Episode 39: How long does it take for you to write a book? -with Karyn Parsons
Welcome! On today’s episode, we welcome author Karyn Parsons to ask the kid question: How long does it take you to write a book?
TRANSCRIPTS:
Grace Lin: Hello. I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books, including the middle grade novel, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and the picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today I'm here with Karyn Parsons, the author of the middle grade novel, How High the Moon. Hi, Karyn.
Karyn Parsons: Hi, how are you?
Grace Lin: Good. Thanks so much for coming on today.
Karyn Parsons: Great to be here. Thank you very much for having me.
Grace Lin: Oh, I'm so glad. Are you ready for today's question?
Karyn Parsons: I'm all ready, I'm all geared up.
Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a person named Todd. And they ask.
Todd: How long does it take for you to write a book?
Grace Lin: How long does it take you to write a book?
Karyn Parsons: Well, I will say How High the Moon was the first novel that I ever wrote. I wrote short stories before that, and I also wrote stories that are going to be picture books. And they weren't intended at the time to be picture books. So those are different. I'm going to first answer that for the novel How High the Moon, even though I know it can sound long, it probably took me about three years from start to finish. And that's me writing it and then showing it to people and hearing some feedback. And then the editors looking at it. So it went through a lot of changes in that time, but I would probably say three years. But when I write the other books that are going to be picture books, that we're now making into picture books, those considerably less time. Those are just a matter of months usually, and sometimes really fast because they're based on real people in history. There's a lot of rhyming. And so they become this really fun ride. And they're shorter. They're a lot shorter.
Grace Lin: Well, I'm glad you said three years, because that's usually how long it takes me to write a novel too, at least about three years. And sometimes it takes me even longer. My book, When the Sea Turned to Silver, took me six years, so double the time.
Karyn Parsons: I can completely see that.
Grace Lin: But I like what you said about the picture books, too, because I agree. I think that it takes less time to write the picture books, but what I found, which I'm curious if you've found, is that even though it takes less time to write the picture book, I might write the picture book in a week, it takes months and months to edit it, to get it to the right place where it's actually a published book.
Karyn Parsons: Right, right. I haven't had, we'll see what happens, but I have two that I've done. They were written first to be short animated films.
Grace Lin: Ooh.
Karyn Parsons: That's how they were originally, with pictures very much like a book come to life. And then we've now taken them to book form. And there's editing that has to be done to make it work in a book that's different. The way I did it before, I wrote it and the illustrator had to work with me. I don't know. I haven't had to do a ton of editing along the way yet, but I'm guessing that, I also wasn't working with a publisher when I started. When you're working with a publisher, you're kind of working and you have that collaboration from the beginning, it's probably different and there are probably a lot more edits along the way.
Grace Lin: Yeah. It must be different when you work it that way. Are you allowed to tell us a little bit about these new projects that you're working on?
Karyn Parsons: Sure. Well, like I said, at first they were animated, short animated films. One of them... I have an organization called Sweet Blackberry. And our mission at Sweet Blackberry is to bring little known stories of African American achievement to kids. And we've been doing it through these short animated films. And now we're going to be adding books, picture books. And so we're taking the story of Bessie Coleman, the first black female aviator. And that story is called Flying Free, The Bessie Coleman Story. And I'm really pleased with how that whole project, the animated project, the illustrations on it, everything, how the story came along and I'm excited seeing it. We've now put it in picture book form. So the process is very, it's interesting. It's very different.
Grace Lin: So how long did it take for you to write the story for the animation?
Karyn Parsons: For the film, initially, I mean, it only took... It probably took me probably a couple months. I'd like to say for that one, it probably took a couple months of us just sitting down and doing it from start to finish. It probably took a couple months or so. Because it's much shorter. I know exactly what, since it's short and she has a big story, I have to select what part of her story I'm telling. And how that, so I can't tell everything that you put out about her in a book. And obviously many people, their stories could be, everyone's story could be a book. I mean a novel, but since it's so much shorter, I have to kind of say it all quickly. And it's also, there's a rhyming scheme that I've started with the Sweet Blackberry stories that I've kept up. And so since you're kind of playing with that, it's actually really kind of fun. It becomes a really fun, almost like a game.
Grace Lin: Yeah. Well, what I think is interesting about picture books is that it's almost more cutting away than writing. So when you ask her how long it takes to write, it's like you're always adding more and more words for a novel. So that's why it takes so long. But when the picture book, it's like you're cutting and cutting and cutting words. And so it's more editing that takes longer, at least for me.
Karyn Parsons: Interesting. That's interesting. I can see what you mean by that. I mean, because you do feel like you want to write so much and you have to make it smaller and more clear and to the point.
Grace Lin: Exactly.
Karyn Parsons: Yeah. So I understand what you mean with that. Yeah. Yeah.
Grace Lin: Well thank you. That was a really great answer. Thank you so much, Karyn, for answering that question and thank you, Todd, for asking it.
Karyn Parsons: Yes. Thank you, Todd. I really appreciate that. And thank you, Grace. This was really nice. This was fun.
Grace Lin: Thank you. Bye.
Karyn Parsons: Bye.
Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Lucy! She is telling us all about the book, Drum City, by Thea Guidone and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley- Newton.
Hi, I'm Lucy. I'm reviewing Drum City. It's a picture book it's by Thea Guidone, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton. I love this book because all the artwork and all the other skin tones, and what the book is about, it's about a whole city drumming, and it's really sweet. I also love the art style, it's very nice.
Thank you Lucy!
More about today’s authors:
You probably know Karyn Parsons best from her role as Hilary Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the beloved ‘90s sitcom that still lives on today through its memorable dance sequences and catchy theme song. Though she hasn’t been acting as much, Parsons has kept busy. She runs a production company, Sweet Blackberry, which aims to tell stories of history’s forgotten African-American heroes in a way that is digestible for young children. More recently, she’s become a published author with her novel, How High the Moon, a 1940s-set young-adult story based partly on her mother’s experiences growing up in the Jim Crow South. The book, which follows 12-year-old Ella and her friends coming of age in South Carolina in 1944, has drawn universal praise for its fleshed-out characters and ability to capture an important moment in our nation’s history.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.
