Picture Book University: Week 8

Picture Book University: Midterm Review

After several weeks of classes it’s time for a quick review on –

How to Write a Picture Book

Choose a story trigger. A story trigger is anything that you can use to start a story. It is anything that can be a part of the story, which is… anything.

You will find that some story triggers work better for you than others. Use those.

Some story triggers, such as titles or first lines, should be adapted before used. Change “Gone with the Wind” to “Gone with the Trash”, or “Goon with Wings”, or “Going into the Wind”, or anything else the line leads you to.

Once you have your trigger, start asking questions, any question about the trigger that pops into your mind. What is important about it? Unusual about it? What problem surrounds it? What would happen if you threw another character into the mix? What does it want? Where’s it going? What complicates its problems? Does it have enemies? Who? Does it have friends? Who? Can I fit it into a picture book format or model? And of course, two always useful questions, what’s next? And what’s missing?

Keep asking yourself questions until there doesn’t seem to be anything missing from your story, until it feels complete.

Then, look at the writing and revising rules discussed in previous (and future) posts. Compare them to your story. Does your story follow the rules? If not, is there a good reason?

Once you’ve done all you can to your story, read it to yourself out loud. Several times. Record yourself reading it. Listen to your recording. If you hear any problems, fix them.

Have someone with no sense of rhythm read your story out loud to you. Listen for where they stumble, where things don’t sound quite right. Fix those places.

Have others read your manuscript and tell you what is working, and what is not working for them.

Based on the feedback you’ve received, revise your manuscript one more time.

Then send it off to an agent or publisher, forget about it, and start working on your next manuscript.

Picture Book University: Week 7

Time to look at your stories again with the following tips in mind:

Week 7 Day 1: Is there anything in my story that will become dated soon?

Unless your story is historical fiction, and you want to set it in a specific time, it is best not to insert references that will soon become old. (For example, mentioning a current popular rock star, TV show, or fad.) If you’re going to make a cultural allusion, invent one that sounds like it could be timeless. Or use one that is timeless. Otherwise, your story will soon grow old. In fact, by the time it comes out it will probably already be out of date.

Week 7 Day 2: Is the vocabulary appropriate for the targeted audience?

You can have words in your story that the child does not know, but they should be comprehensible in context. Putting in new words is a good thing to do; it is how children learn vocabulary. But they must be words that do not stop the story. When children come to the words, they should understand the meaning by the context, what is going on in the story. The adult reader should not have to stop the reading and explain the vocabulary to them. So, a few carefully chosen words, in the proper context, are useful, but don’t overdo it.

Week 7 Day 3: Are there any sections that are unbalanced? Too long? Too short?

One way you can tell if your book is unbalanced is to draw a chart of each section, separating your story into pages. If you can visually see where the text fits and how much there is in each scene, you can more easily tell if you have a scene that’s too heavy, too long, or that has too much text for the amount of illustration possibilities. You will be able to see if the story stops at some point while the character preaches or rambles. You will also be able to see where the story bogs down with events that do not move the story forward.

Week 7 Day 4: Are my characters different from one another?

Each character in your story needs to be instantly identifiable through their mannerisms, their voice, their names and their appearance. They should all be clear and individual–unless you are going for an effect of confusion such as a story about twins or confused identities, or if you’re establishing a Greek chorus. Otherwise, your characters need to be individuals. This way, as readers read through the story, they are never confused about who is doing what.

Week 7 Day 5: Is my plot more than just average? Are there other books that do what mine does? Is mine better? More interesting?

It is not good enough for your manuscript to be good. An editor sees many, many good manuscripts every day. A good manuscript will not stand out, will not get attention, and will not sell itself to the publisher. So if your manuscript is good and competent, look again. Is there some way you can crank up the conflict? Some way that you can make it more interesting? Is there another dimension you can add to it? Are the words as powerful as they could be? Is there something you can do to the story to make it stand out, to make it more than just good? With as many stories as editors read, yours has to have something that makes the editor say, “I have never seen that before. I like that.”

Picture Book University, Week Six

Let’s write a snapshot picture book!

Week 6, Day 1

Step 1: Decide what kind of snapshot picture book you want to write.

A concept book? Concepts might include the alphabet, counting, shapes, colors, transportation, sounds, emotions, days of the week, hours of the day, chores, games, anything that is a classification, a grouping of similar things.

Or maybe you want to write about the sequence of actions that make up an event.

Or a procedure, the steps to doing something.

