This blog post is the most basic introduction to newbie authors that want to write picture books. The topic is monumental and everything I want to say on it is mostly not covered, thank you very much. But it is enough to propel you forward into the wonderful and magical world of picture books.
1. THOU SHALT NOT SPEW OUT OVER 1000 WORDS
While it is tempting to spew out your life’s history and everything about everyone who has done you wrong on paper, a picture book is meant for tiny humans that have tinier attention spans and want to read age-appropriate, captivating books. The sweet spot is 500 words that keep the entertainment flowing. Remember, for picture books, the picture tells half the story. Also remember some words can be replaced by the illustrator, so don’t write, “Dorothy wore a blue dress and red sandals.” This sentence would be a good way to end your relationship with an illustrator, if that is what you are wanting.
2. THOU SHALT HAVE A STRUCTURE
The structure is a vast topic. The basic skeleton of any book is the beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning is when you introduce your main character (protagonist) in a setting, like a playground. You also introduce the protagonist’s problem. All this should be done in a smooth but swift way. You don’t want your audience to run away with an imaginary friend after reading the first two sentences of your book.
For example, the following wordy sentences would be a crummy way to start my book, Ten Sheep to Sleep: “Sammy Jo lived in a two story house, with three and a half baths and a white, fenced backyard. She had her own room filled with toys, books, and artwork. Sometimes, when are mommy allowed, she liked to invite friends for sleepovers. They made funny shadows in the dark and told each other ghost stories over hot chocolate with one gigantic marshmallow.” This beginning is a great way to kill your book while ensuring no one reads it.
The middle is where you focus on the problem getting worse and your protagonist attempts and attempts and attempts to solve the problem. Keep the reader hooked by using great action verbs, snappy dialogue, emotions and senses, and suspense. Remember that everything in the story happens from the protagonist’s point of view. He/she absolutely cannot — I repeat CANNOT — know what her mommy or goldfish is thinking! This is a very important point often overlooked by newbie writers.
The end is when the problem is solved. Since it is a picture book, and unless you delight in kids crying, in most cases the end is happy (exceptions always apply).
3. THOU SHALT SHOW THY STORY AND NOT TELLETH IT
“Show, Don’t Tell.” Engrave this rule on your hot-cocoa mug and meditate on it every morning. Example of show vs. tell statements:
TELL (bad and uninterestingly lame sentence):
Scruffy was happy to see me.
SHOW (this is what you want to write):
Scruffy wagged his tail, leaped on me, and licked my face.
P.S. free advice: The Show, Don’t Tell rule applies in real life as well. People are more likely to take you (or a product you are selling) seriously if you involve the use of senses, emotion, and action.
4. THOU SHALT HAVE AN APPROPRIATE TITLE
Titles are tricky business. It’s what lures your next victim (oops, I mean reader) into picking up your book. The title should be short, unique, and give some context about the story.
Bad example:
The Story of a Big Green Monster Who Didn’t Like Christmas or Anything
Good example: The Grinch (with the word “Grinch” we understand it is about a complainer. It’s short and to the point. Plus the illustration will show the monster.)
5. THOU SHALT NOT ATTEMPT TO RHYME UNLESS YOU KNOWETH HOW
For most of the rhymers out there, I have something to tell you about yourself: You are NOT a rhymer. Boo hoo. You’ll get over it. I used to think I was a rhymer. Now I know better. Rhyming ‘bat’ and ‘cat’ does not give you the right of passage, even though you successfully and hilariously rhymed them. The most common issue I see when critiquing manuscripts that have rhyme is, “forced rhyme.” Forced rhyme is when a story lacks structure and plot, and has too many random sentences following each other just so they can rhyme. Such a story is listless and does not move forward. Your first step should be to outline a clear, fast-paced plot. Then read many books on how to write in rhyme, read books written by successful rhymers, and keep practicing. Try to get a critique from someone who has successfully published in rhyme before sending off your manuscript to a publisher.
6. THOU SHALT ASKETH FOR A CRITIQUE
This part can be as fun or as hard as you make it. In order to put your best writing out there, it is imperative to get many sets of eyes on it, get feedback, and revise. Because people have different perspectives, critiques can hurt. My “rule of thumb” is, if minimum three people are complaining about the same thing, you have to make some change, no matter how much you love what you wrote. At the end of the day, it is your work, take the advice that works for you, and leave the rest. Don’t get emotionally attached to the critique and ruin your summer. Don’t hate the critic — he/ she is only trying to help. Move on.
