VIKING IN LOVE written and illustrated by Doug Cenko
As a writer, I am in awe of illustrators.
And author illustrators?
Well, those are just magical unicorns that create wonder and joy.
Or, in this case, a VIKING IN LOVE.
I’m incredibly excited that Doug Cenko is here to share the method and revision history of VIKING IN LOVE.
As for a little about Doug, he’s been working as a creative professional in the music, film, and television industry on things that millions of people (and likely you as well, dear reader!) have enjoyed.
And now...onto the interview!
Doug, thank you so much for taking the time to share your journey! Okay, can you please share with us: what is the story behind your story? What sparked your story concept?
Thanks for having me! Drawing together with my daughter is one of our favorite things to do. One day, when she was 5, I was doodling a little Viking character and she was drawing hearts and rainbows (It’s still what she loves to draw). She looked over at what I was drawing and said, “I think that you should give him a heart.” So I gave him a little heart valentine. That drawing really got me thinking about this character’s story and who it was that was going to receive the valentine.
Awww, I love that! Kids are the best...especially when they give us story ideas. How long did it take from idea to book?
It took 3 years, 1 month and 12 days from idea to published book.
Fantastic. Can you share more about the timeline? What were some of the steps to birth this book baby?
11/2/2018 – First sketch
11/3/2018 – Started figuring out the story
11/14/2018 – Finished first draft of an extremely rough dummy
11/15/2018 – Sent the extremely rough dummy as part of a query critique to Laurel Symonds
11/28/2018 – Finished slightly less rough dummy
11/29/2018 – Started querying other agents
12/11/2018 – Offered representation by Laurel Symonds
3/4/2019 – Revised the dummy based on Laurel’s feedback
4/29/2019 – Went out on submission to editors
4/29/2019 – Received first offer
5/20/2019 – Received second and third offers
5/22/2019 – Decided to go with the offer from Viking Children’s Books
10/8/2019 – Signed contract
6/17/2020– Revised sketches based on the feedback from Tracy Gates (Editor) and Jim Hoover (Art Director)
7/24/2020– Finished rough colors
9/28/2020– Finished final art
12/14/2021 – VIKING IN LOVE is published!
Clearly the Universe demanded that Viking Children’s Books was going to publish VIKING IN LOVE (also, three offers, woo hooo!) What was the hardest part of revising?
When you’ve re-read the same thing dozens of times, you start to question if the parts that you liked before are still good. Or if they were even good to begin with. I usually end up with a ton of revisions and make sure to keep every one. Sometimes, if something’s not working, I’ll go back to an earlier version and realize that it worked better before.
Oh, that is so smart! Did you have an ‘ah-ha!’ moment with your manuscript during the revision process?
There’s a precarious moment in the book between the main character Stig and a kitten. I added that moment just because I thought it would make my daughter laugh. It definitely worked. And once I added it, I knew that part had to stay.
Kids are the best. What advice do you have for other writers? Are there any resources you would recommend to help with the revision process?
What works best for me if I get stuck on something is just putting it away. Give it a couple of weeks and work on something else. Sometimes when you look at it later, you’ll see it in a whole new way.
I really like the book WRITING PICTURE BOOKS by Ann Whitford Paul. I read through that book every now and then, especially if I get stuck on a story.
Wise words that we should all create by...and also, will definitely be checking out that book!
I’m excited that Doug has shared a few sneak peeks of his early process for the book VIKING IN LOVE… but first, here’s a fun early version of the COVER…
As you can see, Stig originally found an abandoned ship and the floatie didn’t appear until a later revision. My editor, Tracy Gates, felt that finding a ship was “too easy” and that we should make things a little more difficult for Stig. It was definitely the right call.
And, for all of the other author illustrators out there, here’s an evolution of one of the spreads in the story…
The first one is the sketch phase. Then the second image - I usually like to block in colors to get an idea of what the spread is going to look like before I spend too much time on it. The third image is pretty close to how it appears in the final book.
And a spread from the final published book! (Spoiler alert: they get their happily ever after)
If you aren’t following Doug...you should rectify that immediately! Be sure to check out his website and follow him on Twitter (@DougCenko) and on Instagram (@DougCenko). Do you want your own signed copy? Of course you do! You want five. Be sure to order from Doug’s favorite indie store RoscoeBooks.
Thank you, Doug and congratulations on your book! This looks adorable and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy.