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Earlier this month I attended the annual summer conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), where I so enjoyed hearing a variety of publication success stories, especially those of debut picture book authors and illustrators like Pat Zietlow Millerand Aaron Becker. Today another debut picture book author -- Marlena Zapf -- is joining us to tell us about her own unique journey to publication. Marlena's book Underpants Dance, with exuberant illustrations by Lynne Avril, was published by Dial in April of this year. It is the story of Lily McBloom, who loves her brand-new underpants so much that she makes up a special dance to show them off. As it turns outs, she loves her underpants so much that she even takes her fancy new dance on the road -- with both hilarious and heartwarming consequences.
Congratulations on your picture book debut! Can you tell us a little bit about how Underpants Dance came to be?
Of course! When I wrote Underpants Dance and chose not to include an ending in which the protagonist “learns her lesson” in the traditional way, I knew not every editor would be jumping to publish it. So what did I do? Research -- just like SCBWI and every children’s book editor will tell you to do. And it paid off.
Here is what I did. I found out that Steve Meltzer was the Dutton editor for Walter the Farting Dog, and I figured if he likes farting dogs he might be okay with underpants, too. So I followed Dutton’s submission guidelines and sent him a query. He sent back a note asking me to email the manuscript, which I did. Then I waited…almost a whole year. Now, I’ve worked in publishing and know how busy things get. I had a good hunch that the email with my manuscript was lost for good. I also knew that Steve probably had an assistant who read all his mail. So I decided to send a hard copy with a letter politely explaining the situation. Lo and behold, the assistant did find my manuscript, and after some further editorial gymnastics, I ended up with editor Liz Waniewski at Dial and a book contract with my name on it.
Wow. That’s a great story of research and persistence paying off! If we go back in time a little further, what initially inspired you to write Underpants Dance?
I used to be a reading editor at a big school publisher. One thing you need to understand about school publishers is that they put lots of money into developing textbooks that they hope to sell all across the country. And because they need to appeal to a broad market in order to make their sales and not go bankrupt, they can’t offend anybody. So, if a state such as, oh, Texas for instance, declares it won’t acquire any textbooks that include stories about children who defy authority, well then a publisher sure as heck isn’t going to include that kind of story in its program. (Never mind that LOTS can be learned and enjoyed from stories about protagonists who misbehave and make mistakes. Luckily we have awesome librarians to direct kids to those books.) This corporate culture of self-censorship ran counter to my often contrary, somewhat rebellious, nature. And that is where the story of my story begins...
As it happened, I was in this big important publishing meeting where experts were discussing the kinds of stories we should commission. I recall something about well-behaved children who always wear their bicycle helmets and gleefully eat peas…no kidding. Two thoughts went through my mind:
1. What if a REAL child walked into this room right now? These people wouldn’t know what to do with her (especially if she were my cousin’s three-year-old daughter, who was going through her eschewing-any-and-all-clothing phase).
2. What if I jumped up onto the conference table right now and danced in my underpants?
But neither of these things happened. What happened was that I quietly nibbled a dried-up lemon danish and nodded politely while a little girl named Lily McBloom wandered into my thoughts. And she started doing everything that the children in the textbook stories weren’t supposed to do. Then, when the meeting was over, I went back to my desk and wrote the story’s first lines.
Way to go for following your heart! What was the most exciting part of the publication process for you after that?
I guess for me it was when Underpants Dance was finally released. The publication of my first book was a LOOOOOOOOONG process. It was delayed a bunch of times. I think it took about a decade from beginning to end. I’m hoping the publication of my next books won’t take quite so long.
Speaking of your next books, do you have any projects in the works that you can tell us about? I hope they will be in print soon, too!
I’ve written more stories about Lily and Lily’s sister Marigold, but my publisher is waiting to see how Underpants Dance sells before committing to something like a series. This is how publishing works now. So, if you like Underpants Dance and want to see more of Lily, please spread the word!
I’m also working on a middle grade fantasy series inspired by a quote from Joseph Campbell: “There are no models in our mythology for an individual woman’s quest.” Actually, I believe that a new mythology is being created right now, in our time, by authors, storytellers, filmmakers, and especially girls and women themselves. That’s a party I can’t help but join.
