Sesame Workshop and Pixar Animation Studios before becoming an illustrator and author of books for children. He is the author and illustrator of Another and the New York Times bestseller, You Matter. He is the illustrator of Gaston, written by Kelly DiPucchio, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Last Stop on Market Street, written by Matt de la Peña, which was awarded a Caldecott Honor, a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor, and the Newbery Medal. Visit him online at TheArtofFun.com and on Instagram @theartoffun. 

Matt de la Peña:

If you're feeling anxiety about the pandemic, resist the urge to write explicitly about the pandemic. Find a way to translate how you're feeling in other ways via your story. Focus on your world view rather than a message, and that will come across in your work.

You may think you're boring, but Matt says that every person has a fascinating story. You just need to find a way to share it in an interesting way.

Matt talked about the importance of illustrations in his picture books. "Sometimes I don't know what my book's about until it's illustrated."

He says that writing is all about revision, and revision is like solving a puzzle. The final result may not be the one correct solution - you need to find the solution that is right for you.

One final piece of writing advice fro Matt: Do not write what you see. Write about what will be seen.

Christian Robinson:

Christian says he's an anxious person, spends a lot of time in his own head. From childhood, Christian found that drawing became a way to make space for himself and to create the kind of world he wanted to see.

Once he receives a new picture book manuscript and has pored over it, Christian says he always starts small first, using post-it notes so he's not distracted by details.

Christian talked about his journey to picture books, his work in animation and Pixar, plus other types of employment. Through it all, he kept creating. He encourages artists to create for themselves but also to share with others. "Share stuff," says Christian. "You never know who's watching."

Another tip from Christian: Know your strengths. These are things that come to you naturally, without anyone telling you to do something, things you are excited about. Christian says that for him, it's simplicity in art, as well as design. "For you, it might be something else." 

Even if you're assigned a project you may not be excited about, find something in the research that does excite you. Christian confesses that at first he was hesitant about drawing buses in Last Stop but then got inspired as he began researching and surrounding himself with images and ideas.

Another tip: play well with others. Christian gave an example of how Simon & Schuster editor Justin Chanda helped Christian discover what he really wanted his story to be about. Christian says that making a picture book is a team effort, so it's important to learn how to work with others on your team, including your art director.

On the collaborative process:

Matt says that in a good collaboration, each person gives the other a lot of freedom. Matt says he does what he can to help support the illustrator....and that includes trusting the artist, giving them a lot of room. 

Christian says he appreciates the freedom, and says that it's also important to leave space for the reader.

Sometimes the reader is smarter than the book creator, adds Matt. He loves it when a young reader will tell him what the book is really about.

Final words:

Matt: "Be daring. Don't try to fit into what's there. Don't write to the market. Follow your energy."

Christian: "The more specific you are with your artistry, the more universal it becomes. Don't forget to be vulnerable and honest."

Related links and additional resources:

You can buy Milo Imagines The World by Matt de la Pena and Christian Robinson in the SCBWI bookshop (via Bookshop.org)

Matt de la Peña's website

Christian Robinson's website

#SCBWIdigital workshop: Laurent Linn and Cecilia Yung present "Two Art Directors Talking: The Theater of Picture Books"

Today's full workshop title is "Two Art Directors Talking: The Theater of Picture Books - The Art of Bringing Visual Elements Together For Storytelling."

Our experts are Laurent Linn (Art Director, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers)
and
Cecilia Yung (Art Director and Vice President, Penguin Books for Young Readers).

Both Laurent and Cecilia are also on the SCBWI Board - so giving back to this community (including the 1,200+ of us watching live) is something they do with heart and passion.

Lin introduces them, saying that they both create picture books that are "as much works of art as they are books."

Clockwise, from top left: Lin Oliver, Laurent Linn, and Cecilia Yung

Laurent opens by speaking of how it's not just one thing, "It's everything coming together to tell a good story."

In reference to our current global pandemic, he says,

"Stories and art have survived through every catastrophe of civilization... Now is the time, not just the world needs your stories, but we - I'm a writer and illustrator also - we need to tell our stories."

Cecilia begins by discussing the inner life of the character or story, which transforms how we the reader see ourselves, and/or the world.

She suggests questions we should ask ourselves:

The most important question is "why?"
Who is your reader?
What is the take-away?
What is your difference - that unique something that only YOU can do to distinguish this book from all the other picture books that have been published?

They dedicate today's workshop to Tomie de Paola - calling him a master who "used the book as a stage."

Read Lin Oliver's remembrance of Tomie dePaola here.

Walking us through visual examples from books they've art directed, they teach us different principles.

From Misty Copeland's nonfiction picture book "Bunheads," illustrated by Setor Fiadzigbey, Cecilia shows us the drama and theater of the illustrations.

Notice the top left page, where Misty is so dedicated she shows up early to practice but her friend is already there in the studio! Cecilia speaks more of how the illustrations in the book show that friendship, and the competition between them that drove each dancer to excel.

From the fiction picture book "Sulwe" by Lupita Nyong', illustrated by Vashti Harrison, Laurent points out how even the sky is a character:

"Nothing should be generic," He advises us, adding, “Often the more specific makes it universal.”

They speak and show examples from many more picture books, discussing character design, costume design, controlling the direction of a reader's eye, getting to the heart of the emotion, narrative, and so much more.

There's a Q&A that ranges from white space to compositional tools (line composition, color composition, and light/shadow), to the selection of an illustrator.

It's a master class in how two brilliant art directors look at and think about picture books and the illustration of picture books.

