You may remember that many, many moons ago, I took a new story idea down to pitch to my publisher and then finally got the go-ahead last summer. Forgotten? Well, I'm not surprised! People not directly involved in publishing are usually surprised at how slowly these things often move.
I was originally scheduled to start work on these roughs way back before Christmas, but what with one thing and another, both at my end and at the publishers, we have only just got going again.
I was originally scheduled to start work on these roughs way back before Christmas, but what with one thing and another, both at my end and at the publishers, we have only just got going again.
In some ways it is hard to pick something up after such a long gap and to get back into it, but in other ways it is very useful, as a bit of distance give you fresh eyes on your project and makes you more flexible to any changes needed.
I originally wrote the story on big sheets, combining text and images in a free-flowing way as ideas came to me and showed these to the publisher, rather than try and formalise them first, which worked well. But picture books are a set length, so now things need tweaking to fit the format.
My editor at Gullane has started the ball rolling, by dividing the text across the pages and roughly pasting in copies of my sketches where she things they work best. I'm now re-working the text slightly, re-drawing here and there and creating any missing images, working towards a proper set of roughs. It's a completely new way of working for me, but so far I'm really liking it.
Once again, I have permission from my publisher to blog the details, so I'll be letting you peek over my shoulder as I get seriously down to work during the next few weeks, just like I did with Bears on the Stairs, Rumble Roar Dinosaur and of course the two new baby books, Baby Goes Baaaaa! and Baby Can Bounce!.
4 comments:
Hi Lynne! I have learnt so much from you and your wonderful blog and really appreciate the time you take to share your work. I am an aspiring illustrator...you are living my dream.
Apologies if you have already addressed this in a previous post but I have a question about permission from publishers. You mention it in this post and I'm curious - how much are you able to publish online? I had never really thought about it before.
For example...I have been wondering how much I am able to share on my own blog of a book submission me and a friend are working on. I know some magazines and publishers specify that writers should not submit work that has been published online but I have not found anything that states the same for illustrators. Could I be jeopardising a possible acceptance by sharing too much?
Hope your next book goes well. I'm looking out for Baby Goes Baaaaa! :) Thanks!!
Hi Mel - so pleased the blog is helping.
Re your concerns: I should think 'Not previously published on-line' is intended to mean fully available on-line, ie as a book, rather than the kind of sneak previews you might see here. I would be a little careful though and not show too much detail of submission projects anyway: until you have a publication deal, your work in extremely vulnerable to plagerism. Never lose sight of the fact that any ideas you blog can potentially be seen by any individual or publisher anywhere in the world!
Good luck with it x
Cheers Lynne! There have been a few things I have seen and read recently (your comment in this post being the most recent) that got me worrying that I may be doing 'something wrong'. I'm learning the rules of this game :) Thanks for the feedback! You're the best!!
Exciting new project Lynne, love the pics of your roughs. Thanks as always for sharing.
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