I knew I was going to need help in many ways when it came to finally getting my book finalized and ready to publish. I have never written or illustrated a book before (except just for fun as a kid) and although I had been doing tons of research while developing the book, I knew that I was going to have to lean on some friends and family to help with the process. Once I had the manuscript done, I decided to have my sister-in-law, Shelly, do the editing for me. She has a master’s degree in technical writing from Texas State and is a wonderful writer and editor. She made a few key suggestions and corrections that really helped with the story. Once I finished the book design, I had some family and friends read through it to give me feedback about the writing, accompanying illustrations, and overall quality. Two dear friends of mine, Donna Savage and Liza Benedict, each reviewed the book and gave me some great feedback. Liza suggested that I include information about the real-life animals for those who don’t know about javelinas and the other animals in the story. I found this to be such a great idea, so I not only incorporated animal facts into my book, but also added photos and videos about the animals on my website. Donna was also very supportive and suggested some other authors to get in contact with for networking and sharing information. Of course, my mom and sister were also very quick to review the book for me and provide support. I also had a wonderful suggestion to offer the book in Spanish. The first person that came to my mind as being the perfect translator was Yaritza Corrales. Yaritza worked for me at the university several years ago and received a degree in communication studies. She is very proficient in Spanish and also has a new baby girl, which makes children’s books especially relevant to her now. Yaritza said to me that she has had some challenges finding children’s books that are properly translated to Spanish, and it is very important to her that her child is exposed to proper Spanish from a young age. Because of this, she was happy to take on the job of translating the book for me, and she did such great work. The Spanish version of Javier the Javelina just debuted on Amazon this week! You can find the e-book and paperback on Amazon. This wraps up my multi-part blog series about writing Javier the Javelina. I believe this is just the beginning of my journey being an author - I still have so much to learn, but I welcome the knowledge with open arms. I have found that I really enjoy writing and illustrating - I'm not sure yet where it will lead me in life, but I'm excited to see what is to come. :)
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Illustrating the Book Originally, my daughter was going to create all of the illustrations for the book. After I finished writing the story, we sat down together to begin sketching out Javier on the iPad Pro. She eventually confessed that she just was not into it - she loves to draw but her interests were no longer in drawing animals. I was disappointed...but at the same time I thought to myself, “Maybe I can do this!” So, I finished drawing out Javier and began working on more animals. I found that not only could I actually create the drawings, but the results weren’t half bad! Ava periodically critiqued the sketches and offered some great advice on slight improvements to make on each animal. After the initial sketches, I filled in the details and colors. This part was so much fun, and although I looked at photos of the real animals to help with the features, I took some artistic liberties here and there. I wanted the animals to look semi-realistic but still have a fun, artistic feel. Using Procreate, I was able to use multiple brushes to create lines and textures. After creating all of the initial animals with their many faces (different expressions were created to use throughout the story) I began to create the desert background and all of the elements to appear with it, including cacti, brush-type plants, rocks, etc. I really wanted the mountains and sand to have a “natural media” look, using elements reminiscent of watercolor and paint splatter. The plants, rocks and animals contain more of a mix of styles. Once the background was complete, I arranged the animals and other elements over the top in Procreate (and later Photoshop) for each of the pages. To help with this, on paper I sketched a page-by-page storyboard to figure out what scenes/activities needed to coordinate with the lines in the story. Once the graphics for the pages were done, I was able to export those into InDesign, add the story text to the pages, and build out the book. At this point, I could really see the story coming together visually - so exciting! I also designed the book cover from the same graphics. Javier takes the most prominent position on the cover since he IS the star of the story. :) Up Next: Many folks helped me along the way, from editing, to giving me additional ideas, to translating the story into Spanish! I’ll discuss some of that along with other interesting details, such as approximately how long this whole endeavor has taken from start to finish.
