Much More to be Explored in our stories

Once, when I was teaching a short writing course in Trinidad, a student mentioned that she had written a story  for children about a whale washed up on a beach in Trinidad. The overseas publisher to whom she sent it wrote back to say that the story was unrealistic as there were no whales in the Caribbean.

Click on the link below and read this article  

http://repeatingislands.com/2011/01/30/orcas-seen-along-western-coast-of-puerto-rico/


Much more waiting to be explored in our stories for children

Aspects of Fantasy in Caribbean Children's Books - The Great Divide

Dancing Princesses collage by Shannon

The Great Divide

Without Disney many modern children would not know the classical fairy tales which so fired the imaginations of many of us who are now writers of children’s stories. Indeed, in my country, it is no longer easy to just walk into a book store and pick up a book of fairy tales. They have to be specially ordered.

Interestingly enough, there are increasingly modern variations of these stories, but of course the fantasy remains.

My questions for those who want to write fantasy for children in the Caribbean, in particular,are – what are your reference points? Do you know the heroes/villains of the fantasies children are now watching via video games/cable/television? In your writing can you make reference to these characters with which your readers would readily identify? Can you create the kinds of characters in keeping with the modern child’s expectations?

This comment was made on an earlier post on my blog by a reader:

“I'd like to know, do you think every author should strive to create new creatures, the classical, old ones like vampires, elves, dwarfs, wizards with sharp hats, fairies, etc. are too ordinary already?”

 It's not that they are ordinary, but perhaps passé unless you can give them new attributes and situations which can fire the imaginations of the now generations.(e.g Harry Potter; Disney's Frog and the Princess where the princess turns into a frog when they kiss.)

Many of the characters in the games the children play or the creatures they watch on cable have the same age-old characteristics – there are heroes and villains, (helped by techno 'magic') people in distress, rivalries and conquests, etc.where good fights evil  – win or lose – these never die, but they are in new forms and garments and have new kinds of powers suitable to this age of technology.

I think that this post came to mind because of the voices complaining that our (Caribbean) children's stories are overwhelmingly from the past  –  heavily folkloric or about a quaint rural past.

General advice if you are writing for children is to get to know the modern child. Don’t just depend on your childhood memories. Life is very different for many children, these days. If you have none of your own, get access to children through schools and  children’s organizations;  volunteer to read or assist in some form. Libraries can help you to determine what the children prefer to read. Search the web to see what games are popular. People your fantasy with new creatures; modernize the old ones.

A writer like Helen Williams in Delroy in the Marog Kingdom (Billy Elm) is, I think, on the right track.  My ‘don’t like fiction’ grandson enjoyed this book.

The joyful thing about fantasy is that there is no limitation on your imagination.

For example, as enchanting as some of our River Mumma stories are, perhaps she could do with an update. What if she had hair extensions or Rasta locks and a name change to Sista Tall Hair?  What could happen  when, intrigued by dance hall music, she wants to come on land to dance (sounds a bit familiar?) What other characters would you put in that story? Would she go online to a search engine to find out how to change to human form? Or how to dance with a fishtail? Or start her own dancehall sessions on the reef?

What if our Cinderella (new name) falls in love with the prince who is the son of King Dudus? The glass slipper might be a lost cell phone instead! –  "Call to be picked up at 12 o'clock", but her credit was stolen by the jealous sisters! ( The I-Twos!!)  The ball of course would be a dancehall session. What adventures would she have? And could she influence change in the 'kingdom'?

There are no new stories, just different ways to tell them!

Since I wrote this post, I now have a story on amazon - ebook about a Jamaican Mr King and His daughter

Check it there

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ESEWI6I

Tek Mi! Noh Tek Mi!Caribbean folktales Link
**http://carlongpublishers.com/view_book_details.php?id=191&sid=32&lid=13

Are you a writer?

If when you wake up in the morning all you can think about is the story you are writing or the next story you want to write, you ARE a writer. I adapted that from a statement made by Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act 2.

So what are you doing about it? Are you actively writing? That’s the only way to truly become a writer. Keep writing and re-writing until you are satisfied with what  you have written.

Here are a few tips:

Write something every day- even a page or two.

