I have been doing kids’ book workshops in libraries and a couple of bookshops for one year now. For the summer, I just finished up a 14-event run across Meath libraries for their Summer Stars program. This is a look back at the past 12 months and everything I have learned… so far.
It’s not necessarily to dispense advice (I’m still new), but as a reminder to future me, as it could be many months before I do any more.
Over the years, I have stood in front of big crowds at international conferences. I have stood in front of intimate workshops delivering day-long workshops and training to corporate teams. Teams that have paid thousands of euros to attend. Nothing, NOTHING, made me more nervous than delivering the first few workshops to rooms full of kids. Because they were important! To me, to the kids, and I wanted to be a kids book maker, and events like these were an integral part of being a kids book maker. So I needed to prove I could do it. I stressed about it for years. I knew that if I ever got published, it would be a required part of the process.
How do I normally deal with nerves? This is where years of undiagnosed autism stand to me. I bite all my nails (Badly, sorry), I slap on a calm, affable mask, and I over-prepare! I pre-run through every possible scenario I can imagine and prepare a solution. But with kids, they will still surprise you, and they are amazing!
Overall, it took about a year of irregular workshops before I truly became comfortable with them. I can only now start thinking about changing things up and testing new material.
So here, in no particular order, are my learnings… so far.
Have plans A, B, C, D, E, and F.
Prepare x3 times the material you think you will need.
Workshops are normally about an hour, but so far, every single group has responded to different material. I do not know why. I have not spotted what the difference is between the groups.
Your best joke! It will slay and library 1 and absolutely die at library 2.
Your short reading will enthrall group 1 and totally bore another.
So have extra material and be prepared to quickly switch when one is not working.
Forget the tech
For an easy life and a foolproof workshop, do not use any tech.
This learning goes back to before kids’ books, when I worked in tech and marketing.
Tech WILL fail. Guaranteed. So keep it all low-fi.
Assume nothing.
Assume the library or event has nothing that you asked for or sent in advance.
Core to my events is an A1 flip chart, so I can demonstrate some drawing during the workshop. I communicate this beforehand to libraries and schools. This worked great until I walked into a library that didn’t have one (No fault to the librarian, see below).
Tarsila Krüse gave me great advice and a specific URL where I could buy a portable flip chart that she uses. Thank you, Tarsila.
The librarian does not care, or want you there!
Ok, that heading is total clickbait, but it has happened… for totally understandable reasons.
I have walked into libraries where the librarian was off sick and the person standing in did not know the library, where anything was, and was just trying to get through the day. Which I totally understand.
The kids are better than you!
Kids are amazing. To date, I have illustrated just three books. One kid came in with 10 fully illustrated comic books that they wrote and illustrated themselves. 10!
I had no choice in one workshop but to hand over the flipchart so the kid could show us how to draw their character! They were brilliant!
At least I could show them the importance of signing their name and putting a copyright symbol on their character 🙂
You will be exposed.
Be aware that you might have to deliver your workshop, including funny voices, in full public view.
I was spoiled in the first few libraries I worked in that had dedicated workshop/meeting rooms.
I then got a shock when I walked into a smaller library, and the whole library was just one room, and your flip chat was set up beside the front door. Yes, you need to do the funny voices for the adults as well.
Bonus points if you bring extra worksheets for the parents in attendance!
Gender split!
So far, I have done comics workshops for kids 7-11, and it is great to see the gender is evenly split. Occasionally, in some towns, it might be 95% boys or girls. But generally it is even.
But I do highlight that all the best current comics and graphic novels in the country seem to be coming from women!
They just want to make comics/draw!
My workshop is making comics. Surprise, surprise, the kids just want to make comics.
Everything else, including all your talky bits, are boring!
Make it interesting and get out of the way!
Pricing
Children’s Books Ireland and Poetry Ireland have pricing GUIDELINES.
But don’t be afraid to ask for more if you think it’s worth it.
Let’s be honest, workshops are not a lot of money compared to other jobs. You are probably spending more money not doing a job so you can write.
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Make time for combine harvesters
You will get to see the lovely (seriously) back roads of the country when visiting libraries.