Javier the Javelina: The Heart of the Story
Once all of my “Javier the Javelina” character names came together, I pondered about what the focus of the story would be. In the back of my mind, I knew what I wanted to write about. I wanted to help children learn about friendship and develop good social skills. How would I go about explaining these concepts in a way that would reach children in their hearts? During Christmas vacation last December, I spent a lot of time reflecting on the events of 2020. All of the things that had happened across the U.S. and the world were really on my mind. COVID-19 was part of that. My heart was hurting...not being able to go visit my family in DFW was tough. Then, watching the news and hearing about all of the hate, personal judgment, and disrespect towards others really weighed on me. For months I found myself somewhat socially withdrawn and wondered if there was anyone out there that, like me, just wanted everyone to get along despite their differences and beliefs. I found that writing Javier the Javelina around the topics of building respect and friendship out of clashing personalities was quite therapeutic for me. The carnivores and herbivores learn to respect each other. The judging characters learn to appreciate the different characteristics of others’ appearances. And Javier learns that speaking up on behalf of those who are being judged or ridiculed leads him to be a better person (err...animal) and improves his entire animal community. I want children to have the opportunity to learn how to be good people from positive influencers. Many are lucky to have parents, grandparents, and other people in their lives to help them understand that it is important (and fulfilling) to be kind and appreciate the differences in all of us. Some are not as lucky to have that warm and nurturing home life. But no matter what each child’s situation is, I hope each one can read Javier’s story and either identify with him or learn how wonderful it is to be a good human being. Up next: Part 3 of my journey dives into drawing the book’s characters. Javier, Pearl, Owsley, Barry, Carl, Quill, and Luka come to life as I start with digital sketches that later transform into detailed drawings and full scenes. Several years ago, my daughter, Ava, drew a cute digital picture of a javelina in the desert. She is very talented with her art and has mad skills for traditional as well as digital illustration. Her drawing of the little animal made me visualize an entire story surrounding the javelina and some of his desert friends. I told her about this and she agreed to help me with a children’s book. Years passed and even though I occasionally brought it up, we never made the time to sit down and work on the story and illustrations - until last December.
Now, on April 1st, I am debuting my first-ever children’s book entitled, “Javier the Javelina: Friends and Foes Learn to Get Along” on Amazon Kindle, paperback, and hardback (with a Spanish-translated version coming soon after). It has been a journey...lots of learning, long evening/weekend/vacation hours, breaking mental barriers, and surprising myself with what I am capable of. I never really thought about being a children’s book author, but my grandmother Nana always thought I would be a good one. Hopefully, she knows that although I never submitted a story to Reader’s Digest as she wanted, I have done one better and have written and illustrated an entire book. --- Researching and Choosing the Characters for Javier the Javelina I knew I wanted to write a story about Ava’s javelina. Her drawing was SO cute and I immediately began forming the story in my head. Plus, I have a love for and an interest in animals - so much so I have spent many hours over the years watching documentaries, reading articles, and following Facebook groups that discuss all types of animals. When thinking about javelinas and their habitat, I knew they lived in the American Southwest and had a range from Texas to Arizona, mainly in dry, arid plains and desert areas. Naturally, that means that javelinas live with other desert/plains animals, including some of my FAVORITES like owls, prairie dogs, and lizards. I developed a list of possible animals to include in my story. I originally had about 10 options for animals. I knew that I had to narrow that down because that is way too many characters for a short story! Some of the animals I considered but later removed from the list were a fox, Gila Monster lizard, and a snake. I did lots of research online to find out everything I could about each of the animals. What were they like? What did they eat? Did they interact with other species? I had read somewhere that coyotes and badgers had been seen hunting together - such an intriguing story! I definitely wanted this idea to be part of my writing. I collected some photos to represent each of my characters and began to also think about names and genders. I love alliteration and knew I wanted the names to start with the same letter/sound as the animal type. I began researching name options and looked through many name databases to find options that seemed to fit each animal. One name that was decided before my research began was the javelina’s name. Now, my husband and I are in disagreement with who actually coined the name “Javier” for the javelina - he says he is 1000% sure it was him, but I’m fairly certain it was me. LOL! I guess we will never really know for sure. Up next - Part 2 of my story will discuss writing the book and how I decided on the educational topics. I put a lot of thought into developing Javier’s story, so I’m excited to share it with you! |
AuthorDaphne Hunt is an American author of children's picture books. ArchivesCategories |