Dispatch #7 - "The Science of Story"

by Lupe Fernandez
The "First Commandment" is the story "must appeal to emotion."

Last Friday at the Chabot Science Space Center in the hills of Oakland, Ca, your Foreign Correspondent attended the Center's "Future Friday Lecture Series." The guest speakers were Jim Capobianco, Derek Thompson & Kevin O'Brien, artists at Pixar Animation Studios. Their work included Wall-E, The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

The artists introduced themselves and talked about their childhood inspirations.

Kevin O'Brien

Kevin or "Kevo", as his colleagues called him, was "a space nerd." His mother allowed him to stay home and watch the coverage of various space program launches like the launch of Apollo 15.

Jim Capobianco

Jim loved Star Wars. He was inspired by the appearance of different creatures in one location. Jim acknowledge the influence of Jungian archetypes and Joseph Campbell. "Story is embedded in our guts. It's primal." Storyboards use cinema language.

Derek Thompson

Derek traced the story linage from John Carter by Edgar Rice Burroughs to Star Wars to present science fiction film stories.

The artists experience working in the Pixar community involved seeking "design solutions for character performance in the story." When they were presented with the challenge of the pod sequence from Wall-E where Eva thinks Wall-E is dead, they worked on "problem solving."

(c)Pixar Storyboard

The scene had no dialog and depended on their visual skills.

The artistic team's goal was to "crack the problem." The scene came first, not who did what. "The story board was the frame of the house," they said, "The bones of the story. The undercarriage." All the artists accepted that their "artwork is tossed...designs changed...artists has to let go."

After their talk, someone in the question asked how they made story work in a "Pixar committee."

One of the artists remarked that they were "told the characters" must "connect with the audience."

"Nobody sees the storyboard (work) on the screen. But the scene works." There's "great satisfaction," even they "work on other's (artists) work."

These insights are valid for our work as writers. Of what use is an elaborate fantasy world, if the characters fail to convey human emotion. These men have develop thick skin working with revision after revision to serve a greater "Prime Directive" as Kevin said.

"The story must appeal to emotion."

Some thoughts to consider, courtesy of visual artists Jim, Derek and Kevin.

Next up for Pixar is Good Dinosaur and Inside Outside, a journey into a girl's brain.

The Five Best First Paragraphs I’ve Read this Month

by Susan Berger

I’m back to reading Children’s and YA books. These first paragraphs are from my April favorites. The books link to Goodreads because their listings also include links to independent bookstores and libraries.

It was a sunny spring morning, but there was murder in the air. Jordon Johnston was killing  Pomp and Circumstance. Actually the whole elementary school orchestra was involved. It was a musical massacre.

About Average by Andrew Clements

The minute I read the first paragraph, I checked out the book. Andrew Clements is best known for Frindle His books don't stay on the shelves in the libraries. Kids love him and I do too.  I would have linked you to Frindle, but Blogger is strange and irritable today and will not let me do so.

Whenever Castle Glower became bored, it would grow a new room or two. It usually happened on Tuesdays when King Glower was hearing petitions, so it was the duty of the guards at the front gates to tell petitioners the only two rules the Castle seemed to follow.

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

I picked up this book because last year I read her book DragonSkin Slippers and loved it. I’m looking forward to the sequel, Wednesdays in the Tower which will be released May 7^th.  I also read The Princess trilogy by Jessica Day George this month. This trilogy is based on The Twelve Dancing Princesses, one of my favorite fairy tales.

I’m going to give you the whole first page on this next one:

I have had not so good of a week.

Well, Monday was a pretty good day, if you don’t count Hamburger Surprise at lunch and Margaret’s mother coming to get her. Or the stuff that happened in the Principal’s office when I got sent there to explain that Margaret’s hair was not by fault and besides she looks okay without it, but I couldn’t because Principal Rice was gone, trying to calm down Margaret’s mother.

Someone should tell you not to answer the phone in the Principal’s office if that’s a rule.

Okay, fine, Monday was not so good of a day.

Clementine  by Sarah Pennypacker, Illustrations by Marla Frazee

I'd already read Clementine, but I checked it out to read to my seven year old granddaughter. I read her the first chapter and she decided to take it home with her and read it herself.

PROLOGUE

THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT PRINCE CHARMING

Prince Charming is afraid of old ladies. Didn’t know that did you? Don’t worry. There’s a lot you don’t know about Prince Charming. Prince Charming has no idea how to use a sword; Prince Charming has no patience for dwarfs; Prince Charming has an irrational hatred of capes. Some of you may not even realize that there’s more than one Prince Charming. And that none of them are actually named Charming. No one is. Charming isn’t a name; it’s an adjective.

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy Illustrated by Todd Harris

This is my favorite funny read for April. I picked it up because May is Fantasy month at Reading for Kids, a group I volunteer with, and this was the fourth Grade title. I cannot WAIT to read this with them next week. I loved it so much that I pre-ordered the sequel, A Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle.