Decide what you want to do.

Week 6, Day 2

Step 2:  Decide what your snapshot book is going to have snapshots of. What’s it going to be about? For example, if you chose to do an alphabet book, what kind of alphabet?

One easy way to come up with a lot of ideas is to just take random nouns and concepts and put them together with your topic.

For example, “trees”. The tree alphabet book, the tree counting book, the tree shape book, the tree transportation book.

The tree alphabet might include an alphabetical listing of all the creatures that come to live in a tree. Or an alphabetical listing of things that can be made out of a tree, or of people who sit under the tree, or of types of trees, or of things that look like trees.

The tree transportation book could be about the different modes of transportation that are involved in cutting down the tree, transporting the log to the sawmill, transporting the lumber, transporting the furniture, transporting it to your home.

The tree procedure book,  or how to grow a tree, would take you step-by-step through the process of watching your tiny seedling grow into a giant oak.

(My So Many Bunnies is an alphabet book of names, a counting book of the letters of the alphabet, and a book of places where bunnies can sleep.)

Week 6, day 3

Step 3: Decide on the direction of your story. How is your story going to move forward from the beginning to the end?

Alphabet books and some other concept books have natural movement, but even they can have additional movement that will help make the story more appealing. Is the alphabet a story? Does it get progressively more outrageous? Is your counting leading to an event? Is it the countdown for a rocket launch? Most of the topics that you could have chosen will have a natural sequence, but if you can add an additional overlying sequence, a direction, a motion, it will make the story more fun.

(So Many Bunnies goes from A to Z, 1 to 26, and travels throughout the bunnies’ house and yard.)

Week 6, day 4

Step 4: Choose what is going to represent each snapshot. What will A stand for? B? 3? Blue? Circle? One of the easiest ways to do this is simply to dive into reference books. A dictionary. A rhyming book. An encyclopedia. Find lists of the types of things you’re looking for and browse down them until you find just the items you want.

(For names I looked in baby name books. The numbers I knew . For sleeping locations, I looked in rhyming dictionaries, searching for words that rhymed with the names I had chosen, and that were places that the bunnies could sleep. If I couldn’t find a good rhymed sleeping place, I had to go back and choose another name.)

Week 6, Day 5

Step 6: Write each snapshot. Decide what the formula will be, and fit each of the items from day 4 into the formula.

(“One was named Abel. He slept on the table.
Two his named Blair. She slept on the chair.”)

Week 6, Day 6

Step 6: Okay, sometimes you have to work on Saturday. Does your story need a framework? Think of one, something that gets the reader into the story, something that gets the reader out of the story. Next week more tips for making your story brilliant.

( So Many Bunnies begins, “Old Mother Rabbit, she lives in a shoe. She has 26 children and knows what to do. She feeds him some broth, and gives them some bread, then kisses them gently and put them to bed.” And it ends, “Old Mother Rabbit, she lives in a shoe. She has 26 children and plenty to do. She tucks them all in, from Abel to Zed, Then curls herself up in a soft feather bed.” And then the very last scene shows all of the little bunnies climbing into bed with Mom.)

Picture Book University: Week 5

Week 5 Day 1: Snapshot Picture Books

A snapshot book is a fairly easy type of picture book to write. A snapshot book is a book that consists of a theme and variations.

It’s like someone has taken a number of photos of their vacation to the beach.  The theme is: here we are on the beach. See the beach? See us?  The variations are: here we are playing in the waves, here we are building a sandcastle, here we are making sand angels, here we are looking for seashells.

Common snapshot books include alphabet books (theme: the alphabet; variations: this is A, this is B, this is C) counting books, shape books, other concept books. It could also include a series of events.  For example, a baby’s day (theme: the things baby does; variations: baby wakes up, baby eats breakfast, baby plays, baby takes a nap).

Assignment 5:1

Llook through your picture book library, or go to your nearest public library, and find at least a dozen snapshot books.  (If you’re not sure if the book is a snapshot book, select it anyway.  The next few assignments will help you figure out what it is.)

Week 5 Day 2: No Boring Allowed

But snapshot books can be tricky.  It’s easy for the variations to become tedious, boring.  So, the first thing you must do is make sure that there are variations.  Each “snapshot” should be a unique scene, a unique presentation.  But they can’t vary too much, because the theme has to still be present.

Assignment 5:2

Look at your collection of snapshot picture books.  What words, phrases, structures, themes,are found in each snapshot?  How does each snapshot vary from the others?