If you’d like to hear more from Marlena, stay tuned for Part II of our interview. Next week we’ll be chatting about Marlena's background in movement and how she’ll be incorporating it into her author visits for Underpants Dance!
On Saturday my lovely friend Frane Lessac and I spoke about getting published as part of the Mundaring Arts Centre's Heartlines Festival. here we are - with me in full flight explaining something and Frane looking on, waiting for her chance to say something clever.
Anyway, inspired by this, yesterday I blogged over at the Christchurch Kids blog about the steps involved in the publicaton of
--
More questions today, with the added bonus of answers!!
::shoos chickens out of way::
Not sure if you can answer this, but how do the covers of books get chosen?
It’s kind of a mystery to me, too. Publishers have departments of people who are artists. They have other departments filled with sales and marketing people. Near as I can figure, when it’s time to design a cover, the members of the three departments gather in a secret location and hold a massive game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine which dept. gets to take the lead on the design. The other two depts. have input, but too a limited degree.
I don’t know how much input other authors have on their covers. I seem to have none. I like most of the covers of my books and love a couple of them. Whenever I have tried to make suggestions about cover art, I’ve been gently reminded that I am an author, not an artist or a member of the sales and marketing departments. So my approach is to focus on what I can control – my writing – and leave the other stuff to the people who know more about it than I do.
1st person verses 3rd person ~ or do you feel it matters?
How do you know which character’s person if first person?
The point of view (POV) from which you tell your story is hugely important. But sometimes you might not be able to figure which POV to use. Or, in the case of 1st person POV, which character is your POV character.
This might help: Do a quick and dirty draft in the third-person POV – from the first page to the last. By the end of the draft you’ll know who the most important person is in the story. Experiment with writing a few chapters from that person’s POV. If it feels natural, then run with it – turn your first revision draft into an exercise of shifting the narrative from 3rd to 1st POV.
I wrote the first eight drafts of FEVER 1793 in 3rd person. Then I shifted to 1st person, did another five revisions and finally wound up with a book that someone wanted to publish.
Yes, it seems like a lot of work. But sometimes it’s what you have to do.
How do I weed out the “fluff”, to see the forest for the trees, so to speak, no matter how awesome the fluff may be?
How do you know when a story is worth the time of others for a critique?
How do you maintain confidence when success rate is like 0.1%????
These questions are all connected. And I will answer them all… on Tuesday.
Ready…. “Ideas are the cheapest part of the writing. They are free. The hard part is what you do with ideas you’ve gathered.” Jane Yolen
Set…. three days left in WFMAD – you can do this!!
Today’s prompt:
1. Write out the steps you need to take in order to finish your current work in progress. Be as detailed and precise as possible.
2. Give yourself deadlines.
3. Now double the deadlines and write the dates down on a calender. Do you have a writing buddy you can share this with? Someone who will hold you accountable to your deadlines?
4. Write out your vision of the most perfect things that could happen to your story and to you after you submit it for publication. Be detailed and precise about this, too. And have fun with it!
Scribble…Scribble…Scribble!!!
Lots of people ask me how much influence authors have on their covers. The truth is (at least for me) not a lot. I have raised a few objections now and then and have always been patted gently on the head and told to leave these things to the experts and while I'm at it, go home and write another book.
I have arrived at a place of zen surrender with The Cover Issue (tho' I still voice my objections, to the amusement of the Powers That Be). Now when the publisher sends me a cover image, I can look at it with a little more detachment than I used to.
Unless I adore it. Then I get very, very excited.
Like I am right now.
WINTERGIRLS will be published in the United Kingdom by Marion Lloyd Books of Scholastic UK in January 2011. Here is the cover.
What do you think?
::cues drummers::
Are you ready for my BIG NEWS?
This is officially a Big Freaking Deal. As in, I hyperventilated when I heard.
The Carnegie is the equivalent of the Newbery Award in the UK. Take a look at the other authors on the list. Neil Gaiman! Terry Pratchett! Julie Hearn!! I am agog to be in their company.
I am agogging still in New York City. Yesterday was Penguin Day, which included meetings and lunch with my Viking editor, Joy,
who wins the Most Organized Editor in New York Award, hands-down.
I also spent a big part of the day with my daughter, Stef,
who will be running in the half-marathon with me tomorrow.
We got shirts!
