How I Became a Plotter: Intro

I used to be a pantser.

Ah. It feels good to get that out in the open.* Actually, technically I still am a pantser, I'm pantsing this post right now. What I should have said is I am learning to be a plotter.**

A little tidbit about me. I am...let's call it: genuinely-interested-in-being-organized-and-having-a-plan-for-everything. I am one of those weird people who gets excited about making lists, filling out forms, creating charts, and neatly ziplocking all of the outfits in my suitcase when I go on vacation.***  I am not OCD. I am also not in denial.

Anyway, why I thought I had ANY business being a pantser in the first place is beyond me. Maybe because, as an illustrator, I have had this image of a messy, paint splattered, eccentric artist burned into my brain since youth. But whatever the reason, pantsing is not for me.

Now, lucky you, I've decided to document my journey from lost pantser to full-fledged (successful?) plotter over the course of a single story. In other words, I plan to walk you through my plotting progress as I form a story idea, plot outline, polish a manuscript and everything in between. I hope someone finds it helpful.


To start off this plotting journey, I Googled.
Let me tell you, the plotting resources are nearly endless. Here are a few of my favorites:


Create a Plot Outline in 8 Easy Steps
Omg, just take an afternoon a devour this entire site. I'm not even kidding.

Writers Write
Great tips all the time on a variety of writing related things.

Smooth Draft Editing
I love their tips on building characters.

PS Literary Pinterest Boards
Seriously, they pin some fantastic stuff. Everything from writing strategies to social media tips.

J.K. Rowling's Order of the Phoenix plotting notes
If this doesn't inspire the plotter in you, I don't know what will.


Next time on The Blog: Using planning and strategy to come up with a story idea.


*There is nothing wrong with pantsing if it works for you. It just didn't work for me...which I learned the hard way.

**For those who do not speak Writer, a plotter is NOT an evil villain who sits around twirling his curly moustaches and plotting evil plans. Neither is a pantser someone who runs around de-pantsing strangers. These terms refer to HOW a writer writes. The plotter lays out their story in detail so they know every twist and turn their story will take and how it will end. Whereas a pantser refers to the writer who sits in front of a blank screen or sheet of paper and writes as they are inspired. They let the story and the characters evolve as they will.

***Please tell me I'm not the only person who does this...it's is such a space saver.

Squash in Progress

Since many of you enjoyed seeing how I created "The Rebel", I decided to do another art-in-progress post. This one is of my sweet little creativity mascot, Squash. He recently wriggled his way into a new children's book story idea.

First, I sketch in Photoshop CS5. This one is fairly clean but without much detail:

 

Next I choose/refine my lines and add details. I usually do this traditionally, with ink and paper, but I've been trying to make the move over to digital. You can still see the sketchiness in the under layers here:

 

 

Now it's time to pick my colors and block them in. I really enjoy doing this part in Photoshop because if I'm not sure about a color (which is often) I can easily play around with them until I'm satisfied:

Finally, I shade and add highlights. I think many pro artists who understand Photoshop better than I have ways of using its lighting tools to make this step easier, but I pick my shadow and highlight colors using the trial and error experience I've gained creating art with colored pencils:

 

There he is! Such a sweet little guy! He's got nothing but love...and spikey tentacles.

 

 



"Disney" Eyes.

I've always wanted to work for Disney. *sigh* Have to practice the Disney Princess eyes first. ;)

Color Your World

This is why I love Fred (of my picture book Frigl and Fred Go to Bed); he creates his world without fear. He simply does his thing, making messes and art in the same stroke and loving every minute. 

How awesome would it be if we all gave in to creativity without holding back for fear of messes or mistakes?

It'd be beyond awesome. It'd be beawesome.

Daily Doodle

I stood and stared for quite a while

till a Lion sang to me and smiled...

...pretty soon I knew the tune

and I sat and sang under the moon

and the jungle rang in joyful harmony.

 

(If you can name that tune I will give you a gold star!)

 

How I Got My Agent

I can't even believe I finally get to write one of these posts.

Yes. It happened. I signed with an agent. Her name is Maria Vicente of PS literary and she is bomb- tastic. In honor of my previous post I plan to give you as many nitty, gritty details and background as possible. Ready?

Let's begin.

