Every now and then we have a wonderful former student guest blog for us and today (my birthday) the wonderful Charlotte Offsay is doing just that. Charlotte took our Picture Book Writing course a few years ago and now her career is rocketing, which makes me VERY happy! I always love to hear how other writers get their story ideas. Some writers I know make lists and mix up atypical characters, feelings and settings. Others I know try word associations and see where their minds wander. Personally, my best ideas tend to come from the things that take up the most room in my heart. Take for example my upcoming book How to Return a Monster. When I sat down to write this book, I wanted to write a story about an older sibling feeling replaced by a new baby. At the time I was consumed with how my 19-month-old would react to her new baby brother and a need to process and embrace the mixed feelings I was certain she would have. I first wrote a traditional narrative arc story about a train feeling replaced by a shiny new train, but the story felt too much like a sad terrible twist on Toy Story. But I kept re-envisioning characters and story structure and eventually arrived at a humorous how-to story about a child who tries to return their sibling in the mail. This is the manuscript that is being illustrated by Rea Zhai and will be published this September by Beaming Books. The Big Beach Cleanup is another manuscript that was formed from the things in my life that I care about the most. I passionately believe that if enough hands join together we can change the world and wrote this manuscript out of a desire to show my children that they don’t need to be superheroes to make a difference, they just need to do their part and join hands with those around them. The Big Beach Cleanup is an ocean advocacy story about little hands joining together to make big change. It features Cora who plans to be a sandcastle-building champion, but when the contest is canceled due to litter at the beach, her plans come to a halt. Cora and Mama pull on gloves and get to work, but soon Cora realizes it will take more than two pairs of hands to solve a big problem. It is illustrated by Katie Rewse and published by Albert Whitman. Yet another example of a story idea inspired from my own life, is my upcoming book A Grandma’s Magic. One of the things that matters the most to me is family and in particular my Grandma. My Grandma lives in England and I don’t get to see her as often as I would like. After one particularly difficult goodbye I was reflecting on what I wanted to write about and decided to write about my Grandma whose magic inspires me daily even from far across the pond. A Grandma’s Magic is a picture book celebration of grandmothers and all the ways in which they are “magical.” It is being illustrated by Asa Gilland and published with Doubleday Books for Young Readers in Spring 2022. Even though these story ideas are taken from my own life, none of them in concept are unique just to me. These are things that lots of people not only care about, can relate to, but also have been broached in picture books before… There are many fabulous new sibling stories including these: There are lots of wonderful books which encourage young activists, including these… There are lots of lovely grandma books out there including these… What makes my books different is that they are told in my voice, from my unique perspective, from my heart. I look forward to reading the stories that are most important to you, told from your unique perspective. Happy writing!!
13 Comments
Joyce Uglow
3/1/2021 11:14:50 am
Charlotte, I am reminded of the breakfast you and I shared with Mira at SCBWI in LA back in 2018. Congratulations on your journey and successes to date. Here’s to the future.
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Sharalyn Edgeberg
3/1/2021 01:13:13 pm
Congratulations on all of your books coming out $ for sharing your inspirations.
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Myrna Fileccia
3/1/2021 01:43:45 pm
Charlotte, you are very inspiring! More power to you!
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3/1/2021 09:12:59 pm
Thanks for sharing your inspiration, Charlotte. So excited to share your upcoming books.
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Sheri Radovich
3/2/2021 06:28:10 am
Thank you for your ideas and congratulations with your success with the books you have published and waiting to be to date.
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Krista Harrington
3/2/2021 06:31:57 am
Thank you for the great post, Charlotte!
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Mary McClellan
3/2/2021 06:38:58 am
Charlotte, love hearing about the inspirations behind your stories. Congrats on all your books! I wish you continued success!!
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3/2/2021 06:49:18 am
Writing from the heart. Great inspiration for today's writing session. Thank you.
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Tracy Hora
3/2/2021 06:55:03 am
Congratulations on your three marvelous books! And Thank you for sharing how your stories are written from your heart. Nice post!
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Marci Whitehurst
3/2/2021 06:59:42 am
What wonderful books! Congrats on them all. Thank you for sharing from the heart--that is such a treasure in writing!
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Rinda Beach
3/2/2021 09:34:09 am
I love reading all about your success and where it came from, especially Grandma Magic. I knew it was special!
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Sarah Meade
3/2/2021 10:35:40 am
Congratulations, Charlotte! Looking forward to reading each of these books.
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Presta
9/5/2022 10:17:38 am
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We are so excited to be mixing things up at CBA, beginning with some delicious additions to the Blogfish. Meet our awesome bloggers!!
Here's our lineup: 1st Mondays begin with awesome Aussie debut author and former student Amanda Lieber who will be focusing on Aussie kidlit. 2nd Mondays will feature super smart Melissa Stoller whose career is taking off with several new books. 3rd Mondays will feature our new blogger coming soon. 4th Mondays features new blogger, the fabulous Brentom Jackson, who has a beautiful approach to blogging. And 5th Mondays we'll be taking a break Archives
December 2023
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