Thursday, October 4, 2012

Banana Peelin' with Ame Dyckman

BEEP. That's BOT for hello. Today marks the beginning of the Banana Peel Count Down to Halloween. This month, authors from some of my favorite festively ghoulish books will be featured. I am super excited to have Ame Dyckman here today. She is incredibly funny and she has this great book called BOY + BOT. Now, BOY + BOT isn't necessarily a Halloween book, BUT it does include a robot and what Halloween is complete without a robot or TEN?! Please welcome AME DYCKMAN!!!!


BANANA PEELIN’ POST

Ame Dyckman


            Hi, guys!  Want to read my big Banana Peelin’ moment?  And how I finally picked myself up and brushed banana bits of my pants?

            Okay, here goes:

            My first picture book manuscript was called BLACKBERRY, THE FLYING GOAT. There are several good reasons why you’ve never heard of it:

·         BLACKBERRY was 1,423 words long. 

·         It had a grown-up protagonist. 

·         And it was a love story.  (Not with the goat.)

Yeah, I hadn’t done my homework.  So naturally, I was convinced my manuscript was awesome! 

In March, 2008, I took BLACKBERRY to my very first NJ SCBWI event.

I was positive the editor would adore it.

I expected her to write “A+++” all over it, like the teacher in A Christmas Story.

I thought she’d hand me a contract over dessert.

I could not have been more mistaken. 

After my critique, I went home and:

·         Cried.

·         Ate all the ice cream and blamed it on a freezer malfunction.

·         Got a shovel and buried BLACKBERRY in my backyard.

Then I rolled up my sleeves (which were really muddy from all that digging), and I got to work.

I signed up for every single NJ SCBWI event I could.

I went to First Page Sessions and Mentoring Workshops and Annual Conferences.        And I listened to all the feedback and advice.

What I heard most was, “If you want to write picture books, you have to read them.”

I read picture books to my kid, of course.  But I needed to read them to me.

So I got the biggest tote bag I could find and I went to my local library and checked out 50 picture books—the max you can check out at one time.

I went home and read those 50 picture books and brought them back and got 50 more.

And then I got a library card in my kid’s name so I could check out 100 picture books at a time.  (If you bake for your librarians—which you should do anyway—they will pretend not to notice when you do this.)

I got a Picture Book Haul every week.  (And I still do. )

And I kept going to NJ SCBWI events.  (And I still do.)

With all that reading, my writing and my feedback improved.  Editors said my writing was funny, but there was a little problem.

My subject matter was too… weird. 

I was told there wasn’t a big market for a picture book about a were-chicken. 

Or a talking bowl of fruit. 

Or a dead goldfish. 

After contemplation (and more ice cream), I realized the editors were right.  I needed a protagonist with wider appeal—not banana peel.

And my first thought was, “Well, everybody loves robots!”

Like her book, Ame is awesome. She has offered to giveaway a copy of BOY + BOT plus some swag.  All you need to do is leave a comment below describing the strangest premise for a book you have ever had OR a book you have read that has haunted you ever since due to its wackiness! (My "friend" offers a personal example: a girl with a pet hairball, named Harriett.) Thank you so much for reading! Good luck!

70 comments:

  1. Hi there. Anne Dyckman is ACE! Love her to bits and love Boy and Bot. Would love to win a copy so I think the strangest premise for a book I've ever read is Peter Bently's "The Great Dog Bottom Swap" which is pretty much exactly as it says on the cover. Dogs. Swapping Bottoms. And chaos ensues!

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    1. Oh my goodness! Dogs. Swapping bottoms. Hiarious! Thank you so much for making me laugh out loud! Thanks for your comment!

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  2. Oh my goodness, I TOTALLY want to read about a were-chicken, a talking bowl of fruit, and a not-living goldfish. Are you sure no one wants to read those? It's possible, though, since every time I throw my manuscript about obscure furniture meeting at a convention and trying to be recognized and understood, my critique partners say, "Ok, it's kind of funny, but mostly we just don't get this at all."

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    1. I know?! That's what I said! I would LOVE to read about a dead goldfish especially. =) Thanks so much for your comment Julie!