Make time for getting stuck behind a combine harvester. Those things are HUGE! And you are not getting past. So enjoy the view.
Don’t expect a warm welcome.
Or a cold one.
It’s a big deal. You are going out of your way to do this event. This may be way outside your comfort zone. You probably prepared loads for it. You may have a new book out to celebrate. It may be your first. Congratulations.
For the librarian, it is Tuesday.
And they have a feck load of regular work to do and a gang of kids and parents about to come in.
So don’t be let down when you don’t get a huge welcome, but trust me they are glad to see you.
The disruptive kid!
Prepare a little beforehand for a disruptive kid.
Not so you can handle them, but so you can handle yourself.
I had not been doing workshops for long, and this was my third workshop on the same day as I travelled between county libraries. There was a disruptive kid at the back. A reply to everything that just seemed to suck the energy out of everything I was trying to do. I tried to do a bit of reading and found myself snapping a bit, and for a moment, a brief moment, I thought about calling him out to read instead. But thankfully, I caught myself as soon as I had that thought.
That kid was here for a fun comic workshop; they all were. You don’t know why he is acting out. He might not think he is acting out, just taking part in the fun. Can he read? Does he want to read? What the hell was I about to do to this child?
I have deep embarrassment and shame about this moment and impulse, and I debated not saying it here. But hopefully others can relate, and we can all be a bit flawed and human, trying to be better. Hopefully.
In the end, I relaxed, spread the focus more around the kids, and we all tried to have fun.
It was a good early lesson for me anyway.
Trace, don’t draw.
Unless you want to draw, of course.
This was a handy tip I picked up from author and illustrator Alan Nolan.
I bring a large printout of what I am going to draw, and I tape it behind a blank page on the flipchart. I can then trace it during the workshop.
We have all seen the wonky results when you try drawing large and sideways on a board or flipchart when you are not used to it.
Just keep swimming
Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. Just go with the flow and keep swimming. These have often turned out to be the most fun workshops. If you do workshops, comment below with some of your own tales of stuff going wrong.
Remember the goal
The kids are here to make comics.
They are the focus.
Tell them how brilliant they are.
Because they are brilliant.
Not enough pencils.
One library I visited did not have enough pencils for the kids to use. And the temp staff member did not know where there was more.
So we broke what we had in half and pared them.
The kids were both horrified and thrilled. I do not know the main librarian’s reaction when they came back…
No more than three a day.
This was advice I overheard from Eve McDonnell, but of course, I had to push this and test it myself. I tried four events in a day… and it wrecked me.
Up your game
If you do a good job, the kids will come back again next year. But now you have a problem.
I recognised two kids in a return library visit in dismay and honour. Honoured that they liked it enough to come back.
Dismay that they already heard my, admittedly terrible, dad jokes.
Time to up my game.
Something more interesting
Sometimes, there is something more interesting outside the window.
I did a workshop during Cruinniú na nÓg. Other events were going on, including a full archeology dig out the front, where you could find swords, elk horns, and other amazing historical finds. Out the window at the back, folks were making giant sand drawings on the beach. This is a picture from MY workshop!
Forget about entertaining the kids
Initially, I worried that my job was to entertain the kids.
In reality, I have figured out I just need to show them what I do. Find out what they do. Tell them how amazing they are and highlight brilliant specifics in their work so they know I am not bullshitting them.
Ultimately, I try to be the VIA (very interested adult). Interested in their interests. Encouraging. Impressed. And then open them up to some new ideas so they go “What if…” and “I could do that…”
There is only one Alan Nolan
Part of my nerves when I started doing workshops was that they had to be mad, energetic, and entertaining. Alan Nolan was my initial model. I was at a book festival in a Dublin park, and I could hear Alan and the kids screaming back at him from clear across the park. If you want to start a riot with kids, Alan is your man. Everyone talks about Alan’s excellent events. But I knew I could not be that. That was not me. And so I worried that my events would be bad.
Now I know Alan just enough to know he would be horrified if he thought he was putting that pressure on new artists. Alan is Alan, and Alan is great.
But you are you and also great in your own way, hopefully.
