Nimpentoad is the fantasy story of a courageous and
resourceful little
Nibling who leads his tribe through the perilous Grunwald
forest,
overcoming obstacles and encountering strange creatures along
the way.
This post is about the creative journey of Nimpentoad by a
father and
his two young sons.
When my sons were five and seven years old, and I wanted to
share my
love of fantasy with them. They were too young for watching
most of
the fantasy and sci-fi movie classics, and there are only so
many good
fantasy books available for that age range. Struck by
inspiration one
day, I came up with a way to share the joy of entering the
magical
realms of fantasy. I would write a fantasy book for them.
What I did not anticipate was that my boys would give me
feedback on
the story. They devised some of the character (“Nimpentoad”)
and
creature (“Neebel”) names, and made plot line suggestions.
And who
better to help make the story appealing to kids than other
kids? So,
my goal of interesting my sons in fantasy transformed into
also
encouraging them to write. Very cool.
I decided that we would self-publish Nimpentoad, so the next
step was
to find an artist who had the skill and style suitable for
our book.
This turned out to be the most time-consuming part of our
journey.
Nimpentoad's artwork is (I think you’ll agree) eye-catching,
with
incredible detail. The kind of detail that makes the reader
want to
climb into the picture and go exploring.
Once again, my sons were involved, this time helping with art
direction. We would describe what each illustration should
contain.
Collaborating remotely via email and DropBox, our artist
would give us
a rough sketch, and we would provide feedback on details and
color
palette. Nimpentoad came to life, while my boys added another
dimension to their experience.
Eventually, we had a good book, but we lacked readers. So, we
then
embarked upon the most arduous part of our journey –
promoting
Nimpentoad. Luckily, my boys (dare I say it) are charismatic
and
precocious, and are comfortable conducting public readings
and doing
book signings.
At the risk of infringing on child labor laws, I booked my
sons as
much as their school schedules would allow. We’ve done
readings and
signings at San Diego libraries, elementary schools, La Jolla
YMCA,
the New Children’s Museum, Mysterious Galaxy Books, Readers
Books,
Warwick’s Books, and Barnes & Noble.
At the San Diego Public Library 46th Annual Local Author’s
Exhibit, my
sons asked for autographs from Chris Ryall (of IDW
Publishing) and
famed graphic novelist Eric Shanower. Both of these gentlemen
then
graciously asked for my boys’ autographs. First class!
At the La Mesa Centennial Readers & Writers Festival, we
shared a
booth with Ron Noble, animator of Rugrats, Rocket Power, and
Wild
Thornberry's. He was very kind, and my boys left that day
with
personalized Wild Thornberry sketches. First class!
All these experiences have further enriched the journey for
my sons.
They understand some of the aspects of running a business and
publishing. They are now comfortable meeting new people,
doing public
speaking, and rubbing elbows with famous authors. It has been
a great
ride.
 |
| Henry, Joshua, and Harrison |
No comments:
Post a Comment