![Mel’s Ten Steps to Writing a Children’s Book by Mel Rosenberg - מל רוזנברג - Ourboox.com Mel’s Ten Steps to Writing a Children’s Book by Mel Rosenberg - מל רוזנברג - Ourboox.com](https://ourboox-media-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/15112155/pic-1-1024x1024.png)
1 Get into the mood.
Bark. Do a little jig. Pour mustard on your head. Take a shower. Whatever helps get your mind #1 (left brain ‘let’s be serious’ rational mind) connected to your mind #3 (right brain ‘let’s have fun’ limbic mind). Find your ‘right spot for silly writing’.
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2 Discover your juxtaposition or create one.
Some examples from picture books:
Adopting a squash as a pet
A first-grader who eats her classmates
A gentle bull in a china shop
A mouse who frightens a monster
A school’s first day of school
A gentle bull in a china shop
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3 Invent an empathic main character and voice.
Does this main character have a pain? Is he/she/it threatened. Is a beloved someone in danger? What is the challenge?
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4 Jump into your plot/story. Set the stage early on. “Ervin awoke one morning to discover that he was wearing someone else’s glasses.”
Mr. Gills, the alligator, was not happy.
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5 Replace ‘wordiness’ with ‘wordiless’.
If it’s a picture book, say it in less (than 500 words). Leave space for the collaboration of the illustrator.
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6 Create anticipation with page turns.
Practise by making book dummies. Here are two e-books. Both are for dummies.
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7 Spice your story up with irony, humor, rule of three, style, rhyme (for mavens)
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8 Try to bring the story back to the beginning.
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9 Find a winning title
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10 Avoid the ‘don’ts’.
Don’t put the ‘moral’ of the story front and center.
Don’t write a picture book because you think you will make money.
Don’t self publish unless you are a self-marketing expert.
Don’t assume that your latest draft will be your last draft.
Don’t expect agents and publishers to line up in anticipation.
Don’t rhyme unless it’s sublime.
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More here:
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Bonus tip:
Read your story aloud and have someone read it to you aloud.
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Published: May 15, 2022
Latest Revision: May 9, 2024
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