Nancy I. Sanders's Blog, page 62

Nonfiction Picture Book in 3 Weeks: Prep

Last spring a publisher contacted me about a brand new nonfiction children’s book project. They asked if I’d be interested in writing it for them. There was just one hitch. Each book had to be written in less than one month.

Well…that took a little bit of time to get all the negotiations figured out and the contract signed, but that night after I heard from the publisher, I spent several hours creating a list of research books I would need to have in order to work on that new nonfiction project.

First I went to Amazon and searched for encyclopedias, reference books, hefty adult nonfiction books, and children’s books on that topic.

I made a list of lots and lots of possible books I might need.

Then I visited my local library’s online site and ordered in as many of those books as I could find there.

Then I went back to Amazon and did the “Look Inside” feature for the books on my list that my library didn’t have. I created a “Must have” list of books I’d need.

Then I figured out a budget for what I was willing to spend to beef up my own personal research library of books I wanted to own. For contracts where I’m offered $3000-$5000 advance I usually budget in about $100-$250 for purchasing research books. Especially on Amazon I’ve been able to get encyclopedic reference books for less than $5.00 so I can usually make this go quite a ways.

(I didn’t purchase those books yet but later, the second it looked like I’d have a signed contract, I was ready to buy them so I did.)

And then I did one more thing.

I spent time at Amazon and at my online library’s site looking for mentor texts. These weren’t books that I could research for facts. These were books I could research to help me learn how to write my upcoming project.

So, along with research books you need to order in and have ready for when you start next Monday, you also need at least one nonfiction picture book that you’re going to use as your mentor text.

For the next two picture book projects we’ll be doing here on my blog, I got a big stack of current nonfiction picture books and historical fiction picture books from my library to go through to consider using as my mentor text.

Last time, I used Those Rebels, John and Tom. This time I want to use a different mentor text. My favorite in my stack so far is Thomas Jefferson Builds a Library, but I haven’t totally decided yet.

That book is current and it’s nothing short of awesome as far as nonfiction picture books go. (Those are the main reasons I’m considering using it for a mentor text. You might want to consider it as your mentor text as well.)

So while you’re gathering potential research books, also gather potential mentor texts of current nonfiction of historical fiction picture books you want yours to be like.

Nonfiction Picture Book in 3 Weeks: Prep

Yes, it is perfectly possible to write the first draft of a nonfiction picture book in three weeks. You can do it!

But ONLY if you already have the research books you need right there in your research center.

For example, the book I will be working on is a biography of a person I already own all the books there are that are written about him or written by him. So I can easily get started when next Monday rolls around.

But if you don’t yet have the books you need to use to research and write your nonfiction picture book, it can take awhile to order them in from the library and you’ll waste precious time if you’re hoping to follow along.

But first you have to choose a broad topic to write about so you know what books to look for. Many of you have awesome ideas already in your mind (I know because you’ve been e-mailing me about them!) but if you haven’t yet picked a topic, CLICK HERE to help you make your choice.

So go ahead and gather the books you’ll need for your research. Order them in from your library or find used books on your topic at Amazon.

And if you want to join me after that in the journey to write the first draft of a picture book in just ONE week, go ahead and order in those research books now, too.

Hairy Scary Nonfiction Research

It’s scary to research.

Why?

Because if you’re like me, you’re afraid you might do something wrong like state a fact that’s really not a fact or quote something you’re not allowed to quote.

If you’re like me, you’re always worried the Nonfiction Police are staring over your shoulder ready to lock you up and throw away the key for making a big whopping mistake!

Actually, it’s healthy to be a little bit scared about all this. It keeps us working extra hard to be good researchers and writers of nonfiction.

But here are some tips that will help you not stay frozen in your tracks and never write nonfiction. Hopefully these tips will give you the confidence to get out there and write your nonfiction articles and books.

Tip #1: If you find a fact, any fact, stated in 3 different places, then that fact is available for you, YES YOU!, to use freely in your manuscript.

The rule of thumb is: if you find a fact just in one place and put it into your manuscript, it’s plagiarism. You’re stealing someone else’s research they had to go through to find that fact.

But if you find a fact in three different places, it’s called research. YOU did YOUR research to find that fact in those three places so it’s okay to use it.

Here’s an example:

Say you find these three sentences in three different books:

Book 1 says: George Washington had twelve sets of wooden teeth for dentures and he always wore them to kiss Martha good-night.

Book 2 says: George Washington’s one favorite dentist made all his different sets of wooden teeth.

Book 3 says: When George Washington was 18 he lost all his teeth and had to wear wooden teeth the rest of his life for dentures.

So what can you say in YOUR manuscript?

Can you say: George Washington kissed Martha every night with his wooden teeth. NOPE. It only said that in one place.