Prologue: May 22, 1950

HE HAD A FEW MORE MINUTES to destroy seventeen years of evidence, Still in pajamas, Harry Gold raced around his cluttered bedroom, pulling out desk drawers, tossing boxes out of the closet, and yanking books from the shelves. He was horrified. Everywhere he looked were incriminating papers-a plane ticket stub, a secret report, a letter from a fellow spy.

Bomb The Race to build and steal the world’s most DangerousWeapon by Steve Sheinkin

I mentioned this book in my last first Lines post. I read it in April and WOW!!!  A fascinating look at the players in this history. I bookmarked all the pictures as I went back frequently to reference their faces. He did a brilliant job with the book.

Bomb won the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award for most distinguished informational book for children, Newbery Honor and YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults: 

Hope one of these books strikes your fancy.  Happy Reading.

Muse Hunting Plus a Giveaway

Nancy Stewart

by Susan Berger

Pen and Ink welcomes Guest Blogger, Nancy Stewart.

Enter to win a copy of Bella Saves The Beach by leaving a comment at the end of the post.

What is it about muses? I know they take their work seriously, and yet conjuring up mine can be quite a chore at times.

I almost always search for her at the computer. She’s usually there, but not today.  Sometimes she hides in my Favorites List.  But not today.  How about the Homepage?  Nope.  One more try my lists of guest posts.  Occasionally she will transform herself into a bright new post from an old one.  Today, no such luck.

Not one to give up, I go to the gym.  Strangely enough, she hangs out there.  And usually her gym ideas are good ones, full of life and vigor.  She particularly likes the elliptical.  Actually, so do I.  But after 20 minutes of trying to coax her to visit, I give up and move to other machines where I’ve never seen her ply her magic.

On the way home, I stop by the bookstore.  I congratulate myself on a stroke of genius.  She can’t not be there, I tell myself.  It’s a muse kind of place, after all.  She’s not there.  Not even in the kids’ books section.  She’s always in the kids’ books section.  Copying ideas, I tell her, but she rejects that notion.

Ah, well.  I give up.  I’ve learned there’s no future in sleuthing after a muse that does not want to be detected.  So home I go.

I consider the computer a lost cause, so I opt for a glass of iced tea and a comfy chair.  And then, like a tiny bee buzzing in my brain, she’s here.  She speaks of Bella and Britt and empowering kids, of a middle grade novel set in Africa, of a chapter book series.

My muse is such a tease.  But when she gets down to business, there’s no stopping her!  Today, I’m just happy she visited, threw out a couple of notions then left me to ruminate. 

What is it about muses?  I still haven’t figured out that answer.  But I’m happy I have one! 

Thank you, Nancy for stopping by as part of your blog tour for Bella Saves the Beach written by Nancy and Illustrated by Samantha Bell.

Bella and Britt are worried about all the trash appearing on their beautiful beach.  But what can they do?  Britt is leaving on vacation, and Bella can’t solve the problem alone.  Without adults to lend a hand, can they possibly save their beach?

Excerpt from Bella Saves the Beach:

Bella, Britt and all their friends built sand castles and filled moats with salty sea. But this summer, the girls were worried.

         “Look at all this trash, Britt,” said Bella.

          She nodded. “Yeah, and I leave on vacation tomorrow. I can’t help pick it up!”

Next morning, Bella walked along the beach alone. “Hello.” Bella said to the old crooked beak pelican, perched on his piling. “Somebody has to help, and I guess it’s me.”

 Bella is the newest book in the Bella and Britt series. The opening book of the series, One Pelican at a Time, was the first book published on the Gulf Oil Spill.

You can purchase the PDF download (huge bargain) at GUARDIAN ANGEL PUBLISHING 
Or you can buy the paperback or hardcover at AMAZON or  BARNES AND NOBLE

 OR 
Our lucky winner will receive an eBook copy of Bella Saves The Beach.  Leave a comment below to enter. We've turned on anonymous commenting this week to make it easy for you to enter. Please leave a contact email address (i.e. sueberger3 at aol dot com)in the comment so we can reach you.

Visit Nancy at NancyStewartBook.com or at her blog.

Pen and Ink is delighted to be a stop on Nancy’s Blog Tour. You can catch up with her tomorrow at  Write What Inspires You.

Dispatch #6 - Visit to SCRAP

by Lupe Fernandez

SCRAP Entrance

"Wow! Look at all this stuff!"

That was my first reaction when entering SCRAP (Scrounger’s Center for Reusable Art Parts). According to their website, "SCRAP is a non-profit creative reuse center, materials depot, and workshop space founded in 1976 in San Francisco, California."

