When Tom Is Not the Illustrator

JANICE:  How does it feel when someone not Tom is chosen to illustrate one of my books, namely Anna Maria's Gift? Heartbreaking at first and unsettling. After all, I cannot tell the illustrator what to do. But I can and did furnish research images of Venice as well as clothing and furnishings of Vivaldi's time. And I can and did make suggestions, some of which were taken, some not.

I wrote Robert Papp, the illustrator, a letter which had to go by way of the art editor. (For reasons of centralizing decisions, I did not have direct communication with him.) "Dear Robert, This is a new experience for me. No one outside my family has ever illustrated my books. but after looking at your artwork, I feel confident that it will be a good experience." My big disappointment was never getting an answer in his own words, even indirectly.

As in any production there were ups and downs, agreements and disputes, compromises and celebrations. An emotional roller coaster, but actually not so different than when Tom is the illustrator. It's just that I have direct contact and more influence with Tom. So it was frustrating at times. But in the end I fell in love with the vibrant girl on the cover. She looks just like the girl I imagined while writing the story. Tom and I have decided to adopt her!

TOM:  I appreciated the opportunity to comment on Robert's early interior sketches with my own sketches, and his response was heartwarming. And when I saw his cover illustration I was won over.

Love for Librarians

JANICE:  Librarians belong to the noblest, if not oldest, profession in the world. I know, because I am one even though not employed. But once a librarian, always a librarian.

TOM:  Librarians are and have always been the salvation of our culture. They deserve our support, including enhancing their libraries and building new ones." (I am an architect as well as illustrator!)

JANICE and TOM:  We have just returned from the Texas Library Association Conference in San Antonio where we signed I, Vivaldi and Anna Maria's Gift. Librarians pick up where writers and illustrators leave off. They connect the book to the reader, and for that we are grateful.

The Visual Art of Writing

Sophie's Cabin

JANICE:  Do you make pictures in your mind when you read a good novel? So much so that you forget you are reading? That means the author made pictures in her mind when she wrote it. Visualization is the most potent technique I have ever discovered. It not only transports the reader, it transports the writer of fiction to some other place and time.

Here is a scene from my historical novel, Sophie's War. Sophie is the daughter of a German family living in Comfort, Texas, during the Civil War. Her father, like many German immigrants, is a Unionist living in a state that has left the Union. Since he makes his views widely known by drawing editorial cartoons for a San Antonio newspaper, he has received threats from Confederate ruffians. Sophie tries to persuade him to keep silent, but he refuses.

"After school I went straight upstairs. Papa sat at his drawing board with his back to me. When he is at work he neither sees nor hears anything else. I looked over his shoulder, and my heart sank. He was drawing a cartoon for the Zeitung about the death of General Johnston.
I stood behind him, scarcely breathing. This one was going to get him in trouble. I had to do something, and begging did not seem to work.
Suddenly, I knew I had to destroy the cartoon. The very thought made my heart pound.
Papa must have heard it, for he turned to look at me. I reached for the cartoon, snatched it from the drawing board, and stepped back. I tore it in half as he stared at me in disbelief."

To write this scene I visualized climbing the stairs to the half-story and standing behind Papa. Long before, I had found and photographed the log cabin where she would live. And I had drawn a plan of both floors, including placement of furniture. These were pinned up on the wall of my studio next to my writing desk. I also had pictures of characters gleaned from books, magazines, and photograph albums. And Tom had drawn a cartoon in the style of Thomas Nast, a Civil War cartoonist. When Sophie looks over Papa's shoulder, as I have looked over Tom's, I knew exactly what she was seeing. My heart leaped too.

It took time and much writing before I became conscious of visualizing, even though I was doing it. Now that I am aware of the technique, I use it constantly. If I get stuck, it is because I am not visualizing. I refuse to use the w.b. words because they sound like a terminal disease. Being stuck is not terminal. It is temporary, caused by a lack of information that enables me to visualize. Thus it is time to do more research.

There are many ways to collect images. The library with its carefully chosen books and helpful librarians is a first choice for me. Although I also research on the internet, mostly for images, my real love is the library where professionals, both editors and librarians, have screened the contents for reliability.