Can you say: George Washington had one dentist who made him all his wooden teeth? NOPE. It only said that in one place.

Can you say: George Washington lost all his teeth at 18?

Nope. It only said that in one place.

So what can you SAY?

George Washington had wooden teeth he wore as dentures.

All three sources said that. So you’re safe to say that, too.

As you’re working on a manuscript, it helps to keep careful track of what facts you find where. I like to use footnotes and track these on each page I write.

I also like to make lists of facts and then put footnotes on these lists of sources I find each fact. When I have 3 sources for a fact, I know I can plug that fact into my manuscript.

Now, there’s one big instance this changes and that’s if you have a primary source such as a diary or journal or a verified source that is in public domain from before the early 1900s. For example, say you found a book at the library that was written in 1895 about the 5000 different kinds of icky slugs that live in the Amazon rainforest. If it’s a reputable book, you can quote those facts in there fairly confidently without having to find 2 more sources to back you up. That’s because it’s old enough to be in the public domain.

Tip #2: Always save a version of your manuscript with the footnotes. That way, if a publisher wants to include some of your footnotes in the published picture book or other nonfiction book for kids, you already have them there to plug in.

Tip #3: There are actually some children’s book publishers and even picture book publisher today who are including citations and footnotes in their books! So if you do want to put in a quote or in a fact that you found in just one place, cite it with a footnote. When you are offered a contract, discuss the publisher’s policy on footnotes with your editor.

If you have any questions or other insight about all this, just let me know!

Nonfiction Picture Book: Hip Hip Hooray!

I’ve been hearing from so many of you by personal e-mail about your nonfiction picture book writing journeys! It’s been so much fun to know we’ve been all working hard toward our goal of writing the first draft of a nonfiction picture book from beginning to end.

Some of us finished awhile ago and have been chomping at the bit to get started on the 3-week nonfiction picture book project. Some of us just finished and are taking a deep breath before we get started on yet another first draft. Some of us are racing toward the finish line. And some of us are still in the middle of it all.

Whichever stage you’re at, I want you to be encouraged! Don’t despair if you’re not yet done. Try not to see this as a time crunch. The exciting thing is that we’re moving forward as a writer and acquiring new skills. Just take the time you need to take to finish the first draft of your manuscript.

When I wrote my alphabet book, D is for Drinking Gourd: An African American Alphabet, it took me three months of solid and intense research and writing sessions just to write the first draft.

For those of you who already finished your first draft, and for those of you who will reach it on the day you get there, I’ve got a fun little picture you can add to your website or blog if you want. Or if you simply want to put it on your desktop or print it out and hang at your desk, you can do that too! I made this just to cheer you on and say, “Hip hip hooray for a job well done!” I hope you had a whale of a good time!

Here it is, nice and big if you want to save it and print it out:

And here it is as a cute little thumbnail if you want to save it and put it on your website or blog:

Starting a week from Monday, for those of us who are ready to roll up our sleeves and start writing the first draft of a nonfiction picture book from beginning to end, join me right here on my blog to print out the calendar we can follow  to get our picture book done in just three weeks!

And if you’re not at the place where you can join in this next adventure because you’re still working on this draft (or whatever other commitment you may have) you can still print out the calendar and follow along to see how to really write the first draft of a nonfiction picture book in just three weeks.

In the meantime, watch for my next post where I’ll be sharing a list of things to do and stuff to gather so you can be ready when it’s time to start. Here we gooooooo!

Endorsements and Reviewers Wanted

Hi! I’m so excited to announce that I’ve got a new series of nonfiction children’s books coming out in the Christian market in July 2014 and am collecting a list of names for people who would like to give endorsements and/or reviews.

Or if you have a young reader you know who could give an endorsement, that would be super too. The target age is 2nd through 5th grade.

You can see the website I’m building for the Get to Know series here.

If this interests you, e-mail me and I’ll send you more info. Or, if you’ve contacted me before and aren’t sure if you’re still on my endorsements/reviewers list, check in with me and I’ll let you know.

You can e-mail me personally at:

jeffandnancys@gmail.com

Thanks!

Nonfiction Picture Book: The Finished First Draft

Photo: Mama hummingbird sitting on her nest.

I’ve finished the first draft of my nonfiction picture book.

By this point, if you’ve been following along, you did too. Or like my writing friends, you’re almost there.

So what’s next?

The next phase of our nonfiction picture books is to edit it and polish it and get it ready for publication.

I have a picture book rubric I like to refer to when I enter this phase of my manuscript draft. If you want to use it to evaluate your own manuscript, you can find it at the site of my writing buddies, Writing According to Humphrey and Friends.

Just scroll down to the PICTURE BOOK RUBRIC. Click on it and print it out and use it to help polish your manuscript.

