Welcome to

RhyPiBoMo 2015 Day 18

Lori Mortensen

Today’s guest blogger is an award-winning author of over 70 books, several of which sit on my bookshelves in my “near-and-dear” section!  Her books have great humor and amazing stories with satisfying and unexpected endings. What more do you want from a picture book?

I too have an engineer husband who likes to bake (how lucky are we!) so we will have to exchange recipes. I’m so happy she’s here to share how to avoid writing bland picture books. As she will tell you, the key ingredient to perfect picture books is a well-structured story arc.

I am pleased

to introduce

Lori Mortensen.

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Full of Beans

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My husband recently tried a new brownie recipe made almost entirely of beans.   I know–beans! What’s up with that? But when my engineering husband inherited a bunch of dried beans from a friend, he was determined to find new ways to use them. In the end, there were so many beans in the brownies, the whole thing tasted boringly bland.  (That doesn’t mean I didn’t eat a few–they were the only brownies in the house–lol!)

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Picture books can be bland too. Even though your manuscript may contain some important story elements such as a catchy title, fun opening hook, and an appealing main character with a problem, it’s all for naught without a strong story arc.

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As a writing instructor for the past nine years, I’ve seen the lack of one a million times. A character starts out okay, then the action flat lines into random scenes that don’t add up no matter how much “imagination” the author has packed in.

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So what is a story arc? Story arc is the rise in action that pulls the reader towards the climatic peak of the story problem. Will the main character succeed . . . or fail? Once this is resolved, the story quickly comes to its satisfying conclusion. The story arc goes up, up, up, reaches the peak, then arcs over the top and stops.

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If you read picture books with this arc in mind, you’ll see this winning story structure over and over. My latest releases are good examples of this. In my rhyming picture book, Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg, for example, Cowpoke Clyde sets out to catch his dirty dog for a bath. This is the beginning of the story arc. As Clyde tries and fails to catch his dog, the story arc rises and tension builds.  Finally, after getting kicked in a ditch by his mule, the story reaches its climatic moment in the story arc. Will Cowpoke Clyde ever catch his ol’ dirty dawg? It was fun to write the fun and unexpected resolution. (That’s another important story element for another blog.) In the end, Clyde and Dawg both end up in the tub, but not the way Clyde (or the reader) imagined.

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In my rhyming picture book Cindy Moo, a cow on the Diddle Farm vows to jump over the moon just like the cow she’d heard about in a nursery rhyme. Like Clyde, the story arc rises as Cindy Moo tries one thing, then another. Finally, when it seems as if she’s doomed to fail, the story reaches its climatic moment in the story arc. Was she ever going to jump over the moon? In the next page-turning moment, Cindy Moo resolves her problem in a fun and unexpected way, bringing the story to its satisfying conclusion.

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If you’re scratching your head over one of your manuscripts, maybe it’s full of beans just like my hubby’s brownies. The solution? Ditch the boring beans and pack it with an irresistible story arc that goes up, up, up (and keep readers turning pages) until it peaks at the top and ends with a fun, yet unexpected conclusion. (Oh, yeah–ditch the beans in brownies too.)

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About Lori:
Lori Mortensen is an award-winning children’s book author of more than 70 books and over 350 stories and articles. Recent titles include Cowpoke Clyde & Dirty Dawg, (Clarion, 2013) one of Amazon’s best picture books of 2013, Cindy Moo (HarperCollins, 2012), Come See the Earth Turn – The Story of Léon Foucault (Random House, 2010), a Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, 2010, and In the Trees Honey Bees! (Dawn, 2009) a 2010 NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Book K-12 Winner. When she’s not removing her cat from her keyboard, she follows her literary nose wherever it leads and works on all sorts of projects that delight her writing soul. Lori lives in Northern California with her family.

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For more information, visit her website at http://www.lorimortensen.com.

