Ten-Minute Blog Break - 16th September

Every writer is looking for the golden ticket, an idea which is just so compelling that it will motivate them to do their best work and crack the market wide open. But how can you identify a breakout premise for a picture book? Natascha Biebow has plenty of advice at Picture Book Den.
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My drawing of Pilbeam the robot from Cakes in Space |
There's a fantastic interview with Sam Zuppardi on the Scottish Book Trust website this week. I especially liked the anecdote about his childhood biblical confusion!
Candy Gourlay is exploring diaries this week, discussing how they can be used for personal reflection, as creative fodder and as an exercise for author visits. She shares some great tips for keeping a diary, and lets us have a peek at the diaries the kids made in response.
Finally, I found a lot of food for thought this week in Marie Basting's blog post all about embracing the dark side of her creative personality. It set me wondering as to why it is that we become compelled to write certain stories, even when we're trying to do something quite different. That led me to my own post a few days later, all about a character that I just can't stop writing about.
Nick.
A SCBWI member since 2009, Nick Cross is an Undiscovered Voices winner who currently writes children's short fiction for Stew Magazine (September issue out now).
Nick's most recent blog post (mentioned above) traces The Evolution of Max.
Thanks Nick, as usual a great round-up of interesting and stimulating blogs that I'm going to have to check out.
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Thanks for including me in The Ten Minute Blog Break Nick. I feel a celebratory cup of coffee coming on. Marie
ReplyDeleteYour Pilbeam is very good!
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