Adventures at Wilder Farm

Lita will soon begin working on Yellowstone Moran. I’m getting a little nervous, because I am Yellowstone Moran! And I’m also the sleeping guy on the right, and I’m also the gunslinger on the left (but I couldn’t find that photo).

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… for Pennies for Elephants:

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The next book out for Lita is Mogo, The Third Warthog, written by Donna Jo Napoli. This is Lita’s second project with Donna Jo. Here’s an image of the book jacket for Mogo:

And a closeup of Mogo—he’s a likable looking warthog, isn’t he?

The scheduled on sale date is July 1st.

Lita’s first book book with Donna Jo—Ugly—is coming out in paperback at about the same time. The cover for Ugly has been redesigned. It used to look like this:

But now will look something like this:

This last image is just a mock-up. I’ll miss the ducklings in the lower left, but I like the blue sky and the new title font!

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I saw a couple of nice on-line reviews of One Thousand Tracings yesterday. One at the Cybils site and another at The Well Read Child. Also, there’s a great podcast review at Just One More Book, done earlier in January. I’ve visited Just One More Book a few times and I really like the site – there’s another good podcast with two of the Cybil panelists for Non-Fiction Picture Books here.

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I’m continuing to work on editing one story in California (I head home tomorrow!) while Lita works on two different stories in New Hampshire. All three (picture books) are accepted—at three different publishers. Two books are in the post-acceptance-editing phase, and one is in the final-drawing phase. The balancing act for a writer-illustrator with all the shifting left/right brain activity is formidable! I’ll talk about the different book phases at some point—as soon as I learn what they all are…

But to continue with the editing checklist, here are some of the things to consider when looking at the micro view (from The Artful Edit):

1. Language: fresh, precise and concise, active, real (true)
2. Repetition – valid for leitmotiv, but otherwise should be de-emphasized
3. Redundancy – we usually focus hard on this one, it creeps in easily
4. Clarity – one idea per sentence
5. Authenticity – especially for dialogue – does it ring true?
6. Continuity – keeping the details straight and consistent.
7. Show and Tell – avoid summarizing, explaining. Use action and dialog.
8. Beginnings, Endings, Transitions – Sentences, paragraphs, sections (spreads), whole book. Have grace, tension, purpose.

I have my favorites.

As a reader, I tend to like clarity, continuity, and beginnings. I think this bias is appropriate for the types of books Lita is working on—historical based, or science based picture books. As an editor I try to be a good reader. The difficulty (for me) is then to communicate effectively, and constructively, back to the writer.

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I’m in California this week and Lita’s back in New Hampshire. I brought a manuscript that Lita’s been working on, to see if I can read it carefully and identify any problems. I’ve been reading this particular ms so often that it feels like I’m self-editing. And self-editing is no easy task.

I’ve also been reading The Artful Edit by Susan Bell on this trip and it has some good advice about two different views of editing: macro editing and micro editing. My basic process is to read through the manuscript while concentrating on just one of the aspects on the following macro editing list:

1. Intention – why do you want this piece of writing to live?
2. Character – are they palpable (real, true) and credible (reliable, believable). Each character should have a motive that is clear in your mind. It’s not always necessary to outwardly reveal that motive in the writing, but it should be consistently hinted at.
3. Structure – rhythm, tension, arc – are there gaps, lags, did you kill the tension too soon.
4. Foreshadowing – page turn quality
5. Theme – what are the symbols (leitmotiv) that bring the reader back to your central theme or intentions. Are these appropriate? Are they patterned into the story?
6. Continuity of Tone – Are the tone, atmosphere and characters coherent?

I’m naturally more of a micro editor. I’ll talk about the micro view next time.

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