Here's a meager list of things I had found:

SCRAP Interior

Gift Wrap Paper, Easter Grass, Wigs, Board Games, Computer Cases, Wall Paper, Sponges, Corks, Rolled Fabric, Stock Photos, Door Hardware, Small Interesting Shapes, Road Maps, CDs, Foam, Frame Glass, Tiles, Centra Board, Plastic Microscope Pieces, Buttons, Disco Balls, Chocolate Boxes (Just the boxes, no chocolate) and Gravel Trays of 1930 Union Oil Samples.

So what does this have to do with Children's Literature and/ or writing?

Cabinet

SCRAPS. Scraps. Bits and pieces seemingly discarded items that at one time served a purpose, each could be matched to a moment, a memory and mood. As a writer, I draw upon the smell of smoke, the sight of a cloud, the taste of an orange, the sound of a siren and the feel of skin. From these disparate elements, I form an idea, a word, a sentence, a paragraph and a story.

But don't take my word for it. Fellow SCBWI member, Katherine Taylor, Outreach Coordinator for SCRAP since September 2012, bought a thick book at the depot, found the images among the magazines and created a picture book for her three year old son.

He liked it.

36 Animals

Katherine, with a background in environmental science, works at obtaining donations for SCRAP from individuals and local businesses.

Katherine Taylor

"We are on the radar of places like the Moscone Center, Timbuk2, Marriott and other hotels, Levi's, and local museums."

SCRAP accepts manufactured and natural materials that can be used by artists and teachers. "We want things like office supplies, paper products, glass, wood, fabric, and metal parts. We like to get things in bulk for teachers to use in their classrooms. Check our website or e-mail us to make sure we accept what you have to donate."

On a board I saw a listing of some of the following Classroom Activity Projects: CD Tops, Testing Viscosity, Model Hermatocritt, Huchol Yarn Act and Game Lotto.

"We have big paper needs," Katherine says,
"Teachers don't get enough."

By the way, if you know a stockpile of telephone wire, Katherine wants to talk to you.

"Mixed-media artists can do a lot with it. They love wire. Also, it's good for kids' activities."

I recall a writing exercise where the instructor showed us an object and told the class to write for five uninterrupted minutes about said object.

What is it?

What did it mean? Did it conjure up a childhood memory? Could we imagine who might have owned it? Who was the cat flying the plane?

"What's the weirdest donation you ever received at SCRAP?" I asked Katherine.

Kat once picked up a "pregnant mannequin from the Gap." Such oddities go fast. Some days SCRAP has a pregnant mannequin and then the next, the mannequin is gone.

Scraps of characters, plot, themes can be donated into the depository of this writer's mind one bright windy day in San Francisco, and then disappear the next if I don't write them down.

Buttons. Sorry not actual gold.

As a writer, I must sift through mental shelves of discarded material, donated anonymously by time and circumstance, and find the gold.

While you browse through your own depot, I encourage you dear reader to visit SCRAP, either in person or via their website: http://www.scrap-sf.org/

******************
I'd like to thank Katherine for showing me around the SCRAP depot.

In honor of Earth Day, SCRAP will participate in the Night Life at the California Academy of Sciences on Thursday, April 25th.

HOT & YUMMY LINKS FOR YOUR MONDAY

by Kris Kahrs

Here are some inspired links to set your Monday on the right path to a fun week.  Some of these you can experience now, some are events you can experience today or tomorrow and others are just good to know.

Mo' Mo Willems?
PW's Shelftalker has The Best Mo Willems Book You Haven't Read by Elizabeth Bluemle.

Have you ever heard of "Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator!"?  I hadn't until I had read this post by author Bluemle.  It's adorable and relatively obscure.  Dig it up and read to your favorite four-year-old.

Did You Know?
The Write Deal  Publishing the New Century - A group of professional editors and writers who are on it.  They are the 'fastest growing new generation e-book publisher and retailer'.  The Write Deal publishes e-leafs.  An 'E-leaf is the future of the ebook. E-leafs are very short, short or longer works in any genre, or serialized excerpts from completed or ongoing projects. E-leafs extend an author's reach into the book market in exciting new ways, and delight and energize readers with works that are fresh from their source.' 

Agent -
Ginger Clark

Gretchen McNeil on Ginger Clark - Agent

Over at author, Gretchen McNeil's website, Seanchai, she has a marvelous interview with her literary agent, Ginger Clark.  This informative piece will come in handy because Ginger is one of several agents who will be presenting at the SCBWI Summer Conference in Los Angeles in August this year!  Both of these women have a lot to offer writers so read up.

Today & Tomorrow: Events

The Magic Tree House Live Reading Tour will be in Los Angeles this week on April 16th at 10:00 a.m. at Vroman's Book Store in Pasadena, then at 2:00 p.m. over to Mayfield Junior School.  The following day on April 17th, the Reading Tour will be at The Barnes & Noble Bookstore at 11:00 a.m. on the 3rd Street Promenade.  Take your fan of the Magic Tree House series to these live events.  Get all the details at the Random House website. 

Yeehaw!  That's the weekly roundup, folks.  Enjoy from The Pen and Ink Blog!