Read the previous instalments of this blog series here:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
In this chapter we take a leap of faith as I delve into writing my own story for a children’s book. Although at the time, going from just illustrator to author didn’t seem like a massive leap for a book worm like myself. It was however a gigantic bound and this exercise only gave me more respect for authors than I already had.
My reading addiction did give me a problem. I have read enough to know what good writing is, unfortunately I have found it a challenge to replicate the beautiful talent of the authors I love. This fact only amplified by my well read nature. So it was going to take a lot of practice and edits to get a story that I liked.
So why take on the challenge?
I wanted to develop a book that I could send to publishers. If you have read the blogs leading up till now, you would know that the reason I could not pursue publication of my previous works was because of copyright restrictions. I could have gone to a publisher with my idea to turn these texts into books and they may have helped me track down copyright approvals, but I wanted to have the best chance of a publisher saying yes to my work. And having the friction point of legal work may have had a publisher decline my application.
I also had a bundle of ideas for books at this point, with new ones piling on each day. I knew if I ever wanted any of these ideas to turn into something I either had to write them myself or hire someone to write them for me. As a girl of the DIY generation and a can do attitude, I opted for the first option.
Writing a children’s book
I did a lot of research before I put pen to paper. I read children’s books for all ages, took note of nuances and themes, form and structure. I queried publisher websites for the ideal word count of a children’s book, which is 500 words incase you were wondering. I also looked into trending themes and what publishers were interested in pursuing. As no matter how good your book, if it isn’t marketable, it won’t be picked up by a publisher.
My head was buzzing with the research I did so I took time, withdrew and worked with what I had found out thus far.
Important parts of a picture book story
Before I wrote the story I had a few questions to answer. I have listed them here for anyone else who wishes to pursue writing a story for a picture book.
What is the theme?
This could be a visual theme, an overarching concept like exploration or a topic like dogs.Who is your book for?
Your audience is key. Is your book for the parents or the children? Is it for people in certain circumstances such as children with one parent, or kids who are about to start school? Is it for a certain demographic or focused on a culture or ethnicity? The goal is to have a niche target audience and a broader secondary audience. tip: don’t make your audience too specific or you won’t have enough of a market for it.What age are you writing for?
Children’s books run in age groups. your book which change drastically depending on which age you are writing for. 2-4 years for example do not yet have grasp of complex words.Where does your story take place?
Desert island, rainforest, a bedroom, a new world? Does your story go across an entire city or a single place? Is it country specific?What is the lesson or moral?
Very important. What will your reader learn from reading the book. Is it a broad moral book with a single overarching message like; be nice to others or bath time is important? It could also be an educational book teaching on a certain topic like space, agriculture or animals.What is the purpose for your book?
Leading on from the last point what is your books purpose. Is it a book for entertainment, for education, to highlight an important cultural issue or tell an important story or history?What are comparable titles to your book?
Publishers will ask this when you are submitting a story for consideration. It is a great thing to research off the bat. A comparable title is a book which has already been published that is relatable to your own. It may have similar content, talk about the same topic to the same audience you are targeting. It may have the same visual cues as your story. This gives you an indicator of what is already out there and how you can improve upon it.Can your story be told with captivating visuals?
When you are writing for a picture book keep in mind that key word… pictures. This is a question to continuously return to as you write. Have enough visuals in your words to create a solid visual language, however as your story will be told alongside pictures don’t be too descriptive in your writing and allow the pictures to do 50% of the talking.What form will your story take?
You can work in different structures like prose and poetry, metaphor, fairytale. Maybe you want your story to rhyme. Consider what the best form for your book will be before you start writing.
My picture books story
Mock cover for ‘The Boy Who Sailed To Sunset’.
Once you have all the above questions answered you will be ahead of where I was when I was writing my first children’s story. These lessons were things I learned on the way which I hope will help you if you are on a similar journey.
Back to the writing of my own book; I had the theme, the visual style, the moral, the purpose and the audience. I did unfortunately though pick a challenging theme to start off with. My first story was a book about depression for children.
You may be thinking yikes! such morbid topic. But the topic was important for me. I wanted a way to teach children about what depression was and that it was ok. This book was for sufferers and healthy children. It was designed to help children identify the mental illness to encourage them to help their friends and family and not bully or be scared of other children which may be suffering depression.
My big challenge was trying to find a way to bring such a heavy topic to children with the light and friendly nature of a picture book to make the story interesting and topic palatable. Now that I look back on it, a lighter topic like, ninja monkeys or fluffy bunnies may have been better for my first book. Regardless of hindsight, I took on the challenge and started writing my story.
As a visual person I wrote while doodling pictures in the margin, these doodles actually built the story for me. I decided to tell the tale as a metaphor. The entire book would be a metaphor. This is how my book baby, ‘The Boy Who Sailed to Sunset’ came to be. It all started with a little doodle of a boy and a boat.
The gist of the story is a boy is alone on his island, this representing the isolation of depression. He then decides he wants to seek the sunset, the light, which is happiness and normal mentality. To do this he faces three scary tasks, each representing a symptom of depression such as sluggishness, bad thoughts and nightmares. He succeeds in his tasks and finds peace of mind (I won’t leave the story here as it is yet to be published).
I wrote the story, had friends and family read it, wrote it again and then off I was with a story ready to be turned into a picture book. I am very proud of the fact I managed to write my own book (and *spoiler alert* illustrate it), but I did learn a few lessons that I will be taking into my next story.
Avoid complex sentences.
Get children/parents to read the story and make sure it is understandable, even without pictures. These people are your target audience.
If you want to send the book to publishers consider enlisting a book agent or editor to look over your work.
Once you are happy with the story, split it into pages and re-write it to have the best impact in this format.
I would love to now regal you with facts and technical writing knowledge for creating the perfect story for children, but even with my mountain of research I don’t think I am the best person to talk on the fine art of writing. That said I will leave this journey here for now and return next time with the illustration of this special book.
Talk soon,
Cara