Capturing the Tide: Three Tips from Writing Real Women

Feeling daunted at the thought of distilling someone’s entire life into a picture book biography in a way that feels responsible, meaningful, and entertaining? Jess Keating here — and I’ve been there!

Here are a few tips I’ve learned from writing real women.

• Ask yourself: Am I the one to tell this story?

Unfortunately, there’s no easy quiz you can take online to help you here. But you want to read widely and reflect deeply. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started to scribble notes about someone’s life in the margins of my notebook, only to realize with utter certainty: this is not my story to tell. Be mindful. Be aware. Is your voice the best one to share this story? If yes, keep going!

• You can’t capture the tide.

It’s too deep. Too vast. Too strong. The same goes for trying to capture every remarkable, poignant, and meaningful moment in someone’s life. Once you accept that you can’t do the impossible, your options open up. Limits serve creativity. Do you want to present a ‘slice of life’ of your subject? A chronological narrative? Something else entirely? What’s best for your subject?

• Find the beating heart and watch the magic happen.

To date, I’ve written four picture book biographies, each about women in science who did their work in nature. For each, I make myself answer one central question before I submit anything to an editor: How did their passions and challenges mirror the broader picture of their life’s work?

Eugenie Clark was a female shark scientist working in a time when women were largely unheard of in marine biology. Both she and her sharks were underestimated, judged, and misrepresented. There were several beating hearts to Eugenie’s rich life, but narratively, the parallel between Eugenie and her sharks was my North Star throughout.

Marie Tharp was an oceanographic cartographer who mapped the ocean floor, thereby revealing the truth behind plate tectonics. Time and time again, she was told her work was “girl talk”. (Literally.) But her brilliant mind was as solid as the ocean ridges she mapped. She didn’t just map history — she made history.

Jeanne Villepreux-Power was seamstress-turned- scientist who built the world’s first aquarium, in turn discovering the truth behind one of the ocean’s biggest mysteries: argonauts make their shells! The gorgeous parallel behind both Jeanne and her argonauts using what they have to create space to thrive was strongest narrative thread I could have asked for!

Florence Bailey was a bird-loving scientist who helped protect birds, and also was the first person to popularize watching live birds as a way to learn about them. (Back then, scientists would just kill them and take them apart! No work was being done on their actual behaviour!) The beautiful parallels between Florence embracing her own unruly wildness, and the importance of observing live (wild!)  birds was the main thread that kept this story together.

In all cases, making these books works meant finding the microcosm within the story that would connect with the macrocosm of what I actually wanted to talk about. Don't get me wrong: I love talking about sharks, and oceans, and birds! But it's what was beneath those topics -- the heart of the women themselves that made for a book that mattered to me. 

(Sidenote: That's a great Post-It note to have on your wall when you're writing. "Does this actually MATTER to me?" It will help you tune out all sorts of possible distractions and topics.) 

So how do you find this narrative heart?

Make two columns for your subject. Put the specifics of their life in one. Then, let your mind and heart wander into a wider space.

• What metaphors do you see?
• What themes?
• What constants?
• What mirrors?

They are there! Your job as a writer is to find these threads in the tapestry and create a cohesive narrative for the world to see them too. 

Remember: you can’t capture the tide, but you can capture one beating heart!

I wish you luck, brave writers! You've got this.

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