The Pen Is Mightier Than the... Scalpel?

What makes a great book so great? 

What gives it that voila! that makes people want to

read it over and over and over?
And how do we as writers figure it all out?

Book dissection. 

Works for frogs, doesn't it?

Er, they're probably not too thrilled about it, sure, 

but after hearing Rachel Vail (Justin Case, Piggybunny), Melissa Sweet (Balloons Over Broadway) and Bonny Becker (A Visitor for Bear) discuss their research strategies at the writing conference, I got to thinking... 

See, biologists and writers have something in common.

Both need to get at the Hows and Whats and Whys, 

and can be bettered by a little friendly dissection.

How to dissect a book:

First, find a massive stack of books

in the genre you want to write.

(best-sellers and favorites 

are a good place to start.)

Read till you're stuffed.

Then, take out the scalpel - the figurative one - 

and pull your books apart.

Question everything. 

If you're an outliner, try boiling your favorites down into outlines. 

Ask yourself questions like:

1- What makes this a best-seller?

2- What do I love about this? 

3- What sets this book apart from all the others?

4- What is this story about in one snappy sentence?

5- What makes this book memorable:

            -Is it strong central characters?

            -emotional connection?

            -a plot that sucks you in and won't let you go?

            -an unidentifiable weirdness?

Record your findings to see if any themes emerge.

After doing this to sixty picture books, 

I have to say that I really do feel the vicarious cleverness 

seeping in...

I see how certain themes resonate with my brood

and I can pinpoint why some books rise above the rest.

Dissecting books is like
Toto and Dorothy finding the man behind the curtain.

It's like seeing someone that intimidates you
in their underpants.

It's like finding out the magician's secret tricks.

What's left to fear? 

If we can identify what makes a good book good,
we're almost there!

And hopefully some of that goodness will rub off
as we hunker down at our desks to go be clever.

Bookish books:

The Incredible Book Eating Boy, by Oliver Jeffers

Castle of Books, by Bernard Clavel, illustrated by Yan Nascimbene 

Wordy gifts

I've been dissecting books lately -
I'm reading and analyzing and trying to get
at the wild animal that is successful writing.
And in the process, I found I wanted
to actually cut something up.

So we made wordy gifts for our teachers and mamas.

The girls yarn-bombed pencils,

 helped fancy up some clipboards,

 did a little sewing;

then we stitched old book pages into apple, heart and flower puffs

 and stuck them on our pencils.

Ah, clipboards. 

I've often thought I could go just about 

anywhere with a clipboard and feel official. 

So, the wordy gifts are done. 

And the figurative book dissection continues...

I'll fill you in tomorrow on my discoveries.

Get in Touch With Your Feltings

Time to Make Gifts for our Lovelies.

Teacher Clips:

We folded felt over paper clips, added felt shapes, used spots of glue to hold. 

Sewing time: a little whipstitch around the edge 

Ta-da! 

We have a bloom of flowers and bugs for our favorite kinder-"Gardener"!

Felt Flower Clips and Corsages:

Cut scallops in a strip of felt,
gather and pinch each scallop into a petal
Fasten with a quick tacking stitch or two.
Continue to gather, pinch and stitch remaining petals together.


To make into a hair clip: sew or glue the flower to a clip.

Even Easier Felt Flowers:

Cut a flower or butterfly shape from felt.

Bunch it together in the center. 

Sew the bunchy part with several tacking stitches. 

Done! 

We layered two flowers,
stitched them to a safety pin

added a button.

A non-wilting corsage!

A great making-things book:

Fanny, by Holly Hobbie