Picture Books Tips
Read these 22 Picture Books Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Self Publishing tips and hundreds of other topics.
An Exception to Show, Don't Tell
(Except in PBs)Use actions and descriptions to portray emotions rather than say, for example "Max was mad." In picture books, however, this guideline is somewhat looser, as the illustrator will show many of the descriptions.
Celebrity Writers
Currently on the growing list of Celebrity Picture Book Writers is: Katie Couric, Wil Smith, Naomi Judd, Julie Andrews Edwards, Garrison Keillor, Fred Gwynne, Katie Couric, Leanne Rimes, Britney Spears, Jamie Lee Curtis, John Lithgow, and more!
Posing as a Picture Book Writer
One of the best ways to get a feel for writing picture books is to take your favourites and type them out. Typing picture books can force you to be aware of manuscript length, word use and simplicity. Today, type up one of your favourites and see how much more you notice.
Writing Is Exercise
Writing is exercise. All things in which we want to develop ourselves, need our attention. This exercising can be done in the forms of a writing course, a routine, a daily doses writing inspiration, writing in your diary or writing of letters.
List Of Markets
When you are ready to submit your works to publishers,
Keep a list of children's markets handy so you don't have to look for it all the time. Saves lots of time when addressing the envelopes.
Problem Solving not an adult's story
Make sure the child solves the problem in a children's story, not an adult.
Barefoot Books
A lot of information about submitting picture books can be found on this site:
http://www.barefoot-books.com/us/index.php3?page=35
Placing Conflict
In any children's book the conflict should be apparent "up front." In a picture book, however, it should appear within the first - third pages.
Listening Is Important
Neil Diamond wrote a song in five minutes, while his child pointed his attention to the beautiful sounds of the street.
Beautiful noise became a world wide hit!
So, let the sounds inspire you, for a change!
The Long and Short of Picture Books
Picture books can range anywhere from no words, to ten words to approximately one-thousand two hundred words on the high end of the spectrum. The best thing to do when writing a picture book is to target a specific age group and market and write/revise according to those guidelines.
How to Write Picture Books
To write a picture book, you must read picture books.
It seems that many writers who are striving to write picture books do NOT read picture books.
Reading picture books will not alter a writer's own personal voice or cramp a writer's own style. What it will do is give you a sense of picture book formats, lengths, types, "dummies," what gets published, what certain publishers look for, and what types of stories seem to be published again and again.
Your local librarian can help you select some rhyming picture books. Barbara Seuling, in her Writing Picture Books class, suggests typing out ten of your favourites so that you get a feel for picture books and their length. It is important to note what the PB text "says" and "doesn't say." Each word should
do work, but much can be left to the illustrator who draws/paints the pictures. When you study your picture books try to focus on which details are provided by the author, and which are provided by the illustrator. This study will help you pare down your own MS.
In any event, reading picture books is very important. For individual publisher's preferred word count, you should consult your Children's Writers and Illustrators Market, a necessary tool for all serious children's writers.
Boyds Mills Press - Needs
Boyds Mills says "Our audience is pre-school to young adult. Concentrate first on your writing. Polish it. Then--and only then--select a market. We need primarily pictures books with fresh ideas and characters--avoid themes like coming of age and new sibling and self-help ideas. We are always interested in multicultural settings. Please, no anthropomorphic characters."
Show, Don't Tell
According to author Susan Wiener: In children's writing it's very important to "Show, Don't Tell."
Prepping a PB Manuscript
Picture book MSs should follow standard format, double-spaced; one inch margins on all sides; name and address at the top, the title centered about halfway down the page with the story following. Subsequent pages should be named with the title of the story/author at the top, as well as page number. For more definitive instructions, consult THE WRITER'S DIGEST GUIDE TO MANUSCRIPT FORMATS by Buchman & Groves.
Simplify, Simplify
(Keep it simple, stupid) ;) When writing for children, especially in Picture Books, stay focused and keep your story as simple, to the point and straighforward as possible.
Writing...
Writing is writing, the actual writing. Writing is art, to get words on paper. Writing is not publication of your own texts, or to write for readers. Writing is writing.
Show, Don't Tell - Picture Books
In picture books, however, the Show, Don't Tell guideline is somewhat looser, as the illustrator will show many of the descriptions.
Children's Picture Book Database
Children's Picture Book Database - http://www.lib.muohio.edu/pictbks/
"This database offers abstracts of over 5000 children's
picture books (preschool to grade three), suitable for teachers, librarians, and others who design interdisciplinary curricula for elementary schools and
library programs. The user may search over 950
keywords (topics, concepts, and skills) from the
following categories: Literature, Language and
Communications, Mathematics, Health and Medicine,
Natural History and Natural Science, Social Studies, and Visual and Performing Arts.
Pages Per Picture Book
Because of the way publishers print pages, picture books page counts are always in multiples of eights (8s). Most picture books tend to range 32 pages, with shorter books having only 8 or 16 pages and longer books having 48 or 64 pages. The multiples of page counts are 8, 16, (32), 40, 48, 56 and 64.
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| Jennifer Mathes, Ph.D. |
