By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 1/14/2016
HOW TO FIND GOLD is only one of Anna and Crocodile's adventures.
By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 1/12/2016
Isn't that awesome! First month of the year and Anna and Crocodile win a surprise honour.
I wrote a making-of feature for the Walker Books blog, you can read it here.
I wondered who these instructions were for. Was this a chapter from a pirate primer? Who was reading it now and why? I started to illustrate it, first imagining myself as a small child, practicing to sleep with my eyes open to make sure no one could steal the gold I hadn’t found yet.“Get yourself a pet that will surprise you at night,” the story recommended. “A crocodile is ideal. Carry one with you wherever you go to build up your strength. Start with a young crocodile. It will grow.”This was an idea taken from the Greek myth of Milo who carried a calf on his shoulders every day until it grew into a bull and he grew into a mighty Olympian. More importantly, one summer when I was tiny my mother bought me an inflatable crocodile in the supermarket. It was big enough to ride on and intended for the seaside. I carried it everywhere, dragging it by the tail until its snout wore through on the tarmac and it deflated before the holiday even started.I drew a girl and her toy crocodile. It wasn’t quite right. They just seemed very quiet and small. - I drew them in on a new page and asked the girl some questions about the crocodile. She said it was called Rupert Maureen, and didn’t move unless she threw it and she wasn’t supposed to throw it. I didn’t expect that.
By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 1/8/2016
As promised, here is the first of a few MAKING OF posts about How To Find Gold, my new picture book that's just been published (go buy it, thanks)!
I was developing the characters of Anna and Crocodile by letting them act out some of the ideas I had for the book on paper. I had no idea who they were yet. Anna had my haircut (it grew out gradually while I was working on the book) and the crocodile was a toy which Anna had told me was bought from IKEA ("when we got the wardrobes").
This is from the second sketchbook (there were many).
By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 4/21/2015
I did a rather big guest blog over at Picture Book Makers about my series of interactive books featuring cats.
Read the rest at Picture Book Makers.I’ve been working as a picture book writer and artist for about fifteen years now – that is, as a published one. I’ve been making books all my life, pretty much. Before I could write, I drew and dictated them. My mother pierced bundles of my stories with a cast iron hole punch, and she said: “Behold the strength of your mother’s arms.” My father gave me binders to keep them in and said: “What are you going to make next?”A page from my diary.I was surrounded by books about everything that anyone in the family had ever wanted to know. Our walls were lined with bookshelves. My parents took me to the library weekly to take out as many as we could carry. It was awesome. I taught myself to read very early, because I had the notion that I could find anything I would ever need in books.I was sure that I needed a cat.
By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 4/15/2015
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By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 3/3/2015
One of my first books was Shark and Lobster's Amazing Undersea Adventure - a tale of Shark, who is afraid of Tigers, and his best friend Lobster.
It was very hard to write - I had already written one draft years before when I was still in school, and now I had to learn how to rewrite and edit and make a picture book story of it.
One thing I did then, which I've kept up since, is make a diary for my characters to see what they got up to and who they actually were.
I did find out a lot about Shark and Lobster this way, almost none of it made it into the book, but that's not the point of character development work.
I thought it would be nice to stick it on my blog so that you can see how I work (or how I worked when I was starting out in 2001 - I've gone lest wistful over the years, but my approach is still very similar).
Here you go!
By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 10/12/2011
By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 8/31/2011
I made a decision yesterday: I found three things that I really want to do, and am never getting around to, and I will make sure that I will get around to them now.
The first is to finish a publishable novel... and the easiest way to do that, I just realised, is to finally re-open the one I wrote almost ten years ago and take an axe to it. And a chainsaw. And... some thought. Yes.
I roughly hacked my way through part one (of three) tonight. I crunched two drafts together, deleted most of the older one, grabbed all the scenes that seemed useful and stuck them into a scrivener document in an order that kind of made sense. I'll do the same with the remaining two thirds soon, and then I shall read it and delete leftover half-characters, stitch fragmented chapters together and hopefully bring it all to an ending that makes more sense than the terrible one I arrived at years ago in a state of total creative exhaustion.
The other two things are also good, more of that later, now I wish to go to bed, drink sleepy time tea and read Game Of Thrones. Good night!
