Archive for May 2024

“I don’t wait for inspiration. I’m not, in fact, quite sure what inspiration is, but I’m sure that if it is going to turn up, my having started work is the precondition of its arrival.” —Quentin Blake

Just write! Sit down right now and write about inspiration and your relationship with it. Create a writing practice and stick with it.

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“If we want interesting characters to appear, first we have to understand them: see them through the eyes of the imaginary beings that surround them, find out what those beings think of them, explore the world in which they operate …”—Martin Solares

Invent a character. Now look at them through the eyes of other characters who people your picture book. You could also look at them from the point of view of some well-known picture book/story book/fairy tale characters. What would Goldilocks think about them, for example?

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“In this modern world, where activity is stressed almost to the point of mania, quietness as a childhood need is too often overlooked. Yet a child’s need for quietness is the same today as it has always been—it may even be greater—for quietness is an essential part of all awareness. In quiet times and sleepy times, a child can dwell in thoughts of his own and in songs and stories of his own.”—Margaret Wise Brown

Margaret Wise Brown was writing more than 70 years ago, and life has only become more noisy since then. Write a manuscript that celebrates quietness—or that questions noise.

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Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row
—Nursery rhyme

What does it mean to be contrary? Create a character who is “contrary” or who seems to be contrary (but isn’t from their own perspective).

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