Benji, Yumi, Origami!

Everyone thinks it's easy to write a children's picture book. I mean it's only between 600 to 1000 words, so how hard can it be? Wrong.  With picture books, pacing, plot and word choice is paramount. You've got to engage your audience. With any bilingual book, the author has to be very careful with their word choice; in fact, an author has to be careful with word choice with any book that he/she writes. It is very difficult!

The National Book Council Development Council of Singapore has been trying to promote the children's literary scene here for some time. To that end, they decided to publish bilingual books in conjunction with the annual Asian Festival of Children's Content. As I am an author, I will be focusing on the books that were written by the Singaporean authors or Singapore based authors for this blog. 

Japan was the AFCC's country of Focus in 2016, so a Singaporean author was paired up with a Japanese illustrator.   Multiple award-winning best-selling author Emily Lim was chosen to write the first AFCC bilingual book. Emily's published around 30 books and sold her book rights overseas to Korea and Europe, so she was an ideal choice to wrote this inaugural bilingual book - Benji, Yumi, Origami! From the title alone, the reader can already tell that the book features  Japanese origami.

The story starts with Benji receiving a package from his new neighbor, Yumi - An origami set.  Benji quickly sets out trying to make paper animals that, unfortunately, do not turn out as he had hoped.  Lim has fun with her play on words. "The poor insects really bugged Benji. He sent them flying across the table."

When Benji finally meets Yumi, he expresses his frustration at not being able to make very good origami animals. So while both their mothers busy themselves preparing a tea of Japanese cheesecake and Singaporean pineapple tarts.  Yumi puts a positive spin on Benji's less than perfect Origami animals.

The author deftly weaves cross-cultural elements into this charming and heart-warming universal story of encouragement, fun, and friendship. The illustrations are delightful and the English and Japanese text placement make for easy reading.

Benji, Yumi, Origami! is available at all major bookstores.v

How Do Commissioned Book Projects Work?

Let's face it, a full-time author is never going to have a stable income from book royalties unless you're J.K. Rowling. So what's a writer to do? One option is to do school visits and talks, but most schools in Singapore are reluctant to pay decent rates; the other option is to take up commissioned projects.

My fellow authors, Emily Lim and Linn Shekinah have successfully published  commissioned picture books for the Singapore Zoo and the Public Utilities Board among others. But writing a commissioned project is far different from writing your own story. Your a hired gun so to speak and you may or may not have the final say on how your project turns out.

So how does a commissioned project work? What can you expect? I guess it varies from project to project, but here's the general gist:

1. You're either asked to submit a proposal or the client/publisher will approach you about working on a project. 

2. You'll be provided with a project brief which includes topics to be covered and the timeline. 

The Brief

3. The client may then ask for a sample of your writing or an outline for your story idea for consideration.

The Outline

4. Once offered the contract,  then you will have to negotiate your terms of engagement: 

Fee: For a commissioned project the author is usually paid a flat out fee rather than royalty payments. 

Rewrites:  I usually limit the number of rewrites to two. You don't want to end up in endless rounds of rewrites!

Kill Fee: In the event that the project fall through and your services are no longer required, you should insists on  a Kill Fee clause in your contract. That means you will still get paid something for your time and effort. E.G: A couple of years ago, I was commissioned by a financial institution to write a series of comic book stories based on their original concept. The project fell through but I was still paid for my effort.

5. Once a draft is approved, the illustrator begins to sketch the story out.

A tight sketch

 The blue damselfly was later
changed to a red dragonfly.

Final artwork.

6. Be patient and compromise. You don't have complete artistic control over the content of your project as the client is paying you to tell their story. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't compromise your creative integrity. 

With this project, Gardens agreed to use the characters from my existing Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di series, so I guess I had a slightly easier time than other writers as I was already working with the familiar.  

Having said that, the project was not without its challenges.  How could I make the educational topics entertaining and fun without being overly didactic while sticking to the client's criteria? Thankfully I was lucky to work with a brilliant editor, illustrator, project manager and publisher, so that was sorted out as much as possible.

