Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul

Don't like that approach for your story? There are eight more to try. First lines can express an opinion-and opinions can be positive or negative, as in these two possibilities: 'Why couldn't that Queen count her blessings instead of always bemoaning her inability to have a child?' takes a completely different stance from 'How fortunate fate gave the king and queen each other to commiserate together!' and yet both are reasonable ways to frame the familiar story.

Two more examples will help show what you'll find in the book.Ĭhapter 8 explores first lines, and shows 9 different ways to approach a first line, using the example of retelling the story of Sleeping Beauty, with each of those ways broken down further. For example, in chapters 3 and 4, she explores different approaches to the narrator's point of view, going well beyond the standard third-person versus first-person distinction to examine, and give examples of, stories told via letters, the second person, the 'apostrophe voice,' 'mask voice,' and 'conversation voice.' Have you never heard of those voices? By the end of chapter 4, you'll understand them and have had the opportunity to try them out-the chapter (as do many of the other chapters) concludes with exercises designed to practice the approaches covered. Paul goes into great detail, using examples from her own writing, and from published books (which have been updated to include titles from the past 10 years), and reworking a sample story over and over again, in order to diagnose common story problems and consider possible solutions. Throughout, the focus is on practical solutions to problems, or finding alternatives to develop a story, meaning that the book can be used when writing or revising. New material, on agents and self-publishing, has been added here too.

Then come a chapter on crafting a title, a chapter on dummying up your manuscript to get a better sense of whether or not it works as a picture book, and a section on what comes next-working with a critique group, researching and contacting editors and agents, publications basics, and how to get started writing the next one. Of Writing Picture Books : After introducing the characteristics of picture books and of the children for whom they are written, the core of the book is set up to follow the sequence you might go through when writing a picture book, from early decisions about structure, narrative voice, setting/time period, and characters through work on the structure, plot (with a second chapter on plot added), opening, a new chapter on page turns, ending the story, and language.

Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul