On WHEN THE STORM COMES, Rabbit Holes and Very Rough Drafts

My office window looks out on a moss lawn bordered by azaleas, dogwoods, red maples, tall, skinny pines, a crooked magnolia and assorted other trees. It’s a nice view if one is inclined to stare off into space: a busy playground for squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, deer, hawks, bluebirds, cardinals and other visitors, plus the human neighbors, often accompanied by dogs, who pass by on the street beside it.

It’s also a great place to watch thunderstorms. We get a fair number of these in North Carolina. During one torrential downpour, as I watched trees bend alarmingly and rivulets turn to fast-flowing streams in the moss, I wondered what the wildlife was up to. Where’d everybody go?

This question led me down an interesting rabbit hole. Or, more accurately, it led me TO a rabbit hole—and to lots of other protective spaces and storm-evading strategies used by wildlife. Which, happily, led to When the Storm Comes  (Nancy Paulsen Books, May 2020), a picture book written as a series of questions answered by a variety of creatures, human and otherwise, as they prepare for, wait out and recover from a storm. Here are the first two spreads:

I sometimes get the impression that people think picture book authors write a draft or two and they’re done. Of course it isn’t nearly that simple. I did a lot of research on animal behavior in storms, and wrote many, many drafts with nonsensical or just plain bad lines. So I thought I’d share a few snippets.

I usually jot down my first ideas on a yellow pad. Here’s what my first page looked like:

Not very promising, is it? After a few pages of this, I go to my laptop and type something up. Here’s a very early page from the manuscript:

Not a whole lot better. At this point, I’m just playing with ideas and language and free-associating. Usually, if I keep at it, some decent lines start to emerge that give me a better sense of where I want to go. Then, eventually, the manuscript starts to look like this:

I still have a long way—probably dozens more drafts—to go before I get to my final version. But at this point, I’m having fun: I’ve figured out the rhyme scheme, the general shape of the manuscript, and have a good sense of where I want to go.

So what does the final version look like? You can download it here: Linda Ashman.When the Storm Comes.final text

The book’s illustrator, Taeeun Yoo, went through a similar process, although her drafts were a lot better looking than mine. She shares some of them during our interview over at PictureBookBuilders. Go check it out—and leave a comment by June 15th for a chance to win a copy of the book.