Interview: Award-Winning Children's Author Ellen Jackson

An Interview with Children's Author Ellen Jackson
by Vanessa McDaniel

Writer's Break recently chatted with award-winning author Ellen Jackson. This successful California writer holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Counseling (specializing in early childhood development).

Having entertained tens of thousands of children worldwide, Ellen describes her process and explains how she landed the gig of co-authoring "Writing Children's Books for Dummies."

WB: Writers have different styles. Some use outlines. Some just start writing. How do you organize your stories?

Ellen: The way I write fiction differs from the way I write nonfiction. With nonfiction, I do tons of research before I outline the book. Then I
create a very simple outline with a few main headings just to see what
points I want to cover. As I cover each topic, I'll break it down into
subsections. Often, when I've completed the manuscript, I'll show it to
another writer and get some feedback. I have trouble with logical
transitions, so often I have to go back and redo my organization when I write the second draft.

Fiction is completely different. I seldom begin a story unless I have a
clear idea of how it will end. Coming up with an interesting ending is
the most difficult part of writing for me. The second hardest part is
the beginning, which is also extremely important. Many editors only
read the first few paragraphs--so it's critical to create an interesting
and imaginative beginning. Usually I work out the basic plot of a story
in my head. I keep an idea file and sometimes I'll just write a
sentence or two to remind myself of a plot I've been thinking about.
When I'm ready to actually write the story, I'll sit down and write the
ending first. Then I write the beginning. And then I write the middle.

But I have to add that every once in a while a story will grip my
imagination before I've thought up a good ending. I'll start writing
and the story just seems to flow on the page without much help from me. It's magical when that happens--though I sometimes feel a bit guilty for taking credit for a story that seems to write itself!

WB: I noticed that you'll soon release WRITING CHILDREN'S BOOKS FOR DUMMIES. How did this opportunity come your way?

Ellen: Another writer, who had worked on a Dummies book previously, was asked by John Wiley to write WRITING CHILDREN'S BOOKS FOR DUMMIES. They asked her to find a co-author for the book. She found my webpage at www.ellenjackson.net and liked my Tips for Authors. We balanced each other out--she was knowledgeable about the publishing process and had written nonfiction for young adults. I was more knowledgeable about picture books, chapter books, and middle grade novels and knew a number of editors and agents. Also, I had written both fiction and nonfiction. She thought we'd make a good team, so she asked if I wanted to write the book with her and I said yes.

WB: You said that you receive countless letters from children. Of all that you've received, which was the most moving?

Ellen: One letter that touched me was from a father, not a child. It was actually a tribute to his wife. He told me what a special woman she was and how much she was like my character, CINDER EDNA. It made me smile to think I'd created a character that resembled a real, live person, and that this man loved his wife so much that he felt the urge to write me, a stranger, and tell me how wonderful she was. I also received letters from an entire classroom of children once. Everyone had gotten together and decided to make a special, classroom award that they called a "Lemme" for CINDER EDNA. They had all drawn pictures to tell me how much the book meant to them. What was so special about this was that it didn't come from the teacher. The children had done it all on their own. That was years ago, but sometimes even now when I get discouraged about my writing my husband will say to me, "Yes, but don't forget--you got a Lemme" and we'll both laugh. He knows how much it means to me that children like my books.

WB: A writer can write until he or she is almost literally blue in the face. When do you know that one of your stories is finished?

Ellen: That's a great question! I wish I had a great answer. Once in a while I just "know" that a story is finished--that it's as good as I can get it. But that's rare. Mostly I write and rewrite until I can't quite
wrap my head around the story anymore. That usually happens when I've read it over too many times. Then I often put the story away for a while. Then I take it out a few weeks later and read it again. I
rewrite it one more time and give it to someone else to read. Usually
that person will see things that I've overlooked, so I'll make more
changes at that point. That's often when I send the story out to an
editor. If the editor is someone I've worked with before, he or she
will suggest more changes, or even reject the story with a comment or
two about what needs to be changed. It's great if the editor says that
story is wonderful in every way and needs no work--but that has seldom happened (I think it happened once).

Learn more about Ellen by visiting her web site, which not only contains information about her books, but a slew of articles for aspiring writers. www.ellenjackson.net

Did you enjoy this interview? If so, please let us know at editor@writersbreak.com!