The whole project- from concept to completion - took up almost an entire year. The books were published early this month and are sold exclusively at Gardens by the Bay at $S58.00 for a set of four. So if you would like a set head on down there today!

AFCC Day Six

I arrived late on day six because I had to take care of a few things to take care of before heading out. I was sorely disappointed that I missed Candy Gourlay's keynote talk.  I did, however, make it on time for The Nuts and Bolts of Self Publishing: The Good, the Bad and the Fabulous, a panel discussion by Sarah Mounsey, Emma Nicholson, and Hidayah Amin.  Award-winning author, Emily Lim, moderated the session.

The multiple award-winning, Emily Lim, moderates the panel.

All three ladies have self published their books to great acclaim. Emma's already been signed to an agent, Sarah won the Bronze medal in the MoonBeam Awards and and Hidayah scored a double whammy when she won this year's Hedwig Anuar Children's Book Award and the Grand Prize for the Samsung Kidstime Awards. Congratulations to all three ladies who shared their invaluable insights into the adventurous and sometime treacherous world of self-publishing.

The Bronze Medal Moonbeam Award winner, gets ready for her talk.

Sarah addresses the audience.

Two-time winner, Hidayah Amin, takes to the podium

Author of the popular  Princess Petunia's Dragon,  Emma,  takes her turn.

Later in that afternoon, I attended the most anticipated event for aspiring authors, The First Pages Critique with Sarah Odedina, Shirin Yim Bridges, Ying Chang Compestine and Edmund Wee and moderated by Kathleen Ahrens, who always does a brilliant job of reading the manuscripts. First Pages is always a nerve wracking experience for any author. During the session, the first 100 words of the author's manuscript are read aloud and then critiqued by the panel.

The Panel: 

Edmund Wee, Sarah Odedina,Ying Chang Compestine & Shirin Yim Bridges

To the uninitiated writer, it may feel like you've been sentenced to death by literary firing squad. The wait to hear your manuscript being critiqued is unbearably indescribable and when they finally do get to yours, beads of perspiration embroider your brow, your heart practically hurtles right through your rib cage and you can almost feel the unmistakable trickle of pee running down your leg. Relax, it's all part and parcel of the course. You're not a real writer until you've peed on yourself.

Ying Chang Compestine and Shirin Yim Bridges

Most of the time it's not as bad as you think it will be. But sometimes it can seem like an editorial blood bath!  Am I joking? I'll leave that for you to decide. But it's an experience that every writer should go through. It's good for you.

Authors: Sarah, Simon, Helle and Linda  anxiously await literary execution or salvation.

The surviving members of the critique session made their way down to the festival bookstore, Closetful of Books, for a spot of shopping before taking a group photo with the SCBWI members.

I managed to grab a few minutes with friend and best-selling genius of an author, Candy Gourlay, whom I missed at last year's London Book Fair. Candy was off to London a few hours later, so our meet-up was all too brief, but we did manage to take a photo. Candy says I never smile, but I beg to differ - see the photo below.

Candy  says I never smile! See I do!

Singapore's best-selling award winning author, Emily Lim took time to catch up with her American counterpart, Ying Chang Compestine before the group left  for  Boat Quay for the SCBWI AFCC Family dinner organised by Catherine Carvell.  After a full day of sessions most of us wanted to unwind, relax and fill our tummies. I, on the other hand, opted to go for the literature lecture, which was conducted in Chinese with live English translation.

Emily and Ying

Stanley, the nickname I've given my stomach, began to growl and so  I skipped out on the Q & A session and shared a cab to the  SCBWI Dinner with Best-Selling author Chris Cheng. 

And we all spent the night, eating, drinking, catching up with old friends and making new ones. All in all, it was another pretty awesome SCBWI/AFCC dinner. 

Emily and Helle

Catherine and Kathleen

L to R: Chris, Avery, Kathleen and Catherine.

Simon and Dave Liew

Linda, Helle and Simon

Adan and Felicia

Epigram Sales Conference

On Friday June 6, 2014 Epigram Books held its Annual Sales Conference at the Arts House. At the sales conference, Epigram pitches their forthcoming books to bookstore buyers and the press.

