Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready for Bed? started out with a vampire named Count Sheep as the main character. “I developed a whole riff on what that would be,” Barney Saltzberg says. “If it’s a kid’s book he couldn’t suck blood. He’s going to have to suck mud.” Naturally, Count Sheep had trouble sleeping, and when Saltzberg researched kids’ bedtime rituals he shelved Count Sheep in favor of Cornelius P. Mud. “I use that as an example with kids on how you have to be willing to make a huge left turn,” he says. “You think your story is going one way, but you have to be open to new possibilities.” [Read the rest of my profile with Barney Saltzberg.]