InkSpotter News

Information and Support for Creative Writers

 Published by InkSpotter Writing & Editing

Volume 2.4                May 2004

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In This Issue

Editorial

Bookmarks

Feature Article

Paying Markets

Bragging Rights

Letters to the Editor

Editorial

Better Late Than Never

Yes, I must admit this month's issue is more than a little late, but I have a really good reason.

I promise.

Why?

All for the chance to enter my site in The Writer's Room Magazine's Author Website Contest. Winning seemed like a long shot at best, but I had to try.

When I received an email a few days ago announcing that the winners had been chosen and could be viewed on TWRM's website, I held my breath. What were the odds, after all, of a little-known Canadian writer's site standing out amid so many others.

When I read my name in the 2nd place position, I literally squealed. And bounced in my chair. And called everyone I could reach on a Friday evening. I wish I could recount a more dignified reaction, but what the heck? I was ecstatic.

I've written before about taking chances with your writing, but what happens when those chances pay off? 

Celebrate with every ounce of childlike glee still lurking inside your grownup body--and dance with the cat if there's no one else around at the time.

Betty Dobson, Publisher/Editor

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Bookmarks

Each issue, Betty Dobson uses this space to share her writing successes from the past month. With any luck, she'll never run out of material.

Feature Article

Learning From the Masters

by Laura Backes

Write4Kids.com - The Children's Writing SuperSite

Whether illustrating someone else's words or his own texts, Sendak could never be accused of taking the easy route to publication. His books are complicated, deeply emotional stories, with subtexts that often illuminate the dark side of human nature. In an interview appearing in the November/December 2003 issue of The Horn Book Magazine, Sendak says "...we can get away with things in children's books that nobody in the adult world ever can because the assumption is that the audience is too innocent to pick it up. And in truth they're the only audience that does pick it up."

It's comments like this that show Sendak's deep respect for his audience, as well as the picture book as an art form. In the same interview, Sendak talks about how he chooses subjects he feels passionately about, or those that resonate with him on a basic emotional level. These are not cute bedtime stories, but books that reveal his soul. Some cut too close to the bone--when he was working on Outside Over There he had a breakdown and stepped away from the project for six months. And though he is revered as one of the most influential artists in the history of children's picture books, Sendak doesn't think of himself as a genius. "I have no brilliant conceptual gift for drawing or any really exceptional gift for writing," he told The Horn Book. "My talent is knowing how to make a picture book. Knowing how to pace it, knowing how to time it. The drawing and the writing are good, but if my whole career counted on that I wouldn't have made it very far."

Virtually every article in the November/December 2003 Horn Book is devoted to analysis and celebration of Sendak's work, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in studying picture books. It inspired me to round up some of my other favorite author/illustrators. I'm no artist, and so I respond to picture books not from a technical aspect but with my gut. Here are three author/illustrators whose work, to me, embodies the pure emotion and wide-eyed wonder of childhood.

* Peggy Rathmann: Rathmann's illustrations always say more than her texts. Packed with tiny, delightful details and secondary characters acting out stories all their own, her books mesmerize even nonreaders. Her latest picture book, The Day the Babies Crawled Away, is stunning. The story is told by a mother recalling the day her young son saved all the babies when they crawled away during a town fair (the parents were busy at the pie-eating contest). The illustrations are black silhouettes against a technicolor sky. Though we can't see the characters' faces we always know who's who: the boy hero wears a fireman's helmet, the babies are distinguished by bows, bonnets and topknots. A butterfly starts the baby parade away from the fair and is soon joined by a caterpillar, a frog, a bat and a bird. The same butterfly lands on Mom's hair at the end of the day as the tired hero falls asleep in her arms. Rathmann makes clever use of every page in the book, starting the story on the endpapers and building through the title page and dedication. Take a close look at the last picture to see how one baby relives her adventure.

* Ezra Jack Keats: Keats' classic, deceptively simple books resonate with the everyday experiences that define childhood. In analyzing The Snowy Day, my lack of artistic experience became apparent. At first glance, I thought the illustrations were bold shapes cut from different types of paper glued on top of each other. But closer inspection shows edges of colors bleeding together and lines that aren't quite filled in, as if they were painted with watercolors and a large brush. Faces were drawn with pencil or charcoal; snowflakes appear stenciled over tissue paper. In any case, the effect is childlike, wet and a little messy, just like playing outside after a big snowstorm. My son especially likes the spread of Peter in his red snowsuit making tracks through unmarred snow, first with his toes pointing out, then with his toes pointing in. After studying the book, Matthew said, "I can make pictures like that." We bought different types of paper and Matthew proceeded to create artwork modeled after Keats. In my opinion, any book so accessible that a child can make it his own is a winner.

* Chris Van Allsburg: Van Allsburg's books have a magical, otherworldly element that often takes my breath away. He is a supremely skilled artist, incorporating design, balance, color and texture in a way that gives the sense of stepping right into the picture. In one spread from The Polar Express, the reader is positioned above Santa's sleigh as he flies over thousands of elves crowded into the North Pole's city center. I almost get dizzy every time I see it. The Polar Express is a very personal story about a boy going for a ride on a magic train that takes him, along with hundreds of other kids, to the North Pole to meet Santa. Van Allsburg's somber palette, the straightforward nature of the text, the depiction of the North Pole as a city of tall buildings past a desert of ice, and the poignant first-person narration all help the story to feel true. Put aside those cutesy Santa stories--here's the real thing.

I urge you to spend a day in the book store or library finding those books that make music for you. By studying their rhythms, you'll learn how to make your own stories sing.

# # #

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Backes is the publisher of Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers. For more information about writing children's books, including free articles, market tips, insider secrets and much more, visit Children's Book Insider's home on the web at http://write4kids.com

Copyright 2004, Children's Book Insider, LLC

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Paying Markets

Everyone loves a good mystery, right? Figuring out the clues and sifting out the killer from the suspects are challenges faced by mystery readers all over the world. But can you write a good mystery? Do you have what it takes to stump your readers and have them coming back for more?

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine - Since 1941, EQMM has provided readers with an exciting mix of psychological suspense, police procedurals, hard-boiled detectives and drawing room cozies. Editors look for "strong writing, an original and exciting plot, and professional craftsmanship."

Reading period: Open

Rights: First rights (does not accept stories previously published in the United States)

Pays: Starts at 5¢-8¢ per word, on publication

475 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016

Host-party.com - Writers required to produce a series of murder mystery games. Requirements include central plot, character descriptions, instructions and clues.

Reading period: Open

President & Founder

Rights: Not stated

Pays: Royalties on games sold

info@host-party.com

904 East Kirk Way

Superior CO 80237

Orchard Press Mysteries - Prefers submissions from members of professional mystery writers' group but will consider all submission regardless of publishing history. Writers must first submit a query or story will not be read. No previously published stories.

Reading period: Open

Publisher & Editor: Richard Heagy

Rights: First rights, exclusive Internet rights for 90 days

Pays: $25 for short stories; $10 for short-short stories

Use online Query Form

FNASR - First North American Serial Rights.

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Hi Betty,

I'm pleased to see that you are doing very well. Your business and awards are growing every day.

I am happy for you.

Keep it up!

Simon Jacques

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