Today's post is an interview I recently conducted with Barb Rosenstock. Barb has written some of the most interesting non-fiction for children in the world! She graciously shared her answers to the GROG members terrific questions:
1. What resources--online, museum, library, etc. have you found most helpful for your projects?
Although
I start online and pretty often wind up at museums or libraries, I’ve
got to pick PEOPLE as the most helpful resource for my projects. There
are literally millions of people who are experts and interested in
historical topics WAY beyond my knowledge base, find the right one for
the right book and that’s the best resource.
2. Do you work on one book at a time? Or more than one?
One
at a time with a running list of reading for the next one or
two…sometimes I’m not working on anything, I’m learning to roll with it.
I know the advice, but I DO NOT write every day.
3. What books did you devour as a kiddo?
The
Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace is my absolute favorite. I
loved reading historical fiction even very young, if it was set in
another time, I read it…Little House on the Prairie, Ballet
Shoes/Theatre Shoes, The All of a Kind Family, the Five Little Peppers.
Obviously, I am very, very old. I do remember liking Judy Blume and
whoever wrote Harriet the Spy, too.
4. Do you share your research with the illustrator, or does the illustrator just start from scratch?
They
start from scratch but every once in a while questions go back and
forth about a detail or two (or twenty!) between the editor, author and
illustrator.
5. How long had you been writing until you became published? How long did it take to get an agent/editor?
I
started noodling around writing for children in 2005 or 6, sold my
first picture book in mid-2007. The editor of my first picture book
recommended a short list of agents to me, I emailed them and the
wonderful Rosemary Stimola picked me up. My first three picture books
were slush pile babies, no agent. I never really thought of being a
writer until I fell in love with picture books, but I spent a lot of
years working in marketing/advertising creative departments, learning to
edit, change, rework with a tough skin and tight deadlines…that helped
the process to published author go faster than is typical I think.
6. How do you know when you've done enough research? What back matter is most important to you as a writer?
When
I’m bored, when I know the story and I’m just procrastinating writing
it down or working on it…and back matter is always a problem for me, my
first drafts of them tend to be WAY too long…at some point (sometimes
after I have a contract) I kind of try to pick a theme for the back
matter and stick with it, people can read on the internet if they really
need a bunch of general biographical details. Back matter should be
"now that I’ve told you this one tiny story, what else do you REALLY
need to know." When the back matter is longer than the book, it means
trouble. Sometimes mine is...
7.
How long do you devote to researching a book? Do you research it all
first, and then write? Or do you do a bit of both all along?
It’s
a giant spiral of research and writing, always a lot of research up
front, choosing or finding a direction and then going back and filling
in detail research while the story takes shape. As for how long? The
shortest I’ve ever written and researched a picture book is less than a
week, the longest is the better part of a year. Depends.
8. What draws you to write about a subject, and how do you choose your focus?
I
wish I had an answer…I don’t know, I run into things, usually a fact I
didn’t know or find interesting, but unless that fact leads to a story
(not a topic, like“I know, I’ll write about George Washington!") it
doesn’t work out. Many, many ideas don’t work out. Focus is something I
look for from the beginning, if I can’t find some small part to focus
on, I don’t do it. As an example, just because Helen Keller had a bunch
of dogs (which is a super cool thing, look it up!) doesn’t mean it
really changed what she did, who she became or how she affected the
world. At least, I couldn’t work it out right…maybe someone else can.
9. Have you ever started to write a book and given it up -- and if so, what made you decide to stop the project?
See
above! I would bet I have 5 to 10 ideas or half baked/worked on
subjects for every one book that works out. For me, an idea/project is
always stopped if I get to a point where I can’t answer the
question, “So What?” As in so what’s so important? why did this change
the world? why would a kid need to know this? If the story is just cute
or isn’t important or is a bunch of biographical details or I can’t find
a way to tell it that will connect with an elementary aged child, I
stop. Also, even when you’re published, not every book you finish gets
sold, so there’s that too.
10. You seem to be a master at coming up with new ‘angles’ on topics that have been explored many different ways; how do you come up with these new avenues to explore? (For example: your phenomenal book about Thomas Jefferson and his library.)
I’ll
tell you the specific Thomas Jefferson Builds A Library story. I have
gone to libraries my entire life, my sister is a librarian and while
researching a completely different book on the city of Washington, D.C.
(which didn’t work out!) I ran into the fact that after the war of 1812,
Jefferson sent HIS OWN BOOKS to recreate the Library of Congress that
the British burned. I was stunned…the Library of Congress we have today
was founded on Thomas Jefferson’s ACTUAL BOOKS! I mean, I just could not
believe I never heard that before! I started reading about TJ and
learned that books may have been the most important things in his life. I
was really astonished when I searched for a kids book on Jefferson and
his books and there wasn’t one! (P.S. THAT’S the first step before
researching a thing, make sure it doesn’t already exist!) You can’t fake
curiosity…I wanted to know more and that drove the book. Sometimes I
think the ideas choose a writer.
11. What should we have asked you?
I
guess you should have asked whether writing gets easier or harder once
you’re published. Writers think of publication as the big goal (I did
too!) and expect to be free of struggle from that point. It’s not. I
would say after a few books that it's easier to know when it’s right and
harder to find stories that really “make the grade.” I’m less easily
impressed with my own writing than I was in the beginning, and honestly,
even though there are days that’s frustrating, in the end it’s all just
part of a growth process. I love having a job where I can learn about
whatever I want, read all the history I love and with great illustrators
and great editors, help create a small piece of readable art for
children.
Thanks for asking!
Barb has a phenomenal website: http://barbrosenstock.com/
Thank YOU Barb for taking time to share your thoughts with all of us! We can't wait to hear about what's next!
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