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  3. Wow - Ame, thank you for sharing your story. I do think reading a lot of picture books is hugely important in learning how to write them! Your book sounds funny - I'll have to look for it for my kindergarten class!

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    1. Andrea, BOY + BOT is soooo sweet. Just a wonderful and delightful book. Ame definitely did her homework. All that reading paid off! =) Thanks so much for your comment!

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  4. *laughing* That is a GREAT strange premise, ReadItDaddy! I'll have to check that one out! And World of Julie, I dig your obscure furniture story concept, too! Andrea, I'm SO lucky to have such an AMAZING public library near my house--they've ordered in TONS of books for me! (Literally! Thousands and thousands of pounds of books!) Hope your Kindies like BOY + BOT! :)

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  5. Ame Ame Ame! I remember BLACKBERRY! We were starting out at NJ-SCBWI around the same time. Ahhh, fond memories. I remember seeing you and your red hair and thinking I MUST TALK TO THAT WOMAN! I *knew* you'd be BIG. HUGE. ROBOTIC.

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    1. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in THAT room! Both you and Ame?! =)

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  6. Loved your shared BP-moment(s) Ame. I am still haunted by Chris Raschka's Arlene Sardine, who looks forward to death after life, regardless of the great artwork. I like the title of your book, alone because of the letters in it, their shapes, the possibilities. Yeah, I'm weird too.

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    1. Whoa! I am looking up Arlene Sardine in the library catalog tomorrow! Too funny Julie!

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  7. I am anticipating something wacky when I finally get my hands on CECIL THE PET GLACIER by Matthea Harvey.

    I like the fact that Ame used ice cream as her choice soothing transition program...not that I've ever done that myself. ;-)

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    1. Can't wait to read CECIL either! And ice cream? Well, she is a girl after my own heart. Eh hem... not that I ever choose ice cream as my own soothing transition program either.

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  8. delightful banana peel, Ame! I loved "The Giggler Treatment" by Roddy Doyle. It deals with doggy doo and especially stepping in said poo and, well, it's hilarious and gross too.

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    1. Wow. You are even poetic in your post about doggy doo. =) Thanks so much Linda for your comment!

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  9. Great post! Perserverance and a lot of library books (I'm moving near you, Ame-- we can only take out 4 books each around here).

    Favorite line in your post: "wider appeal—not banana peel" -- story of my life ...

    <3 Boy + Bot

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    1. FOUR BOOKS AT A TIME?! That is criminal! =) That line was one of my favorites too Dana. Thanks so much for your comment!

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    2. I agree with Elizabeth - we can check out as many as we can carry!

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  10. AMAZING. I'm with Julie, though. I'd read that. One of my first manuscripts was about a shoebox banjo named Twang. I thought it could be brilliant, and then I realized....it's a box. Zzzzz.

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    1. Hahahaha! :)

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    2. I felt the same way of course. I'd totally read that. AND I am intrigued by Twang and his boxy ways! If anyone could make a shoebox banjo lovable, it would be YOU!

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    3. Twang is my personal hero! I want to read about him!!

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  11. Boy + Bot sounds like so much fun. Can't wait to read it. Wierdest book for me is one I just read. It purported to be a kids book, but had no kids in it. It was about a brilliant dog detective solving the stupidest mystery imaginable. My head hurts just thinking about it. I think Boy + Bot would make my head feel better. 8-)

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    1. BOY + BOT would surely cure that headache of yours Rosi! Thanks for your comment!

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  12. I am a public library picture book addict as well. I often check out 50 at a time (they will tell you the limit is 25, but the card won't stop working until it hits 50!) but I never thought to use my kid's card...what a great idea!

    I find Dr. DeSoto by William Steig sort of delightfully weird. Not a whole lot of pbs about mice-dentists!

    Thanks so much for sharing, Ame and Elizabeth!