Week 5 Day 3: Frame It

Another way to make your snapshot picture book more interesting is to give it a frame.  A snapshot book usually has an introduction and an extra ending, a framework that holds the snapshots together,  something that says, “Here we are beginning our journey through these snapshots. Here’s what you can expect, ready, go.” And then an ending that says, “We’re all through. Wasn’t that fun? Thank you for coming.”

Assignment 5:3

Look at your collection of snapshot picture books.  Is there a frame in each book?  How does the author lead into the variations, and how does the author wrap it up?

Week 5 Day 4: Give It a Direction

One more thing that a snapshot book needs is a direction, a motion. Most stories have this naturally with the sequence of events, the rising action, the climax, things that carry the reader through and help give the pages structure. They aren’t just random scenes.  A snapshot book needs to have the same thing. It could be something as simple as the progression through the alphabet, or the logical progression through a series of numbers. It might be the journey through a day. Or a real journey from one point to another. It could be a series of snapshots that actually tell a story in a logical sequence, cause and effect.  There are many ways of creating a structure, a direction, a motion. And making sure your snapshot book has that direction, that motion, will make it more appealing.

Assignment 5:4

Yes, you guessed it.  Look through your snapshot picture books and try to identify how the author moves the text forward.

Week 5 Day 5: Make It Fresh

One problem with snapshot books is that because they are so seemingly easy, a lot of people write them. To make yours stand out it needs to be fresh. There are a lot of cliché ideas for snapshot books, particularly concept books. The stereotypical alphabet book, for example, is A is for Apple or Alligator; B is for Bunny; C is for Cat; D is for Dog. That would be just fine. You could have your family alphabet book: A is for Aunt Adeline; B is for Barry the Butcher; C is for Cousin Claire. The best way to find variations on  alphabet books is to simply read a lot of alphabet books and note what they do.

But once you’ve done that, consider not just following a model that somebody else has established. Get creative. See if you can think of an approach that has never been done before.  Something new, something fresh. Maybe combine two concepts. The invisible alphabet book, an alphabet book of invisible things. This would be an easy book to illustrate, wouldn’t it?! Or, well I could give you more ideas, but if they’re good ideas, I’m going to want to do them myself. So come up with your own ideas. The point: look beyond the cliché; see if you can find a new way of doing what has been done before.

Assignment 5:5

One more time through the picture books.  What is it that makes each one unique?

Next week — I take you step-by-step through writing your own snapshot book.

Picture Book University: Week 4

Now that you have a draft of your story, it’s time to revise it, to take it from good to brilliant.  This week we’ll ask some questions that will make your story better.

Look at your story again, with each of these questions in mind.  Then revise your draft. You do have a draft done don’t you?

If you don’t, that’s okay. Keep these questions in mind while you write your first draft.

(One caution:  keep in mind as you learn the rules of picture book writing that there are exceptions to every rule except for the rule that there are exceptions to every rule. But in order to effectively break a rule, it is best for you to understand the rule you are breaking.)

Week 4 Day 1: Does the book begin in the right place?  Do I get right into my story?

You don’t have a lot of time in a picture book to ramble. Your beginning should set up the character, the conflict, the setting. It should get you right into the action.

There are exceptions of course, but even if it doesn’t jump right into the action, the beginning needs to mean something.  It needs to be essential to what’s going on, to what is going to happen later on.

Week 4 Day 2: Is the story told from a child’s perspective?

Kids like reading about kids, they relate better to kids. The point of view, the narrator, should all be something the child reader can relate to.

Part of being from the child’s perspective is the way you handle the themes. There are some themes that only an adult would understand. For example, the picture book Love You Forever is a book where the message, the theme, resonates more powerfully with a mother or grandmother, someone who has been through the mothering process. Books about the joy of parenting might not usually be something that kids relate to. Books about the joy of being a child, and having a parent, however…

So your story should feel true to a child’s perspective, what they think, how they would respond, what they are interested in.

Week 4 Day 3: Does my main character solve the problem?

There are two reasons why you should have the child, the main character of the story, solve the problem.

Firstl, because it is more interesting to the reader. They like to know what kids like themselves are doing. They’re more interested in what a child has to say about an issue than what an adult has to say.

