Overview

Ready to build a play? First, you'll need the right tools. Open this title in the Writer's Toolbox series and discover plenty of tips and tools to get you started. Soon you'll be setting the stage like a pro!

Full Product Details

9781404863927

Table of Contents

Reviews

Two new entries in the picture-book-size Writer's Toolbox series explore two very different mediums--plays and comics--but, taken together, underscore the importance of basic fundamentals in effective writing. Both books combine original artwork and a number of Tools to get the creative juices flowing. Action! uses the classic story of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt to illuminate the 14 tools budding playwrights should keep in their arsenal, ranging from suggestions to plan out and cast your story first, to tips about stage directions, dialogue, and props. Throughout, Beacon's art depicts scenes of the two J. J. J. Schmidts engaged in goofy high jinks alongside excerpts from the script. Art Panels, Bam! Speech Bubbles, Pow! features a young girl creating a comic about a dog and his lost bone and starts out with fairly broad directives to read other graphic novels for inspiration and brainstorm story ideas, before getting into graphic-novel-specific tips on laying out panel arrangements and dabbling in emanata and speech bubbles. When the tools get a bit vague (like how exactly to go about making thumbnail sketches), the art picks up the slack to more clearly convey what is being discussed. A handful of Getting Started Exercises provide even more fodder for artistic inspiration in these genuinely good-natured and helpful introductions to creative writing.-- Booklist

"Two new entries in the picture-book-size Writer's Toolbox series explore two very different mediums--plays and comics--but, taken together, underscore the importance of basic fundamentals in effective writing. Both books combine original artwork and a number of ""Tools"" to get the creative juices flowing. Action! uses the classic story of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt to illuminate the 14 tools budding playwrights should keep in their arsenal, ranging from suggestions to plan out and cast your story first, to tips about stage directions, dialogue, and props. Throughout, Beacon's art depicts scenes of the two J. J. J. Schmidts engaged in goofy high jinks alongside excerpts from the script. Art Panels, Bam! Speech Bubbles, Pow! features a young girl creating a comic about a dog and his lost bone and starts out with fairly broad directives to read other graphic novels for inspiration and brainstorm story ideas, before getting into graphic-novel-specific tips on laying out panel arrangements and dabbling in emanata and speech bubbles. When the tools get a bit vague (like how exactly to go about making thumbnail sketches), the art picks up the slack to more clearly convey what is being discussed. A handful of ""Getting Started Exercises"" provide even more fodder for artistic inspiration in these genuinely good-natured and helpful introductions to creative writing.-- ""Booklist"""

Author Information

Nancy Loewen writes fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults. Recent awards include: 2012 Minnesota Book Awards finalist (The LAST Day of Kindergarten); 2011 Bank Street's Best Children's Books of the Year (Share a Scare: Writing Your Own Scary Story); 2011 Book of Note, Tri-State Young Adult Review Committee (Stubborn as a Mule and Other Silly Similes); and 2010 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Association of Educational Publishers (Writer's Toolbox Series). She's also received awards from The American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Independent Book Publishers Association, and the Society of School Librarians International. Nancy holds an MFA in creative writing from Hamline University, St. Paul. She lives in the Twin Cities with her husband and two teenage children. Illustrator Dawn Beacon lives with her husband and son in the beautiful mountains of Colorado. During the winter months she loves snowboarding with her family at their local resorts, while summertime finds her biking and gardening. Inspiration for her artwork is found directly out her back door with the abundance of wildlife and breathtaking views of the Vail Valley. Visit Dawn Beacon online at www.dawnbeacon.com.

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