Picture Book Checklist

Story checklist:

This is a checklist of things I think are important. The more ‘boxes’ you can tick, the better your manuscript may turn out to be! Good luck.

GETTING STARTED

Strong Title

Nothing beats having a curious title that catches our interest and makes us smile. Keep in mind, though, that the title does have to describe the book itself!! Even better if the title rhymes or is some clever play on words

Wonderful story

Not every story has a ‘plot’, but stories should go from here to there, no matter what.

Universal theme

Love, friendship, jealousy, illness, danger – the more universal the theme, the better chance you stand of success.

Page Turns

You want to get the audience anticipating every turn of the page from start to finish.

(Dummy up your book!!)

Start

Try to get the story going as quickly as possible. This is the superglue that hooks us inside.

Empathetic Main Character

The more we feel for the main character, the more we are going to want to know what happens.

Humor, irony, exaggeration

Are the condiments of you story. Pile them on.

If the Main Character has a problem/question/threat/desire/challenge, so much the better. The direst situations make the best glue.

If the main character does something noble, give yourself extra points (SAVE THE CAT)

Don’t waste your precious pages on characters you don’t need.

There is usually no room for a sub-plot (unless it’s something the artist has added).

Repeating elements

Kids love these if they are done right

Rule of three

Huff, puff and blow them away with this powerful rule.

Lyrical prose

Picture books are meant to be read. Be sure that the words ‘ring’ when you read it aloud.

Space for reader 

Let the readers reach their own conculsions- it will help them make the book their own.

ENDING

Satisfying and surprising ending – Does it turn back to start?

Other things

Keep it simple – The one sentence test

Can you describe your story in one or two sentences? If not, something may be wrong with it.

Keep the Morals in the background

Picture books have messages, morals and lessons, but these only work if they are in the background and the author focuses on telling the story itself. The story should not be a foil to ‘teach’ something. It usually doesn’t work. Kids are too smart.

Words

Rhyming is for ‘pros’ (the rest of us write prose).

Each word is important!!! Lose extraneous conjunctions, adverbs, adjectives

Active is better than passive. Keep everything leaning towards the next page.

Get the story read to you. Oten.

Ask someone to read the story to you.

Be prepared.

Most stories need to go through multiple revisions. And I mean multiple.