Second, because one of the purposes of reading is to learn how to solve problems on your own, how to get through the next era of life. If you have a child protagonist solve their own problems, you’ve modeled to the reader how they can also solve their own problems. Though it’s a fact that many problems can be solved if a child will listen to an adult, a wise older person, the reality is most of what we learn we learn through our own efforts, through trial and error, most of our problems are solved by ourselves. So having the child protagonist solve the problem helps the child reader learn how they can solve the same types of problems as they come to them.

Week 4 Day 4: Is the story patronizing or preachy?

A story can have a message. In fact, most stories have a message. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s blatant. Its effectiveness–whether the message will get through–depends on many factors, one of which is whether it sounds like you are preaching to them. How do you preach instead of teach or affect the child positively in another way? Preachy stories tell, they don’t show. In a good message story, the message will come out of the story. It does not need to be restated.

A good message story will have more going for it than just some message. It will fun, it will be engaging. It will be a story worth reading in its own right, separate from the message.

Patronizing? A patronizing story is one that has the feel of an adult preaching down to the child, saying, “I am older and wiser than you, so you listen, and I will tell you all about life.” It does not treat the child with respect. It does not consider the child an intelligent being, but rather one who is intellectually and morally inferior to the narrating adult.

One way that stories patronize or preach is through the means by which the message is presented. How does a child learn the lesson in this story? Have they been told the lesson by a wise adult? Preachy. Do they discover the lesson through their own means? Not preachy.

Week 4 Day 5: Is my story too long?

The average picture book story is 400-600 words long. But that’s just a rule of thumb. Some stories are zero words, some 2,000 words.

How long is too long? That depends on the story. There are very short stories that are too long, because even in their shortness, they don’t have enough substance to carry it, and they have words that are meaningless, that don’t carry their weight. Long stories, are more easily too long, of course. But if every word is just right, if the plot moves quickly, if it works together as a whole, it might not be too long. The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is a long story, but it is not too long. Most fairytales are long, but they are not too long. So, is your story too long? If it is over 600 words, look at it very closely.

In fact, no matter its length, look at it very closely. Are there words that can be taken out? Are there phrases that can be condensed and be made more powerful? Are there any scenes that don’t carry their weight? If so, your story is too long.

Picture Book University: Week 3

Week 3 Day 1: holiday memories

So, you’re back from the holidays.  You had a great time, shared stories, watched the kids play. And of course there were a few surprises. Like your uncle who knocked over the Christmas tree while playing blind man’s bluff.  Or the live zebra waiting for you wrapped in a bow on Christmas morning.  (Isn’t ambiguity fun?  Was it the zebra or you wrapped in a bow?)

I’m sure you wrote all these down.  What?  You didn’t?

Assignment 3:1

Write down everything you remember about the holidays, especially the surprising or emotional or funny events.

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Week 3 Day 2: Pick an idea.  Any idea.

Okay.  You did your assignments last week and now you have a garage full of good ideas.  What do you do now?

You pick one to start with.

Which one do you pick?  Anything that strikes your fancy.  That suggests images.  That seems like it could be funny.  (Okay, so I like sentence fragments.) Anything that screams out to you, “write about me!”

Assignment 3:2

Go through your lists of emotional memories and your list of holiday memories.  Pick an idea you would like to write about.

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Week 3 Day 3: the first question.

Okay, you have an idea, a trigger, a seed.  Where do you go from here?

You start asking questions about your trigger.

For example: you brainstormed your fears.  One of my fears is walking alone at night in the dark. During the daytime you can see what’s around you, and see that it is safe and familiar. At night, though, every shadow might hide a monster.  Or it might even be a monster!

So I decided to write a book about walking home alone at night in the dark.

And I began to ask questions.  My first question was… well, it could have been a lot of things.  Giving yourself several options means that you’ll have a better chance of getting headed in the right direction.  Some first questions I could ask myself were–Is there a special reason it’s dark?  Is there really something out there in the dark?  Where does the story take place?  Who is walking home alone at night in the dark?  Is there something else interesting going on at the same time?  Is there a zebra in the story?

Since the idea for this story came about by brainstorming from your life, be careful not to get caught up in insisting on reality.  This is going to be a story.  Not an autobiography.  You can veer as far away from the truth is you want, as long as it makes the story better.

Assignment 3:3

Brainstorm several first questions that you could ask yourself.  Pick one that you like the most.

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Week 3 Day 4: the first answer

The first question I picked was “Who is walking home alone at night in the dark?” And like the first question, I didn’t want the first answer to be the first thing that popped into my mind.  I wanted to come up with the best answer possible.  So I brainstormed  a lot of possibilities.  A kitten, a mouse, me, a president, a mother, a young girl…

I picked a young girl.