I wanted to let you know about my plans, however.

Now that the first draft of my picture book is finished from beginning to end, these are my thoughts:

Thought #1: I don’t think this is a breakthrough manuscript. Meaning that it doesn’t have the kid appeal and over-the-top pizzazz that is needed to catch an editor’s eye. This is more of a third or fourth-time manuscript. Meaning that if I’ve already done 3 or 4 published nonfiction picture books with a specific editor, I could perhaps convince her of its worth to get published in today’s market. But I don’t have a nonfiction picture book editor in the trade market at this level of a relationship yet. I’m looking for a breakthrough manuscript so I can get a nonfiction picture book published and work on establishing this kind of a relationship with an editor.

Thought #2: It has several weaknesses that I can spot that at this point in my career I’m not quite sure how to fix them. I’ve learned over the course of my career that there are some “trouble spots” in manuscripts I haven’t yet acquired the tools to fix. But if I’ve tucked those manuscripts away in my file cabinet for say 3 or 5 years, when I pull them out I quickly spot the weaknesses, know how to fix them, and submit them for publication because I’ve matured as a writer and learned how to deal with those issues.

Because of these two major issues with my manuscript, I have two choices that I could make:

Choice #1: Take this first draft through the process of editing it and getting it critiqued and working on it to make it polished to the best I know how, even learning some techniques along the way. This could take several months more of work.

Choice #2: Tuck this first draft away, count it as a tremendous learning experience (which it was) and a manuscript which I can show to a future editor who might be willing to help me get it up to snuff (which it is), and move on to my next project.

After thinking about this and taking my current writing schedule into consideration (I’m in the middle of working on a book deadline that’s under contract and due in April plus I have several “must-get-out-the-door” commitments for my agent and other books in various stages of publication) I have decided to go with Choice #2.

I frequently do this with manuscripts. That’s because I’ve learned not to value manuscripts necessarily just for the end result. As writers, there are many manuscripts we need to write to help us improve as writers even if they never reach the publication stage.

This doesn’t mean I put these in a graveyard. On the contrary! I’m waiting…sort of how a hummingbird waits patiently on its nest for its eggs to hatch. For example, last year I tried to write one picture book a month for awhile. I had no plans for publication for any of them, really. I just wanted to learn various picture book techniques. So I wrote manuscript after picture book manuscript and then tucked them away.

And just recently, I was on a phone conversation with my agent…and we were chatting about something when one of those manuscripts came to mind…I told her about one of the picture books I wrote last year but had never shown her. She asked to see it. So I got it out, dusted it off, cleaned it up a bit, and sent it to her. She loves it. Now we’re looking for a home for it.

So I’m going to put this nonfiction manuscript in my “nest.”

I’m going to tuck this first draft away and start working on a different project. This will be the nonfiction picture book manuscript in 3 weeks and then the one in 1 week. As I mentioned earlier, we’ll follow along together on all these projects here on my blog.

So if you like to write nonfiction picture books, whether you wrote one or not during all these last months and followed along on my blog, now is a great time to regroup.

Get ready to join in some new fun as I show you the real steps I take to really write the first draft of a nonfiction picture book in just three weeks.

And let me know if you plan on doing this too. We can cheer each other on!

Photo: Two baby hummingbirds that hatched!

Nonfiction Picture Book: Writer’s Mini-Retreat Week 5

My intrepid little group of writing friends met yesterday once again.

Once again, we set our writing goals. We all were heading toward the finish line and planned on working on the fourth big section of our picture books: the ending.

And…drumroll please…during the time we spent together I finished the first draft of my nonfiction picture book from beginning to end.

Wow. It feels really good to get to this point. Lots of hard work went into this.

But it’s also kind of a “midpoint” feeling. Now I know that I’ve got to roll up my sleeves and take time for the process of editing this first draft and getting it up to the quality it needs to get published.

I actually spent some time during the mini-retreat yesterday working on self-editing it. My main focus now that I had an entire first draft in my hand was two fold:

1) Consistency: Make the voice consistent throughout, see that the focus I had established at the beginning carried out the entire way through the end, and see that it progressed through the story arc in a balanced way that better followed the plot worksheet and the outline I’d created.

2) Get the word count closer to today’s market of 800 words. The first half of my draft stayed on target but in the second half I got very, very wordy. So I tightened up the second half to be more consistent in its weight to balance the first half (word-count wise). I omitted entire sections and paragraphs (always keeping copies of those drafts and saving the files as new ones in case I decide to plug something back in again later). Then I went backwards and cut at least one word per sentence the whole way through to the beginning. And I ended up with 1091 words.

What next?

Let’s talk about that in the next post.

