November 22 to 23, 2008
West Downs Campus
University of Winchester SO22 4NR

 

Friday, November 21, 2008

Critique Meet ( Optional Fringe Event)

Coffee and Nibbles at 5.30pm
Link Gallery, West Downs Centre

Critique Session begins 6.30pm (ending 8.30pm)
Chapel

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Portfolio and Manuscript Reviews will be held
between 2pm to 3pm and 4.30pm to 6.30pm

9am to 9.45am
Registration, Coffee and Book Sales
Link Gallery

9.45am
Welcome Remarks
Natascha Biebow, British SCBWI Regional Advisor
Chapel

10am to 11am
Keynote: Geraldine McCaughrean. Details
Chapel

11am to 11.30am
Coffee Break, Book Sales
Link Gallery

11.30am to 1pm
Break-out Sessions
Rooms to be posted on the day.Pre-booking your preferences on the registration form? Use this guide.

a. Tim Bowler
Flesh in the Inkpot Details

b. Sarah McIntyre and Layn Marlow
Thinking in Thumbnails: Top Tips on Thumbnail Sketches,
Storyboarding and Layout Details

c. Lee Weatherly
How to Write Series Fiction Details

d. Lindsey Gardiner
To censor or NOT to censor . . . That is the question: Creating picture books that sell in a global marketplace Details

 

1pm to 2pm
Lunch

2pm to 3.30pm
Afternoon Break-out
Rooms to be posted on the day.Pre-booking your preferences on the registration form? Use this guide

a. Lindsey Gardiner
From Pencil to Published in 60 Seconds! (Well, maybe not quite!) Details

b. Geraldine McCaughrean
How much is me? Mixing authorial DNA with the requirements and conventions of the job. Details

c. Tim Bowler
Flesh in the Inkpot: Trusting Your Story-Making Instinct Details

d. Lee Weatherly
How to Write Series Fiction Details

Illustration by Lindsey Gardiner

3.30pm to 4.30pm
INDUSTRY PANELS

Editors Panel for Authors
Jonathan Lambert, Lizzie Spratt (Walker Books), and an editor from Random House (tbc)
Dream books: Why I Publish What I Publish.

Art Director Panel for Illustrators
Ben Sharpe (DFC), Val Braithwaite (Bloomsbury), Jo Spooner (Macmillan)
What Makes a ‘Killer' Portfolio, or, What Kind of Work Gets an Illustrator Hired.

4.30pm to 5pm
Break and Book Sales

6pm to 7.30pm
Open Illustrator Portfolio Exhibition
Open Bar, nibbles and natter

7.30pm to 10pm
Dinner
Plenary Hall, West Downs Centre

After Dinner Speaker: Barry Cunningham

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

9.30am to 10am
Coffee and Book Sales
Link Gallery, West Downs Centre

10am to 12 noon
Break-out Sessions
Rooms to be posted on the day.Pre-booking your preferences on the registration form? Use this guide

a. Chris Wormell
Style Versus Content: Working in Different Media Details

b. Alison Branagan
Ways to Win: Confidence in Presentation and Negotiation Details

c. Candy Gourlay
Yes, You Can Set Up A Website Without a Teenager Details

d. Miriam Halahmy
How Do We Make Readers Bond With Our Characters? Details

 

 

12 noon to 1pm
Lunch
Plenary Hall

1pm to 3pm
Afternoon Break-out
Rooms to be posted on the day.Pre-booking your preferences on the registration form? Use this guide

a. Natascha Biebow
Pitching it Right: Hooking the Picture Book Editor, Agent and Readers Details

b. Alison Branagan
Ways to Win: Confidence in Presentation and Negotiation Details

c. Lee Weatherly
How to Write a Synopsis Details

d. Anne Marie Perks
Living in a Digital World: Developing Strategies for Your Digital Portfolio Details

3pm to 3.30pm
Coffee and Book Sales (what's left of it)
Link Gallery

3.30pm to 4.30pm
Keynote: Chris Wormell
Emerging Storylines: The Art of Crafting Story Details
Chapel

4.30pm to 4.45
Parting of Ways

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Portfolio and Manuscript Reviews

Manuscript critiques and portfolio reviews present a wonderful opportunity to receive one-to-one feedback from a publishing professional. A limited number of 15 minute slots are available and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Reserve your place here. If this is your first time to submit your manuiscript/portfolio for review, download these Tips for Manuscript Review (pdf file).