Assignment 3:4

Brainstorm several possible answers to your first question.  Pick one that you like the most.

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Week 3 Day 5: more questions, more answers.

Now repeat, repeat, repeat.  Let each answer lead to the next question, each question lead you to the next answer.  For example: why was the young girl walking home alone at night in the dark? Because she was playing at her friend’s and lost track of the time. Why didn’t she call for a ride?  Because then she might get in trouble.  She wanted to sneak into the house and not get caught.  More questions– What frightening things does she see on the way home?  How does she respond?  How does the story end?  To find out how I answered these questions, read the book: A Very Hairy Scary Story, from Putnam.  Illustrated by David Clark.

Assignment 3:5

Ask yourself more questions and come up with the answers.  There are no right or wrong answers, but there are better and worse answers.  Don’t rely on the first answer to be the one you go with.  Brainstorm several possibilities.  If you get to a place where you cannot think of anything interesting to happen next, go back to a previous question and answer it differently.  Keep asking yourself questions and answering them until you have asked every question that you can think of, and your story feels complete. If you can’t think of a question, ask yourself this question: “What is my story still missing?”

Next week–rules to help you flesh out your story and make it better.

To learn more about Rick, check out his web site at www.rickwalton.com

Picture Book University: Week 2

Week 2 Day 1: a lesson on pearl formation

On the ocean floor there sits an oyster minding its own business, until…

a little piece of grit sneaks its way inside the oyster and starts to irritate it. The oyster begins to wrap pearly goodness around the grit and eventually forms a perfect beautiful pearl. Divers go down, open up the oyster, and pull the pearl out.

This is a perfectly good way to get pearls, but there are some problems. It’s random, unpredictable, dangerous. You don’t know where the pearl is or if there is one at all.

Assignment 2:1

Brainstorm everything you’re afraid of, and every time you or a child in your life has been afraid. Try to get at least 20 examples.

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Week 2 Day 2: a better way

Because of the difficulty in harvesting natural pearls, oyster farmers have developed a more sure method of cultivating pearls.

Now our oyster sits in a commercial bed. The oyster farmer opens it up, sticks in a little bead. The oyster, irritated, wraps it’s pearly goodness and soon there’s a perfect beautiful pearl. The oyster farmer, who knows where the pearl is, and how long it will take for it to grow, can harvest it when it’s ready.

Assignment 2:2

Brainstorm everything that makes you sad, and every time you or a child in your life has been sad. Try to get at least 20 examples.

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Week 2 Day 3: a lesson on idea formation

Inside your head there sits your brain minding its own business, until…

a seed sneaks inside and starts to irritate it. The subconscious finds the seed interesting. It begins to wrap story goodness around the seed and before long it has a story developing.

But the subconscious can’t do all the work on its own. So it starts kicking at the conscious mind, saying “Hey, I’ve got something here. You need to look at it. I need some help.” The conscious mind finally wakes up, notices the developing idea, and says “How exciting–inspiration, the muse, serendipity, channeling.” And it works on the idea and develops the perfect story. This is a perfectly good way to come up with story ideas. Many story ideas develop this way. But like the natural pearls, it’s not a predictable or controllable means of creation. So what you can do?

Assignment 2:3

Brainstorm everything that makes you happy, and every time you or a child in your life has been happy. Try to get at least 20 examples.

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Week 2 Day 4: a faster way

You can culture your ideas in the same way that oyster farmers culture pearls…

This time, instead of waiting for a seed to accidentally lodge in your brain, you open up your brain and deposit the seed yourself. Then you start wrapping wrapping wrapping ideas around it until you have the perfect story. This is a much more efficient, and much more effective way of coming up with stories fast and easily.

Assignment 2:4

Brainstorm everything that makes you angry, and every time you or a child in your life has been angry. Try to get at least 20 examples.

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Week 2 Day 5: what seed?

So, what are these seeds? They can be anything that is part of the story. They can be something someone says, something someone does. The seed can be a character, a first line, a last line, a thing, a title, a conflict, a setting. You’ve been brainstorming seeds all week.

We will discuss later how to come up with lots of seeds. We will also discuss what to do with those seeds when you have them.

Assignment 2:5

Brainstorm every time you or a child in your life has been surprised, disppointed, proud, or any other emotion we haven’t covered this week. Try to get at least 20 examples.

