This ebook originated in a talk I presented in 2022 for SCBWI. You are welcome to take a look and try out the tips and exercises.

As a young child, picture books were my refuge…

As a young adult, I toyed with the notion of becoming a children’s writer, but ended up becoming a scientist/inventor.

As a scientist/inventor, I had to rely on my ability to come up with new ideas.

But where did these new ideas come from?

Was there some rational scheme involved? If so, could I retrace the process to come up with new ideas whenever I wanted to?

In 2006, Dr. Alon Amit and I began to plan an academic course in “Multidisciplinary Creative Thinking”.

Again, we found that most lecturers concentrate on ‘problem solving’, rather than  ‘coming up with new ideas/problems/hypothese/paradigms to solve’. So we created our own techniques, including 48create (opposite) which is free and fun to use.

Several years later I started teaching another academic course teaching design students to write picture books.

I found a lot of material for all aspects of writing for kids, except on coming up with ideas. So Alon and I created a special version of 48CREATE to help come up with PB ideas. More on that later.

Great picture books are often based on ‘twisted ideas’. Incongruities. Surprising juxtapositions, ridiculous, outlandish, and childish. Here are a few examples.

Adopting a squash as a pet

A first-grader who eats her classmates

A mouse who frightens a monster

A school’s first day of school

A gentle bull in a china shop

A visiting alien who decides that dogs are the master race.

A bear who REALLY loves his hat.

WHERE DO THEY COME FROM? 

While I was preparing this workshop, I remembered the conversation I had with Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor several months ago about her new book on our four minds/characters.

The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life – Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

illustration on next page from:

https://www.drjilltaylor.com/this-is-a-press-headline-and-it-can-be-pretty-long-and-even-go-on-two-lines-if-it-has-to-3/

Pay attention in particular to minutes 18-21.

Character 1 – left brain thinking

verbal, thinks in language, thinks linearly, focused on details, judgmental, concise/precise, conscious, structure/order, categorizes well, critically judges right and wrong

or in other words, the ‘problem solver’

Character 3- right brain emotional

expansive, open, experiential, risk taking, fearless, friendly, kind, empathic, sharing, playful, joyful, goes with the flow, chaotic, curious, innovative.

Exactly! So I’m thinking that the reason we don’t hear more from mind 3 is that …

CHARACTER 3 DOESN’T READ BOOKS.

CHARACTER 3 DOESN’T PAY ATTENTION AT SERIOUS SEMINARS,LECTURES, COURSES AND WORKSHOPS!

CHARACTER 3 WANTS TO BE IN THE MOMENT, BE SILLY, SING, BARK, MESS THINGS UP AND HAVE FUN!

So…

New ideas pour in the moment your linear, serious, “mind number one” relinquishes total control and invites your spontaneous, childish, ridiculous juxtemporaneous “mind number three” to join in for some mischievous brain fun.

So let’s put on our funny hat now, bark, do a dance (it helps to do something silly before you start), and summon up our character number 3, and have fun creating ideas for picture books.

Exercise one: EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES

Take one of the following: rose/yogurt/honey/chocolate/

Make a list of five or ten things that are connected with it.

Now make another list of five or ten things that are absolutely not connected with it.

Then: Find the connection anyway. Even if it’s weird. Especially if it’s weird. You may find that everything is connected to everything in the end, but sometimes in hilariously unexpected ways.

Exercise Two – OUT OF CHARACTER 

If you were writing a story about a plumber/fisherman/movie star/superhero, then…

a. which is the LAST animal you would consider casting as your main character?

b. what unexpected things would the character have in his/her pocket?

Exercise Three: Invent New Words – explanation here

Exercise Four. Back to 48Create. Instructions here:

This story originated with 48CREATE:

Bonus Exercise: Mary had a ….

Make up your own silly verses. Here are some of mine.

Finally, if you already have a story written and you want to inject creativity and wackiness, here are ten ways to ‘flip’ your story.