Picture Books, with Bibi Lewis (Cohort 2)

September 2nd, 2022 - September 23rd, 2022

with Brooke McIntyre

Group started

For picture book workshops, please only register for one workshop per season. If there is space in this workshop 6 weeks before its start date, you may register for a second PB group (it's fine to register for another category, just not 2 PB workshops.

About the workshop

In this intimate workshop, you'll receive a written critique of a picture book manuscript from literary agent Bibi Lewis from Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency, plus get the opportunity to speak to Bibi individually in the live group call that follows critiques. You'll also exchange critiques with your workshop peers.  

How it works

You'll submit your pages at the group start, then spend the next weeks critiquing peer stories. The editor will submit their notes near the critique deadline. After critiques are complete, we host a live group debrief over Zoom, in which each writer gets individual time with the editor to dig into feedback, brainstorm next steps, and discuss any writing questions. 

Our goal with these events is to help writers become stronger storytellers. That said, this workshop also comes with a submission opportunity.

About the group workshop format

Participants should be sure they have at least 1 hour to give for critiquing each person's manuscript (plus reading time). Because this is a group of 6, this means you should have at least 5 hours available for your peers' stories.

This makes for an intense workload for the few weeks of peer critique. However, we've also found that this format accelerates learning because you are able to read a professional's feedback on each story you have read and critiqued, and you will listen to each one-on-one in the debrief. Many writers have told us that listening and learning from the professional's notes to others has been just as beneficial to their learning as the feedback on their own work.

Notes

Who this workshop is for: Writers are expected to be at an intermediate level of picture book writing craft or above. Writers may have achieved this through self-study of books and exercises, or organized instruction such as classes, workshops, or webinars. Writers should be familiar with elements of craft such as characterization, plot, internal arc, and pacing, in order to offer craft-rooted feedback to their peers.

Focus: Children's - Picture Books - Fiction - Children's - Picture…

Group size: 6 writers

Submissions: Submit one picture book. Fiction submissions should be under 900 words; nonfiction should be under 1500 words.

Fee

Members: $101; Non-members: $121

About Brooke McIntyre

Bibi Lewis is an agent and rights manager at the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency where she started in 2014. She is currently building her list in PB, MG and YA (both fiction and non fiction) and adult romance and mysteries. A native New Yorker, Bibi can most often be found reading on a train or curled up knitting with her cat.

About Bibi's editing process:
I approach editing the same way I look at solving a puzzle--asking myself how can I turn or shift these pieces to get the project looking polished and complete? I tend to think holistically about a project instead of on a line by line basis. The projects I am most interested in tend to be character forward, so I also always keep an eye out for how consistent the characters are in the project and how they can change over the course of the manuscript (yes even pbs!).

Schedule:

Fri, Sept 2nd: Submissions due
Fri, Sept 16th: Critiques due
Mon, Sept 19th: 1-2:30pm ET - Debrief call
Sept 27th: Group closes