Picture books are attractive because they are brightly coloured and usually lavishly illustrated. They are the first books that a child becomes aware of and, as such, create a hold on the reader which often outlasts childhood.
Picture Book Elements
Picture books are read again and again and must be able to withstand multiple readings. All children love to hear their favourite stories repeatedly and the adults must enjoy doing so without becoming too bored with them either. So the writing must be sharp and meaningful without a word wasted. There must be plenty of action to hold the interest of the child and to link with the illustrations.
Picture Book Illustrations
The story must have enough happening in it so that the illustrator can provide a different picture for each page. Several pages of two characters having a conversation does not work; something has to happen.
If you are fortunate enough to have a story accepted by a publisher, they will match an illustrator to your work. You do not provide the illustrations yourself (unless you are successful in this field) or find a friend willing to do some sketches for you.
Full colour illustrations add considerably to the price of a book so picture books must sell internationally or be subsidised to make a profit. Unfortunately, with the state of publishing being as it is, many publishers are cutting down on the number of picture books they produce in a year.
Picture Book Structure
Almost all picture books are 24 or 32 pages long. All books are multiples of 8 but because picture books have so few pages, it becomes more obvious. Of those pages, several have to be given over to the title page, the copyright page, a page for dedications and end papers. There may also be pages for a list of other titles by the author or information about him/her. After all this, there may be only around 12 or 14 double page spreads for your story.
Your story has to be structured to fit within the confines of the page count. Each page of the story must have enough 'meat' in it for the illustrator to work with. Your total word count should not be more than about 2000 words and often is far less. Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is only about 300 words long.
Don't waste too much time getting into your tale. Start where the action starts. Each story should have a beginning, a middle and an end with the middle being the largest part, taking 6 to 9 double page spreads to relate and should deal with the problems your main character has to contend with. Each double page spread has to have plenty of movement and action and be almost a cliff-hanger in its own right. You have to make the reader want to turn over the page.
Cutting Your Picture Book Story to Fit
The print size in picture books is generally larger than that of novels so fewer words can fit on a page and still leave room for the illustrations. Thus every word has to earn its place or be cut. But the illustrations help. If your character Bernard, for example, is wearing a red coat then let the illustration carry that information. You don't even need to say that he is a wildebeest if that is what is shown in the picture. In your (very brief) instructions to the illustrator, you can say that Bernard is a wildebeest who is wearing a red coat.
Look at as many picture books as you can to see how successful authors have done it. And test them out on any handy children. They, after all, are your audience.
RES101
Ann Burnett - Ann Burnett is an experienced writer of children's stories and scripts, short stories and articles, and comedy.
Join the Conversation