Lunch with Mem Fox

Lin Oliver and Mem Fox

Mem Fox

Mem Fox is the author of so many beloved books for young readers, includingBonnie and Ben Rhyme Again, Possum Magic, Where is the Green Sheep, and 10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes.

In her introduction, Lin Oliver pointed out Mem's status as a living legend in our field.

"As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to creating picture books for young children, there is no one in the world who practices the art better than Mem Fox," Lin said.

The lunch-time legend talk started with a treat: Mem read 10 Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes to us.

Believe it or not, she thought she was done with writing. She even called her editor in the U.S., Allyn Johnston of Beach Lane Books, saying as much. But then she went to an event and saw babies from all around the world.

She was inspired, and on an airplane flight, she came up with the idea for the book and wrote it out in a tiny notebook in a fifteen-minute flurry.

Then, of course, she had to call Allyn back.

Mem got started writing picture books as an assignment meant to help her understand how difficult PBs are to write. She set out to write a love story to Australia, and she found an illustrator, Julie Vivas,—and after getting nine rejections in five years, that 10th editor said yes. Possum Magic, published in 1983, is Australia's bestselling book ever. It's sold 5 million copies to date.

She continued 14 years teaching drama and continued writing, but decided when she was 50 that she wanted to focus on writing because "it's a business."

Lin identified key qualities to Mem's work: brevity, rhythm, and rhyme.

What is your process of compacting the text you want to tell?

Mem learned after her first round of rejections that you have to set up a PB quickly—in the first couple of lines. A story for babies, like 10 Little Fingers..., it has to be very short. For older children, Mem permits longer stories, but she uses the Word Count feature to trim, and her success on this score gets her excited .

"I force myself to get rid of the rubbish," Mem said.

Sometimes she cuts too much, so she prints hard copies of every single change she makes. Sometimes she realizes an earlier draft was better.

Lin also asked about rhythm and wanted to know where Mem learned this skill. 

She said it comes from the King James version of the Bible.  She grew up listening to that and loved the musicality of that. Then she went to drama school and soaked up Shakespeare. She also grew up in a book-filled house in Africa, and she used to wander the garden clutching a poetry book to her chest, learning it by heart.

"It was in my veins," she said. "More importantly, it was in my heart."

She also listened to Sir John Gielgud reading British poetry on her record player.

About rhyme: 

Children's book creators are often told never to write in rhyme. How does Mem make a decision about writing in rhyme? Usually the impulse is that she knows she's writing for very, very young children. The books she writes are a step up from nursery rhymes. Her rhyming books aren't stories with beginnings, middles, and ends. "It's too difficult not to force a rhyme when you're writing a story."

When she's writing a book with a story in it, she can break a reader's heart and then mend it before the book is finished. "I don't believe you can do that if you write in rhyme."

She thinks that rhyme can be cute. It can be funny. It can be entertaining. But can it get that broken heart? I think only prose can do that.

Mem Fox: Finding the Right Word

A most awesome tete a tete between Lin and Mem before the talk. 

Mem Fox really needs no introduction. She is a bestselling author of picture books. She has written over 40 books for children. Her book POSSUM MAGIC is still in print after 36 years.

The last thing we need to think about when we sit down to write is whether or not the book will sale, or make money, or bring fame. The focus must be on the child.

This intense focus on the child means we can't write a book to please ourselves. We have to write a book for other people, and those people are children, not grown ups. The last thing we want to do is write a book that brings a grown-up to tears but has no impact on a child.

"Every book I write has to pass through an imaginary child's head and heart."

Friends, I wish you could be here with me now as Mem reads WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP?

What delights young children? It's the rhythm. "It's always the rhythm."

It can take Mem an hour to decide between "under" and "beneath." Under is two slow beats and beneath has two fast beats. "So there's a mountain of difference between the two words."


"If there's no trouble a child can relate to, there's no story."

Character, trouble and word choice go hand in hand. "Having just the right word in just the right place brings children back and back and back to a book."

Brevity is Mem's goal. The word count on the computer is still her favorite tool. She'll write 500 words and try and get it down to 350 and so on. The shortness makes the writing look easy. "Writing short text is burdensome."

When writing, Mem focuses on rhythm, brevity, and emotional impact on a child. But all of it is elusive, and it's all achieved by one things: rhythmic word choice.

Mem believes rhythm can't be taught but it can be caught. It has to be heard and processed by the brain. It has to be in the marrow of our bones, inside us.