Mr Epigram himself, Edmund Wee, started things kicked things off before he had to dart off for a meeting.

First book off the starting blocks was Girl Overboard by my brilliant long-suffering editor Sheri Tan and illustrated by her husband Fernando Hierro. Now Sheri is not only my editor but the competition as well! :)

Red Dot Award winners AJ Low aka Adan Jimenez and Felicia Low Jimenez discussed their eighth book in the Sherlock Sam series Sherlock Sam and the Cloaked Classmate in MacRitchie.

Jason Eric Lundberg and Patrick Yee discussed their fourth Bo Bo and Cha Cha book: Bo Bo and Cha Cha  Cook Up a Storm.

Multiple-award winner Emily Lim talked about her second book in the Tibby the Tiger Bunny series, Tibby and Duckie.  After which, talked about the Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di books and the latest story, The Lion Dance.

Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di was originally written back in the '90s and after the series was well underway my youngest nephew was born. The publishers at the time did not want to incorporate him into the story, but Epigram has done a great job of introducing him to the stories by including him in the illustrations in Sebbie's First Day of School and A Day with the Duchess. And Xandy will be the central character in the Lion Dance.

We ended the day with muffins, cucumber sandwiches and champagne!

Rough sketches for the Lion Dance

Picture Book Review Master Class with Leonard Marcus and Marjorie Coughlan and Dinner with Andrea and Helen

So the festival was officially over but I had registered to attend the picture book review masterclass by Leonard Marcus and Marjorie Coughlan. I was so sleepy, extremely sleepy but I managed to drag myself out of bed in order to join Kenneth, Andrea and Naomi for breakfast as their hotel before the day-long workshop began.

I chose the picture book review masterclass because:

1.) It was being conducted by Leonard and Marjorie
2.) I'm a picture book author
3.) It would give me tips of what reviewers are looking for in a good picture book.

The class started at 10am promptly and I was late because there was a long line at the registration desk and I wanted to pay for the course before I actually attended it.

By the time I got to the room, everyone was introducing themselves. It's one part of any course that I feel least comfortable with and I just said, "Hi I'm David. I write books. I blog. That's it." 

I feel uncomfortable and awkward in a roomful of adults, especially when the attention is on me. I'm a writer. A loner. I feel most comfortable in front audiences who still require afternoon naps or diaper changes. In other words, the very young or the very old.

Anyway, shortly after my short, concise introduction, I got a text message and I wondered who could possibly be texting me so early in the morning. Could it be an editor or publisher who I had deluded into thinking I was the next big author with multi-million dollar sales potential? Could it be a transmedia exec offering me worldwide distribution for my stories? Perhaps it was MENSA calling to apologise for not recognizing my literary genius, or my plain genius, and asking if I would like to sign up as a member?  No to all of the above. So who was it from? Well, it was from Kenneth, giving me his critique of my introduction! And let's just say  I've had better reviews.

With that done, the class got underway a reading of Sendak's 'Where the Wild Things Are'. I was surprised that some people had never even read it. Though some did watch the highly questionable movie adaptation of it.

We discussed wordless picture books and translated picture books and all sorts of picture books. At the end of the day, Emma and I paired up to write a review of Susie Lee's wordless book 'Wave'.

Then it was time to pack up. Marjorie had one last drink and a curry puff with us before Kenneth and I had to head on over to Helen Mangham's house for a get-together with Andrea and Helen. They always host a wonderful party with fantastic food and drink during the AFCC and it's a wonderful way to bring the week to a close.

Emma, Simon, Emily, Pauline Loh were already there when we got there. Kenneth and I hit the buffet table and piled our plates high before settling down on her really comfy sofas and chatting with the other guests there.

Helen, Emma and I discussed a big huge upcoming meeting that we'll be having. Hopefully, I don't mess things up. Emily, Ken and Pauline discussed the high points of AFCC and then when it was time to go we thanked Helen and Andrea for a wonderful evening. Andrea was heading back to Manila the next morning and I'm supposed to get her my manuscript soon. Note to self: Start writing!

Highlights from this year's Singapore Writers Festival