But libraries are not enough. Give yourself experiences related to your book. These are but a few of the experiences that helped me write and Tom illustrate my stories: Crossing the Pacific Ocean by freighter, visiting the small village in Germany where my ancestors lived, watching a house being moved, playing soccer with the boys in the square where Vivaldi's childhood home still stands, walking the beach at Indianola on a cold December day, observing Arabian horses at a stable, following the Comanche trail across Texas that led to the Battle of Plum Creek. Do whatever it takes to give you images and sounds and smells of the places in your story.

For Sophie's War I lived in Comfort for two weeks and returned at the various seasons to experience the change. There I found Sophie's cabin, roamed the land where it stood, watched sheep grazing in the meadow, the sun rise over Cypress Creek, listened to the wind sough in the liveoak branches, and felt myself becoming Sophie.

Where Do Ideas Come From?

JANICE:  Ideas come from everywhere - from research, newspapers, history, ruins of ancient civilizations, family stories, our experiences, travel, even from music. Our love of music by Antonio Vivaldi led us to research his life and write and illustrate I, Vivaldi. He was a priest who taught violin to girls at an orphanage called the Pietà in Venice. He also composed music for them to play and conducted their orchestra which became known all over Europe.

Those orphan girls who developed into fine musicians fascinated me. I began to wonder what it was like to live in the Pietà and be Vivaldi's student. So I wrote Anna Maria's Gift to find out. Anna Maria is a young girl who is sent to the Pietà after her father's death. All she has left of him is the violin he made for her, but it carries his soul within. When she plays her violin, she hears his voice. That idea came from researching the great violin maker, Antonio Stradivari, who liked to keep each violin in his bedroom for a month before varnishing it. He believed his soul entered the violin while he slept. And he should know!

From idea, to writing and rewriting, to editing, to published book can take a long time, even years. But at last Anna Maria's Gift  will be available on April 27, 2010. Please look for it!

BIG THRILL: Our First Foreign Edition

JANICE:  Today a box arrived from Eerdmans Books for Young Readers with three copies of the new Korean edition of I, Vivaldi. I think Antonio would be as thrilled as we are. Thanks to the Korean publisher, Tomato House. Your edition is beautiful. May people in your country love Vivaldi and his music as much as we do. Now for the rest of the world!

TOM:  What a thrill to see my paintings embellished with Korean calligraphy.

Outside the Book

JANICE:  There are times when an author needs to get outside the book and into a school with her readers. What better place than Bradfield Elementary in Highland Park ISD? And what better grade than fourth? The amazing team of teachers used A Paradise Called Texas and the sequels, Willow Creek Home and Spirit of Iron in depth. In fact the children know my books better than I remember!


Fourth graders in Texas (and perhaps elsewhere) study techniques of writing. When I visit a classroom I am amazed at what they are learning and think I should go back to fourth grade. At Bradfield one assignment was to write a letter as if you were the main character, Mina, who immigrates to Texas in 1845. She is writing to her grandfather back in Germany. Here is what Jillian wrote in part, and I quote with her permission:

"Dear Opa,

Our new life in Texas is good, but some sad things occured. We have a wonderful log house and a beautiful garden. Also we made peace with the Indians and go to a nice school under some fine trees. Papa married a kind woman named Lisette because Mama died from a sickness called pneumonia. She said that she wanted to fly up to heaven with the seagulls, and I guess that her wish came true.

Mina"

Jillian's letter made a lump in my throat just like when I wrote about Mama's dying. That scene is a favorite with readers. Why? Because it makes them feel an intense emotion. Isn't that one reason we read?

I, Papa Haydn: Picture Book in Progress

TOM:  This dummy drawing is for I, Papa Haydn, the book we are working on now. It shows young Joseph Haydn in Master Reuter's carriage as they arrive at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. Here Joseph will join the boys' choir.  I drew the scene from an old etching and my photos and sketches made during our visit to Vienna. Those little marks in the sky show where the text will go. The drawing will evolve into a full color illustration.

Our decision to write about the composer Franz Joseph Haydn came from reading that young Joseph sang in the choir for Antonio Vivaldi's funeral Mass. Since we had recently published I, Vivaldi, this connection between the two composers seemed magical. In fact, while researching Haydn we stayed in a small hotel in Vienna that happened to be across the street from the building where Vivaldi spent the last year of his life. We felt destined to write this book!