30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book

This entry is part 1 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book
Fiction for children, especially younger children, comes in the form of picture books. This series of 30 posts explains how to write and edit the basic picture book, and goes on to [...]

Picture book standards: 32 pages

This entry is part 2 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
Picture Book Structure
Picture books are almost always 32 pages. The reasons for this are physical: when you fold paper, eight pages folds smoothly into what’s called a signature, while any more results in a group of pages too [...]

Putting the Picture in Picture Books

This entry is part 3 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
Picture books are illustrated stories. What does that mean to the writer of the picture book text?
Picture Book Illustrations
The biggest difference between short stories and picture books is the illustrations. Magazine stories, for example, may have one [...]

Write the Frist Draft of a Picture Book

This entry is part 4 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
Write a Story
To write the first draft of a picture book text, just write a story. That’s is. Just like you would normally write any story. Keep in mind that you want it to be short [...]

The Dual Audience for Picture Books

This entry is part 5 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
After you’ve written the first draft of the picture book, let it cool off a week. While it’s cooling off, I’ll cover a few other things about audience and dealing with illustrations. Then, we’ll get to the [...]

Did you Write a Picture Book or Something Else?

This entry is part 6 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
First write your picturebook. Now, you need to check if the story is really a picture book text. Here’s where the hard work begins!
Did you write a picture book?
Once I have a story in hand that I [...]

Picture Books: Those Confusing 32 Pages

This entry is part 7 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
I got this comment and thought it needed to be a separate post:
Tamar Asks: 32 pages? Not clear
Hi,
Thank you for your posts. They have been very helpful.
It isn’t clear to me from your posting of a 32 [...]

Check Your Picture Book’s Story Arc

This entry is part 8 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
You’ve written your picture book text and it divides nicely into about fourteen sections, so your first draft is looking good. Now, focus on the narrative arc.
Narrative Arc Formula
Here’s an easy formula to fill in for your narrative [...]

Shakespeare Helps You Write a Better Picture Book

This entry is part 9 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
Image via Wikipedia
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 [...]

Options for Picture Book Characters

This entry is part 10 of 31 in the series 30 DAYS TO A STRONGER PICTURE BOOK
Picture book characters can make or break the story. We usually think of kids or at least humans as the main character, but there are options
Picture Book Characters

Inanimate objects:
. . .

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After 18 months of free access, the [...]