
As many of you know, I am currently working on a children’s book called “The Stork and the Sparrow.” I have written it, and I am in the process of illustrating it. I started this project over a year ago. I thought it would be something to do while my husband, Greg, and I were in Malawi for three months, but it has turned into so much more. I actually almost gave up on it - last winter and spring it was almost forgotten. Greg kept encouraging me to work on it again. It is nice to have someone who believes in you and your work so much.
I don’t want so much to talk about the content of my story, but want to tell you how I came to tell this particular story and my process in writing it.
It’s a story that came to me from multiple avenues. At its basis it’s a story of a woman I met in Edinburgh about eight years ago. It is also a larger metaphor for those like her. It has definitely been influenced by my Christian faith as well – although, honestly I hope it never gets labeled a “Christian book” because that would keep so many people from reading it, and the woman’s whose story I am telling is not a Christian. And it is also a story about me and my life, as almost every story reflects something of the author as well.
However, I have worked hard to give this story it’s own life apart from me. While in grad school, most of my creative writing was just self-expression - a purging of hurt - a wrestling with myself, and it was all pretty awful when I look back now. I probably needed to do that first though to get it out of me so that I could be a surrogate to other stories. To be able to write things that will impact and inspire others and contribute to culture in a positive way - that is my true desire.
Before I began to truly work on my book, it was just an idea, and I thought about what medium would be best to convey this story. I largely thought about turning it into a short film about two sisters and their father. But then I saw “Rachel Getting Married” and realized my idea had already been executed, and it was way better than I could ever do it. Then I thought of a scene in the movie “Wit” where the main character’s former professor reads the children’s book, “The Runaway Bunny” and recognizes it as a metaphor for the soul and God. I have always loved illustrated children’s books, and even did a guided study in illustration as part of my master’s degree; so I decided to make this the way I would tell my story.
The manuscript itself has gone through many re-writes. After my second draft, I knew the story could be better, but I didn’t know how to make it better. Then I heard of, “Write! Vancouver,” a writer’s conference in Vancouver. The conference intrigued me because it was offering critiques as well as workshops. It was there that I was motivated to continue, but I was also given the tools, guidance, and courage I needed to be quite brutal with my manuscript and transform it into something new and better.
Writing and illustrating are difficult things to do well; I know it may look easy (and it’s sort of supposed to), but it’s not. Over the summer, I would take my story to the park. I had one paragraph printed on each page of paper, and I would take a paragraph at a time and totally rewrite it in most cases. I had to really get my word count down and think about what was essential to my story. I completely cut out one minor character and her story line. And I focused on showing not telling my audience what was going on. At the park, I would be happy if I made it through three pages in an hour, and after about that long my head was tired; there were little pink dots over each word because I had used my pen to count and recount each word to make sure I wasn’t over my 35 words/paragraph allowance I had given myself.
By the end of the summer the story was revised, and I was content with what I had. It was then time to move back to the illustrations, but more on that next time.
You can view past illustrations & follow me as I create new ones at: instagram.com/aftenlt
I don’t want so much to talk about the content of my story, but want to tell you how I came to tell this particular story and my process in writing it.
It’s a story that came to me from multiple avenues. At its basis it’s a story of a woman I met in Edinburgh about eight years ago. It is also a larger metaphor for those like her. It has definitely been influenced by my Christian faith as well – although, honestly I hope it never gets labeled a “Christian book” because that would keep so many people from reading it, and the woman’s whose story I am telling is not a Christian. And it is also a story about me and my life, as almost every story reflects something of the author as well.
However, I have worked hard to give this story it’s own life apart from me. While in grad school, most of my creative writing was just self-expression - a purging of hurt - a wrestling with myself, and it was all pretty awful when I look back now. I probably needed to do that first though to get it out of me so that I could be a surrogate to other stories. To be able to write things that will impact and inspire others and contribute to culture in a positive way - that is my true desire.
Before I began to truly work on my book, it was just an idea, and I thought about what medium would be best to convey this story. I largely thought about turning it into a short film about two sisters and their father. But then I saw “Rachel Getting Married” and realized my idea had already been executed, and it was way better than I could ever do it. Then I thought of a scene in the movie “Wit” where the main character’s former professor reads the children’s book, “The Runaway Bunny” and recognizes it as a metaphor for the soul and God. I have always loved illustrated children’s books, and even did a guided study in illustration as part of my master’s degree; so I decided to make this the way I would tell my story.
The manuscript itself has gone through many re-writes. After my second draft, I knew the story could be better, but I didn’t know how to make it better. Then I heard of, “Write! Vancouver,” a writer’s conference in Vancouver. The conference intrigued me because it was offering critiques as well as workshops. It was there that I was motivated to continue, but I was also given the tools, guidance, and courage I needed to be quite brutal with my manuscript and transform it into something new and better.
Writing and illustrating are difficult things to do well; I know it may look easy (and it’s sort of supposed to), but it’s not. Over the summer, I would take my story to the park. I had one paragraph printed on each page of paper, and I would take a paragraph at a time and totally rewrite it in most cases. I had to really get my word count down and think about what was essential to my story. I completely cut out one minor character and her story line. And I focused on showing not telling my audience what was going on. At the park, I would be happy if I made it through three pages in an hour, and after about that long my head was tired; there were little pink dots over each word because I had used my pen to count and recount each word to make sure I wasn’t over my 35 words/paragraph allowance I had given myself.
By the end of the summer the story was revised, and I was content with what I had. It was then time to move back to the illustrations, but more on that next time.
You can view past illustrations & follow me as I create new ones at: instagram.com/aftenlt