SCBWI's Redlands Schmooze

Saturday morning I attended the local SCBWI Schmooze in Redlands. It was soo much fun. A Schmooze is basically an excuse for children's book writers (and illustrators) to get together to talk about writing and share their work. The lady who runs the Schmooze in Redlands is Marilyn Donahue. Check out this article about her that appeared in the Press Enterprise.

At this month's meeting, Marilyn spoke briefly about the benefit of making a storyboard. My takeaway was the power of visuals. The storyboard she shared is for one of her current projects, a novel that follows characters from the present and the past. As you can see from this early versions of her storyboard, her poor characters experience both highs and lows. One point she made is the importance of those lows. A character/story would be pretty boring if nothing scary/dangerous/tragic ever happened.

Thanks for some great advice, Marilyn. I can't wait until next month's meeting. I'll be sure to remember that I have to torture my characters a little.