{"id":272457,"date":"2025-06-04T09:52:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T09:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/behind-the-scenes-all-this-work-for-one-joke\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T09:52:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T09:52:31","slug":"behind-the-scenes-all-this-work-for-one-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=272457","title":{"rendered":"BEHIND THE SCENES: All This Work for One Joke!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Today I want to put a spotlight on all the effort that went into a single page from my upcoming beginning reader, <em>Two Ballerinas . . . and a Moose<\/em>. It took us a while to get it right and, amazingly, I think we did. Believe me, that\u2019s not always the case. Sometimes the more we revise and tinker, the worse things get. <em>Overcooked<\/em> might be the word for that.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>You be the judge.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>To begin, a Ready-to-Read is typically 32 pages, not unlike the vast majority of picture books. After dispensing with the title page and copyright information, there are basically 29 pages left to tell our story. That means every word, every page, every illustration counts.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>We meet two ballerinas on the opening spread, pages 4-5.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Ovals.png\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14891\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Ovals.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1534\" height=\"1144\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Ovals.png 1534w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Ovals-300x224.png 300w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Ovals-1024x764.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Ovals-768x573.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1534px) 100vw, 1534px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note the use of ovals. (I\u2019m not sure whether to credit the book designer, or the illustrator, Abigail Burch.) <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Store away that oval feature in your head.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Next Moose enters our story and he wants to dance, too. But Moose is hardly a ballerina. <em>Ho-ho<\/em>! That\u2019s the story\u2019s engine, if you will.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>For starters, Moose is not dressed properly. Not for ballet.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hippo points out that Moose is not even wearing the proper footware.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>To which Moose replies . . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-One-Minute.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14894\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-One-Minute.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"934\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-One-Minute.png 934w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-One-Minute-210x300.png 210w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-One-Minute-717x1024.png 717w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-One-Minute-768x1097.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 934px) 100vw, 934px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Now comes the payoff, the visual punchline. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s Abigail\u2019s initial sketch . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Shoes-1st-Draft-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14892\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Shoes-1st-Draft-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"610\" height=\"912\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Shoes-1st-Draft-1.png 610w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-2-Shoes-1st-Draft-1-201x300.png 201w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Crocs<\/em>! I believe that was my original suggestion in the art notes in the manuscript. A humorous idea, but . . . um.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>For me, the crocs weren\u2019t <em>reading<\/em>. The visual was too subtle, especially for young children. The joke wasn\u2019t paying off. I conveyed that to Elizabeth Barton, the book\u2019s editor, who consulted with the designer, who then discussed it with Abigail.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Abigail came back with a revised sketch . . . and new shoes!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-Sketch2-Shoes.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14897\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-Sketch2-Shoes.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"758\" height=\"1140\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-Sketch2-Shoes.png 758w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-Sketch2-Shoes-199x300.png 199w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose2-Sketch2-Shoes-681x1024.png 681w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 758px) 100vw, 758px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Terrific, now we were getting somewhere! Elizabeth noted that for the final art, they wanted even bigger platforms on the shoes.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I was still troubled by the shrubbery, which I saw as visual clutter. So I wrote to Elizabeth \u2014 who sought my opinion \u2014 with a further suggestion:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">=<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">PLATFORM SHOES SPREAD: Much better.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">BUT WHAT IF . . . the right hand spread is, like, an oval around a much tighter focus on the shoes.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The next day, I explained in a follow-up email . . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">This design, in my view, breaks a rule of mine. Early on, there\u2019s a spread with Beaver and Hippo enclosed in ovals. I like that technique. But then it never returns for the rest of the book, and I think that\u2019s a structural design flaw (that no one will notice, mind you!). It\u2019s why I thought the shoes gave us an opportunity to bring back that shape.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Once again, to her great credit, Elizabeth and the designer met my comments with an open spirit of collaboration. It was time to move beyond sketches into final art.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here\u2019s what Abigail came up with . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-Shoes.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14898\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-Shoes.