How to Write a Children's Picture Book

WHEN 6 weeks Wednesdays, 7-10 p.m. Sept. 27-Nov. 1 WHERE classrooms of mediabistro.com Upper Market San Francisco, Calif. MORE INFO Email us, or call (310) 659-5668. PRICE $425 ($400 for ) more info Add to Calendar iCal | Outlook

Course Details

You have a great idea, and you've even imagined how the book will look when it's illustrated. But how do you actually go about writing a picture book? Part lecture, part workshop, this six-week course will take you through the process of outlining, writing, editing, and submitting a picture book. There will be weekly writing assignments, and we will workshop students' work in class.

In this class you can expect to learn:

• How to write in pictures
• How to develop a premise into a plot
• Techniques for hooking readers—and editors
• The science of making language sing
• The cruel but crucial art of revision
• Why editors like to choose their own illustrators
• The nuts and bolts of marketing a manuscript

Instructor Bio

Dashka Slater's Courses

Dashka Slater is the author of two three picture books: Baby Shoes, Firefighters in the Dark, and The Sea Serpent and Me.

Baby Shoes was named one of the best children's books of 2006 by both Booklist and Nick Jr. magazine, while The Sea Serpent and Me was a 2008 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2009 Cybil Award Finalist. Slater's novel, The Wishing Box, was named one of the best books of the year by the Los Angeles Times, which called it "an impish novel, hopeful and full of humor." She is the recipient of a 2004 Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and has won many awards for her journalism, which appears in magazines ranging from The New York Times Magazine to Mother Jones. Her fourth picture book, Princess Amanita and the Nine Noses, will be released by Dial Books in the Spring of 2011.

Learn more at www.dashkaslater.com or by reading her children's book blog.

Testimonials

Dashka's class opened a creative outlet for me that I always wished I had explored. I really enjoyed reading my classmates' stories and sharing my personal experience. The comments and feedback throughout the class helped me more than you know! -- Heidi Boeckmann

"This class provided a wonderful entry into a writing group. Sharing thoughts and ideas with other writers, as well with our instructor, made me really feel like part of a community." -- Tara Gannon

"Dashka showed support to each student's work, pointed out what needed change, and made suggestions on how to make improvements. I was amazed with her insight into our manuscripts. As though she were doing a puzzle, she would fill in the missing pieces." -- Barbara Gold

"Dashka is fabulous and insightful. Her lessons are very well scaffolded and her comments and feedback guide us to a remarkable finished product." -- Hamu Yaropa