How to Plot a Picture Book

WOW! Women On Writing
Classes & Workshops

Spotlight Newsletter: How to Plot a Picture Book

In this issue:

Spotlight Course: How to Write Children's Picture Books and Get Published

Greetings!

What are your favorite books from childhood?

When asked this question, writers and readers alike tend to include a few picture books. Why? Picture books were our first experience with the printed word. They introduced us to delightful new adventures and taught us how to read. A picture book meant spending quality time with an adult and listening to a story you loved time and time again.

Considering all the warm and fuzzy memories, it's not too surprising that so many writers want to craft their own picture books. But don't let the apparent simplicity and minimal word count of a picture book fool you into thinking it's easy to write one, let alone get it published! It's a delicate balance of words and pictures and it can be tricky, but those that break into the genre find it extremely rewarding.

If you've ever thought about writing a picture book, we invite you to take a look at a new class we're offering, How to Write Children's Picture Books and Get Published. It starts Monday, April 4th and is limited to 15 students.

Instructor Lynne Gardner has 21 books published, including three picture books, with a fourth to follow shortly. Her first title The Best Jumper was recorded for the CBeeBies children's radio channel (part of the BBC), and A Book for Bramble has been translated into five languages including Korean and Indonesian.

In the article below, Lynne shares some tips on how to plot a picture book. We also share some recent blog posts from our instructors in the sections below and some information on upcoming classes.

To view all of our upcoming courses click here.

Happy writing!

Angela & Marcia

Angela & Marcia
Classroom Managers
WOW! Classes & Workshops

classroom@wow-womenonwriting.com

How to Plot a Picture

Book

By Lynne Garner

It doesn't matter if you are writing a 70,000-word novel or a 600-word picture book, creating an interesting story is simply a task of asking yourself questions. Perhaps the most helpful source for what to ask yourself was penned by Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 - January 18, 1936),

"I keep six honest serving-men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who."

The four lines above have helped me solve plotting issues on many an occasion. So what follows is how I use the above to help me construct a story.

Who?
The who is obviously your main character or characters. Unlike YA or adult fiction, keep your cast of characters limited so it is easy for a child to follow the story.

What?
For a picture book, thankfully, we do not have to stick to human characters, so the "what" is what is your character? Are they animal, human, mythical creature (fairy, wizard, witch, etc.) or inanimate object? "What" is also what happens or what is your theme? For example, the theme for my story A Book for Bramble is how Teasel the mouse deals with missing his best friend Bramble the hedgehog.

Why?
Why is linked with the "what." So what happens and why? For example, in my book The Best Jumper, the "what happens" is my character has a jumper [Note: "jumper" means sweater in British English] that appears to be shrinking. However, the "why" it is shrinking is because he is growing.

When?
In a picture book this is perhaps one of the less important questions. Older fiction tends to be anchored in a certain time period. But in a picture book about fairies who inhabit a different world your story could be set in 2011 or 100 years ago.

Where?
Many picture books are set within their own world. For example, in my book Dog Did It, my main character Boris the troll lives in a mythical world. This world mirrors our own with bus stops, ducks on the pond in the park, but is populated by trolls. So you can let your imagination go wild!

How?
So how does my character overcome the problem I have given them? If you read picture books (something I urge you to do as often as you can) you will notice the "how" to overcome the problem can be more complicated than you'd first think, as problems are rarely solved the first time. If they did it would be a very boring story!

I'm hoping you can now see how you can use these questions to help plot your story. Creating one children will love and adults will be willing to read time and time again.

How to Write Children's Picture

Books and Get Published

Instructor: Lynne Garner

Workshop Length: 6 Weeks
Price: $150
Start Date: April 4, 2011
Limit 15 Students

During this 6-week course students will learn what makes a successful picture book by studying titles already published. They will be introduced to devices used in the writing of a picture book, how to present their work and research who to send their work to. By the end of the course each student will hopefully have completed a picture book manuscript and a cover letter, which they will be encouraged to send to a publisher.

Course objectives:

To understand what makes a good picture book
To hone writing skills and build confidence
To learn how to find the right publisher/packager
To complete one story plus write an accompanying query/cover letter

Visit the Classroom Page for a complete listing, testimonials, and what you'll be learning week by week.

About the Instructor: Lynne Garner has been a freelance writer and author since 1998. Since that time she has written for a large number of magazines both in the UK and the US. She has 21 books published; this includes three picture books, with hopefully a fourth to follow shortly. Her first title The Best Jumper'was recorded for the CBeeBies children's radio channel (part of the BBC) whilst A Book For Bramble has been translated into five languages including Korean and Indonesian.

Instructors' Posts @ The Muffin

Have you checked out what's cookin' at The Muffin? Our instructors are stopping by and sharing their words of wisdom!

If you're too busy to stop by but don't want to miss out, you can always sign up to get blog posts via e-mail here.

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