Submission guidelines:

Manuscripts. Submit manuscript along with a separate cheque for £30 (Euro 38) SCBWI/SOA members and £35 (Euro 44) for non-members, payable to SCBWI with your conference registration form by 30 September. If you are unsuccessful in obtaining a critique slot your cheque will be returned to you. Manuscripts received after 30 September will not be accepted. For picture book manuscripts, please send full manuscripts. For chapter books/YA Novels, please send up to 3 chapters only and a one-page synopsis. Please DO NOT send ms by registered/recorded mail!

Portfolios. Submit a separate cheque for £30 (Euro 38) SCBWI/SOA members and £35 (Euro 44) for non-members, payable to SCBWI with your conference registration form by 30 September. If you are unsuccessful in obtaining a review slot your cheque will be returned to you. Do NOT send your artwork in advance; bring it to your assigned meeting. You will receive your meeting time and name of the professional reviewing your work at Saturday morning registration. Your portfolio should contain no more than 10-12 representational pieces of your best artwork and any dummies or sketchbooks that you may wish to show.

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Open Portfolio Exhibition

Open Portfolio exhibition All illustrators are invited to bring their portfolios for display at the conference during the Open Portfolio exhibition.

Guidelines. Though original artwork is acceptable SCBWI-BI cannot be responsible for any damages. Therefore, we would urge you not to include original artwork in your portfolio. Please label all your artwork and your portfolio case. Promotional pieces/business cards are limited to 50 and must fit inside the portfolio. Please, no boxes or fancy three dimensional set ups that extend beyond the portfolio's dimensions

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Session Briefs

Natascha Biebow
Pitching it Right: Hooking the Picture Book Editor, Agent and Readers

You're crafting your picture book – have you considered the ‘so-what factor?' Now, you're ready to send it off to editors and agents. What's your one-line pitch? How do you get editors and agents to read past the first page? We look at the marketplace, the submissions process and the importance of having a strong sales hook, a cracking opening, and an original idea. Picture book writers and illustrators are encouraged to bring along a one-line pitch for their picture book to share with the group.

Tim Bowler
Flesh in the Inkpot: Trusting your story-making instinct
Tim Bowler leads us on a journey through the novel writing process – how to develop creative and critical ability, how to hone and polish, how to hang in when the words won't come, or know when to cut and run and start again. He talks about the personal investment needed to write each book, how to let the characters lead the way, and go with the flow to create a story that is true to you. Hear his tips on the process and how to set your ideas free. And come with lots of questions on writing!

Alison Branagan
Ways to Win: Confidence in Presentation and Negotiation
As an author or illustrator, talks and book-signings are part and parcel of any promotional campaign. Participants in ‘Ways to Win' will learn how to improve personal presentation skills, including overcoming nerves, posture and improving use of voice. During the workshop, there will be an opportunity to learn the principles, tactics and seven key factors in negotiating any successful deal. The ‘7 step' theory makes use of mind mapping techniques to assist understanding of this complex topic.

Lindsey Gardiner
To censor or NOT to censor . . . That is the question: Creating picture books that sell in a global marketplace

As we all know, cultivating the minds of children starts at the earliest possible juncture and the presence of books is a crucial ingredient to their intellectual and creative development. What everyone may NOT know however, if they don't work within this industry, is the research, the marketing, the compromise and internal wrangling that goes on behind the scenes before any book even makes it to the scanner!

The UK picture book market is a limited one and even the largest publishers rely on worldwide co-editions of most titles to make a profit. Trying to appeal to the whole world leads to much written AND visual censorship!

If you have written or illustrated children's books then this is something that you will deal with all the time, (and if you are just starting out, it is something that you will have to get used to!). Whether it is in the form of simple editing your text, i.e.: “you can't use that word, it might upset someone” or “you can't say that, it might offend someone” to more serious “editing” when it comes to the illustrations.

Visual censorship can range from cultural, where you have to remove something because it doesn't exist in some foreign country which may or may not be a possible co-edition prospect, to political correctness (need I say more?), health and safety issues (yes…REALLY!) or even the age old boy/girl stereotypical gender assignment!

I have had to make numerous changes for both my written and visual work for ALL the above reasons (and for some even more bizarre ones). I would like to share some of these with you and discuss the effect this market of escalating sensitivity is having not only on our children but on our creative freedom as artists. Is there a danger that this could lead to a generic picture book market which lacks impetus and innovation? Are we CREATING cultural boundaries for children rather than breaking them down?

From pencil to published in 60 seconds! (Well, maybe not quite!)

Drawing, drawing and more drawing! From an initial character concept at 3am or a new story landing on your doorstep, each book starts out differently and has to go through a long creative process before it finally reaches the bookshelves.

See how my ideas start off; be that on a napkin, a diary page or god forbid…a sketchbook! We will go through some of my work…warts and all, and see how the humble black and white line drawings can change, grow and evolve into full scale glorious Technicolor ready to catch the eye of some unsuspecting child in the farthest corner of Waterstones!