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    1. Oh Amy, I am so glad you found a way around that 25 limit. The injustice! My biggest fear is that a huge buzzer will go off when I check out so many picture books. Half the time, my kids aren't with me and a quarter of the time, the computer shouts at me, YOU HAVE A FINE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO PAY IT NOW OR PAY IT LATER? Ack! Embarrassing. Dr. DeSoto is a delightfully weird book. Good thinking. Thanks so much for your comment Amy!

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  13. Poor Blackberry! I'm sure he was a very nice goat. Thanks for sharing your Banana Peel beginning and I'm glad you found the right quirky characters to write about! For the record, I would buy a book about a were-chicken or a dead goldfish in a heartbeat. Although the dead goldfish sounds like it might have been a good Beautiful Story for Ugly Children.

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    1. That is what I said Heather! I would totallly buy those books too! (Of course.) We love quirk! =)

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  14. 50!! as Dana says, French libraries usually have limits of 4-10!!

    Dang, I so want to rad about the flying goat! I loved this beginner banana blooper, Ame!

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    1. I still can't get over that library limit! I think I've changed my mind about moving to France. =)

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  15. Tara, I LOVE that you remember BLACKBERRY! HA! You can confirm how BAD it was! ;) Julie, you're my kind of weird! :) I must check out ARLENE SARDINE! Cathy, we should meet up for ice cream and read CECIL--it's SO wacky! (Beautifully illustrated by Giselle Potter. We did a festival together and I'm in AWE of her!) Linda, are you making up THE GIGGLER TREATMENT? ;) (Kidding! I'm just amazed by the topic!) Dana, I felt sorry for you and your 4-book limit... until I remembered YOU GET TO LIVE IN FRANCE! (But if you lived closer, we would totally go to the library together!) :) Carter, even if the manuscript didn't work out, Twang is a GREAT name for a banjo protagonist! Rosi, you wouldn't mean THE TROUBLE WITH CHICKENS, would you? (I heard it was good! But I can't think of any other detective dog MGs right now.) Amy D., I'm with you on DR. DESOTO--delightfully weird! I think all dentists should keep a copy in their waiting room. Heather, Blackberry WAS a very nice goat--but *laughing* a TERRIBLE manuscript! (And I looked up BEAUTIFUL STORIES FOR UGLY CHILDREN. If you get an "I'm scared!" call in the middle of the night, it's me.) Joanna, if you really want to read BLACKBERRY, I have a shovel you can borrow. :) And THANKS, Elizabeth! This is SO MUCH FUN! :)

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    1. Ame, you are wonderful! It has been so much fun having you on the blog! These posts are cracking me up! =)

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  16. I just have to add that our library has NO limits, and I often check our online record to see, "You have 79 books checked out..." (And that's just my card -- both my boy have their own cards, and often go get more on their own.)

    Also, Carter, I'd read Twang. A box is a box, but a musical banjo box, well that's something else entirely.

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  17. Also, please excuse my typo. I meant to say, "banana OFF my pants," NOT *giggling* "banana OF my pants." *giggling more* THERE IS NO BANANA OF MY PANTS! *rolling on the floor giggling, useless for the rest of the afternoon*

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    1. Hee hee. Banana of your pants. =) Didn't catch that one.

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  18. Ame - Great peelin' thoughts! My kids loved Boy + Bot! Dan Yaccarino talked very highly of your marketing efforts for the book at a conference I attended over the summer! Looking forward to your future books!

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    1. BOY + BOT is loved in our house as well! Thanks so much for your comment Eric!

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  19. Thanks for sharing your banana peel moment, Ame! And where's the book about the were-chicken? I totally want to read that! :)

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    1. Okay, what is wrong with me?! What the heck is a were-chicken? I googled it and it says it is somehow related to Ghostbusters? Is this right? So curious. Am I just too sheltered? Unversed in the ways of the were chicken? =)

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    2. I think she means like Werewolf!! Only, a chicken!!! DOn't you wanna read it, NOW?!?!?!
      *raises hand and jumps up and down*

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    3. Yes - I thought what Bethany thought. Sounds like a great idea to me :)

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  20. I LOVE Boy + Bot!!! Does that make me weird too? Thanks for your great great great post about banana peels and getting to the other side.