7. THOU SHALT NOT THINK YOUR WRITING IS GREAT
Every writer thinks they are the best thing that happened to humanity (after bacon of course). Again, you are wrong. If you are committing to writing, you must be prepared to be criticized, get feedback, read books in your genre, write, revise, critique others’ work, improve your writing, and keep learning. It can take a lifetime to get one book published, and it has to be worth reading if you want people to take you seriously. The first step is to know you are not perfect, and stay committed to this amazing and fulfilling journey.
8. THOU SHALT EDIT AND RE-EDIT
Editing never stops. One past year, I added a single comma to one manuscript … and that’s all I did that year. Just when you think you are done and you can’t change the manuscript, there’s always something you’ll find. Leave a manuscript alone for at least a week before you review it again. You will almost always find something to improve. Keep scouring your manuscript for punctuation/ apostrophe/ grammar errors. A common mistake people make is with it’s vs. its: it’s is a contraction while its is a possessive pronoun. Watch out for homonyms, like their and there. Remove all weed words, like anything that ends with an ly — quickly, carefully etc. Always look for ways to make your manuscript tighter. Wordy books are not always fun to read and in many cases don’t move the story forward. Exceptions are always there.
9. THOU SHALT HAVE A SATISFYING ENDING
Ah! It’s time to celebrate. You are almost done. Ensure you tie up all loose ends from the story, before ending your book. The problem should be resolved by the protagonist, and not the helpful dad, friend, or cat. The reader wants to see the protagonist (not the cat or dad) grow emotionally as the story unfolds and concludes. Make sure your character struggles in some way during the story so the ending is satisfying. If Cinderella danced at the ball and the prince decided to marry her right there, the story would end happily but it wouldn’t be exciting for the reader. Losing the glass slipper made it exciting! Once the story has concluded, wrap up and don’t engage in endless banter the reader does not care about. Again, you are wrong if you think the reader cares about every extra word you write. (Get over yourself!)
10. THOU SHALT NEVER GIVE UP
No! Thou shalt not kill thy manuscript. Writing takes a lot of patience. If you believe in your work, keep at it and don’t let publisher and agent rejections let you down. Look carefully at your work. Why is it being rejected? Is there anything you can change about it to make it more marketable? If the answer is yes, swallow your pride and make the changes. If the answer is no, keep believing with an unwavering mind, and one day it will get published. Good luck (Oh, you’ll need it!).
If you know a budding kid author interested in learning how to write picture books, check out my two programs (1.How to Not Eat Your Grandma While Writing Picture Books and 2. Author Presentation) on Talkabook.
Nidhi Kamra is the author of picture books, Simon’s Skin and Ten Sheep to Sleep.
1. THOU SHALT NOT SPEW OUT OVER 1000 WORDS
While it is tempting to spew out your life’s history and everything about everyone who has done you wrong on paper, a picture book is meant for tiny humans that have tinier attention spans and want to read age-appropriate, captivating books. The sweet spot is 500 words that keep the entertainment flowing. Remember, for picture books, the picture tells half the story. Also remember some words can be replaced by the illustrator, so don’t write, “Dorothy wore a blue dress and red sandals.” This sentence would be a good way to end your relationship with an illustrator, if that is what you are wanting.
2. THOU SHALT HAVE A STRUCTURE
The structure is a vast topic. The basic skeleton of any book is the beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning is when you introduce your main character (protagonist) in a setting, like a playground. You also introduce the protagonist’s problem. All this should be done in a smooth but swift way. You don’t want your audience to run away with an imaginary friend after reading the first two sentences of your book.
For example, the following wordy sentences would be a crummy way to start my book, Ten Sheep to Sleep: “Sammy Jo lived in a two story house, with three and a half baths and a white, fenced backyard. She had her own room filled with toys, books, and artwork. Sometimes, when are mommy allowed, she liked to invite friends for sleepovers. They made funny shadows in the dark and told each other ghost stories over hot chocolate with one gigantic marshmallow.” This beginning is a great way to kill your book while ensuring no one reads it.
The middle is where you focus on the problem getting worse and your protagonist attempts and attempts and attempts to solve the problem. Keep the reader hooked by using great action verbs, snappy dialogue, emotions and senses, and suspense. Remember that everything in the story happens from the protagonist’s point of view. He/she absolutely cannot — I repeat CANNOT — know what her mommy or goldfish is thinking! This is a very important point often overlooked by newbie writers.
The end is when the problem is solved. Since it is a picture book, and unless you delight in kids crying, in most cases the end is happy (exceptions always apply).
3. THOU SHALT SHOW THY STORY AND NOT TELLETH IT
“Show, Don’t Tell.” Engrave this rule on your hot-cocoa mug and meditate on it every morning. Example of show vs. tell statements:
TELL (bad and uninterestingly lame sentence):
Scruffy was happy to see me.
SHOW (this is what you want to write):
Scruffy wagged his tail, leaped on me, and licked my face.
