BLOG BREAK Tips and Tricks

Nick Cross presents his fortnightly selection of must-read SCBWI-BI member blogs.

What are the important things to bear in mind when retelling a fairy tale? Clare Helen Welsh recruits a posse of picture book people to give their advice.

Vanessa Harbour reads a lot of manuscripts and often finds that the characters are lacking that vital spark. Here are her tips for improving your characterisation skills.

Inspiration is a wondrous thing, but how do you wangle that new idea into a story without losing the thing you loved about it in the first place? Claire Watts shares her thoughts.

Juliet Clare Bell loves narrative non-fiction picture books, but even with several published, she's still keen to improve her craft. In her post for Picture Book Den she shares a recently discovered top tip for success.

Finally, how would you describe yourself using just seven books? Tracy Darnton grapples with some difficult choices in her blog post for An Awfully Big Blog Adventure.

Nick.

*Feature image: Blog Break logo by Nick Cross

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Nick Cross is Words & Pictures' Blog Network Editor. An Undiscovered Voices winner, he both writes and illustrates for children, and was honours winner of the SCBWI Magazine Merit Award for fiction.