We will discuss how to use colour, composition and scale to convey a certain mood or atmosphere. When to be bold and when to be sensitive, when less is more…and more is better! There is more to a good book than just pretty pictures (and a good story of course!) and much of the process is about decision making and getting those decisions right. I probably spend as much of the day making decisions ABOUT the art as I do creating it.

I will be talking about making choices and discussing how important the use of colour and composition can be in this process. Sometimes the smallest of changes can make the biggest difference!

Candy Gourlay
Yes, You Can Set Up A Website Without a Teenager
So you're finally going to get a website. Where do you start? What do you need to know? Will it kill you to blog? Is MySpace really as horrendous as it looks? How do you run a website without a teenager? This session will be held in the style of a client/designer consultation – with multimedia bits to keep everyone awake. Candy regrets that hand-holding will be purely metaphorical as there will be too many of you. Participants can email Candy links to their websites but don't get mad at her if you get a critique

Miriam Halahmy
How to Make Readers Bond with Our Characters
How do we make our readers bond with our characters? How can our characters contribute to the seeds we sow in our stories and help to sustain the threads which run through our writing? Using a range of writing exercises and texts to stimulate the creative juices, this workshop will consider how to create and sustain a character, supported by dialogue, while keeping control of the back story and keeping track of the threads of our novels.

Geraldine McCaughrean (keynote)
How much is me?
Exploring the mix in writing a book between an author's experience, feelings, voice and DNA with the requirements and conventions of the job.

Keynote address: The Art and Craft of Story
Multi award-winning author Geraldine McCaughrean (Not the End of the World, The Kite Rider, Stop the Train! and The White Darkness; chosen by the Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Hospital to write the offical sequel to Peter Pan – Peter Pan in Scarlet) will share inspirations and insight into the storyteller's art.

Sarah McIntyre and Layn Marlow
Thinking in Thumbnails: Top Tips on Thumbnail Sketches, Storyboarding and Layout
Layn Marlow and Sarah McIntyre discuss the exciting process of translating a picture book story from pure text into the language of pictorial narrative. Giving top tips on creating effective thumbnail sketches, they share examples of their different approaches to their recent work. They will address elements of storyboarding and layout, and communicating those layouts with an editor. The workshop will be run informally with a related hands-on activity. Participants are encouraged to bring along and share any thumbnails they have created for books, whether published or unpublished.

Anne Marie Perks
Living in a Digital World: Developing Strategies for Your Digital Portfolio
In today's technological world, it is no longer a 'maybe', or an, 'if', that you will need a strategy of showing your work in a variety of digital formats. It is a necessity. There are myriad of ways to show your work: Web02 sites such as YouTube, Google Video, FaceBook or Bebo, and portfolio sites like Creativehotlist, the AOI, Childrensillustrators, and Picture-Book. Other formats include interactive CD presentations and pdf attachments, but also DVD formats known as show reels that include animation and sound and yes, websites. This workshop will offer strategies to choose and build the best platform for you and your work by looking at who your audience is and deciding on the best forms your digital portfolio could take. We will also look at best practice in creating archives of your work in appropriate digital formats. And we'll have some fun. Your portfolio is your selling tool. Can you afford to miss this workshop?

Lee Weatherly
How to Write Series Fiction
Series fiction is hugely popular with both publishers and young readers – but how do you break into it? In this informative session you'll learn about the current market for series fiction, what sort of ideas work (and which ones to avoid), how to build an effective world for your characters, and how to put together a professional, eye-catching proposal. There will be short exercises to help you develop your ideas, as well as extracts from popular titles for discussion.

How to Write a Synopsis
Every agent wants to see a synopsis with your submission – but what IS a synopsis, and how do you write one? Don't worry, it's not as hard as you think! In this de-mystifying workshop we'll look first at the agent's mindset, and find out what they really want from your synopsis. Then we'll examine story structure, and you'll learn how to break your own story down into a clear, simple synopsis that agents will love to read.

Chris Wormell
Keynote Address: Emerging Storylines: The Art of Crafting Story
Where does story come from? Multi award-winning author and illustrator Chris Wormell will talk about where his ideas come from, and how, with coaxing, they grow into something unexpected and exciting for the storyteller and the reader. Chris will share his process through both his words and pictures.

Style versus content: Working in different media and how that informs the book
Style should never dominate over content. First comes the idea and different ideas need to be illustrated in different ways. In this workshop Chris will share his process in putting together a children’s book, and how he approaches developing the right visual language for a specific book. He will also discuss how he chooses the medium - wood engraving, lino or watercolour - and will give us inspiration and insight in working in different styles.

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