How to Write a Children"s Picture Book
If you are a parent or grandparent with young children around, you've probably read so many children's picture books, and they look so simple to write, that you think, "I can do that.
" But what you may not realize is that hidden in the most popular children's picture books are structures that give shape to the story just like a hanger gives shape to a shirt.
If you want to write a successful children's picture book, you need to know what these structures are and how to incorporate them into your own writing.
Let's look at the most common structure in picture storybooks, called by the $25 name, "The Symmetrical Picture Storybook Paradigm.
" You are probably already familiar with the ideas of "Beginning, Middle and End," and "Act I, Act II, and Act III.
" The Symmetrical Picture Storybook Paradigm has a few important refinements to make on these ideas.
First of all, in most popular children's picture storybooks, Act I and Act III are roughly the same length.
That is the first way in which the stories are symmetrical.
And what about that long block that makes up Act II? It turns out that it is not just one long stretch of story - it has its own structure: there is a Midpoint in Act II, and the First Half of Act II is about the same length as the Second Half of Act II.
This is the second way in which the stories are symmetrical.
Another important part of the Paradigm is the Plot Twist.
At the end of Act I is a turning point or Plot Twist that leads to Act II, and at the end of Act II is a turning point or Plot Twist that leads to Act III, the resolution.
The big surprise about how to write your own story when incorporating the Paradigm is that you do not write it the same order that the finished story is read.
That is, you do not start at the beginning and write straight through to the end.
Rather, you start at both ends, and work your way toward the middle! You can read all about the Paradigm, and follow step-by-step instructions for using it to write your own story, in the book How to Write a Children's Picture Book by Eve Heidi Bine-Stock.
It is available from Amazon.
com and BarnesandNoble.
com.
This book shows you that no matter how carefully you labor over a story's tone, word choice, plot, character, setting, theme and style, you must have a thorough grasp of its structure for it to succeed.
" But what you may not realize is that hidden in the most popular children's picture books are structures that give shape to the story just like a hanger gives shape to a shirt.
If you want to write a successful children's picture book, you need to know what these structures are and how to incorporate them into your own writing.
Let's look at the most common structure in picture storybooks, called by the $25 name, "The Symmetrical Picture Storybook Paradigm.
" You are probably already familiar with the ideas of "Beginning, Middle and End," and "Act I, Act II, and Act III.
" The Symmetrical Picture Storybook Paradigm has a few important refinements to make on these ideas.
First of all, in most popular children's picture storybooks, Act I and Act III are roughly the same length.
That is the first way in which the stories are symmetrical.
And what about that long block that makes up Act II? It turns out that it is not just one long stretch of story - it has its own structure: there is a Midpoint in Act II, and the First Half of Act II is about the same length as the Second Half of Act II.
This is the second way in which the stories are symmetrical.
Another important part of the Paradigm is the Plot Twist.
At the end of Act I is a turning point or Plot Twist that leads to Act II, and at the end of Act II is a turning point or Plot Twist that leads to Act III, the resolution.
The big surprise about how to write your own story when incorporating the Paradigm is that you do not write it the same order that the finished story is read.
That is, you do not start at the beginning and write straight through to the end.
Rather, you start at both ends, and work your way toward the middle! You can read all about the Paradigm, and follow step-by-step instructions for using it to write your own story, in the book How to Write a Children's Picture Book by Eve Heidi Bine-Stock.
It is available from Amazon.
com and BarnesandNoble.
com.
This book shows you that no matter how carefully you labor over a story's tone, word choice, plot, character, setting, theme and style, you must have a thorough grasp of its structure for it to succeed.
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