    I love all kinds of weird books: "What Do you do with a Tail Like This?", "Bats at the Library", "Flotsam"... so "Boy + Bot" wasn't all that different.

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    1. I think BOY + BOT could be considered a cross-over title, for non-weirdos and weirdos alike. So you are safe either way Sue! =) Thanks so much for your comment!

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  21. We have your book, Ame, and my son and I enjoy it! I think a weird premise I read in a pb was about animal bottoms, can't remember the title.

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    1. Ooooohhh....animal bottoms?! Was it POTTY ANIMALS? We own that book! It's a rhyming book about the potty etiquette. Too funny!

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  22. Ame, you cracked me up with your post and your comments! I discovered the secret of using my son's library card some time ago. He's 12 now. I think it's time to switch to my younger son's card. My 12y.o. doesn't like the idea of me borrowing PB s on his card. Anyway, here is my vote for the most wackiest PB i've read: Cowboy and Octopus, by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith

    It's so strange, it's hillarious.

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  23. LOVED Cowboy and Octopus! Totally bizarre and wonderful! Thanks for your comment Romelle!

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  24. As my dog Cupcake pointed out in one of her recent blog posts, "If you write picture books, you have to read them to write them right. Right?" Pretty smart little mutt. And yeah, she's the weirdest character I've written about.

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    1. Ah, good ol' Cupcake. A wise mutt she is. =) Thanks so much Genevieve for your comment!

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  25. Funny woman! I chuckled through every line- well almost. The part about reading children's books for YOU is dead serious. before I got stared in my career, I also took out hundreds of books from my local libraries and studied them. It taught me a lot.
    As for book topics, I love the idea of were-chickens and talking fruit (maybe not the dead goldfish:-). When I was a child, I had a favorite book of poems by Poland's Dr. Seuss equivalent, Jan Brzechwa. He personified all kinds of things. One of his poems was about left and right coat sleeves talking to each other!

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    1. She had me cracking up too Iza! Just like your example did of the conversating sleeves. =) Thanks so much for your comment!

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  26. Ame~thanks for adding humor to my day!! Very funny! "were-chicken"...my fave.
    I'm a BIG tote bag person, too. I read, read, read!! My especially bad manuscript (if I'm picking only one) would be DRAGON IN THE DISHWASHER. I had it all planned down to the illustrations----green plates for the dragon-----red for the fire breath----and of course "heated dry cycle" for the smoke! Thank The Lord I never submitted it...but yes, I actually wrote it. I had plans for a series. Oh, yes I did!

    Thanks for bringing us another great banana peel moment, Elizabeth!

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    1. ooooohhh, Penny....I love your DRAGON idea! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  27. You GO, World of Julie! Max those library cards! :) Eric, thanks for passing along Dan's comment! Marketing is been fun, and working with Dan has been AWESOME! Susanna, thanks for championing the were-chicken cause! (Elizabeth, a were-chicken's like a were-wolf, only chickenier. And spell-check is telling me "chickenier" isn't a word, but it should be!) :) Sue, those are all GREAT weird books! (LOVE Brian Lies--he's SO nice!--and just met David Wiesner. I was all, "Whoa. You're DAVID WIESNER!" I am a dork.) Tina, if the book you mentioned isn't POTTY ANIMALS (I'll have to check this out, Elizabeth!), maybe CHICKEN CHEEKS by Ian Michael Black, ill. by Kevin Hawkes? Another good animal bums book! Romelle, I'm a big fan of COWBOY AND OCTOPUS, too! Jon Scieszka (heard it rhymes with "Fresca") is a GENIUS! Genevieve, Cupcake is a TERRIFIC name for a dog! (If Cupcake's a BIG dog, even better! That would be a riot!) Iza, thanks so much commenting--I'm a big fan of your work! (And I'll look up Jan Brzechwa's books--love this concept!) Penny, I really LIKE the DRAGON IN THE DISHWASHER idea! Maybe expand with all of the household appliances being compared to animals? (Just NO FLYING GOATS!) ;)

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    1. Doh! Homer Simpson head-slap! Of course, were-chicken! Sheesh! My brain no worky sometimes. In that case

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    2. Shoot! Anyways, in THAT case, the were-chicken idea takes the cake, or the schlop in this case. =) But the dead-goldfish is still my second favorite. =) Thank you for splaining it to me.

