Children’s book illustrator and writer Nata Romeo sent in this
stylize iguana for today’s post. She says, “Art is my passion.” I
recently completed illustrations for a book titled ‘Wildlife Animals A
to Z’, which she intends to self publish. Her preferred medium is a
combination of watercolor and pen and ink. www.artistadonna.blogspot.com/
www.ArtistaDonna.ebsqart.com www.facebook.com/artistadonna.nata
Sharing Information About Writing and Illustrating for Children
This coming weekend I will be meeting with Agent Sean
McCarthy and Publishing Executive Director and Managing Editor, Steve
Meltzer. Some of you have sent in questions for me to ask so I can relay
the answers to you. Please email me if you would like to add to the
list.
Here are the questions sent to me:
1. What do you think of prologues? Use them or lose them?
2. When formatting a manuscript: Do you know of any
rule that says you must NOT indent the first paragraph of a new
chapter? What do you think?
3. What’s the best way to label a manuscript/book
that falls on the borderline between middle grades and young adult?
(Think ages 10 to 14. For example, I’m talking about a horsey book, and
that is the age at which the most girls are the most horse-crazy, and
the best time to market such a book to them.) Would agents/editors want
to see it called upper middle grades? Tween?
4. What is the preferred word length for a book aimed at the upper middle grades/tween reader?
5. Are there any conventions for labeling
manuscripts/books that mix genres? (For example, a series that is
historical/science fiction/fantasy.)
6. Because agents now often don’t respond if they
aren’t interested in a query, that certainly makes it acceptable, almost
imperative, to send simultaneous queries (although with each obviously
tailored to a particular agent/agency). Is ten to a dozen too many to
send out at once?
7. Underlining makes it clearer to copyeditors and
typesetters what needs to be italicized, but do agents have a preference
whether the manuscript uses the italic or the underline function of the
computer to indicate what will ultimately be italicized?
8. I read on your blog to only use one
space between each sentence in your manuscript. I had someone tell me
they have asked editors and were told it was okay. Would you double
check with Sean McCarthy and Steve Meltzer on this?
9. I never heard of using capital letters the first
time a character is mentioned in a synopsis. Would you ask about that
at your retreat?
10. I have been told not to use any “ing” words in my manuscript. Is there a rule about this that I have missed?
11. What amount of books do you need to sell to have a publisher think your book was successful?
12.
How hard is it to get your rights back on a book you that has gone out
of print? Do you have any words of wisdom or steps an author could take
to get the rights back?
13. What do you think about using the real name of a
media or entertainer in your book? Is that okay or should you make up a
similar name?
14. I am an illustrator and writer. Is it okay to send in a picture book dummy?
15. What is speculative fiction?
16. If you want to write a book from two
character’s POV, using alternating chapters, is it okay to scatter in a
few chapter’s from a third character’s point-of-view?
17. If you are writing a book using two character’s
POV with alternating chapters, could the main character be in first
person and the second character be in third person?
18. Do you have any thoughts on when to give up on a manuscript your have completed and has gotten rejected?
Talk tomorrow,
Kathy