And now I will scurry about and try to get more work done before the giant pre-race pasta fest with
Deb Sloan and her running crew.
P.S. Yes, that is the British paperback cover of CHAINS, above.
P.P.S. Congratulations to one of my favorite bookstores,
Wild Rumpus Books, for being named the best children's bookstore in Minneapolis!
So I'm in NYC now for a mixture of business and fun. Today I'll be at the offices of Simon & Schuster, tomorrow I'll be at Penguin, Saturday is a research/family day and Sunday I'll be running a half-marathon in Central Park.
Monday I limp home.
I have a camera with me. What do you want me to take pictures of? (Leave me a note in Comments or on FB or Twitter.)
I don't know how much I'll be able to post for the next couple of days. In case you miss me, check out these video interviews with me at AdLit.
Or you can read this article about Kristen Stewart.
Off to change into my city suit of armor....
My writing is going well. So well, I'm having a hard time sleeping. (This is a good thing.)
Amazon has stopped being the bookstore bully, for the time-being.
Blogosphere is having good and overdue discussions about telling the stories of all kids.
Wendy Glenn wrote a book about me. This feels very odd.
Back to writing.
I'll make this fast.
Amazon is feuding with publishers. Reuters explains why.
Other people have written smart and funny blog entries about it. Like Deb Heiligman. And John Scalzi.
The Author's Guild just started Who Moved My Buy Button?
The Buy button is missing from the hardcover version of SPEAK because it is published by FS&G, which is owned by Macmillan, one of the publishers that is standing up to the 800-pound gorilla. You can still buy it through Amazon resellers.
I'd rather you bought it from an independent bookseller, but that's up to you.
What do you think about this? Does it change the way you think about buying books?
(I am sticking with my "20 minutes of writing earn 1 minute of internet time" rule, so I'll check back here later tonight to see what you think.)
Thank you, Queen Louise for doing such a great jump filling in yesterday. (I was off conducting cooking experiments under conditions that sort of simulated the Valley Forge encampment in December 1777.)
Zoe continues to be in the running for inclusion in a million boxes of Cheerios, but there is bad news.
Other books (which are sweet books, lovely books, but still) are surging ahead. ::cues threatening music:: This is not a winner-takes-all competition. The top FIVE books will be put in Cheerios boxes for eager breakfast readers. (For the record, the authors and illustrators will not see any royalties from these cereal books. It's just wicked cool and fun.)
::threatening music again:: Zoe has slipped to fifth place. SHE NEEDS YOUR VOTE. (see below the photos for details)
I mentioned a couple of days ago that authors generally get to see early sketches.
They are just to give everyone a rough sense of the illustrator's ideas.
Don't know if you can see it, but I changed some of my text based on Ard's work.
After the sketches, Ard went back and painted. The author gets to see the early page proofs, too.
One of my favorite things Ard did was to add in a group of gerbils who act like a visual Greek chorus during Zoe's saga.
(I couldn't figure out how to rotate this photo - sorry!) Originally the cover's background color was white. Then there were MANY discussions at Simon & Schuster. The concern was that less-than-perfectly-clean hands would smudge up the white cover in a hurry. In the end, the powers that be - and Ard, I think - chose the lilac shade.
OK, dear friends. Warm up your clicking finger. Do a couple of jumping jacks. IT'S TIME TO VOTE!!!
HOW TO VOTE:
1. Go to the voting page.
2. In the bottom right corner, click on MORE BOOKS twice. (Yes, this is the tricky part. No, I don't know why Zoe is buried at the absolute back of the pack. Kind of makes you feel sorry for her, huh?) That will take you to ZOE.
3. Click on the yellow box that says VOTE!
4. Notify all of your friends, neighbors, family members, the folks at church or temple or mosque or other house of faith, the rest of the PTA, the people at the firehouse, everyone in your classroom, and tell them all pretty, pretty please with a headful of unruly red hair, PLEASE VOTE FOR ZOE.
5. Do this every day until the end of October.
TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!! WANT TO GIVE ME A PRESENT? VOTE FOR ZOE TODAY!
Thanks for all the great questions!!! Let's get to it!
You asked: When your first book was published, was it by a small, independent company or one of the larger, well-known ones? If a publisher rejects you, should you send the same manuscript back to them a year later, or assume that they're not interested?