Read every book you can put your hands on in your chosen genre.

Link up with other writers and don’t be overly sensitive to criticism.

Hone your language skills. Review the grammar and language arts skills you learned at school. There are books to help writers with the mechanics of the language.

Get editing help if you need it BEFORE presenting  your manuscript to a publisher. There is nothing more off-putting to an editor than poorly presented copy.

Search the Internet for sites which can give you information on your areas of weakness.

If self-publishing, be sure to have the work edited by an experienced editor.

Learn how to submit to agents and publishers. In the Caribbean the process is usually quite informal. Check publisher sites for submission guidelines and follow them.

Happy writing! I am hoping to see more Caribbean children’s books published in 2011

Caribbean children's books - As we enter 2011

One of my new year’s resolutions is to try to catch up on the technology as it relates to books, their promotion and sales. Thankfully, in 2010 Caribbean publishers began to be more aware of the possibilities of e-publishing and using the Internet for promotion and sales.  Frankly, as a writer, I am looking forward to increased royalties from this new thrust.

One of the ways of keeping up with the changes is to subscribe to newsletters and blogs which give information on what is happening. Everybody seems to have a blog these days  - publishers, agents, writers- you name it: OR/AND they are on Facebook and Twitter ( among other social media). Information overload!!!! One has to choose carefully which to follow.

A very useful newsletter I subscribed to in 2010 is publishing perspectives. com. The articles update the reader on activities and trends in the publishing industry - worldwide.

Here’s a teaser from this page

http://publishingperspectives.com/2010/06/your-book-as-a-database-a-primer/

Imagine the future of books not as physical objects, but as relational databases…

• Autobiographies, written in semi-real-time as the authors live their lives
• Massively multi-reader “Choose Your Own Adventure”-like role-playing books where everyone’s choices shape the story
• Serialized novels, like David Copperfield, only infinite and with alternate story lines
• Recipe books that keep growing and puzzle books that always have more puzzles
• Multimedia automobile manuals that self-update by pushing recall warnings and maintenance reminders out to you and to mechanics around the world, who then share their fix-it tips with each other and with everyone else
• Textbooks where student annotations, highlights, and notes are more valuable than the original text, so much so that students can monetize their contributions
• Series of technical books built with shared chapters: an update to a chapter in one book automatically updates every book in which that chapter appears

I am fascinated by the possibilities for the future of writing. What do you think?

Remember to vote for my book A Goatboy Never Cries at  http://www.bookindustryja.com/children_chapter_book_nominees

Thanks for reading my blog in 2010.  A happy and prosperous new year to all

Christmas inspiration for children's story

In my latest book for children Bernie and the Captain’s Ghost, the protagonist and the other five children in the story are all physically handicapped in some way. This is not very common in Caribbean stories; we still have a way to go in accepting and nurturing our disabled people. I have been asked why I chose to make these children disabled.  As usual with the creative process, one is never really sure, but I think the following experience had something to do with it.

For a long time in my house, Christmas was always an anxious time, and I went through the motions but didn't really enjoy it all much. This Christmas, many years ago, changed things, a bit,

One of my daughters having graduated from Mico with a teaching diploma specializing in Special Education went to teach at a school which catered for the disabled.  As Christmas approached and I had my usual anxiety about how it would go, I had an idea to change things. I asked her if the matron of the home where most of the children lived would allow a few to come to us for Christmas day. She was given permission to take six of them home with her, (I think it was because she was a teacher at the school) and we set about preparing for the day. 

By Christmas day my attitude had changed. I realized that in thinking about how to make the children comfortable and give them a meaningful experience, I had forgotten my own fears and negative approach. With my other children we went shopping for presents for the children and took pleasure preparing the Christmas dinner adding things we thought they would specially enjoy.

Not having been around the disabled, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but the day turned out to be very satisfying. We were all happy as we worked to make the children feel special, helping those who needed help and so on..  We enjoyed their laughter and pleasure in some of things we had organized for them, and forgot our petty jealousies, anxieties and other (to be truthful) quite selfish woes.

I think what struck me most was that in spite of their physical disabilities they were just - children.Many years later when I came to write Bernie and the Captain’s Ghost, I think it was those six children who ended up in the story having a wonderful adventure as they solved the mysteries at Green Valley  during a strange summer holiday.

