My first post of 2021 is about writing children’s picture books, with advice and information I have gathered online from three leading children’s book editors. I have compiled information that I feel is important as an unpublished author. This is information I wish I knew when I started.

Within the last month I’ve been working on a draft of my second book in my chapter book series (and loving it!), made my kids so many meals and sixteen snacks each day. Now, I’m revising a couple of picture book manuscripts again, after viewing an incredible webinar.

I’ve learned ‘writing rules’ over time from various workshops, podcasts, articles, and books. Then I allowed myself to set these rules aside and write. It was liberating. I could express myself and discovered that the knowledge and skills seeped in, as needed.

I’m proud of the stories I’ve created. I’ll pull Elizabeth Gilbert’s “Big Magic” advice and say something that’s hard for me – “I love my creativity.”

Hmmm … but … about those rules. Some rules are good, like, take out the word ‘just’, and make sure EVERY WORD COUNTS. Good rules. But. Who made some of these other ones? What if some of the rules you’re using are wrong?  

On Twitter, I follow many wonderful writers, generous authors, and industry professionals, including three editors: Frances Gilbert Editor-In-Chief of Doubleday Books for Young Readers, Elizabeth Law Editor at Holiday House, and Alison Weiss, Editor at Pixel and Ink books. Twitter is wonderful for book promotion, but these editors also use it to provide publishing advice, and I am grateful.

I attended an SCBWI webinar (held by Utah/Southern Idaho-branch), “Writing Humorous Picture Books” with Frances Gilbert. Frances presented books by Tammi Sauer (here), Dev Petty (here) and her own (here).

Something big happened. It sparked a discussion, first in the webinar and then spilled over to Twitter in the following days.

First, it started with Dev Petty’s book “I Don’t Want To Be A Frog”, illustrated by Mike Boldt – a brilliant and funny book I adore. I had to ask Frances a question in the webinar on character arc, summed up as: 

“A character should always learn something (and make it a big thing) and should definitely solve the problem on their own. Right?” According to Frances? Nope.  

WOW, OK. I thought now might be the time to compile these big – ahem – ‘rules’ for picture book stories, with information I’ve learned online from Frances Gilbert, Elizabeth Law and Alison Weiss.

Rule of 3

Who hasn’t heard this. Writing conflicts for your character in three’s. Sometimes even batted around with other numbers. But, I learned (eventually) this was only a guideline — the idea that your story should flow and feel organic was the key, and that three was a good place to start. However, according to Frances? THIS IS NOT EVEN A THING.

But this isn’t the big stuff. Let’s move on.

Picture Book Word Count

Next, word counts. Oh my. Elizabeth has discussed this many times. She says the story drives the word count, and pleads for writers to stop worrying about it so much. I’m paraphrasing, but at one point she even said no one on her publishing team knew any of their word counts. Here’s an interview with Elizabeth here. I watched this series and loved it.

Frances also addressed word count in a series of tweets. “Is my word count correct? The question should be: Is my story well-paced?” See the thread here. Now, on to the rule I touched upon earlier.

Character Arc: Your Character Should Always Learn Something and Make It Big … Right?

This next rule is also a no, according to Frances.

Frances’ response (excerpt from webinar): “Well I mean you can do that, and your story might sound like every other book that I rejected this week, so that’s up to you. I think you just have to really take a really hard look at where these rules are coming from, and who’s telling you them.”  

Wow.

If you’re like me, I needed a moment to let that sink in. 

There are many examples. Look at “I Don’t Want To Be A Frog” by Dev Petty. Frog does learn a little something about himself, however, Frances says this didn’t even occur to her when she first read it. Another example Frances used is Rosemary Wells’ “Dragon Shirt”. There are many more examples.

Character ‘Agency’

I believe this is the proper term. For picture books, what I mean is this – your character (a child) must solve their own problem?

Not according to Frances.

Frances kindly expanded later in Twitter threads HERE. But the idea was this — it’s not real-life. “Do we solve all our own problems? A friend solved a problem for me just this morning. Why model behavior that isn’t real?”

There are many examples, again, “I Don’t Want To Be A Frog” by Dev Petty and “Giraffe Problems” by John Jory. Sometimes, a person needs help! That’s real life, says Frances. Boy, is it ever.

Then on Twitter, in follow-ups, Frances said: you don’t necessarily even need to solve a PROBLEM (here). This, of course, leads to the thought, ‘How can there be examples of stories when it’s a rule NOT to do it?’ Which brings me to the next rule.

Do Not Break Rules As A Debut Author … Right?

This last rule I believe many have heard. ‘Those authors are established and can bend and break the rules – but not debut authors. Don’t try it.‘ Right before I was about to publish my blog today, Frances kindly responded to my comment:

“Totally untrue about debut authors. If unpublished authors don’t assert their unique and creative voice and if they only write according to a tired formula, they’ll stay unpublished.”

Is this news to you? It sure was for me! Here’s another gem from Frances, via the workshop.

“I just really cringe at the idea that anybody has ever told you that there’s a rule about something, because that really doesn’t feel like something that someone should be able to tell you … you should be able to do whatever you want.”

Where Do I Go From Here? Writing My Stories

Alison regularly does an extremely helpful #AskKidLit where she answers KidLit publishing questions on Twitter. (Alison has kindly answered many of mine.) I love Alison’s tweet in response to someone’s question about tips for character-driven picture books.

“You really want to think about personality and voice and what makes your character different from all of the other fantastic characters out there. I think it can help to think about the way they inhabit their world, and to approach your story as a peek into that.“

Beautiful, right? Just as there is taste in humour, a story won’t appeal to everyone, but that has nothing to do with breaking ‘rules’. 

So, I’ll try and write stories that make a reader want to turn the page. As Elizabeth Law says, “the book’s the thing.”

Finally, I “just” wanted to take this opportunity to say how grateful I am. Thank you Frances, Elizabeth and Alison for all your guidance.

Rosanna

Fellow writers, please comment and share your ideas. I’m learning and would love to hear from you! Snacks first, and then I’m off to write!