Deceptively simple - that’s the phrase that’s most commonly applied to making picture books. It looks easy, doesn’t it? But picture books are delicate little creatures that can fall down dead if you’re not careful.
Here are five simple thoughts on keeping yours alive.
1 - DON’T USE TOO MANY WORDS.
It’s a PICTURE book. Always keep that in mind. The pictures will do the heavy lifting for you. Put simply, SHOW, DON’T TELL. I know that can be hard for a writer to hear, but it’s important that you get that tattooed behind your eyelids now - an elegant and delicate balance between carefully chosen words and arresting IMAGES is what you’re after. Whittle that text down as much as you can. Leave space for the illustrator to create their magic. Find a way of saying the greatest amount with smallest number of words. And if that sounds crazy to you, you should write a novel.
2 - MAYBE AVOID VERSE.
Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who has written 5 books that rhyme, but when you’re starting out you should probably stick with prose. Editors have a tendency to roll their eyes when confronted with a page of verse, usually because there is a common danger of letting your rhyme scheme hijack the story you’re trying to tell.You don’t want your story lurching off in some obscure direction just because you couldn’t think of a rhyme that makes sense but writers do this ALL THE TIME. Writing really good verse is tricky. And when it doesn’t flow EXACTLY in perfect meter, it sucks. I’m not saying don’t do it (Again – I’ve written 11 books and only 6 are in prose) but if you are trying to get published for the first time, a beautifully crafted piece of plain speaking will do you no harm.
3 - SURPRISE US.
I could also call this “DON’T BE BORING”.
Find a story to tell that is unique or funny or alarming or rude or moving or anything that isn’t DULL. Especially for kids. Preaching from a pulpit rarely inspires rapture in 6 year-olds. I’m not saying be frivolous (although you can be if you want to) but remember WHO you’re talking to. You want kids to say “Can I hear that again?”. Do anything you can to make that happen.
4 - SPLIT YOURSELF IN TWO.
You need to have two personalities. The first is your internal writer, who is wild, unrestrained and capable of scrawling down any piece of madness that occurs to them without judgement. The second is your internal editor, whose job it is to sift through the lunacy and look for gems. THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE SAME ROOM AT THE SAME TIME. I cannot stress that strongly enough. That is lethal to creativity. Let your writer be free and a little insane. And then let your editor skilfully clean up the mess.
And then,
5 - JUST DON’T GIVE UP.
There you go. It couldn’t be simpler.
For more thoughts on the matter, check out – http://www.aaronblabey.com/news/category/how-to-make-a-picture-book/
What are your favourite picture books? Let us know in the comments below.