P.S.  It would be nice if some good Samaritans would contact Carlong and purchase some books to give to Children's Homes. These kids don't often see themselves as heroes in stories.
Carlong contacts:
webpage http://www.carlongpublishers.com/view_book_details.php?id=206&sid=32&lid=13
email marketing@carlongpublishers.com
phone: 876 9609366
My thanks

Caribbean children's fiction - A child's view of Christmas

For Daniel

I love Christmas. Presents!  I love Christmas. Presents! That’s mostly what I can think of. This last week of school is not nice. The days just seem so long, while I wait for Christmas. Presents!

Mrs. Chin says we have to practise for the Christmas concert.  Every December we have to practise songs and plays and stuff to amuse our parents. My class is doing the Nativity scene. Someone gets a dolly and puts it in a cradle, and there’s a Mary and Joseph and wisemen and shepherds and angels.

I want to be Joseph, but Mrs. Chin says I have to be an angel. The angels have to sing a whole lot of songs. I am not going to remember them.  I want to be Joseph to help Mary open the presents the wisemen bring for baby Jesus. We‘re not supposed to open  them but last year the girl who was Mary said she didn’t know what Franky sense and Myrth were, but she thought the gold would be a chain or a bangle she could wear.  I think she forgot that Jesus was a boy. Mrs. Chin warned this year’s Mary not to touch the presents, but since she didn’t warn Joseph, If I was Joseph, I would open them.

Anyway, only the bright sparks Melvin and Joanna know  the words of the songs we angels have to sing, so this morning I asked Mrs. Chin If I could be the angel Hark. 

“There’s no such angel.” she barks at me.She doesn't have much patience at this time of year.

“Oh yes,” I tell her.  “He’s the angel who sings, you know ‘Hark, the herald angel sings’” Jeez, you would think  Mrs Chin would know that. If I am Hark I only have to sing ‘Glory to the newborn king’.

Mrs. Chin looks at me with that look grownups have when they are trying not to laugh, then she runs out of the room.Maybe she needs to use the bathroom. Soon we hear laughter coming from the staffroom. Somebody is giving jokes. I guess they are happy. It’s Christmas. Presents!

 I wish Mrs Chin would hurry up and come back. I am ready to be Hark and sing my one line: ‘Glory to the new born king .’ over and over. I can do that real good.

Please vote for my chapter book A Goatboy Never Cries at http://www.bookindustryja.com/vote_children_chapter_book_nominee

Animals in our children’s books

Being an island, we don’t have a wide variety of animals in Jamaica. We inherited lions and tigers and other continental animals in our Anansi stories from Africa. The steady diet of books from foreign countries means that our children mostly see a lot of bears and wolves and elephants and giraffes and so on .

Once, some years ago my young daughter came home with an assignment from school; she had to draw an animal. When I asked her what kind of animal she wanted to draw, she said :”A squirrel, of course.”  I asked her why she didn’t pick one of our own animals since we don’t have squirrels in Jamaica. I could see her thinking about this with a kind of surprised look on her face. Then she said : “We don’t have any animals.” As far as she was concerned the only valid animals were those in books and on television.

The children are probably wiser now, but we still don’t see a lot of our own fauna in the children books. We could raise the children’s consciousness of our environment if more of our books featured our own animals.

Read some interesting findings on the value of animals in children’s stories in this article:

Animals and nature are top page-turners for children across generations, says new reader research At http://www.pearson.com/media-1/pearson-news/?i=1336

The research is based in the UK but it certainly provides food for our own thoughts. Local research- anyone?  Here's an excerpt:

Booktime’s research, which polled over 1,500 parents and carers across the UK, also showed that reading books featuring animal characters motivates children to find out more about the natural world: 44% of children are inspired to want to go to a farm, zoo or safari park to see the animals for themselves. 90% of respondents stated that reading books about animals increases their child’s interest in the natural world and more than half of Britain’s parents report that their children are more inquisitive about animals and nature after reading a book on the subject.

