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Research / Re: Coves without fish in them?
« Last post by dewsanddamps on Today at 02:11 PM »Saltwater, right? (I know nothing about coves. Just thinking it through.)
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Research / Coves without fish in them?
« Last post by Schriscoe on Today at 12:59 PM »My WIP needs to have a fishless cove. I need my MC to actually bring fish to the cove vs. there being fish already in it. It is barricaded from the open water with a sea wall, so could it be possible to not have fish in it? 
Thanks!
Thanks!
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Illustrating / Re: RGB vs CMYK
« Last post by karen-b-jones on Yesterday at 04:36 PM »My work is mostly in the educational and religious markets and I've had projects of both types. The one I'm working on now is RGB and the one before that was CMYK. Just depends on the publisher.
I'd say, if submitting digitally, default to RGB because they're probably going to look at it on a screen and RGB looks best on a screen. Particularly if you already know your image has vibrant greens that CMYK doesn't support.
If submitting a printed portfolio, just print it whatever way yields the best prints from your printer/copy place and send that.
I'd say, if submitting digitally, default to RGB because they're probably going to look at it on a screen and RGB looks best on a screen. Particularly if you already know your image has vibrant greens that CMYK doesn't support.
If submitting a printed portfolio, just print it whatever way yields the best prints from your printer/copy place and send that.
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Picture Books (PB) / Re: Struggling with "Show Don't Tell"
« Last post by JulieM on October 11, 2019, 09:09 PM »I don't know if this will help but, in case it does, show don't tell is about leaving the reader to work out some things for themselves because that is rewarding to the reader. It's not giving them everything on a plate. For example, instead of saying "Jake felt anger rising inside him", you could describe his actions that would allow the reader to work out that Jake is angry: "Jake suddenly turned on his heels and slammed the door on the way out". With picture books, it's also about leaving lots of room for the illustrator. So the author can tend to avoid describing colors of things (for example), and write more about feelings, scents, sounds, actions, and other things that can't be illustrated very easily.
The more you read other books in your genre, the more examples you will find to help you understand this topic more fully.
The more you read other books in your genre, the more examples you will find to help you understand this topic more fully.
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Picture Books (PB) / Re: Struggling with "Show Don't Tell"
« Last post by Debbie Vilardi on October 11, 2019, 06:31 PM »You have great info above. I wrote an article on this for the SCBWI LI chapter newsletter: https://longislandny.scbwi.org/files/2019/07/SCBWI-Kid-LIt-Kid-News-2019.pdf. It's on page 10. I hope it helps clarify for you.
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Picture Books (PB) / Re: Struggling with "Show Don't Tell"
« Last post by olmue on October 11, 2019, 05:13 PM »The places I see the most egregious examples of telling over showing are when relaying character emotions, usually during dialogue. If you just tell me that Sarah spoke angrily, but her actual dialogue and body language do not back that up, you have unconvincingly "told" me something I haven't seen.
But Vijaya makes an important point. There are times in a narrative to show, and yes, there are times to tell. Think of a news show. The reporter summarizes the background information to give you context. But there are some things that simply have to be shown, not merely told about. So the news report will jump to a video clip of what happened that day. That way, the viewers can be witnesses and form their own opinions. Every single detail in your story does not need to be shown. But the important points of your plot, and the emotional lynch pins of your story, do.
But Vijaya makes an important point. There are times in a narrative to show, and yes, there are times to tell. Think of a news show. The reporter summarizes the background information to give you context. But there are some things that simply have to be shown, not merely told about. So the news report will jump to a video clip of what happened that day. That way, the viewers can be witnesses and form their own opinions. Every single detail in your story does not need to be shown. But the important points of your plot, and the emotional lynch pins of your story, do.
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Picture Books (PB) / Re: Struggling with "Show Don't Tell"
« Last post by Vijaya on October 11, 2019, 01:00 PM »Charles, the example you cite shows us how a character feels with a concrete example--it paints a picture in your mind. You want to show the important parts of the story and summarize the ones that don't matter by telling. For example, The next morning I took the train to see my sister. Since nothing important is going to happen on the train, it transitions me from one place to another, without describing what I saw on the train, whom I met, etc. But if something relevant to the story were to happen on the train, I'd dramatize it--that is showing--blow by blow.
You might want to take a story you like and take it apart. Analyze it. See how it is put together. And there are some excellent books on writing the picture book: I really like Picture Writing by Anastasia Suen and Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul
You might want to take a story you like and take it apart. Analyze it. See how it is put together. And there are some excellent books on writing the picture book: I really like Picture Writing by Anastasia Suen and Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul
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Middle Grade (MG) / Re: Antagonist
« Last post by Vijaya on October 11, 2019, 12:46 PM »Charles, I find that very few writers do multiple viewpoints well. Some books to study, Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz; Tale of Despereux by Kate di Camillo; Zel by Donna Jo Napoli. These are all older books but the multiple viewpoints work. Also, these are all amazing authors to read and learn from.
Remember that often, less is more. Not knowing everything can add to the tension. Of course, the opposite is also true, when a reader knows something that a character doesn't, it can also intensifies suspense. If you are in the early stages of crafting your story, don't worry too much about these things--get the first draft down. Then, when you are revising, you can decide how you want to reveal the events as they unfold. Sometimes, it's the dog's viewpoint that's the best.
Remember that often, less is more. Not knowing everything can add to the tension. Of course, the opposite is also true, when a reader knows something that a character doesn't, it can also intensifies suspense. If you are in the early stages of crafting your story, don't worry too much about these things--get the first draft down. Then, when you are revising, you can decide how you want to reveal the events as they unfold. Sometimes, it's the dog's viewpoint that's the best.
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Middle Grade (MG) / Re: Lisa Cron's "Story Genius"
« Last post by Vijaya on October 11, 2019, 12:37 PM »Charles, I really like Story Genius for getting to know your character. I actually reviewed the book: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2016/10/story-genius-by-lisa-cron.html so I won't repeat my thoughts here.
But this also made me think of the origin story (like that of the Marvel characters) because I was just at the Carolinas conference and Alan Gratz spoke about this in the closing keynote (tidbits here, scroll to the end: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2019/10/carolinas-scbwi-recap.html
Plot and character are very closely linked. If just a bunch of stuff happens, it's not really meaningful. It somehow needs to get the main character to grow and change.
I have an embarrassingly large library of writing books and one of the first ones that I still use is Character and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. I also like Save the Cat books, but the best overall book for crafting fiction has been Writing the Breakout Novel by Don Maass. (I have the workbook) and his Emotional Craft of Fiction makes you dig even deeper. Happy reading and writing.
But this also made me think of the origin story (like that of the Marvel characters) because I was just at the Carolinas conference and Alan Gratz spoke about this in the closing keynote (tidbits here, scroll to the end: https://vijayabodach.blogspot.com/2019/10/carolinas-scbwi-recap.html
Plot and character are very closely linked. If just a bunch of stuff happens, it's not really meaningful. It somehow needs to get the main character to grow and change.
I have an embarrassingly large library of writing books and one of the first ones that I still use is Character and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card. I also like Save the Cat books, but the best overall book for crafting fiction has been Writing the Breakout Novel by Don Maass. (I have the workbook) and his Emotional Craft of Fiction makes you dig even deeper. Happy reading and writing.
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Middle Grade (MG) / Re: Lisa Cron's "Story Genius"
« Last post by charles-richardson1 on October 11, 2019, 09:14 AM »Thanks for the information. I will check out those books.