What if?

So a publication asked me to submit a piece on writing tailored to kids to coincide with the release of Fish Outta Water. I was stumped but decided to give it a go. Just as I was submitting it, though, they said, never mind. Seems I’d missed the deadline I hadn’t been informed about. Needless to say I was pissed because time is not something I have a lot of; but then I remembered I have this blog for sharing things like this (and hadn’t had time to blog all week). So I won’t count it as time wasted but as the blog I didn’t know I was going to write. And you know what’d be really cool: if kids, especially kids 10 and younger, responded with their own response to the what if prompt in the comments section below.

How to Write Your Own Adventure

What if? …

That question can send the imagination on an exciting adventure.

What if an Arctic seal got lost in the Caribbean?

That’s the question that jump started my new book Fish Outta Water.

In the real world, we learned that this is not such a far-fetched what if when Wadadli, the Arctic seal, was helped home by scientists after somehow ending up in our waters.

But what if the stranded seal had been befriended by a creature from the Caribbean Sea? What kind of creature would that be? Would it be friendly? Would it help the stranded seal find his way home? What kind of adventures would they have?

For each question, I imagined answers until the world of the story was filled with characters; and how the seal got lost to how he got home became the challenge driving the plot, as surely as the growing friendship between the adventurous twosome.

As for the world of the story, before the illustrator (Zavian Archibald) could draw it, I had to imagine it. I refreshed memories of being on or under the water with online images of our vibrant Caribbean underwater life and the creatures that inhabit it. Plus, I found inspiration in unexpected places, like watching the sway of grass in a brisk breeze as I tried to write the fluid world of the sea.

Because it’s the world of your imagination, you can bend the rules. So yes, the seal and other sea creatures in Fish Outta Water do talk, just like Nemo.

As for how it feels to be lost, to make new friends or to go on adventures, I have only to search my own experiences; and use the echo of those emotions to imagine how the characters might feel.

Of course, in the story, the adventure eventually comes to an end. To find out if the seal who daydreams of dolphins finds his way home, you’ll have to read the story; I don’t want to spoil it for you.

But, know this, you too can write your stories; your story can take anything on any kind of adventure. You only have to ask yourself, what if?

 

New Book. Ask For It At Your Local Bookstore.

Fish Outta Water

My first ever children’s picture book is now on the market

There’s me, there’s the book…and there’s a little girl in the corner flexing her muscles. You go, girl!

Part of Pearson’s Stepping Stones series, Fish Outta Water is written by me and illustrated by talented Antiguan artist Zavian Archibald. You can read more about it here. Thanks, as always, for the support.

The picture of me mugging for the camera above is from the Antigua Public Library summer reading programme, by the way; and, by the way, the first audience to hear me read from the finished version of this book. We had a good time together as suggested by this excerpt from acting Chief Librarian Ryllis Mannix’s thank you letter:

“Thank you for sharing. You were inspiring, positive and uplifting and were a delight to the children. Your presentation was one of the highlights of the program and you were an incredible motivator. The children kept speaking about you and your presentation as the days continued.”

Also as evidenced images below (courtesy the Antigua Public Library):

As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.

Quotable – Zavian Archibald

Wadadli Pen is about helping to develop the creative arts – helping to give young people in Antigua and Barbuda an avenue to build and share their skills. Where it takes them is up to them but we believe that we can be part of that foundation from which they can build a creative mind and maybe even a career in the creative arts.

We have nothing at all to do with the development of Zavian Archibald – all credit instead to her folks, her teachers, the Antigua Sailing Week signboard competition and the International Olympic Committee Art Contest (both of which she shined in), the Savannah College of Art and Design and other factors that played a role in her evolution.

But having come across an article about her on Carib Arena, I was struck by these words: “I think if children are encouraged to embrace their creativity from very early, then that would change the perspective from which art is viewed by many islanders…developing skills in art is not just about training your eyes and hands; it’s also about training your mind to think of creative solutions. Being able to think creatively is of value to all subject areas.”

This! is what we’ve been saying and saying. So Zavian, a former National Youth Award winner for art by the way, echoes our thoughts most beautifully. Thrilled to spotlight this Antiguan and Barbudan artist.

And not just because she’s the one tapped by Pearson Education to illustrate my forthcoming children’s book. I’m not telling tales out of school, am I?  I can only say that I’ve seen the illustrations

Teaser!

and I am thrilled with her interpretation of the scenes and characters. That she’s working on this book, by the way, brings to mind another quote from her interview: “…be open-minded and don’t limit yourself to any one avenue… However, I believe that a person should hold on to what they are most passionate about as this is what fuels everything else.”

POST NOTE: You know, this picture book Zavian and I worked on together came from a children’s book that’s been sitting on my hard drive for a loooong time. I remember speaking with her years ago when I first wrote it. This is before she even went off to college. There was an image of hers that I saw at an art show that made me think she was the ideal candidate to illustrate the particular world of the story. But neither of us had any idea really how to get it published and we were both busy with other things. Fast forward to a year or so ago and a call from Pearson for children’s stories, and me submitting the only children’s story I had. Pearson liked it and a couple of editors and a reading specialist later, it’s set to hit the market sometime in 2013. When they started discussing art, I recommended a few artists (really wanting them to use a Caribbean artist). It feels like serendipity that they selected Zavian, the one artist in the bunch with whom I had discussed the book  years earlier (they didn’t know that). Looking at the proofs, I was right all those years ago…she really was the ideal choice for this particular project.

As with all content on wadadlipen.wordpress.com, except otherwise noted, this is written by Joanne C. Hillhouse (author of The Boy from Willow Bend, Dancing Nude in the Moonlight, and Oh Gad!). All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed it, check out my page on Amazon, WordPress, and/or Facebook, and help spread the word about Wadadli Pen and my books. You can also subscribe to the site to keep up with future updates. Thanks.