Next week: Holiday Vacation! But you do have assignments:

1. Make memories

2. Talk to your loved ones about their, and your childhood

3. Write down any memories, present or past

Class will resume after the new year.

Picture Book University: Week 1

Week 1 Day 1: Who Are You Writing For?

Yourself?
Friends and family?
The world?

Writing for yourself is a joy. You write what you want, how you want, and everything’s good.

But if you’re writing for others, you need to keep in mind what appeals to them.

So if you’re writing for yourself, pick and choose from this course what you find interesting, and just have fun.

But if you want to write for others, especially if you want to publish, the more of this course you complete, the better the chance you’ll have of meeting your goal.

Assignment 1:1

Decide who you are writing for. Make a list of the things you think they want from a picture book.

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Week 1 Day 2: What is a Picture Book Anyway?

Pick up a picture book. How many pages does it have? Most picture books  have 32 pages. Sometimes they have 16, 24, 40, 48, 56, even 64 pages — almost always a multiple of 8 because of the way they are printed.

Look at the front few pages of your picture book. How many pages are there before the story actually begins?

Look at the end of the picture book. Are there any pages after the story ends?

Most picture books have front and back matter, the title page, the credits, the dedication—so, of the 32 pages in your picture book 4 or 5 of them are going to be other material besides the story. That leaves you 27-28 pages for story.

Now, look at those 27-28 pages. How many scenes are there? Sometimes a scene will cover both sides of the page or the spread. Sometime it will just be on one page. Sometimes the scenes will even be in frames or spot piece illustrations allowing for more than one scene on a page.

How many scenes does your picture book have? If a picture is made up of spreads, there will probably be about 13-14 scenes total. If they are made up of individual pages there will be 27-28 scenes.

Assignment 1:2

Look at 10 picture books. Find the number of total pages,  the number of story pages, the number of scenes.

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Week 1 Day 3—How Long is a Picture Book?

A spread will average about a paragraph of text, an individual page about a line or two.  It will vary widely, but not too widely. You usually don’t want huge chunks of text followed by almost nothing. You want the story to pace well. To flow well. Your average story will have from 200 to 600 words. Some much fewer, some many more. How long should a story be? Long enough to tell the story and not a word more.

Assignment 1:3—Count the words in five picture books. Notice how much text there is in each scene.

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Week 1 Day 4—An Exercise for Getting the Feel of it All

A great way to get a feel for picture book language and pacing is to type up the text of a published book.

Assignment 1:4—Type up the text of a favorite picture book.

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Lesson 1 Day 5: The Invisible Collaborator

A picture book is more than just an illustrated story. It is a collaboration between text and illustration. With a good picture book, most of the time if you take one away the other cannot stand on it’s own. They need each other.

So, how do you collaborate with an illustrator that you will possibly never meet? It’s tricky, and will take time to learn how to do well. But a general rule of thumb:

Don’t put anything in your text that can be shown in the illustrations, unless there is an important reason that it be in your text. This includes setting, what the characters are wearing, what they look like, even their species. Responses and actions can be shown in the illustrations, subplots can be shown. Much of your story will be told by the illustrator.

Assignment 1:5–Pick a favorite picture book. Study the illustrations carefully. Compare them to the words. What is shown in the illustrations that is not show in the text? How important to the story are the things shown in the illustrations? How does the author suggest that something is happening while leaving exactly what is happening up to the illustrations? Is there anything in the text that could be shown in the illustrations instead? Is there a good reason that it was in the text? Take out the text that could have been illustrated and see if it makes the story stronger or weaker.

Next week: Where do ideas come from? Also, what’s with the sentence fragments?

Picture Book University: New Student Orientation

Welcome to Picture Book University’s new student orientation.

Class will begin on Monday.

Each weekend I will post five lessons/assignments, one for each day of the week (you get the weekends off.) You can do the lessons all at once, or take them one day at a time.

Who am I?

I am the author of over 75 books for kids. Besides writing picture books, I also write riddle books, activity books, poetry, and mini-mysteries. I publish with Candlewick, HarperCollins, Putnam, Gibbs Smith, American Girl, Bloomsbury, Peachtree and others. I teach a university  picture book writing course, and a course on the children’s publishing industry.

If you’re chomping at the bit, can’t wait to get going, here’s an assignment for you:

Read read read. Read all the picture books you can find. Keep track of your favorites. We’ll be using those in the course.

See you on Monday!

Rick Walton

(Some of my books)