Thank you, Laurent and Cecilia!

Stay safe, all.
Lee

p.s. - Did you miss it? The video is available for 30 days to SCBWI members here.

#SCBWIdigital workshop: Kait Feldmann presents “Page By Page: Breaking Down Picture Book Pagination”

Kait Feldmann, photo credit: Tess Thomas © 2018

Kait Feldmann is an Editor at Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, where she is building a list of picture books and graphic novels. Kait is also the VP/Director of Special Projects for People of Color in Publishing, the founder and chair of the Scholastic Diversity Committee, and a member of the Diverse BookFinder Advisory Council.

A screenshot of editor Kait Feldmann (above) and SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver.

Kait opens with a poll, getting a sense of how many of the SCBWI members attending are authors, illustrators, or both. (We are 70% writers, 4% illustrators, 26% both!)

She explains that she'll be starting discussing the mechanics and production elements of picture books, and how that impacts her decision process as an editor.

She covers hardcover picture book terminology - including
verso is a left page
recto is a right page

Kait's tip to remember which is which: Recto and Right both start with "R".

Why most picture books have a 32 page count, which goes up in sets (signatures) of 8
40
48

That's because of how they're printed. Kait gets crafty, showing us how one large sheet gets printed, folded, cut, and stitched.

Every 16 pages are all printed on one giant piece of paper

until it gets folded (and then cut and stitched.)

Then she shows us (with printed materials and even a chocolate bar wrapper) how endpapers work, and the case cover, and the difference between "separate ends" and "self ends". 'Self Ends' means that page 1 (and the final page 32) can no longer be seen- they are glued to the case cover!

Kait explains that she's sharing this because it informs how much space we have, as authors and illustrators, to tell our stories. For a 32 page picture book, it's the difference between 11 spreads to tell your story, versus 15 spreads plus two pages to tell your story!

She gives advice to illustrators (such as not putting anything vital under the jacket flap, as it gets fastened to the clear paper cover by libraries and can't be lifted up by those readers.)

Kait shares so much wisdom,

"In picture books, every spread has the power of a chapter in a novel."

And shows us examples of her process for figuring out the pagination. But she doesn't send that pagination to the illustrator - she tells them the page count, and lets them figure it out themselves.

Kait's advice: Read picture books we love, and study how many spreads have narrative content on them. Break down the pacing. "Don't stress too much about it," Kait tells us, saying that the more consciously we absorb it, the more it will subliminally influence our own writing.

She advises writers to paginate our own picture book stories, calling it "the best exercise I can recommend for pacing." (But remove the page numbers before you submit - tip: you can leave the line breaks!)

There's lots more covering pacing, examples of picture book first pages, and time for Q&A (with two bonus questions from Lin!)

It's an in-depth look into how an editor works on a picture book.

Thanks, Kait!

Stay safe, all.
Lee

p.s. - Did you miss it? The video is available for 30 days to SCBWI members here.

Author Panel: Birth of a Picture Book - Suzanne Kaufman

Suzanne Kaufman

Suzanne Kaufman is an author-illustrator of Confiscated. She has also illustrated several other picture books, including the New York Times bestselling picture book, All Are Welcome and the recently released Take Your Pet to School Day.

She shared that her creation process is complete and utter failure and displays a slide with a stack of sketchbooks several feet high, which she would "rather call play." Suzanne also considers her work to be therapy. When she's sad about the world, she creates art.

Working on nonfiction picture books gives her so much freedom, citing her work on 100 Bugs: A Counting Book. She also shared that she looks for real people—that unique, authentic self—to portray.

Her most recent release

How do you choose touches that are unique to the book you are working on?
When asked what touches are unique to books you work on, Suzanne shared, "It's subversive. The librarian in All Are Welcome is Maya Angelou. I put as much as I can in each illustration. Basquiat is my biggest inspiration."

For more information about Suzanne and her work, visit her website or follow her on Twitter.

Workshop: Analyzing Picture Books that Sell: Leslie Helakoski

Leslie Helakoski is the author, and sometimes illustrator, of eleven picture books that have garnered starred reviews and award nominations in over twenty states. Her newest release, Ready or Not, Woolbur Goes to School, is a follow-up to the best-selling Woolbur, and her forthcoming Are Your Stars Like My Stars launches September 2019. Her books, known for reader engagement, humor, and word play, also include Hoot & Honk Just Can’t Sleep, Big Chickens, and Big Pigs. Leslie has illustrated her four most recent books, including Doggone Feet! (a Scholastic Magazine "Best Math Choice").  Helakowski was also a Michigan SCBWI Regional Advisor.

"I don't like to read books on craft," Helakowski confessed. "I'd much rather read a book and learn from it." But that analysis can seem daunting. Helakoski's approach was to devise a rubric of elements that she saw in successful picture books. She started with three major categories, (concept, writing style and visual language), and within each, created touchpoints like humor, repetition, character, and setting.  Assigning a point for each element included, and subtracting one for rule breaking like length or adult main character,  gave Helakowski a rough "success score."

Helakowski took us through a number of picture books (including Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag, Sophie's Squash by Anne Miller, A Leaf Can Be by Laura Purdie Salas), showing us how you can learn from books, those you like, as well as those that you don't.

Sadly, during a discussion of a book about a "caveboy," she noted the advantage to writing a book about a character or culture about whom nothing can be known is that there is "no chance of a marginalized person taking offense."

I'm sad she thinks that it's better to avoid those concerns than to take them seriously.