SCBWI spring conference

I'm going to post some notes from the editors' speeches at the Orange County SCBWI conference last week in Temecula. I'll start with an excellent talk by Stacy Cantor, editor with Walker Books for Young Readers.
She focused on picture books, and discussed how essential it is, in a story of 500 words or fewer, to make sure each one is exactly the right word. She had some fun examples from the first draft of Where the Wild Things Are, which was originally called Where the Wild Horses Are. What a powerful change just in that single word in the title (prompted, I believe, by Maurice Sendak's inability to draw horses. But whatever the reason, it changed the whole tone of the story.)
Cantor also handed out all of the drafts of and editorial notes for a charming picture book called Chicks and Salsa, written by Aaron Reynolds and published by Bloomsbury. It was a fascinating peek into the working relationship between an author and an editor, as well as a lesson about how critical revision is.
Finally, she listed five "rules" for picture books:

1. If you’re going to use repetition, make sure it’s there for a good reason and doesn’t talk down to your readers.
2. Introduce your main character and main conflict right from the beginning.
3. Each sentence you write must, in a very clear way, further the story.
4. With every step and with every word, you must be thinking about your PB illustrations. They should tell about 50 percent of the story.
5. They must be kept in childlike situations. Be thinking like a child and never forget who your audience is. What concerns do they have? What feelings do they have?

These are all fairly basic points, but ones that picture book writers ignore often. The next time I revise a PB text, I plan to go through each of these points to make sure I've adhered to them.

San Diego SCBWI conference

On March 8th, I attended the SCBWI's annual Editors and Agents Day in San Diego. Local agent Kelly Sonnack, of the Sandra Dijkstra Agency, was impressive, both articulate and forthright. In the First Pages' critiques, her editorial comments were dead-on every time.
Andrea Welch, editor with Harcourt Children's Books, discussed the editor-author relationship, and talked about what she looks for in a manuscript. She said every book must have an essential story, or heart, and that emotional content is the main reason a parent and child will return to a book again and again. She also emphasized that humor and heart should go hand in hand. She looks for a story that is both funny and emotionally engaging. When reading a submission, she asks herself what the essential, universal story is that underlines the manuscript.