Mining Real Life Emotion for Fictional Stories

Nov 04, 2023

Online event

Registration for this workshop is now closed. Please join us for the first workshop in NJ SCBWI's Fall Craft: A Series of Virtual Workshops: a craft-filled way to wrap up your 2023 writing and illustrating goals! Learn how to create the kind of stories that kids want to read over and over again. Join author Andrea J Loney in a journey that begins with your real life recollections and ends with your compelling new stories. Fantastic fiction ideas can come from anywhere, but the spark for some of the most beloved books on the shelves came straight from the hearts (and heartbreaks) of the authors and illustrators.

What to Expect

Explore the real-life emotional journeys behind some great children’s books, including some of Andrea’s own picture books and chapter books.
Learn storytelling techniques that use the emotional impact of story elements to create resonance with the reader.
Create and share our own new heartfelt fictional tales based on stories from our own lives.

Who Should Take This Course?

Anyone who’s interested in a powerful way to create emotionally-driven stories.

Picture book writers who want to create beloved story time or bedtime stories.

MG or YA writers who want to tell stories that will resonate with teens.

Illustrators and graphic novelists who want to explore emotional themes through compelling images.

About Andrea J. Loney

Children’s author Andrea J Loney’s books celebrate diversity, joy, and kindness. She wrote the award-winning picture books DOUBLE BASS BLUES (Caldecott Honor), TAKE A PICTURE OF ME, JAMES VANDERZEE (Lee and Low Books New Voices Award and NAACP Image Award Nominee), and BUNNYBEAR (ALA Rainbow List). Her most recent books include the picture book biography CURVE & FLOW, THE ELEGANT VISION OF L.A. ARCHITECT PAUL R. WILLIAMS, the middle-grade biography VIP: STACY ABRAMS - VOTING VISIONARY, and the futuristic chapter book series ABBY IN ORBIT. An NYU graduate and a computer science professor at LA Trade Technical College, Andrea lives in Inglewood, California with her towering stacks of children’s books, her devoted family, and their incredibly spoiled pets. Learn more at http://linktr.ee/andreajloney.