Writing Biographies for Children

Angelica Carpenter, Alexis O'Neill, and Susan Goldman Rubin

People who attended the nonfiction biography breakout session were lucky enough to hear from three nonfiction experts: 

• Angelica Carpenter, a librarian who writes biographies about Victorian authors;
• Susan Goldman Rubin, who started as an illustrator, but switched to writing about art when her when her house burned down and she couldn't draw anymore; and
• Alexis O'Neill - who got her start writing nonfiction biographies for magazines.

They divided the session into three segments: research, writing, and elements of book proposals.

Research: The first thing to do is research which books have been written on the subject already, Angelica said:

• Amazon.com is a good place to start;
• The U.S. Library of Congress is free (search on juvenile);
• Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (you can sign up for a seven-day free trial; and
• Worldcat.com - a librarian's search tool

Research isn't easy. Most primary source materials haven't been digitized, so you can't find them online. But you can find library catalogs and tell what's out there. Your library might be able to borrow microfiche from other libraries.

One more pro research tip: Make friends with a librarian (and bring her flowers on Valentine's Day).

Angelica Carpenter takes notes in Word in chronological order. If you've entered your dates consistently, you can find them.  You have to put a source on every entry in your notes and pictures. She also makes travel notebooks with planning information in them before she goes, and she adds things she picks up on her adventures to these.

Writing: Susan Goldman Rubin doesn't like to be as neat and thorough as Angelica Carpenter. She doesn't do it as she goes, which leads to "three-martini evenings."

"We so want you to think of biography as a wonderful genre for writing," she said. "There's a real need for biography."

You're looking for lively anecdotes that bring a character to life (not to mention people who kids are going to care most about). Biographies can give a student the impetus to know more about the period their textbooks cover, which is especially important in the common core age.

Most of all, "Be passionate. Passion is everything," Susan said. 

Alexis starts her research at home. But then she goes out into the field. "You have to live and breathe your subject to fully understand." It also opens up other avenues of research. She's also hired freelance researchers (one in Nebraska was $25/hour).

Also, "don't trust everything you read." Sometimes misinformation is out there and repeated.

Primary sources--letters, papers, interviews--are vital, Susan said.

Pro tip: "Save your butt and document everything," Alexis said. She writes the date she read her material, where she got everything. If there's a museum that thinks you got something wrong, they won't carry your book or recommend it.

They also gave great advice on negotiating photos and structuring proposals. 

SCBWI Member of the Year: Alexis O'Neill

Alexis O'Neill, author

The SCBWI has a huge number of volunteers who make an extraordinary difference for the children's writing community.

This year's Member of the Year is Alexis O'Neill, who writes picture books and a column for the SCBWI Bulletin. She also has a PhD in teacher education. She's been a volunteer for the organization for 18 years in the Central California Coastal Region, whom she thanked for their enthusiasm.

Traditionally, Alexis starts every conference with a song. Lin made her bust out her pipes as she accepted the award.

"All I know is a really raunchy sea shanty," Alexis said, with understandable reluctance the audience overrode.

She taught us the one who do when you hoist the anchor (we think that's not a euphemism). She sang. We said, "Yaa!" at appropriate intervals. And we meant it in every way. Congratulations and thanks, Alexis!

Alexis O'Neill Pro Track On School Visits: Setting Fees, Getting Gigs, and Delivering the Goods

I'm thrilled to sit in on Alexis O'Neill's session on School Visits this morning!



Alexis is an author of three picture books and numerous articles, pens the column "The Truth About School Visits" for the SCBWI Bulletin and just launched the blog schoolvisitexperts.com - where she shares her expertise and has created a community hub for authors and ilustrators to learn and talk about the art and commerce and pursuit of school visits!

First thing that impressed me about Alexis' session: She gave each of us a brief survey to fill out (30 seconds) before the session started to gauge the room's interest on the three main topics - setting fees, getting gigs, and delivering the goods.

And then she got our attention by getting us all clapping and singing a rhyming song - that got the room quiet and excited and attentive. (Without saying "okay, everybody sit down and be quiet, we're ready to begin!") Oooh, she's good.

She shared handouts where

Here's some highlights from the information she shared:

Setting Fees

You're professionals. You need to think about what you're worth. You have something of value to share with other people.

Where you are in the country can dictact how much you can charge.

Even when schools say they don't have any money, there are programs they are mandated to do (for example, title 1 schools have literacy requirements - suburban schools have parent organizations that raise money throughout the year for programs.)

Find out what other authors around you are charging - even libraries have budgets. That way you know what's reasonable.

And know your bottom line - what makes it worthwhile for you to do?


Getting Gigs

Get known locally first, but realize you're never a prophet in your own land. You'll get more gigs 50 miles away.

Find out what state and local meetings and events can you attend - is there a librarian event you and some other authors can do a showcase at?

"Wherever librarians and teachers gather, be there."

Delivering the Goods -

Your school visit needs to be enriching, and you want kids and teachers to learn something that they can use when they get back to the classroom. Kids are writing every day. You're a writer. If you're an illustrator, it's another way of expressing an idea - and kids need to do that, too!

Remember that everyone in the audience wants you to succeed. Be human, and don't think you have to be perfect.

As she wrote in her slideshow presentation

Inspiring lots of writing and art (where kids express themselves)

Wow. This is such a great session - lots of contributions from audience members (which includes some super-accomplished author visit experts themselves!), and lots of great stories and advice from Alexis! I'm really going to have to check out the articles and forms and downloadable pdfs on her schoolvisitexperts.com site, and if you're interested in doing school visits, so should you!