One of the reasons for this enduring call of the wild was hinted at elsewhere in the research with parents and carers overwhelmingly agreeing that animal and nature themed books help their children to make sense of human feelings, relationships and the world around them.(my emphasis).

Generally, in our population, any animal not meant for food is considered more or less unimportant,or to be feared.  We fear lizards, snakes,crocodiles, toads and many of the creatures around us. Boys and dogs are natural enemies. A pet, apart from a dog or cat which might be useful for watching the home or catching mice would be considered a luxury in many households. 

Our folktales sometimes add to our discomfort with the animal kingdom. Take the galliwasp, for instance:  very ugly – looking. Folklore says if it bites you, whichever of you finds water first will live, the other will die. So, if bitten by a galliwasp, rush to the nearest pipe and put water on the spot. I don’t even know if it can bite and nobody knows what water has to do with surviving the bite, but we repeat the story for generations.

Here’s  a definition of the galliwasp: A large, harmless lizard found in marshes in the West Indies and Central America

And another:  A West Indian lizard (Celestus occiduus), about a foot long, imagined by the natives to be venomous.

Animals in our stories seem to be limited to donkeys and goats, and perhaps a cow or two, often  in the idyllic setting of the good old rural days. (I have a published story about a boy and a goat!! It's a modern story so I hope it passes muster. Also, Miss Bettina's House ( Carlong) features domestic and farm animals. ) There are only a few books featuring our wild life - lizards, birds, mongooses; and some domestic animals - cats and dogs etc.

I like to challenge my writing class to think about our environment for ideas for their children’s stories. Take fish, for instance. We have a number of interesting names for our fish – grouper, parrot, butter, king, snapper, and, more recently, the lion fish. What could a writer do in a fish story using those names!

 

Some years ago, deer escaped from a circus during a hurricane. I haven’t seen any, but people in the hills say they are multiplying. This is a new creature in our environment. What possibilities for stories! And it doesn’t have to be fiction only. Children, particularly boys, respond to non-fiction stories about the environment.

On her anansesem facebook page Summer Edward has been featuring children's book covers from different Caribbean countries. I have taken the liberty of copying a few relevant to this discussion. Check her pages. You will find that there aren't many books featuring animals
http://www.facebook.com/anansesem.caribbeankidsmagazine?v=photos

Why a Goatboy?

I have been asked why the name goatboy in the title of my latest chapter book for children which is A Goatboy Never Cries. Here's an extract from the story which explains it. Jillian is the story teller of that exceptional summer holiday when her family moves to the suburbs of Kingston and the children in the family find themselves with new daily chores. She has to help her mother take care of chickens and her brother Johnny has to take care of a goat. He dislikes the experience, at first, but grows to love the goat as a pet.

" At first, Johnny's new friends ridiculed him. His new name was 'goatboy'. I thought it was a stupid name, but, I suppose, if there were 'cowboys'to take care of cows, there could be 'goatboys' to take care of goats and 'pigboys' to take care of pigs and so on. However, I don't think I would like anybody to call me a 'chicken girl' OR WORSE, a 'fowl girl'.

available from LMH Publishing Ltd
Tel:876 938-0005
Fax: 876- 759-8752
email: lmhbookpublishing@cwjamaica.com

The Importance of book covers

Summer Edward on her facebook pages has been posting book covers from various Caribbean Islands. So far she’s posted covers from Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Haiti and Grenada. I thought I had seen a post on her blog specifically on the importance of a book cover, but I couldn’t find it. Her comment below on illustrations for Caribbean children’s books might be relevant though, as the illustration is actually the most important component of a cover, especially for children's books. Check the covers she has posted and judge for yourself.