 

         

Buy Here              Buy Here

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lori@lorimortensen.com

Cowpoke Clyde and Dirty Dawg, Clarion, 2013
“Plumb funny fer sure.”—Starred Kirkus Review

Cindy Moo, HarperCollins, 2012
“Mo(ooo)ve aside your other cow tales, because this lovable bovine really does take off.”—Booklist

Come See the Earth Turn: The Story of Leon Foucault, Random House, 2010
“Readers will marvel at the genius of this little-known scientific wizard.”—John Peters, School Library Journal

In the Trees, Honey Bees! Dawn Publications, 2009
“Children may never view honey bees in the same way again.”—The Children’s Hour.

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Coming Soon!

Cowpoke Clyde Rides the Range, Clarion, Spring 2016
Chicken Lily, Henry Holt, Winter 2016
Mousequerade Ball, Bloomsbury, 2016
Away With Words – The Daring Story of Isabella Bird, Peachtree, 2017

 

RhyPiBoMo 2015 Optional Writing Prompt: 18

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This is NOT part of the pledge. It is an option for a writing exercise for those interested. You will not publically share this as part of RhyPiBoMo but may keep a journal of your writing this month for your own review.

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Today’s writing prompt is to write an outline for one of your works-in-progress that gives it a great title, a grabbing hook, several increasingly tension stirring moments that lead to one big problem that is ultimately solved by the child protagonist. Make sure it has an unexpected,  satisfying ending that keeps them coming back for more!

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For example: Story Arc

Catchy Title

Great Hook

Tense Moment #1

Tense Moment #2

Tense Moment #3

Peak Moment of Tension

Child Character Solves the Problem

Unexpected, Satisfying Ending

 

 

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Golden Quill Poetry Contest

The Golden Quill Poetry Contest is open for submissions.

The deadline is this Saturday, April 25th midnight Central Time.

And…did I mention the prizes?

1st place – A Manuscript Critique by Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

2nd place – A Scholarship for Non-Fiction Archeology by Kristen Fulton

3rd place – A Scholarship for Pacing Picture Books to WOW! Class by Agent Jodell Sadler

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PLEASE make sure you read the contest rules and follow them exactly. Unfortunately, due to the number of poems we will receive, a poem will be disqualified if it does not follow the guidelines exactly. This is only fair to those who did follow the rules and is good practice for us as writers because editors expect those guidelines to be followed to the letter.

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Contest Rules:

First and Last name included in the body of the email at the top left

Email address included in the body of the email at the top left

Phone number – top left

Space down 5 spaces

The Theme is: Freedom

Title of poem – centered with no by line or name here

8 line limit

Must be a rhyming poem

You will be judged on clever title, rhyme scheme, rhythm, scansion, perfect rhyming words, internal rhyme, alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, and clever ending.

Email poems to Angiekarcherrpbm@gmail.com

by April 25th midnight central time

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Do you enjoy writing rhyming picture books?

Do you find rhyme challenging?

Do you want to pep up your prose with poetic techniques?

Then this is the class for you!

Writing in Rhyme to WOW! is a 4 week course,

M-F with daily lessons, writing prompts, rhyme journaling, creating tools you will use, group poetry readings, webinars and critique groups, and a one-on-one webinar critique with Angie.

Each class begins on the first Monday of the month and the weekly group webinars are on Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, (Chicago Time) or at a time that best suits the group due to time zones of those involved.

I am beginning to sign people up for June and July!

If you register now for June or July, I will give you the $99.00 price!

Contact Angie with questions.

Sign up now before the classes are full!

Click here for more information!

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Need a Rhyming Picture Book Critique?

Angie offers

rhyming picture book and poetry manuscript critiques.

A One Time critique is ($25.00) or a Twice Look critique is ($35.00)

See the tab above or click here for more information.

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RhyPiBoMo Gift Shop is Open!

http://www.cafepress.com/rhypibomogiftshop

Please stop by and see what’s available this year. There are notebooks, mugs, buttons and more. All proceeds will go to WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS!

Thank you Tanja Bauerle for these gorgeous images!!!

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Official RhyPiBoMo 2015 Registration ended on April 8th.

If you are not officially registered you will not be able to participate in the Golden Quill Poetry Contest, in Rhyming Critique Groups or will not be eligible for daily prizes.

To see if you registered in time go to the Master Registration List on the drop down menu under the RhyPiBoMo Blog tab above.

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Please comment below. You MUST add your FIRST and LAST names

to be eligible for today’s prize!