Holiday Gifts: A Hanukkah Celebration for Writers and Readers

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was dumping a leftover turkey carcass into my crock-pot along with an onion, carrot, celery and eight cups of water. Then the next thing I knew, it was time to celebrate Hanukkah!

Oh wait! It was just yesterday that I was making turkey soup - and it is already time to celebrate Hanukkah. The celebration of Hanukkah is determined by the Hebrew calendar which changes each year in relation to the Gregorian civilian calendar. This year Hanukkah happens to begin quite early, on December first. And since the Route 19 Writers are blogging on the theme of "Giving and Receiving" for the month of December, I'm here with timely Hanukkah gifts for our readers. Enjoy!

The first gift is a little info about Hanukkah, or the Festival of Lights. The holiday, a relatively minor one in the Jewish calendar, celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. There’s a hero named Judah Maccabbee, a candleholder called a Menorah and a miracle involving oil that burned for eight days. For a good read about Hanukkah I’d recommend the Caldecott Honor Book by Eric Kimmel, Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins and for kids celebrating both holidays, My Two Holidays: a Hanukkah and Christmas Story by Danielle Novack.

Your next gifts are a series of tips on writing how-to books. These days I'm spending a lot of time working on fiction, but I’ve written a few craft books in my day, all for Williamson Publishing, which is now an imprint of Ideals Publications. For several years I was also a contributing editor for Parenting Magazine where I devised crafts based on various found materials, my favorite being the lowly toilet paper tube from which I crafted a noisemaker, elephant, ring toss, candle holder and tree trunk! In the process of writing directions for literally thousands of crafts and supplemental activities and from teaching lots of arts and crafts classes, I've gotten pretty experienced (and efficient) at writing nonfiction instructional books.

Tip Number 1 Begin by asking yourself why anyone would want to read your book. It may sound like a harsh first step, but if you aren't pretty sure you have something to offer a decent-size audience, there's probably not much point in proceeding. 

Tip Number 2  Come up with a unique twist on your subject. There are lots of how-to craft books out there, not to mention lots of free stuff on the internet. In Big Fun Christmas Crafts & Activities I included a section titled, “Customs Around the World” that offers a multicultural learning  experience for teachers and home-school parents, and I always include plenty of supplemental material to make each craft a “whole learning” experience; these features make my books worth their cost to my audience. While you're at it, it's not a bad idea to come up with a title that's an attention grabber - one that promises to provide the reader with entertainment as well as knowledge - but as my titles show, the winning selection is likely to be one that clearly states what the reader will find within.

Tip Number 3 Write an outline of your book. Structure is incredibly important so begin with the major sections of your book. It sounds obvious, but it's overlooked often enough that I'll say it anyhow: group like with like. That's better than being clever for busy users. Then flesh out your table of contents. Subtitles need to be explicit - and appealing.

Tip Number 4 Keep directions clear and concise. It's harder than you'd think - so find some testers to give them a shot. Are you missing steps? Unnecessarily wordy? Is anything confusing? Remember that illustrations, diagrams, and other images can add clarity so don't duplicate their information.

Tip Number 5 Do your research and check your facts whether you’re writing biography, history, travel or memoir. It may be time-consuming but there’s nothing worse than having a reader report an “error” to your publisher after your book has been published. A reputation for inaccuracy will end your career faster than an indifferent review.

The next gift is a craft that is quick and easy for all Little Hands to make as a holiday gift. Pair it with an appropriate book for the perfect present:

A Snowman Bookmark

Here’s What You Need:

1. Construction paper (any dark color) cut into a 2” x 8 1/2” strip, plus scraps

2. White stick-on dots (found in office supply stores)

3. Clear Contac paper

4. Hole punch

5. Ribbon

Here’s What You Do:

1. Stick dots onto the paper strip for a snowman. Use markers for the snowman’s eyes, mouth and arms.

2. Cut out trees and other decorations from scraps of paper and glue them on.

3. Wrap the bookmark in clear Contac paper then trim around the edges.

4. Punch a hole in the top of the bookmark and thread ribbon through the hole. Ta-Da!

And one final gift: A simple, healthy recipe to polish off the last of the turkey leftovers:

Easy Slow Cooker Turkey Stock
1 turkey carcass (you can add the giblets and other gross bits if you'd like)
1 med or 1/2 large onion, skin removed
2 small carrots, scraped
1 stalk of celery
8 cups water (you can substitute chicken broth for some of it if you want)

Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 5-6 hours. Discard solids and strain stock and it's ready to use in your favorite soup recipe. It also freezes well.

So all in all, that makes eight gifts - one for each night of Hanukkah!

Mucking About with Fairy Tales and Tall Tales: How to Twist Them and Make Them Your Own

Hansel and Gretel by Arthur Rackham, 1909

This weekend, I'm speaking at the Western Pennsylvania SCBWI conference on "Mining the Folklode." In case you can't make it to the conference, here's a quick overview of the tips I'll be sharing to help you take well known tales and give the reshaping that makes them interesting for modern audiences.

  So, you think you’d like to write a tale or two!

Let’s start with the basic good old-fashioned fairy tale.

You know where to begin--

WHEN

Once upon a time,

But where do you want to go next? Far away? Or far far away? You decide.

WHAT

Once you have your kingdom in mind, let’s give someone or a bunch of someones there a problem. A serious problem.

      A dragon is good.

      An ogre scary.

      A band of outlaws might make for tension.

      So would an invading army.

      And you can always fall back on the very annoyed and ready to do harm step-mom

Illustration by Margaret Evans Price for Cinderella  in Bates, Once Upon a Time: A Book of Old-Time Fairy Tales, edited by Katharine Lee. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1921.

HOW

      How is the problem going to be solved?

      Remember in picture books there is a series of three.

      If they throw water on the dragon, it turns to steam.

      If they build a trap for the ogre, he eats it.

      If she/he tries to fool the vexed step-mom, that tricky step-mom foils the fooling.

WHO

      If you have a hero, now’s the time for them to start to really work hard. This is a fairy tale so magic is fair! One, two, three. YAY!

      And everyone is happy ever after.

Now, apply this to a tall tale, but let’s make some changes.

WHEN

Just last week…

WHERE

In Pimplepopp, Pennsylvania

WHAT

In a garbage dump, a blob began to grow, and grow, and GROW

WHO

And the only one who noticed was a little boy who rode his bike by the garbage dump as he delivered papers.

      So, what’s going to happen? One, two, three.

And since this is a tall tale, give your kid some super powers.

Remember, a tall tale might sorta could be true, well, here and there. And then it’s stretched and stretched until it’s fun!

Now, what if you have a favorite fairy tale and you want to tinker with it? What do you do?

Use our template.

Do you want to change the WHEN?    

What if Sleeping Beauty took place in 2525?

Change the WHERE.

What if Jack and the Beanstalk took place on Jupiter?

Change the WHAT

What if in Cinderella the Prince was a schmuck and the step-mom was trying to keep Cinderella away from him?

Change the HOW

What if Jack decided to negotiate a peace treaty with the giant instead of killing him? What if Jack felt remorse for stealing the giant’s favorite things?

In fact, what if Jack lived in New York City and his mother told him to go out and sell her cow costume because they needed the money to buy milk. What if a guy on his way to a party needed a costume and wants the cow suit. What if he gives Jack a magic key that makes any elevator open immediately if the key touched the door? What if Jack decides to try the key out on the new office building and he finds himself on the 313th floor and . . . .

Well, you get the idea.

Have fun! If you are laughing as you write, the reader will be laughing as they read.