Mem Fox and Allyn Johnston: Let's Talk Picture Books... Q&A and Some Read Aloud Fun!

Mem and Allyn

Beach Lane editor Allyn Johnston and author Mem Fox are available for questions! Here are a few of their answers:

Someone asks about Mem's process, she tells us the manuscript can continue to change and be edited after Allyn's acquired it, and Mem is well known for having tremendously tiny word counts (powerful but tiny!) Mem says an easy trick for reducing your word count is to cover up the first paragraph of your story with your hand... You can probably live without it. Now do the same thing to the second paragraph, your story can probably live without that, too. She tells us we spend so much time setting up our stories and rarely do we (or the story) need that.

Someone asks Allyn whether or not an author should submit their manuscript with pagebreaks? And Allyn reiterates that your submission manuscript should not mark out pagination, but if you want to be a picturebook author, YOU do have to spend a lot of time figuring out pagination and building your own text-only dummies and understanding page breaks. Mem doesn't think about page breaks until after she's written a draft. And then she makes a dummy. The most important page turn, to Mem, is the page turn between 31 and 32. Mem says, therefore, you should start backwards when paginating.

Some of the books Mem read us and it was magical:

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

Where is the Green Sheep?

Tough Boris

Mem Fox Keynote: Inside the Writer's Head: The Writerly Thoughts that Lead to Success

Lovely Mem, the best
readalouder in the Universe!

Mem Fox is here! If you haven't read her wonderful picture books, you are missing out, and you ALSO must read her fantastic book, Reading Magic.

Lin calls her, "the best, single creator in the picture book world."

"In any good story, there's a beginning, a middle, and an end, and only one of two themes: either a quest; or a stranger comes to town. This morning, I am the stranger."

Mem acknowledges the illustrators in the room, she says we all know a successful picture book is a half and half affair. But she says the rest of the morning is all about Mem.

Mem reads Hattie and the Fox, and the audience plays the part of the cow. We are really good at it.

Instead of a mic drop, Mem has perfected the book drop

Mem tells us a little bit of her origin story, it's very similar to Wonder Woman's, but includes taking children's literature courses.

"I know far too much about children's books now to write with any comfort."

Mem knows she will have to read the whole book out loud, over and over again to check for any number of literary sins she has committed.

Mem knows whatever picturebook story warms the hearts of adults will probably be the same picturebook story that makes children want to throw up.

Mem talks about how a good picture book that has a subject that resonates for a child has to be something the author has felt or experienced first. Mem reads Wilfred Gordon MacDonald Partridge for us, something that came out of her first visit to her 90-year-old grandfather. She then reads The Magic Hat for us.

When Mem writes a book, she keeps four different children in mind:
"One is on my lap, a tiny kid. One is sitting by me on a couch. One is snuggled up in bed, the last is in a crowd of children, listening to a teacher read my story aloud."

"I am aware in my position as a children's book creator that I am a
brain developer and a developer of speech, an artist who paints with words, a musician who makes words sing. I can kindle an interest in reading, or kill it.

The responsibility is so overwhelming that I can walk away from a draft for months."

Word choice: Don't choose an interesting or difficult word just to be different, choose the right word, and don't dumb down your word choice to patronize to children, Mem mentions Tomi Ungerer's The Beast of Monsieur Racine. 

Mem is going to talk about rhythm! The audience can't wait. If you aren't here, do yourself a favor and grab Reading Magic and read that, and watch or listen to Mem reading:

Mem Fox Interviewed by Jolie Stekly: The Pre-#LA15SCBWI Conference Interview

In this interview, Jolie and Mem talk writing process, re-writing, and Mem shares the best piece of advice she's ever received... and there's even a sneak peek at the intensive course Mem will be offering with editor Allyn Johnston, where we're advised to make every syllable count.

And how does Mem know when a story is ready to go?

"...the hairs on your arms have to stand up."

Great stuff!

Mem will be on faculty at #LA15SCBWI, giving the opening keynote on Friday July 31st, "Inside the Writer's Head: The Writerly Thoughts That Lead To Success." She'll also be doing a breakout session  (on both Saturday and Sunday) with Editor Allyn Johnston, "Let's Talk Picture Books... Q&As and some read aloud fun!"

We hope to see you at the 2015 SCBWI Summer Conference. Details and Registration info are here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee