***I have a number of writing
deadlines coming up over the next couple of months so I have decided
instead of stepping away from my blog completely to concentrate solely
on my writing, I will bring back an encore performance of my WRITERLY
WISDOM series from three years ago. WW is 52 glorious posts by authors,
agents, and editors from around the country providing writerly wisdom in
categories from why even become a writer all the way to how to publish
and market your books.
There
will be two posts loaded per week...Mondays & Wednesdays...so be
sure to stop by and check out all the encouraging information given by
my lovely writerly friends! I hope you enjoy the encore presentation of
my WRITERLY WISDOM series and I will return with shiny, new posts in the
fall!***
CHARACTERS – THEY’RE
ALL AROUND US
by Marsha Diane Arnold
Last week, Donna emailed me a sweet reminder that my
promised blog post on character-driven picture books was close to overdue. To
my horror, my reminder had fallen off my calendar! Things do fall off calendars you know, even if the calendar is
an Apple iCal, maybe especially
if it’s an Apple iCal. Donna kindly rearranged things to give me more time, but
I felt very ditzy, a little like Lucille Ball. Most folks don’t see me as a
Lucille Ball type; only my husband knows the truth.
As my new deadline approached, I realized this week is my
busiest in a long time. A dark blogging despair came over me. But as I
hurry-scurried, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel…because characters are
all around us.
Take that faint resemblance between my sometimes zany self
and Lucille Ball. Lucille Ball was one of the funniest comediennes of all time
as well as a pin-up model and a studio executive, when that just didn’t happen
for women. A truly unique character.
Check out some I Love Lucy clips
and you might get ideas for funny characters and situations. At the least
they’ll put you in a good mood for more writing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQVH_MVN8mI
I didn’t get to my blog on Thursday either. From 9 AM to 8
PM I was in the neighboring county, keeping appointments and doing errands. I
stopped by my husband’s retail store to talk to him about a few matters, only
for 10 or 15 minutes. What did I find? Characters surrounding me!
There was Marilyn, owner of the bicycle shop next door.
She’s founder and director of a group that recycles old bicycles (pun intended)
and organizes mountain bike outings for disadvantaged kids. http://www.tripsforkids.org/national/history.htm
There was Liz, whose father had been a customer of my
husband’s for over 15 years. My husband shared that Liz’s father was a
gentleman, in the old sense of the word – a man who gives respect to others and
so receives it back. He’d smile a big smile every time anyone entered the room.
My husband says you may not remember what people say to you, but you will
always remember how they make you feel. Liz’s father made everyone feel
special.
And most memorable of all was Mr. Kaufman, 96 years old,
standing tall with a head of white hair and sharp as a whip. Mr. Kaufman had
worked for ABC as an on-air personality and producer for many years. He
assisted in getting Nat King Cole his first record deal. And he was a glider
pilot in WW II.
All these folks came into my life and left again in under 15
minutes!
But I might not have heard any of their stories if it wasn’t
for my husband. Whenever anyone comes into his store, he asks them about
themselves. He wants to know their story. If he didn’t, I wouldn’t have met
these fine folks. Indeed, this was 96-year-old Mr. Kaufman’s first visit to my
husband’s store. We had a lovely conversation, because my husband started it.
Editors praise writers whose characters are relatable to
kids. But remember that if your character is interesting, if he/she makes you
curious, then you’re touching one of man’s deepest and strongest traits:
curiosity and interest about another person. Afterall, what you really want is
for your reader to be curious about your
character.
Yes, there were stories waiting in my husband’s store.
Character-driven stories. Stories to make a child curious. A story about a kid
who takes a trip into the mountains on a bicycle. A story of a character who
respects you and makes you feel special. A story of a hang glider pilot from WW II. A story
of a man who always asks, “What’s your story?”
Thursday, September 26th at 6 PM Pacific Time,
Mira Reisberg and I along with Mark G. Mitchell are doing a free workshop on
Creating Wonderful Picture Book Characters. There’ll be a contest with great
prizes, including my Writing Character-Driven Picture Book e-course. You can
sign up here for the workshop: http://makeyoursplashes.com/mira-and-marsha/
Marsha Diane Arnold is a multi-award winning children's author. She's originally
from Kansas and so like Dorothy in The Wizard
of Oz that you wouldn't believe it. Her book The
Bravest of Us All, which centers around a storm cellar, tells only part of the
story. She now lives in the California countryside with her husband, two cats,
deer, fox, owls, wild turkeys, and many more fabulous creatures, including the
ones in her imagination.
The media has called Marsha a "born storyteller." After
writing an award-winning column for 10 years, her first book, the multi-award
winning Heart of a Tiger was published in 1995. You can learn about
all her picture books, her ebook, her Prancing Dancing Lily app. and more at www.marshadianearnold.com. Recently she
contracted for three new picture books, two with Neal Porter Books, and a third
with an editor tba.
You can find her Writing Character-Driven Picture
Book course
at http://www.picturebookacademy.com/writing-character-driven-stories.html.
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