Week of July 8, 2012—An Interview with Frances
Gilbert
Monday, July 9—Characteristics of
Successful Picture Books
This is the
first installment in a four-part interview with Frances Gilbert, Editorial
Director at Doubleday Children’s Books, Random House.
Rob:
Frances, I am so happy that you are joining us on Picture This! Let me
begin with a big-picture picture book question: What ingredients combine to
make a well-written picture book?
Frances: So much of it is about pacing – knowing the
rhythms of a well-told story and the dramatic and/or humorous opportunities of
a nicely-placed page-turn.
Rob: Let’s talk plot.
Three-act structure, Freytag’s pyramid, the clock plot—what do you look for in
the plot of a picture book?
Frances: All I’ll say is search on Youtube for a video of Kurt
Vonnegut lecturing on plot, and enjoy.
Rob: Event-driven or character-driven, which do you prefer and
why?
Frances: Can I be greedy and ask for both? I frequently find myself
writing rejection letters that say, “What you’ve sent me is less of a story and
more of a list.” I like the idea of the lost princess who arrives at the castle
in the rain and sleeps on a pile of mattresses with a pea underneath. But I
also want to know what makes the princess tick.
Rob: Writers are often told that their writing is too quiet.
What does “too quiet” mean to you?
Frances: “Too quiet” is a nice way of saying “No one is going to buy
your book because it’s not very interesting.” There are quiet books that are
very successful, such as, well, The Quiet
Book and the quietly genius Voyage to
the Bunny Planet trilogy. Good quiet books have their own inner strengths
that speak loudly to readers.
Rob: If you could give picture book writers three key words of
advice, what would you say?
Frances: 1.) Know and respect the genre. Read and study picture
books and understand how they work and what makes them successful.
2.) Write and write and edit and edit
and spend years if you must on your 32-page manuscript before you send it out
to an editor. I’m a huge fan of mystery novels, and if I ever got an urge to
write one I’d first make sure I’d read hundreds of novels and I’d slave over my
manuscript and ask lots of writer friends wiser than me to critique it and when
I finally got ready to submit it, I’d ask myself if my writing is as good as P.
D. James or Henning Mankell, and if the answer to that is “No” I’d keep working
until the answer is “Yes”. And if the
answer is never “Yes” I’d go back to enjoying reading mysteries. It’s more
important to be talented at writing a picture book than to be interested in
writing a picture book.
3.) Leave room in your story for the
illustrations. You don’t have to say everything. Let the story breathe.
6 comments:
Thanks, Rob. I love how Frances gets directly to the heart of he issue!
Hello Rob,
Thank you and Frances too, for the "Things to think about and things to consider" tips!
Rob! This post came just at the right time. I'm working on a PB Revision Workshop I'll be teaching and this interview affirms most of the points I'll be emphasizing.
Great post! Really wonderful information.
Great interview. Thanks, Rob and Frances! Going to check out Kurt Vonnegut's words of wisdom next :)
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