Bonny Becker: Be Wise, Revise--Endings

By now, Bonny knew more than her premise (the what happens); she knew her theme (the why it happens).

She revised her ending, had been through five or six big revisions, and she brought her manuscript to her critique group. She showed us a list of a dozen bullet points outlining what her critique group thought what was wrong with her manuscript.

At that point she went back for the fine tuning, line by line, punching up that language and the conflict, cutting, thinking in terms of images, making sure she's using vivid verbs, and always being willing to "kill her darlings."

Bonny Becker: Be Wise, Revise--Middles

Bonny continues through her manuscript, realizing there's something wrong with the middle. She again realizes her middle is too far from the core action of her premise.

A couple of rules from Bonny:

Pay attention to that tiny voice that tells you something is wrong.

Look to condense, compress, distill. Eliminate the good for the great.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

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

Bonny Becker: Be Wise, Revise

Golden Kite winner (A Visitor for Bear) Bonny Becker is walking us through a revision one of her picture books.

Write your story knowing you're going to revise it many many times. This is something Bonny didn't know when she started out as a writer, but now that's her mindset going into her projects. Jane Yolen told her says she does up to 40 revisions on a picture book she's writing.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE

Golden Kite Luncheon Awards: Bonny Becker

Bonny Becker received the Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text for A Visitor for Bear.

Ultimately, Bonny says, we want to show to our kids that despite its woes, the world is a wonderful place. She also wants to show through her books that she likes people (and this comes across in her character Mouse and Bear).

When she writes from a place she loves, she says, the writing is easy.

Work, discipline, training and luck are important.

She quoted E.B. White: I wake up every morning and torn by the desire to improve the world and the desire to enjoy the world. That makes it hard to plan my day. Bonny says she's decided to plan her days writing what she enjoys and urges the audience to do the same.

POSTED BY ALICE POPE