P.S. free advice: The Show, Don’t Tell rule applies in real life as well. People are more likely to take you (or a product you are selling) seriously if you involve the use of senses, emotion, and action.
4. THOU SHALT HAVE AN APPROPRIATE TITLE
Titles are tricky business. It’s what lures your next victim (oops, I mean reader) into picking up your book. The title should be short, unique, and give some context about the story.
Bad example:
The Story of a Big Green Monster Who Didn’t Like Christmas or Anything
Good example: The Grinch (with the word “Grinch” we understand it is about a complainer. It’s short and to the point. Plus the illustration will show the monster.)
5. THOU SHALT NOT ATTEMPT TO RHYME UNLESS YOU KNOWETH HOW
For most of the rhymers out there, I have something to tell you about yourself: You are NOT a rhymer. Boo hoo. You’ll get over it. I used to think I was a rhymer. Now I know better. Rhyming ‘bat’ and ‘cat’ does not give you the right of passage, even though you successfully and hilariously rhymed them. The most common issue I see when critiquing manuscripts that have rhyme is, “forced rhyme.” Forced rhyme is when a story lacks structure and plot, and has too many random sentences following each other just so they can rhyme. Such a story is listless and does not move forward. Your first step should be to outline a clear, fast-paced plot. Then read many books on how to write in rhyme, read books written by successful rhymers, and keep practicing. Try to get a critique from someone who has successfully published in rhyme before sending off your manuscript to a publisher.
6. THOU SHALT ASKETH FOR A CRITIQUE
This part can be as fun or as hard as you make it. In order to put your best writing out there, it is imperative to get many sets of eyes on it, get feedback, and revise. Because people have different perspectives, critiques can hurt. My “rule of thumb” is, if minimum three people are complaining about the same thing, you have to make some change, no matter how much you love what you wrote. At the end of the day, it is your work, take the advice that works for you, and leave the rest. Don’t get emotionally attached to the critique and ruin your summer. Don’t hate the critic — he/ she is only trying to help. Move on.
7. THOU SHALT NOT THINK YOUR WRITING IS GREAT
Every writer thinks they are the best thing that happened to humanity (after bacon of course). Again, you are wrong. If you are committing to writing, you must be prepared to be criticized, get feedback, read books in your genre, write, revise, critique others’ work, improve your writing, and keep learning. It can take a lifetime to get one book published, and it has to be worth reading if you want people to take you seriously. The first step is to know you are not perfect, and stay committed to this amazing and fulfilling journey.
8. THOU SHALT EDIT AND RE-EDIT
Editing never stops. One past year, I added a single comma to one manuscript … and that’s all I did that year. Just when you think you are done and you can’t change the manuscript, there’s always something you’ll find. Leave a manuscript alone for at least a week before you review it again. You will almost always find something to improve. Keep scouring your manuscript for punctuation/ apostrophe/ grammar errors. A common mistake people make is with it’s vs. its: it’s is a contraction while its is a possessive pronoun. Watch out for homonyms, like their and there. Remove all weed words, like anything that ends with an ly — quickly, carefully etc. Always look for ways to make your manuscript tighter. Wordy books are not always fun to read and in many cases don’t move the story forward. Exceptions are always there.
9. THOU SHALT HAVE A SATISFYING ENDING
Ah! It’s time to celebrate. You are almost done. Ensure you tie up all loose ends from the story, before ending your book. The problem should be resolved by the protagonist, and not the helpful dad, friend, or cat. The reader wants to see the protagonist (not the cat or dad) grow emotionally as the story unfolds and concludes. Make sure your character struggles in some way during the story so the ending is satisfying. If Cinderella danced at the ball and the prince decided to marry her right there, the story would end happily but it wouldn’t be exciting for the reader. Losing the glass slipper made it exciting! Once the story has concluded, wrap up and don’t engage in endless banter the reader does not care about. Again, you are wrong if you think the reader cares about every extra word you write. (Get over yourself!)
10. THOU SHALT NEVER GIVE UP
No! Thou shalt not kill thy manuscript. Writing takes a lot of patience. If you believe in your work, keep at it and don’t let publisher and agent rejections let you down. Look carefully at your work. Why is it being rejected? Is there anything you can change about it to make it more marketable? If the answer is yes, swallow your pride and make the changes. If the answer is no, keep believing with an unwavering mind, and one day it will get published. Good luck (Oh, you’ll need it!).
If you know a budding kid author interested in learning how to write picture books, check out my two programs (1.How to Not Eat Your Grandma While Writing Picture Books and 2. Author Presentation) on Talkabook.
Nidhi Kamra is the author of picture books, Simon’s Skin and Ten Sheep to Sleep.