My first published book was a quiet picture book about a girl in Kenya called Ndito Runs. It was published by Henry Holt in 1996 and has been out of print for several years. (It was later translated into Xhosa, Zulu, Africaans, and Lesotho for publication in South Africa. That was very cool.) Henry Holt is one of the major publishers. My first piece of published writing for children was a short story in Highlights Magazine. That was a real thrill because I had been such a fan of the magazine as a kid.
If a publisher rejects you, then please do not send the manuscript back a year later. They are dealing with too many manuscripts as it is. Send your story somewhere else and get to work on a new one. I have plenty of manuscripts that were rejected. Why? Because they weren't good enough to be published. I thought they were, but the publishers didn't and that's all that matters. It hurts, it sucks, and it's part of being a writer. Write something new.
You asked: Does it have an effect on your work if you watch tv shows or movies? A big obstacle for me is that my characters seem to be too much like characters from my favorite tv show. (Let's not bother guessing which one.) How do you avoid creating something that seems more like fanfiction than original work?
I don't watch many movies or television shows (except for sports) so I'm not the best person to answer this question. Maybe you could experiment with taking two weeks off from your normal television watching and use that time for writing instead. By the end of two weeks, I bet you'll see a difference. If you do this, let me know how it turns out.
Thanks to the LiveJournal Spotlight this week, we've had many more blog readers. Hail and welcome to the Forest! I hope you come back!
For those of you who are new to the blog, feel free to follow me on Twitter. My name there is halseanderson. This will explain what Twitter is if you don't know.
I didn't get the 10 pages I had hoped for yesterday, but I found a way to tighten up the second half of the book, so it was a day well spent. Am going back to it right now. (Feel free to keep those writing and publishing questions coming!)
Scribblescribblescribble...
My thumb continues to heal. Many thanks to the Constant Reader who sent me info on the local guy who makes handmade drums and gives lessons. That will be my reward for finishing the book I'm writing now (FORGE, the follow-up to CHAINS). Until then, I am downloading all kinds of drumming music. Any suggestions?
Many of the conversations at the KW retreat revolved around all the layoffs (i.e. bloodbath) that happened at various publishers in the last few months. It is horrendous for the people who lost their jobs, and it makes writers trying to sell a project or break into the market understandably confused and disheartened.
My opinion?
This too, shall pass.
It all sucks horribly - especially for the people paying NYC rents and suddenly jobless - but it is not a permanent situation. Nothing ever is.
My advice is to use the economic meltdown as an opportunity to focus less on the publication process and more on the quality of your craft. This is the year you don't have send out one hundred queries or waste time keeping up on trends or tracking down agents. This is the year to focus on taking your writing to the next level. Do that and it will be much easier to sell your book when the economy strengthens.
Anyone else have an opinion about this?
On a more positive note, I can finally share the news of WINTERGIRLS' 4th star!!! Thank you, Kirkus! Here's the review:
"Neither therapy nor threats nor her ex–best friend’s death can turn Lia away from her habits of cutting and self-starvation. In broken, symbolic and gut-wrenching prose, Lia narrates her hopeless story of the destructive behaviors that control her every action and thought. She lives for both the thrill and the crash of not eating, and any progress she may have made toward normal eating is erased when her former best friend Cassie dies alone in a hotel room. The trauma of Cassie’s death coupled with Lia’s strained relationship with her parents and stepmother makes her tighten her focus on not eating as she slides into a world of starvation-induced hallucinations. Uncontrollable self-accusations (“Stupid/ugly/stupid/bitch/stupid/fat”) and compulsive calorie counts punctuate her claustrophobic account, which she edits chillingly to control her world. Anderson perfectly captures the isolation and motivations of the anorexic without ever suggesting that depression and eating disorders are simply things to “get over.” Due to the author’s and the subject’s popularity, this should be a much-discussed book, which rises far above the standard problem novel." Kirkus, Feb. 1, 2009.
I think there may be a few reviewer ARCS available through the WINTERGIRLS MySpace page. This is done by the publisher, so for those of you who have been sending me questions about the ARCs, I'm really, really, sorry, but I don't have a clue. On the MySpace page, there is an email address in the blog announcement about the giveaway. Mail your questions there.
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