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"944\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-Shoes.png 944w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-Shoes-212x300.png 212w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-Shoes-725x1024.png 725w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Moose-Shoes-768x1085.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 944px) 100vw, 944px\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nailed it!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Right?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Visually, yes. Now the joke works!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>But I had one last minor worry.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I emailed Elizabeth . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I realize that a late change might be a hassle, but since it seems possible, I would like a change from \u201cdancing\u201d to \u201cballet\u201d for this image.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Because obviously those are awesome shoes for <em>dancing<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">It\u2019s a case of writing a text and then adjusting when the art comes in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">If possible!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">If not, the world will continue to spin.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Once again, Elizabeth agreed.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>For the record, Elizabeth does not always agree, nor should she. My goal is not to \u201cget my way,\u201d it\u2019s to have a creative voice in the process. After all, I\u2019ve been in children\u2019s books for 40 years. I might have some worthwhile observations along the way. And I can also be massively wrong about things, too. It\u2019s the editor\u2019s job to navigate all of that while keeping on eye on the prize \u2014 making the best book possible \u2014 and protecting the illustrator\u2019s creative freedom. A balancing act of concerns.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Anyway, that\u2019s one page, one joke in a simple little story. We traveled a distance to get there. Many emails and conversations. To me, today, those shoes make me happy. It\u2019s part of the pleasure of this job. I mean, we\u2019re making a book for young children. It should be fun, right?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14689\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-scaled.jpg 1707w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/TwoBallerinasAndAMoose-1365x2048.jpg 1365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Not every creative partnership works this way. Publishing can be closed and many times \u201cthey\u201d prefer to keep the writer out of the process. The message: <em>Stay in your lane<\/em>. Which I also respect, because the illustrator needs her agency, too. As much as I want to be respected, I must also give that same measure of respect to everyone involved. We all have opinions, thoughts, but no one <em>knows<\/em>. We\u2019re all guessing. The last thing I want to be is a headstrong, interfering writer. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Nobody wants to work with a pain in the butt and I was dangerously close to becoming<em> that guy<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>But here\u2019s another thing I\u2019ve learned in this business: The only thing that matters is the final book. There\u2019s not a reader in the world who cares how you got there.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I feel extremely fortunate to work with Elizabeth and Abigail on these \u201c. . . And a Moose!\u201d books. And like any relationship, we are figuring each other out. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Next up: <em>Two Astronauts . . . and a Moose<\/em>!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings above via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings below via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons above via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons below via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-border-color\" style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;margin-top:32px;margin-bottom:32px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\" style=\"margin-bottom:24px\"\/>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\" style=\"margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:10px\">Discover more from James Preller&#8217;s Blog<\/h3>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:15px\">Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!-- <rdf:RDF xmlns:rdf=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/02\/22-rdf-syntax-ns#\"\n\t\t\txmlns:dc=\"http:\/\/purl.org\/dc\/elements\/1.1\/\"\n\t\t\txmlns:trackback=\"http:\/\/madskills.com\/public\/xml\/rss\/module\/trackback\/\">\n\t\t<rdf:Description rdf:about=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/2025\/06\/01\/behind-the-scenes-all-this-work-for-one-lousy-joke\/\"\n    dc:identifier=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/2025\/06\/01\/behind-the-scenes-all-this-work-for-one-lousy-joke\/\"\n    dc:title=\"BEHIND THE SCENES: All This Work for One Joke!\"\n    trackback:ping=\"https:\/\/www.jamespreller.com\/2025\/06\/01\/behind-the-scenes-all-this-work-for-one-lousy-joke\/trackback\/\" \/>\n<\/rdf:RDF> -->\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u2013 Today I want to put a spotlight on all the effort that went into a single page from my upcoming beginning reader, Two Ballerinas . . . and a Moose. It took us a while to get it right and, amazingly, I think we did. Believe me, that\u2019s not always the case. Sometimes the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":272458,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98463,98464,98461,98465,98466,98467,98468,98462,98469],"tags":[3116,14309,418],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-272457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abigail-burch","category-and-a-moose-series","category-and-a-moose","category-art-notes-in-picture-books","category-elizabeth-barton","category-james-preller-for-young-readers","category-ready-to-read-level-1","category-the-writing-process","category-two-ballerinas-and-a-moose","tag-joke","tag-scenes","tag-work"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BEHIND THE SCENES: All This Work for One Joke! - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=272457\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BEHIND THE SCENES: All This Work for One Joke! - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2013 Today I want to put a spotlight on all the effort that went into a single page from my upcoming beginning reader, Two Ballerinas . . . and a Moose. 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