Nonfiction Picture Book: Writer’s Mini-Retreat Week 4

Last Friday, my writing friends joined me at my house again for another session of our writing mini-retreat. Okay, we had lots of fun and good laughs. It’s just good to get together with other people who love to write for kids, too. And we’re all a bit silly, ’cause we love the world of kids!

But then we got down to work and we really spent some quality time on writing our first draft.

This time I worked on the second half of my middle. Here’s the writing rhythm I followed (and the one I recommend you follow, too!)

1. I determined my writing goal for the day: Work on the first draft of the second half of the middle.

2. I pulled out the plot chart worksheet I had created for my sample nonfiction picture book, Those Rebels John and Tom. I located the page numbers of the second half of the middle in that book and read those pages several times. This helped me get the word count, the voice, and the strategy in my brain.

3. Next I pulled out my research books for my own topic. I also got out my plot worksheet and also the outline I made for this book. This time, instead of researching for an hour and then writing, I researched for about 15 minutes, spent 15 minutes writing a paragraph, researched for 15 minutes, spent 15 minutes writing a new paragraph, and so on. At this stage of my manuscript, I already knew the big stuff and just needed to dig up nuggets to build my text around.

Once again, the text I wrote is waaaaay too wordy. And it has rough spots. But that’s okay! It’s a first draft. At least I got all my thoughts down on paper and typed into my computer.

4. Then, before everyone left, we read our stuff aloud to each other. At this stage of the game, we’re only allowed to give positive feedback and talk about the strengths of our manuscripts. (That’s because I’ve discovered that if I get too much negative feedback BEFORE the first draft is completely written from beginning to end, I tend to shut down and think it’s impossible to write and never complete it. So I think it’s important to wait until AFTER the first draft of a picture book or a chapter in a novel is done and THEN ask for the nitty gritty constructive criticism.)

5. And then we said good-bye until our next meeting…this upcoming Wednesday!

As you may have noticed, I tend to write these picture books in 4 or 5 chunks or writing sessions. This makes it very manageable, especially when so much research is involved. First I write the beginning. Then I write the first half of the middle. In this case, I took an entire writing session to write the turning point or exact middle of the story. Then I write the second half of the middle. And then the end. This gives me a first draft I can then work with.

It’s a very workable pace, especially after I’ve spent so much preparation time in research, developing the plot chart, and brainstorming the outline to follow.

Nonfiction Picture Book: Next Projects

As I mentioned in a previous post here on my blog, as soon as I finish up the first draft of the current nonfiction picture book I’m working on, I’ll show you how to pick up the pace and write the first draft of a nonfiction picture book in 3 weeks and then the first draft of a nonfiction picture book in 1 week.

For the picture book that I’ll write in 3 weeks, I already have all the research books I need in my own personal research library.

But for the 1-week project, I’ll be writing about a topic cold. This means I never ever researched it before. One of the reasons I want to show you how this is done is because sometimes an editor’s interest or a high-paying deadline demand this kind of fast fast pace on a topic you know nothing about.

Realistically, though, when one of these supersonic speed projects is coming down the pipeline, as soon as I get wind of it, I order in stacks of library books so that I have what I need to do my research in the week that I’ll be writing my first draft. Otherwise, it simply takes too long for the library books to come in.

So this past weekend, I visited my local library and grabbed every book off their shelves that was remotely connected with my new topic. Yesterday, I went online to my county library system and ordered in a big stack of even more books that will be focused on my new topic. I got tons of nonfiction children’s books and a couple of adult tomes as well.

If you’re going to follow along and write the first draft of a new nonfiction picture book in 3 weeks and then in 1 week, I encourage you to gather your research resources now. That way you’ll have the resources you need to accomplish this fun goal, too.

Exciting New Inspirational Book for Writers

I’m so excited to announce the release of my inspirational devotional for writers: Scribes!

I have several editions in the works. This first edition is the pocket edition. This features over 100 updated and expanded devotionals that originally appeared on my site for Scribes. This edition doesn’t have any photographs so it has more room for each devotion on every page.

Each devotion starts with a Scripture that applies to our lives and hearts as writers. I have a notebook that I collect verses in that have deep meaning for me as a writer, and I included a lot of them in this book!

The heart of each devotion includes a short encouraging and motivating thought about writing as a person who is committed to a life of faith through Jesus.

Each devotion concludes with a brief heart-felt prayer.

I’ve got two other books in the works in this series. One will be a gift book. It will have many of the shortened devotions that you find on my website, along with photographs to accompany the text. The other version will have 356 devotions in it so you can read one each day to help start your day with a heart that is encouraged to write for God.

If you want to get a copy for yourself, for your group leader to share during devotional time at your writing groups, or for your writing friends, you can order this at your favorite online bookstore or at:

Amazon

I pray you will be encouraged and inspired along your journey as a Christian writer. That is the main reason why I wrote this book!