Love this post from debut author Heidi Yates on taking creative risks and trying something new. MONSTER MANNERS A-Z is a fabulous, fun, fresh alphabet book with well chosen behavior tips for kids today. Congratulations, Heidi! And thank you for sharing your journey out of the comfort zone!
GIVEAWAY!! Be sure to leave a comment below for a chance to win a copy of MONSTER MANNERS A-Z from Heidi!!
Congrats to Danielle Hammelef, winner of A QUILT OF STARS from Ann McCallum Staats!
Creative Risks: Stepping Out of The Comfort Zone
by Heidi Yates
Stepping outside your creative comfort zone can completely transform your writing journey. It did for me! For over two years, my agent and I sent out five manuscripts, all of which followed the traditional story arc. We received positive feedback but just weren’t getting that elusive “yes” yet. It was only when my literary agent nudged me to try something new, a suggestion I also noticed popping up around the wider kidlit community, that I decided to go for it and try a different story structure. Embracing a mindset of play and creative risk is what finally led to my breakthrough.
While considering where to begin, I flipped through my Storystorm idea notebook and noticed that sprinkled throughout were alphabetized lists of all manner of interesting things. I like creating lists to stay organized, so it felt like a natural choice to try my hand at an A-to-Z structure. Each time I flipped through my notebook, one particular page with the beginnings of an alphabetized list of monsters kept leaping out at me. Since I absolutely love Halloween, I was incredibly excited to jump into the process of creating this new A-to-Z monster manuscript.
First, I dove into reading and re-reading stacks of concept books. Then I pulled out my favorites to analyze exactly what stood out to me. A few of the best ones on my stack included:
- Zebra and Yak: The Backwards Alphabet Book by Paul Friedrich
- T. Rexes Can’t Tie Their Shoes by Anna Lazowski and Steph Laberis
- Count the Monkeys by Mac Barnett
- Counting to Bananas and B is for Bananas by Carrie Tillotson and Estrela Lourenco
- How to Count to One (And don’t even THINK about bigger numbers!) by Caspar Salmon and Matt Hunt, who also deserve a massive shoutout for their fabulous new release, Now You Know Your ABCs… (Or do you…?)
It is easy to see that humor is the secret sauce connecting all of these incredible books. They are pure entertainment! Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of gorgeous, “quiet” alphabet books out there. But the concept books that truly gripped me were the ones that made me giggle with every turn of the page. That instant joy is the kind of magic you immediately want to share with others, and it made me realize without a doubt that I wanted to create that exact same feeling.
To channel that laugh-out-loud spark, I pulled out my notes from a goldmine of fantastic classes and webinars on writing humor that I had already taken. I looked back at everything I learned about comedic situations and wordplay from phenomenal programs like:
- The Mechanics of Humor by Justin Colon
- How to Write Funny, Punny Picture Books by Julie Hedlund
- Write a Funny Picture Book in Three Days, and Kidlit Haha Week, by Brittany Pomales
Pumped up from revisiting these resources, finding that perfect witty punchline for each creature became a tremendous amount of fun.
The last thing needed after puzzling out the alphabetized monsters and the humor was the heart. This was the string that would hold the whole thing together and make it an actual story people would be interested in reading. To find that emotional core, I looked inward and drew inspiration from a personal childhood experience of mine. I remembered going to a Halloween-themed birthday party for a neighborhood friend who was turning six. Her dad had built the most epic haunted house to walk through just to get to the party. Even though it was the coolest thing ever, I was completely terrified and froze in the driveway. Both of our dads spent ages trying to convince me there was absolutely nothing to fear. That memory became the exact inspiration for my story’s setting, a monster bash, and sparked the very beginning of my book: “Invited to your first Monster Bash but shaky on what to expect? Have no fear!”I was absolutely thrilled with how my rough draft turned out, but because this was my first departure from a traditional story arc, I definitely had some pesky doubts floating around in the back of my head. Fortunately, the reassurance I got from my critique partners and my agent silenced those doubts and proved the excitement I felt wasn’t just in my own head. They were as excited about this manuscript as I was, which translated into a quick and enthusiastic “yes” from Beaming Books too. Stepping outside my creative comfort zone had taken my writing journey to the next level. It can for you too. So don’t be afraid to try something new!
Don’t forget to leave a comment below to get in on the drawing for a copy of MONSTER MANNERS A-Z! (US addresses only, please. Winner announced 9/11/26)
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Beth Anderson, Children's Writer 