 

http://www.facebook.com/anansesem.caribbeankidsmagazine

Looking at many of the illustrations in Caribbean picture books, I might be tempted to say that Caribbean artists are simply not that talented. This I know, is far from the truth. There is abundant, fantastic artistic talent in the Caribbean. What is missing in our region, is a sense of the importance of the role of the children's illustrator. Also, many of us do not yet understand that works of children's illustration are as much "fine art" as the creations we see displayed in Caribbean art galleries and museums. Caribbean artists fail to see children's illustration as the lucrative business and fine artform that it is, and we are decades behind continental children's illustrations (UK, Asia, USA, Africa) in this sense. So that is where we are right now in Caribbean children's illustration: abundant talent to choose from, but no cohesive, well-respected children's illustration field/industry with ties to an organized, professional and active Caribbean children's publishing mechanism with plenty and sustained work opportunities for illustrators

I may get some grief for this, but I am going to say it anyway: I simply don't think Caribbean children's illustration as it stands today is all that great. I mean the work that currently appears in published Caribbean children's books. To put it plainly, Caribbean children's illustration as it looks today, lacks versatility, seriousness (in the sense of professionalism) and sustained effort. Caribbean children's illustrators (who by the way, are a small group) simply haven't been inventing much, and we are waaaaaay behind our continental counterparts in this respect. Much― and that is not all, there is some great work out there― but again, much of the illustration currently appearing in Caribbean picture books is basically clichéd: cute, simplistic, uninventive, cartoony, and computer-generated. ( my emphasis)

http://summeredward.blogspot.com/2010/06/caribbean-picture-books-importance-of.html

Publishers sometimes consult, but do not  give authors control over/input into the design of their book covers. (My publishers are not adverse to a suggestion, but this is in the laid-back Caribbean) Self-publishers of course have that full control. Both need to pay very serious attention to cover design.  Here are some reasons why.
Importance of book covers

·           Shoppers in a bookstore spend an average of 8 seconds looking at the front cover of a book and 15 seconds looking at the back before deciding whether to buy it.

·           A survey of booksellers showed that 75% of them found the book cover to be the most important element of the book.

·          Sales teams often only take the book cover with them when they shop titles into stores.

From: http://www.sellingbooks.com/10-mistakes-authors-make


What goes into the making of a design for a book cover?  Obviously the story itself - what it is about and the intended readership. Decisions about typeface, size – those technical details are taken on the basis of these considerations.The art brief from the editor will give the illustrator guidelines for the cover illustration. Judging what will make a book stand out on the shelf is not often easy. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Some people may like a cover, others may not – usually the detractors cannot give an objective reason for disliking a cover.

Another  consideration  for our books is also whether the illustrator is familiar with and understands the Caribbean origin of the story. We all have to be very careful not to fall into the category highlighted in the last sentence in Summer’s quote.

Thought provoking article for ALL Caribbean writers

Why is our literature so different?
 Are these thoughts relevant to Caribbean writers for children,too?

What do you think ?
http://caribbeanbookblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/why-is-our-literature-so-different-why

I love my hair

You've got to check this!

watch the video



The longing for silky, long hair is still a problem for black children!! What are we writers doing to consciously send the message that black hair is okay: that our hair was designed for us - whatever its texture, colour, length. and it doesn't have to be a book about hair  - just one of the many affirmative messages about ourselves that we need to interweave in our stories.And if anybody dares to comment on prejudice, reverse or otherwise - . I'll delete the comment. Read the reason it was made then just watch the video and ponder

BIAJ chapter book nominations

My chapter book A Goatboy Never Cries has been nominated for the People's Choice award by the Book Industry Association of Jamaica  (BIAJ)
http://www.bookindustryja.com/children_chapter_book_nominees

What about it folks. Buy a copy from a bookstore in Jamaica or go to the LMH website




Read it and decide if you want to vote for me.

I am repeating an earlier post about it here

My new book A Goatboy Never Cries has been getting good reviews.
Here's an excerpt from the Sunday Gleaner of May 23
'

"A Goatboy Never Cries , a 13 chapter book, tells it all. Illustrations which appear in 10 chapters make the book fun to read and will help push the imagination, especially for those children whose knowledge of the countryside is limited. ....
Although a simple tale, Campbell uses the story to address themes such as family, friendship, love, loyalty and responsibility."

In the story Johnny, who has never owned a pet, is forced to take on the responsibility of looking after a young goat during his summer holidays. His initial rebellion changes as he learns to love the goat- which in turn presents new problems when the summer holidays end and there is no one to take care of it.

READ DIANE BROWNE'S REVIEW OF A GOATBOY NEVER CRIES ON HER BLOG 

http://dianebrowneblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/books-with-endings-that-make-us-think.html