After several rejections on a YA novel I had been revising and rewriting for several years, (yes, years) I decided to refocus my energy back on illustrating for a while. That's when I found Underneath the Juniper Tree, a macabre children's lit magazine. I submitted a story. Rejected. Then I submitted an illustration for a contest and won!



Red Tide. The illustration that won.

I was immediately hooked.

For a couple of years now I have been submitting stories and illustrations to Underneath the Juniper Tree (UTJT) and building friendships with the other writers and artists, as well as learning from the brilliant co-founders: artist, Rebekah Joy Plett and agent, Bree Ogden.

(BTW the Winter Issue is out! I did the cover and illustrated John Lucas Hargis' brilliant story, Twixie's Wishbone!! Check it out!)

With a newfound confidence in my talents, I branched out and created illustrations for Anchor Group Publishing and -- thanks to UTJT alumni Soju Shots -- I ventured over to hitRECord.com.

Soju doesn't realize this but Frigl and Fred (the children's book manuscript that eventually won over Maria) was, in a way, inspired by Soju's tiny story. I created an illustration for his tiny story, and that illustration inspired a whole new story of my own.

I want to pause for a minute to emphasize the importance of making friendships with other creative people. They are impossibly inspiring and supportive. I love them.

Back to the story.

I had a good feeling about Frigl and Fred. Cah-razy good. So I edited. I created concept art. I shared with family and friends. I edited some more. And a little more. Then I queried.

I picked a handful of my most favorite, most desired agents to query. I got some rejections, but understood it was part of the process and expected to do several rounds of queries before I saw any positive responses...but then I came across a blog, Maria's blog.

You know when you see something at a store and you instantly love it. Or when you meet a person and you immediately know you want to be their friend. This was the exact feeling I got when I read her blog. Then -- as if that feeling wasn't enough -- I saw something that made my heart jump.

She had interned under Bree Ogden.

I knew then and there that I had to send her a query; not only did I have a sort of connection to mention in my query, but I pretty much adore anyone associated with Bree because she seems to surround herself with the most awesome of awesome people.

Anyway, after I sent Maria my query -- and against my normally reasonable nature -- I did that thing where you play out all the scenarios in your head of a particular agent going nut-so over your story and calling you immediately demanding to sign you.

Well, Maria didn't call demanding things, but I did receive an email relatively soon requesting to see more. I forced myself not to get too excited, sent the requested materials, and waited.

Pretty soon I got the email that made me do something I have NEVER done before.

I. Spazed. Out.

I spazed like a little child. I ran through the house kissing my children and shaking my husband by the shoulders. "She wants to call meeee!!!"

There were a couple moments when I worried it was simply one of those calls to let me down easy, (I've heard that some agents do this when they like something they can't take on), but it wasn't.

Maria offered rep. I'm pretty sure I giggled like a complete dork, but in the end I accepted and here I am.

Merry Christmas to me!

The Danger of Headlines.

Alright, people.

While it is completely awesome that the undeniably talented Elise Parsley was able to land a full-on book deal within a few days of emailing a query, I am slightly bothered by this recent -- and popular -- headline. Not because I am jealous. Not because I don't think she deserved it (she does). I am bothered because I fear it will reinforce the already unrealistic ideas writers and illustrators have about being published.

Rather than hearing/reading about another seemingly effortless success story...

I want to hear about the hard work behind the story.

I don't know Elise Parsley, but I don't think I'd be wrong in assuming that her success was earned with hard work and time. I want to hear about how many books she wrote before finally finding her voice. I want to know how long she's been honing her (truly) fantastic illustration skills. I want to hear about the uncertainty so many of us face at some point in the process and how she pushed forward anyway.

I know those things must be there.

So why do we just skip over all of it to have yet another sensational Cinderella-type story? It seems like a disservice to the author's efforts.

Maybe after so many years of being told to reach for our dreams we have become way too focused on said "Dream" and subsequently blinded to the often uphill, bumpy path to it. It's important to not only remember that path but to not get discouraged by it.

In other words, don't give up because things weren't handed to you, be proud of your hard work and know you are not alone no matter what the headlines read.


For a beautiful example of how hard work -- or as he calls it "pounding the pavement" -- paid off, check out James Dashner's (The Maze Runner), "How I Got Here" story.