Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 268
July 2, 2015
Book Design: Cover Art
Whether you are publishing your work independently or packaging lesson plans to supplement your traditionally published book, writers and illustrators alike will benefit from Chip Kidd’s TEDD talk on mystery vs clarity. Not familiar with Kidd’s work? You should be. He is an award winning graphic designer who works for Random House designing a wide […]
July 1, 2015
The Scene: What Is It and What Makes it Work
At its most basic, a scene is a story telling unit. Yeah, I know. That definition has never done a lot for me either. Its the ultimate non-defining definition. A little bit better is that a scene takes place in a specific place at a specifice time. Jump forward a day or change locations and […]
June 30, 2015
Smithsonian Museum: Asian and American Art now available online
One of the many wonders of the internet is that so much art work is available online. No, it isn’t the same as viewing a work in person but it is enough to give you a frame of reference. The Smithsonian has just made the Freer/Sackler Galleries available online. These galleries consist of some 40,000 […]
June 29, 2015
World Building: Not Just a Matter of Fantasy
When you say “world building,” many people assume you are talking about fantasy. The truth is that you have to world build any time you are taking readers into a specific world with which they are unfamiliar. Yes, Rowling had to world build in Harry Potter. But Milne also carefully constructed the 100 Acre Wood. […]
June 28, 2015
POV: Beware the Shift
Point of view. As a writer, you’re most likely familiar with this term. Point of view is the view from which you are telling the story. If you’re not sure what that means, think of it as who is holding the camera. If you are telling the story from the point of view of your […]
June 25, 2015
Backstory: How to Avoid the Info Dump
One of the trickiest things to do when writing a middle grade or young adult novel is work in the backstory. The problem for most writers is that they want to tell too much too soon. And that makes sense. After all, they’ve spent so much time in developing their character and creating a compelling […]
June 24, 2015
When to Submit Your Story
“When should I send in my story? Is it okay to submit during a Book Fair?” I’ve always been surprised how many writers have complicated systems about when and when not to submit their work. They won’t send it in too close to Christmas because editors are just cleaning off their desks. They won’t sent […]
June 23, 2015
Insight: SCBWI Member Benefit
It’s been a while since I wrote about SCBWI, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. When I started writing for children, this was the only game in town. The internet was pretty darn new (yes, it’s been THAT long) and this was the best way to get a lot of information as well […]
June 22, 2015
Finding an Agent
This week, I drafted the backmatter for a nonfiction picture book on prayer. I actually wrote that I revised it but then changed that to drafted. This version is so different from the first that I’m hesitant to call it a rewrite. This means that I have two picture books ready to go out. One […]
June 21, 2015
Story Logic: Making Sense of Your Story World
Today I got to hear part of an “All Things Considered” piece on NPR about story logic. The interview was with author Kelly Link and she talked about the difference between Day Time Logic and Night Time Logic. Day Time Logic is the world we know. Night Time Logic is something else. “Night time logic […]
