Shakespeare Helps You Write a Better Picture Book

For several years, this series on writing a picture book has been available free on this site. It’s now available altogether as a 110 page pdf file, How to Write a Children’s Picture Book.

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When you’re thinking about writing a picture book, the structure if important. With about fourteen double-page spreads, it’s time to turn to Shakespeare for some help.

Sonnets and Picture Books

I think you can compare picture book structure to the structure of poetry. For example, sonnets have 14 lines, picture books can have 14 double-page spreads. So, taking a sonnet as an example of structure, you can imitate one of these sonnet structures.

1. The Italian Sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines)
   • Octave:
     • Spreads 1-4 Set up character
     • Spreads 5-8 Problem stated
   • Sestet:
     • Spreads 9-11 Character tries to solve the problem.
     • Spreads 12-14 The payoff

   Or, think of it as the beginning, middle, end, payoff. Or problem, attempts to solve, failure and re-commitment to try, payoff.

   Notice that in this structure, there is a pivot point–things change drastically–between spreads 8 and 9. There are two minor pivots, too, between 4-5 and 11-12. These are good places for a twist to turn the plot in a different direction.

2. The Shakespearean Sonnet
   Three quatrains (four-line stanzas) and a couplet.
   • Spreads 1-4 Problem stated
   • Spreads 5-8 Attempts to solve problem
   • Spreads 9-12 Problem solved
   • Spreads 13-14 The payoff

   The main pivot point is between 12 and 13; minor pivot points occur between 4-5, 8-9.

Check the structure of your story and its pivot points to see if it is the strongest it can be.

See Also: 30 Days to a Stronger Novel

Related posts:

1. Did you Write a Picture Book or Something Else?
2. Picture book standards: 32 pages
3. How to Write a Picture Book Mystery
4. How to Write a Children’s Picture Book
5. How to Mock-up a Picture Book

Revise with confidence.