By: Viviane Schwarz,
on 3/5/2011
(Things)Viviane Schwarz 2001Two men were sitting on a bench in a train station.One was thin, the other was not.One had a suitcase, small and battered, sitting in front of him like a bald and faithful dog. The other had an umbrella, even though the sky was clear, the sun was shining, it had in fact not rained for several days.They did not now each other.Jackdaws were hopping on the rails, walking and folding their wings with an air of seriousness and determination.They made the man with the umbrella feel idle. He frowned and gripped the handle more tightly."Are you waiting for the train?" asked the thin man with the suitcase. "It appears to be delayed."The other looked up, surprised. "There is no train coming.""Is there not?""This station has been dead for years. Look." He pointed to some small shrubs growing between the rails. "I'm just a bit out of breath. Needed to sit down.""How peculiar," said the thin man. "I thought there would be a train. I must have been sitting here for hours."The other man felt genuinely moved by this, just the idea of hours lost, watching busy birds. "That's terrible! - Where did you want to go?"The thin man stopped looking at the shrubs and looked at the other man instead, with great interest, as it seemed."On the train."The other shook his head. "Look, do you want to make a phone call? To tell them you will be late?""Tell who?""How do I know?""I am sorry," the thin man said. "You are confusing me.""Sorry.""Don't worry. It's easily done.""I would like to help3 Comments on Fragment, last added: 3/5/2011Display Comments Add a Comment
Blog: Letters From Schwarzville (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: authoring, Add a tagI was looking through my folder of abandoned stories today, and found this one. Thought it would be nice to show one of the many picture book ideas that went nowhere.
Maybe someone out there wants to illustrate it for fun? If you do, send pictures!
I wish...
I wish I could wake up as a big fat bear.
I’d yawn and I’d be snug in my fur.
I’d be bigger than anyone, bigger than my dad, bigger than my mum, I’d be the biggest!
I’d eat everything in the house, just to see if I can, even the tins.
My mum would tell me to behave.
And I would, but I would behave like a bear, like a big wild bear, ha ha!
I would roar so loud that it rattles the house!
Then I would give her a big bear hug.
I would have a bear bath and build a bear den.
In the evening I would be peaceful, and everybody could snuggle up to me and be warm and safe.
I would sleep a bigger furrier warmer sleep than anybody else ever could.
And then I would wake up as me again.
Or maybe as a terrible dragon.0 Comments on Big Fat Bear as of 3/5/2011 11:53:00 PMAdd a Comment
Blog: Letters From Schwarzville (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: authoring, Add a tagIn einem Schuppen am Meer wohnte ein Elefant.
Der Elefant war schon sehr alt, und er konnte sich selber nicht mehr erinnern wer ihn vor vielen Jahren in den Schuppen gestellt hatte.
Er hatte nicht viel zu tun, ausser am Strand nach Futter zu suchen. Damit war er beschaeftigt, und zufrieden.
In dem Schuppen war auch ein Boot.
Eines Tages kam ein Mensch an den Strand. “Ich bin gekommen um mein Boot zu holen”, sagte er.
“Ach”, sagte der Elefant. “Deins ist das.”
“Ja,” sagte der Mensch. “Das ist meines. Und wie ich sehe hast du drauf gesessen.”
“Das Boot war morsch,” sagte der Elefant. “Dafür kann ich nichts.”
“Trotzdem muss ich nach Amerika,” sagte der Mensch. “Du musst es mir ersetzen.”
Und so, nach langem Reden, schwamm der alte Elefant ins Meer hinaus mit dem Menschen auf seinem breiten Ruecken.
Sie teilten den Proviant den der Mensch in seinem Koffer mitgebracht hatte: Brezeln und Wasser, und nach drei Tagen sahen sie Land.
“Das ist nicht Amerika hier,” sagte der Mensch als sie angekommen waren.
“Du kannst dich beschweren,” sagte der Elefant, “Aber davon wird es nicht anders. Und ich habe einen Krampf im Bein”
“Kalt ist es,” sagte der Mensch.
“Das ist wahr,” sagte der Elefant.1 Comments on What I am writing some days around midnight when I am supposed to write something educational on commission and it's not happening even though I have peanut butter toast, last added: 10/13/2010Display Comments Add a Comment
I like this very much, Viv.
Thank you! I sometimes like putting many words in a row. But they aren't often about humans.
This is great!