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  28. Great to hear your story Ame. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do next -- weird or not.

    We just read a sort of strange book "The Invisible Man" by Arthur Yorinks. A fun read, but definitely out there.

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    1. Love "out there"! Thanks so much for your comment Carrie!

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  29. Oh, Ame... I have a feeling you soothed one Banana Peelin' Bogger's soul, here! Eh, Elizabeth?? ;)

    This was fabulous, ladies!

    My strangest manny idea? (Sorry, I call it a "manny", not a "ms"!) I believe it was something having to do with the many stages and names of barf. You know, vomit? Upchuck? Yeah, I wrote the first few paragraphs and then actually had a vision of my career going down the toilet... with the oh-so lovely spew, and all!

    Ans, PS- I, for one, loved POTTY ANIMALS!

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    1. Okay, I do not know if it was the excitement of this post, or if it's the strange caffeine high that I'm on, but my deepest apologies for the 8,000,000,000,000 typos... Good heavens. I promise, I CAN spell!

      It's BLOGGER and AND, Bethany... Geeeeze.

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    2. Bethany! Both you AND Ame soothed my banana peelin' "bogger" soul. I just wished your typo would have read booger. That would've been perfect. You know I am only saying this because you made a big deal over your typos, right? I wouldn't have even noticed. =) And vomit, huh? I can just imagine the illustrative possibilities!

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    3. Well, you ARE my favorite Banana Peelin' Booger... That's for sure!

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  30. This is so funny!
    Thank you for a GREAT post!
    My wackiest idea, which I am actually repurposing to use in a middle grade graphic novel, is the idea of a cat wanting to learn how to use a chainsaw.
    There's drama and failure and creativity, and, yes, proper chainsaw etiquette. I actually took this one to a critique too!

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  31. Thanks, Carrie! I LOVE Arthur Yorinks! (Especially HEY, AL!) Bethany, I dig "manny!" I'll have to try that on for size. And Kathy, I'm all about the cat with a chainsaw! (As long as it's not MY cats with a chainsaw!) Too funny! THANKS again, Elizabeth! This was a BLAST! :)

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  32. Thanks for the great BP moment!

    I would definitely read about a "were-chicken". LOL! :D

    I've had lots of strange ideas. The first picture book I ever wrote (long before I pursued writing seriously) was called "Couch Planet". It involved inanimate objects that lived on the couch and sometimes explored other planets (i.e., other rooms in the house). Also, the main character was a black belt in karate. But I never sent that one out anywhere.

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  33. I finally found Boy + Bot the last time I was at the library and read it then and there. <3 (Now how do you do that little heart--I am so unhip.) Anyway, I loved it. :) I also appreciate the back story. Love how we've all thought we had the best thing ever until we really start to learn the business. Glad you kept going!

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  35. Diana, I think COUCH PLANET sounds cool! I like inanimate object stories. And Christy, I can't make the little heart thing either. "Less than three? What does less than three mean?" ;) Thanks for the kind words!

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  36. Oh what a nice surprise to wake up to!!!I I can't wait to read it. Thanks Ame and Bananabeth!

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  37. I know I'm late to the party, but this thread is hilarious! I LOVE the book Chicken Cheeks, though I didn't find it odd or strange, just fun and humorous.

    One of the strangest picture books I've read is Shivers in the Fridge about a family who lives IN the fridge. Weird...

    One of my earliest mss was called Clarence the Clam and His Boring Day. It's a counting ocean book and he goes to all his friends and declares, "I'm bored." His alliterative ocean friends, like Julie the Jellyfish and others, suggest things, but nothing helps. No wonder he stayed bored. I got bored (in between my laughter) reading it years later. Thankfully, I never submitted it anywhere. I'm not so sure I ever typed it up either. It's in a book dummy form and resides on my children's bookshelf. I've maybe read it ONCE to them... Yeah, that's how stupidly boring it is.

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