This was validated to me at a recent library event where the librarian remarked to the amazing Sinead O’Hart who happened to be in attendance (I am name-dropping all over this article) how I brought a wonderful, calm, and gentle vibe to the workshop. I was so thrilled to hear this and felt it was a huge validation.
Welcomed support.
If you can, I recommend Halfway Up The Stairs as your first workshop (See featured image).
Sarah Webb sat in that workshop, and I felt so supported (and guided).
Forever grateful for that start!
I intend to pay this forward. I have a brilliant comic artist friend who would also do great workshops, but is also nervous about it. I hope to bring them into one or two of mine so they can get a feel for it.
A more neuroaffirmative workshop
I also reached out to Niamh Garvey to ask her advice. Thanks also to my amazing wife, who has a wealth of experience in classrooms and art events, and to the Louth Autism Group.
Any bad advice below is my misinterpretation, not theirs! Any good advice is theirs!
Tell them the plan
First, I outline the plan for the workshops so everyone knows what to expect.
Lay it all out
I start each workshop sharing where I am from and that I am from a very Neurodiverse household. I am autistic, my wife is ADHD, and my son is Dyslexic, which all makes for a very creative family that all loves books. It’s lovely when the quiet kid in the back shouts out in relief, “Oh me too”!
It is also lovely to see the relief in a parent’s face when they pull me aside at the start of a workshop to let me know that their child is autistic. I give them a big smile and reply, “Great, so am I!”
No sharing with the group
I do not require them to share their work and tell them this upfront so they can relax.
No wrong way
I explain that the workshop is fun and for them. They can follow along, or not. It is about them having fun, and they can do something different if they want. There is no right or wrong way to make comics.
Get on the floor.
I even tell them they can sit on the floor if they want. Get literal with the phrase “Ground yourself”. The only thing I tell them is they cannot dance on the tables… while I am looking.
You can sit on the floor! I have not tried this yet. I am 6ft 3in, and it is a long way down. I am worried I will not get up again. But I would like to try.
Quiet space
Some spaces have a quiet space, so I highlight where that is if they need it.
Although, has anyone else found sensory spaces… overstimulating? Far too much is going on with weird lights and textures. Give me a nice quiet space with a view of the sky!.
Writing alternatives
For the age group I work with, not all can read and write comfortably in a group. So I have alternatives.
Some of my favorite comics and picture books are wordless, so I will bring those examples.
When we make example comics with speech bubbles, I have that text printed large and distributed across the table for kids to copy without having to ask.
And I show ways to use pictograms instead of words.
Alt comic making
I have been lucky enough to combine this year’s workshops with a college course I am doing with NCAD and Creative Spark in Dundalk. I have been exploring alternative ways to deliver my workshop and engage the kids, and make them comfortable. One thing I have been exploring with college and the fab lab is alternative ways to make comics.
Instead of drawing, kids can make their comic with clay, using collage, making character stamps and stencils. This is a work in progress.
Blank white page
A blank white page is intimidating. So I have started bringing different coloured paper.
Step by step can be too restrictive.
A prescribed step-by-step process can be intimidating and restrictive. Look for other approaches.
Kids love gambling.
Inspired by Dave Ruddens presentation at the Great Reads Awards this year, I have started using 20-sided gamer dice to randomly roll story ideas for setting, character, and event. The kids LOOOVE this interactivity, and even though it is one person rolling the dice at a time, they all want to take part in each person’s story.
The gambling comment is a kid’s comment, not mine! 😂
Talk less.
I have that impulse to fill in the quiet moments and talk. Don’t! Let them draw, create, and contribute. It’s their workshop.
Playing a bit of background music during these quiet drawing moments also seems to help me and them.
Invitation.
Instead of telling them how I draw a seagull or dinosaur, I started inviting them for ideas on how they draw them. I ask them to tell me about their character ideas. The kids love this! The results are… amazing. Meet the zombie spider seagull in a tux and lots of deadly weaponry.
Yes, that is a sad poo waving at you.
Parents
I have noticed it is more difficult to get engagement with parents or adults in the room. Kids are on their best behaviour. I have no solution to this yet as some kids want a parent near.
That is it. Everything I have learned so far. What about you? What have you learned?
Thanks to Niamh Donnellan for reading over this in case I missed anything.
