Peter Carver - So You Want to Write a Childrens Book: An Insiders Handbook for Childrens Writers and Illustrators Who Want to Get Published

So You Want to
W r i te a
Chi l d re n s
B o o k

An Insiders Handbook For Childrens Writers and Illustrators Who Want to Get Published

Peter Carver

Copyright 2011 Peter Carver

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of Red Deer Press or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from Access Copyright (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency) 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900,

Toronto, ON M5E 1E5, Fax (416) 868-1621.

Published by Red Deer Press, A Fitzhenry & Whiteside Company

195 Allstate Parkway, Markham, ON, L3R 4T8

www.reddeerpress.com

Cover and text design by Daniel Choi

Cover Image Courtesy Daniel Choi

eBook development: WildElement.ca

5 4 3 2 1

We acknowledge with thanks the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication data is available on file from Library and Archives Canada, ISBN: 978-0-88995-456-4 (pbk.), 978-1-55244-293-7 (epub)

Publisher Cataloging-in-Publication Data (U.S.)

Carver, Peter.

So you want to write a childrens book: an insiders handbook for childrens writers and illustrators who want to get published / Peter Carver.

[ 136 ] p. : ill. ; 15.2 x 22.9 cm.

Summary: Handbook for aspiring childrens authors and illustrators; a guide to the book writing and publishing process.

ISBN: 978-0-88995-456-4 (pbk.), 978-1-55244-293-7 (epub)

1. Childrens literature--Technique. 2. Illustration of books. I. Title.

808.06/8 dc22 PN147.5.C3794 2011

The Earth is

degenerating

these days.

Bribery

and

corruption

abound.

Children

no longer

mind parents.

Every man

wants

to write

a book,

and

it is

evident

that the end of

the world

is

approaching

fast.

Assyrian tablet

2800 B.C.

Contents

PREFACE

~

Everyones got a book in them. A great idea. A funny childhood memory. A crazy dream they know would make a fantastic novel. We carry it around like a dirty little secret. Like Gollums precious. It consumes us as we fantasize about it, envisioning the cover face out, front and center in the bookstore. Weve practiced our sloppy author signature. We already know who well get to do the illustrations, who well dedicate it to and who well thank in our award-winning speech. Maybe weve even started the book. Or at least bought another new journal. And some more pens. The good ones.

But something always stops us from actually writing. We feel its watchful all-seeing eye burning up every line. Its the dreaded critic. Our worst one. Ourselves.

Me, a writer? Pshhhht!

Published?! Are you kidding me?

Ill never even get this finished!

For the truth of it is, we dont even know where to begin.And so we go in circles from delusions of grandeur to the depths of denial. Its sick, really. But we cant help ourselves. Were writers. Fresh from the shire. But we dont know what were doing.

If only some wise soul could tell us the way, give us the knowledge, help us use our creative powers for good ...

And who comes along, but Peter Carver.

Well, okay, he didnt really come alongI stalked him. I read his authors. I traveled to Toronto to hear him speak at a conference and the following summers flew to Nova Scotia for his writing retreats. But, come on, the path to publishing that first novel is daunting. Terrifying. Paralyzing. I needed answers: Where do I get started? How do I finish? And what happens if I come upon a great clause-breathing contract?

Teacher, author, publisher, and award-winning editorPeter has the tools to untangle every authors frustrations. He knows the business and the art. He knows the processes. He empathizes with not only the writer but also the reader. Your readers. And yes, you will have them.

Peter has given me much wisdom and guidance over the years but I think the best advice he ever gave me was: Your job as a writer is to write.

It sounds so simpleand it is, really. We complicate the journey with our fears and hypothetical meanderings. But under Peters guidance, like countless other aspiring writers, I found my voice. He helped me tune in, and suddenly my stories were freed. That small seed of an idea that Id toyed with in high-school writers craft twenty years earlier not only sprouted, it flourished into a Governor Generals Award-winning series.

And with this book in your hands, youve got all you need to do the same. Learn the business, hone the craft, find your voice, and write. Write. WRITE!

Because Ill bet theres more than one book inside of you.

Caroline Pignat

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

~

This guide is based on more than twenty-five years experience teaching adults who want to write for children and almost thirty-five years working as in-house and freelance editor for a number of Canadian publishers.

When I worked at The Canadian Childrens Book Centre in Toronto in the 1980s, a steady flow of individuals arrived on our doorstep who felt they had created the great Canadian childrens story but didnt know how to get it published. Fledgling writers and budding illustrators asked for advice and direction in their search for publishing success.

In 1984, in response, the Centre launched a series of month-long courses in Writing for Children. The four weekly meetings in each course allowed us to provide basic information about the childrens publishing industry as well as suggestions about how one might approach a publisher with a manuscript. But time constraints meant there was only a limited opportunity to workshop students writing.

In the fall of 1986, I began teaching a ten-week course in Writing for Children for George Brown Colleges Continuing Education division. A year later a second workshop was added to accommodate those who wanted to return to the program to continue with the process wed set upin effect to establish an ongoing childrens writers workshop. It is to those who have been with me in the George Brown Advanced Writing for Children workshopsome staying with it for more than ten yearsthat I owe so much, both for the ideas and inspiration for this guide. It is in working with them that I have come to understand the passion, the practical difficulties, and the real struggles experienced by writers who are trying to break into the childrens book industry.

In the early years of the Writing for Children program, the success of the course fed a series of annual weekend conferences staged in Toronto during the summer months, entitled Storymakers . The five Storymakers conferences were exhilarating creative gatherings, attended by hundreds of eager writers, and fed by the contributions of dozens of the most talented of childrens authors, illustrators, and editors.

Since September 1989, George Browns Writing for Children courses have been taught at Mabels Fables, a thriving childrens bookstore in mid-town Toronto. My thanks to the stores original proprietors, Susan McCullough and her sister Eleanor LeFave, who so generously made available their space for our meetings. At various times, sections of the course have also been taught at the Casa Loma campus of George Brown, and at the North York Central Library; writers in these venues also contributed to the knowledge base this guide draws from.