Feedback...YAY!

Today I attended my very first writer's critique group.  I recently joined The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), which holds a monthly writer's critique group at a local library.  I was nervous walking into the group today, not knowing what to expect.  But after three hours of listening to other writers have their books critiqued, and sitting through my own, I would recommend this to any aspiring (or published) writer.  Everyone was there to offer helpful advice, suggestions and industry information.  My book, "Greedy Goat", seems to be a finished book (whew!) - I was thankful the other writers and facilitators "got" the wordless section:

all images copyright 2014 by Linda D. Martin

The wordless two-page spread is intended to give readers the impact of the task Greedy Goat has to perform.  In the top panel, he's looking back at the Maitre d' and restaurant staff, as if to say, "Do I really have to do this?".  Their stern looks and hands on hips assure him that he does. The second panel intends to show the difficulty a goat might have while washing the dishes.

The third and fourth panels show the progression of time, and the change from a kitchen full of dirty dishes to a kitchen full of clean ones.  Note the empty soap bottle and the worn-out expression on Goat's face as he stacks the last dish.

The text for this picture baffled one of the facilitators, who chose to listen to the story with her eyes closed.  This may be the most challenging part of the story to illustrate.  It is a critical part because it gets Goat back into the restaurant and there's really no other way for him to be seated and waited on in the midst of humans.

Now I'm toying with scrapping the structure of this illustration - perhaps simply showing Greedy Goat emerging from the clothing store, and at a different angle - walking towards the reader and through a throng of people on each side of him.  I'm thinking that showing the clothes in the window might be a little insulting to the reader, as if they need to be told twice (it's already in the text), that he's found a way to disguise himself.  Then again...

Attending the critiquing session was very helpful in that it opened me up to other writers' ideas and inspirations.  It was exciting sitting in a room full of writers and illustrators, some published, some just beginning, but everyone there for the same reason:  to see their book in print.