Applications are still being accepted for the 2021–2022 SCBWI WWA Mentorship Program! Get to know our multitalented mentors in these interviews, posted during the submission window on our Pen & Story blog. You’ll find more information about the mentorship program and how to apply here. Deadline: July 30!
Eric Ode is the author of 11 picture books and children’s poetry collections and co-author of four additional picture books. As a children’s songwriter, Ode has been recognized with six Parents’ Choice Awards. His lyrics have been featured on a Grammy-nominated and a Grammy-award-winning album, and his poetry has appeared in dozens of anthologies. Ode is a high-school English teacher and loves to work with and help others find their voice. His upcoming picture books include Stop That Poem! (Kane Miller Books) and Larry Gets Lost in the Library (Sasquatch Books). Visit Eric’s website at www.ericode.com, and find him on Facebook.
I like to mentor because . . .
I love to be around people who are willing to stretch themselves—willing to try something new, maybe even something frightening. There are plenty who will tell you they have ideas for stories. There are fewer who will actually write those stories down. And there are still fewer yet who will take a shot and send those stories out into the universe.
What can a mentee expect from your mentorship?
Honesty, kindness, and buckets of encouragement. When it comes to rhyming picture books (and most of my picture books are written in rhyme), I am an absolute stickler. The rhymes have to be spot on; the meter has to be flawless. But fear not! That’s why we’re getting together—to make that manuscript sing!
What are you reading?
The Lacuna (Barbara Kingsolver), As You Wish (Cary Elwes and Joe Layden), Finish (Jon Acuff), and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Sáenz).
What are you working on these days?
I’m in the early, early, primordial-ooze stages of fleshing out a picture-book idea. And I’m actively avoiding working on a middle-grade fiction story. (When dealing with a particularly good bout of imposter syndrome, I can procrastinate like it’s a profession.)
Besides writing, what’s something you’re good at?
Procrastination. Except when it comes to mentoring. I’m an on-the-ball mentor. I’m also a pretty okay jazz piano player.
What books did you love when you were a child or teen?
The first titles that spring to mind, from the youngest picture books to middle-grade chapter books: Harold and the Purple Crayon (Crockett Johnson), The Biggest Bear (Lynd Ward), Lentil (Robert McCloskey), and anything from Beverly Cleary. I didn’t learn to love to read until someone (probably Mom) handed me a copy of her book Henry and Ribsy.
What do you listen to when you create?
Not music. I get too distracted. White noise if anything at all. My favorite online white-noise generator has some good café ambiance sounds.
What does being a successful published professional look like to you?
Any traditionally published author of even a single title is a success as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know any published author who didn’t have to fight their way through insecurities and stacks of painful rejections. If they picked themselves up, kept going, kept improving their skills, and managed to land exactly one book contract, that is a big deal.
What qualities would your ideal mentee have?
They will have read a LOT of the kinds of books they are hoping to write. Recent titles, especially. The children’s publishing world has come a long way since the days of The Little Engine That Could. (Side note: I don’t love overtly moralistic, didactic stories. A little tucked-away message about friendship or honesty or remembering to keep the mayonnaise in the fridge? Bring it on! But if the main reason you are writing is because you want to teach lessons, I’m probably not the right mentor for you.)
What roles do diversity, equity, and inclusion play in your writing?
I prefer the importance of diversity and inclusion to fall naturally into the story rather than be shouted from a soapbox. My picture book Dan, the Taxi Man is the story of a rock-and-roll band getting to the big show. But that rock-and-roll band is a celebration of racial and gender diversity and gender expression. Hooray, It’s Garbage Day is a straight-ahead garbage-truck book. But the five kids featured are a full spectrum of color and of physical abilities. When one of my favorite editors sent me an email letting me know who would be illustrating Stop That Poem!, she included the note, “We will discuss diversity, etc. as we move forward—no worries there.” I LOVE that note! Diversity is hugely important to that editor, but the note let me know she had been listening whenever I had expressed how important it is to me as well.
What surprised you most about becoming an author?
What regularly surprises me is that I never remember my work—or I at least don’t remember the writing/creating struggles. I know I DO the work. I can look at my early drafts and see the mess and the nonsense and the attempts to bring something worthwhile out of chaos. But, in the end, those processes feel like I’m goofing around with ideas that were already freely floating about. It just happened to be me this time who saw them for what they were and took the energy to wrestle them to the paper. (That’s hardly an original thought, by the way.) One bizarre result is that I rarely identify with my books and have a very hard time taking any sort of pride in them.
Brought to you by Suma Subramaniam and Jenny Tynes, SCBWI WWA Mentorship Program, and Dolores Andral, Pen & Story