Who is Vivian Dubrovin?
| Writer/Books Vivian Dubrovin has been writing for children for more than 40 years. She has authored eight fiction books for two multimedia remedial reading programs, three nonfiction books on writing, one nonfiction book on career education, five nonfiction print books on storytelling, two ebooks on storytelling, and one adult computer book. University
Workshops Professional Organizations |
She served four years as Regional Advisor of the Rocky
Mountain Chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She is a
charter member of that organization and has been it's vice president and president. She
has also served as both branch and state president for the National League of American Pen
Women. She has also served as the Colorado State Liaison for the National Storytelling Network. Vivian Dubrovin has a degree in journalism and has worked as an editor and staff writer for trade publications, printing and publishing companies. Writer/Articles & Booklets She has written short stories for many children's publications and articles and reviews for education magazines. Nonfiction articles include "Opticians: Seeing A Challenge," Career World; "Puppet Master" and "Master Dollmaker" for Heath Literacy program; and "Organizing Junior Storyteller Clubs," Storytelling Magazine. In 1994, she wrote a series of special reports on How to Write a HANDBOOK for Children, Opportunities in Writing Fiction For Children, and Opportunities in Writing Nonfiction for Children for Word Services. Storycraft
Publishing |
Books by Vivian Dubrovin;
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Barbara Dubrovin is author/illustrator of Fantasy Fair: Bright Stories of Imagination, and is co-author/illustrator of Storytelling Discoveries: Favorite Activities for Young Tellers, a Parents’ Choice 2002 Recommended Award Winner that also received a Creative Child Magazine 2003 Preferred Choice Award. She has also contributed to Junior Storyteller.
Q & A With Barbara Dubrovin
How Did You Become an Author?
The first question is always the hardest! Like creating the opening paragraph of a story; I do the rest and then come back for the beginning. I have always enjoyed reading and writing, but never planned to be an author or sat down to write a book. Friends enjoyed my letters and said I should write stories. So I did when I had time and energy. I thought others would like to read those, but learned magazines have very specific requirements, and finding the right editor for a story takes more effort than writing it! After a few were published and many rejected, I decided I’d rather write new stories than spend energy trying to get old ones published. The next story is fun to me, even if I’m its only reader. I thought that would be the end of my publishing. Then, relatives read some and wanted to include a few stories in Storytelling Discoveries, which gave me co-author credit and won awards. So the publisher read more and agreed to a book of just my stories, collecting some of my fantasies to create Fantasy Fair. A few stories rejected by magazines were included…and they’re ones that some readers and reviewers liked best! So it’s good those were published after all. And that makes me want to keep writing and publishing.
What is Your Inspiration?
The fun of writing is that EVERYTHING is a story! Sitting under a tree, opening a door, doing the laundry, going shopping, all inspire stories begging to be told. Stories come at me so fast I keep a notebook where I jot down the gist of it until I have time and energy to write it out complete (weeks, months later). And then they compete in my head: me next! Me next! It’s really very raucous up there sometimes. Stories are unruly things. I’ve never understood people with “writer’s block” since for me the story idea is the easy part and the hard part is getting it out of my head and onto paper without mashing it too badly.
Where Do You Do Your Writing?
The first parts of writing, getting ideas and organizing thoughts, happens everywhere. So when I actually start putting words down, either with a pencil or on computer, the story already exists. Then I write it out on a laptop computer, laying down or in a chair. It’s less tiring and being relaxed helps me be creative.
What is Your Advice For Young Storytellers?
Create. It makes reading so much more fun. And exercising imagination is like exercising a muscle, the more you do the better it gets. So, once you start writing, you soon find stories everywhere and never run out. It’s like having an infinite library in your head, or a movie theater with endless exclusive sneak previews. But you have to bring them out before you can learn other people’s opinions and discuss. That’s why I published. It’s kind of lonely being the only one to know a good story. Sharing it is half the fun! Try it. Then if we ever meet, we’ll swap stories over lunch.