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Maybe you can leave us today with your best fort-building tips…? Each project is a unique process and I’m always learning something new. Some manuscripts work out, some ultimately don’t find their way. In short-I guess I just don’t have all the answers! Most important of all is to press forward and keep trying. But other times I can tell when someone is just not understanding my vision for a project, and what I need to do is either reach out for more feedback from others or else burrow deep into my own perception of the project and try to make it really glow as brightly as possible. Sometimes I get advice that doesn’t resonate, but it’s just not resonating because I’m being stubborn-and later I’ll realize that the advice giver was, in fact, right. So when writing picture books, do you recommend that writers follow their heart and instincts more than solid advice that somehow doesn’t resonate? It was cute and fun to write, but I was really happy when my editor ultimately found something special about the earlier-simpler and more lyrical-draft, a version that really held more of my heart.
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I ended up rewriting the book as a traditional three-act story, with more developed characters. I guess sometimes you have to figure out what’s not working to understand what will work best.Ĭould you share with us what didn’t work-and how you ultimately came to realize it? I took the manuscript in a lot of different directions, but, to my own surprise, ended up returning to an earlier version in the end, and fine-tuning that. I went through a lot of drafts, some of which have almost nothing in common except that core love of building forts. How did you take it from the initial lightbulb idea to a fleshed-out concept? I try to make sure there’s something that kids can really relate to in my books-something that is universal or near-universal to the kid experience.
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So how did you know you hit upon a winning subject for a PB? Kids have so little say over so many aspects of their life-it’s got to be comforting to create this cozy space that they can control. They’ve made a place that’s meant to be occupied solely by them (visitors welcome upon invitation, of course!). I think part of it must be that when kids make a fort they’ve created a place over which they have complete ownership. Megan, OMG! Doesn’t every kid (and grown-up kid) LOVE to build a fort? Why do you think that is? So when I heard that Megan Wagner Lloyd released a picture book titled FORT BUILDING TIME this week, I knew I had to get her on the blog pronto. Heck, even *I* wanted it! It’s got blankets, and clothes pins and ropes, oh my! This Build-a-Fort Kit was #1 on my kids’ holiday wish list last year.