Mining Your Ideas by Pat Miller

It was the third week of January. I had asked my kindergarten students what special day was coming up on February 2. They guessed Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Mother’s Day. I gave them a hint, “It’s the day when a small, furry animal pops up out of its hole to tell the weather.”

The five year-olds were stumped. Suddenly, one boy pumped his arm and said, “I know! I know!” When I asked him which animal popped up, he replied with enthusiasm. “It’s the armadillo!”

Not surprising for a child from Texas where there are no wild groundhogs. When the class left, I quickly jotted the conversation in my idea book. It remained there for two years until I needed to write a manuscript for credibility in my local SCBWI. After 33 rejections over two more years, Substitute Groundhog popped up out of its hiding place in my writer’s journal and went on to become a Junior Library Guild selection. It was reissued as an audio book, and was translated into French. Not bad for a “wrong” answer!

Perhaps you have a notebook or file of ideas, especially if you participated in Tara Lazar's Picture Book Idea Month. You've jotted down a lot of ideas and sparks of stories. Perhaps you’ve even earned your PiBoIdMo Badge of Completion. Now what?

First, let me ask if you know the story of Petunia. She was a goose who thought that carrying around a thick book under her wing was enough to make her smart. It wasn’t till she deciphered the word “dynamite” as “candy”, that the disastrous results blew open the book. Only then did Petunia realize that she had to begin the hard work of reading the book to become smarter.

For us writers, it's not enough to be content with capturing ideas. Now it’s time to begin the hard work of writing or illustrating the book. It’s not enough to be smug about the ideas we have tucked under the wing of our writing journals. Today is the perfect day to take the next step.

Turn back to your idea(s) and add something to the first story that catches your imagination. Extrapolate a plot point. Describe the main character. Write down what could go wrong for the character. No need to fully flesh out the story—unless it insists you do so. Repeat the process tomorrow with your second idea. In spite of the holiday busyness, keep going to your desk each day, fanning each spark a little more until one catches fire.

This is the process that will take your ideas and carry them through to possibility. Mining your ideas each day will eventually lead you to gold. You never know what will pop up out of the ground until you dig for it. Good luck with your own armadillos!

A version of this post first appeared on December 1, 2011, Tara Lazar's Picture Book Idea Month.

The Shortcut that Changed My Writing Process: AKA Duh! by Pat Miller

As a novice writer, I thought if I had one or two pieces of the story puzzle, I could write my way into the rest. And I did--over months and months of fruitless writing. It was a long, daunting process. Here’s my former process, and the shortcut that changed everything.

1. First strategy: Start with the ending. When I asked my kindergarteners what animal popped out of its hole on February 2, they were stumped until one blurted, “It’s the armadillo!”

His answer inspired my first book. But all I had was an unexpected character. WHY was an armadillo the forecaster? I thought of numerous scenarios. They were rejected 32 times. Each time the ms. returned, I revised. Once I finally got the beginning locked in, the middle perked up, and manuscript #33, Substitute Groundhog, was accepted by Albert Whitman.

2. Second strategy: Start with the characters. Albert Whitman was looking for holiday books. I flailed around, brainstorming a number of ideas, none of which had any substance. When I thought of the characters from my first book, I knew what they would say and how they would interact. But I still spent months coming up with a variety of unsatisfactory holiday stories in which they starred. Eventually, I got it right, and Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution was purchased by Albert Whitman.

3. Third strategy: Piggyback on a traditional tale. This one worked because the original tale provided the beginning, middle, and end. Early in the semester, I shared We’re Going on a Bear Hunt with my students, and it donged (as my husband says) on me that this was the perfect pattern for my book on library orientation. It was just a matter of altering the traditional tale to fit the library content. It sold within a week to Upstart Press. I was getting closer to the shortcut.

4. The shortcut! Get all the pieces in place first. I was doing 

some things right, but not consistently or efficiently. I studied my first three books to determine how I could shortcut this ineffectual process. Call me a slow learner, but I made a list of the key story elements. Then I filled them in with my ideas. This time, I wanted to write a fun story about book care. Here’s my plan:

• Characters: Five mischievous monkeys à la Curious George
• Problem: Big sis discovers that her sibs have damaged their books
• Beginning: The five little monkeys are in bed reading together
• Middle: One by one, big sister discovers that her sibs have damaged their books (I listed four common problems)
• Solution/Resolution: Don’t worry, you can…. (book care solutions with Ms. Booker)
• Ending: All is well, with books repaired, lessons learned, until they discover that Big Sis has an overdue book!

After brainstorming all these sections, I was able to use the bouncy rhythm of "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" to frame the story. Upstart bought the ms. and published it as story cards.

Knowing ALL the key elements first made the difference. My writing was more targeted. I knew where I was going, who was coming along, and what problems and solutions we would encounter. The actual trip was much easier than my previous strategy of setting out with hope but no map and only a sketchy plan. 

Examine some of your favorite children’s picture books, using this outline. Do you see how everything else falls into place? Sure, this is Writing 101.  But if you didn’t take that class, you may be floundering around like I did. Focus, plan, then write once you have all the elements worked out. Bon voyage!