Tuesday, March 28, 2017

From "The Triplet Girl" to "The Triplet Ballerinas" (updated)

With my guest blogger on vacation and me busy working on my book, I decided to update a post from September 2016:

My triplet ballerinas are my triplet grand-daughters, Makenna, Jaeli Jo and Maysie.
 In researching what I wanted my picture book story to be about, I took inspiration from where I could find it.  So, one day, when one of the triplets leaped off the couch, the idea of ballet was born.  I started researching ballet and ballerinas and found the book, "Ballerina: A Step-by-Step Guide to Ballet", which was very informative.  I decided to have one of the triplets be the most interested in ballet and the other two girls more interested in horses to make them seem boyish.  I found the book, "For Horse-Crazy Girls Only: Everything You Want to Know About Horses", which was also very informative about horses and ponies.  Sadly, through editing, I had to cut out some scenes that didn't fit and the "leaping off the couch scene" was one of the first to go.  But, it had served its purpose anyway by giving me the idea of ballet and ballerinas.  In one of my early critiques, the horses the girls got for their birthday were called "ponies" instead of "horses".  It dawned on me then that it would probably be better to have the triplets get the smaller, more manageable, ponies for their birthday than the bigger horses so the horses became ponies in the story.  At one time, the ponies even had names:  Jamie's (Jaeli) was "Beauty", Macie's (Maysie) was "Ella", and Annie's (Makenna) was "Snow."  But, eventually, I sadly had to cut this scene too.  The real-life triplets were not happy with this since they were the ones to name their counterpart's ponies.  Beverly

Update on my book: I decided to take my book in a different direction, so  I cut out the ponies and have made it all about ballet. I also changed the character name of Jamie to Julie to make her name sound more girly.  It is truly about "triplet ballerinas" now.                      

Facebook page:  The Triplet Ballerinas

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Triplet Characteristics

My triplet ballerinas are my triplet grand-daughters, Makenna, Jaeli Jo and Maysie.
Lately, I have been working on revising my manuscript (see my Facebook Page: The Triplet Ballerinas). Right now, I am working on characterization of my pretend triplet ballerinas which brings to mind the characteristics that make up our own triplet ballerinas.

If I were to describe the character of Makenna, I would give her the characteristics of stubborness (she resists greatly the idea of even attempting to say "I'm sorry" when she is in the wrong), intelligence (she is very smart and studious), curiosity (she will read a factual book from the first page to the last to find out interesting facts and recite them), creativeness (her drawings and ideas are so good) and helpfulness (whenever she sees someone in need, she will help them out without being asked).

The first thing that comes to mind in describing Jaeli is shyness. This is something she was struggling with all the time so I gave her a diary of sorts to write in every day how she was feeling that day and to record how she made an effort to talk to at least one person. It is so great that Jaeli feels comfortable now in talking to people and doesn't need the crutch of the diary anymore. Jaeli would also be described as being sweet and nice. I would also say solitary and quiet would be words to describe her too.

As for Maysie, there is no doubt that dramatic fits her to a tee. I would also have to add emotional and moody too. When she doesn't like something, you know all about it. But, that's not all the time, just occasionally. She is also imaginative (she is always coming up with great ideas) and fun-loving (when she's not being moody!).

The triplets in my book will probably have some of these same characteristics, but I am sure they will all have their own individual characteristics as their counterparts do.  Beverly