PLANNING YOUR CHILDREN'S BOOK | get it right first time

hello its Jules here not doing a video on drawing or planning but doing a video on publishing today in fact it's how to write a children's picture book poke the subscribe button and ding the bell so you don't miss a single video in the future you never know when it might be vital people are always telling me they've either written a story or they've got a great idea for a story but they haven't done anything with it this is mostly because they don't know what to do next it's a bit like saying I've got a great idea for building a rocket that also makes toasted cheese sandwiches but I haven't got the knowledge for engineering so I thought it would be cracking lee fabulous to run through a few ideas of things that can get you started nuff said let's go if you're watching this because you already have an idea for a story or you've always wanted to write children's picture books then I'm with you on that that's exactly what happened to me I had an epiphany moment when I was at college when I was studying art and illustration I met somebody who's also a children's book author and illustrator and I just completely fell in love with the whole idea of it and I knew then that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my working life although actually it doesn't really feel like a job to me because I think about it every day and I'm quite happy to do something towards my next book on my next story every single day I wake up at 5:30 quite infused by the day about taking my next step in my story or thinking about a new story or working on my next illustration so here are seven ideas to help you on your way number one first of all what do you want to write about if you've got a vague idea then write down a list of things to do with that thing that you're thinking about or if you've got a character in mind make a sort of profile for that character if you like and think about what they do what they look like what family is they got what do they like and not like their strengths and weaknesses what do they eat when they drink what do they hate you really need to get to know your character and let your imagination run wild after all you don't have to use every single one of those things in your story you might find the more that you write about them the more relaxed your mind becomes and the easier is to write make sure that you write about something you really enjoy this means that your story will flow much better and your reader will pick up on that and enjoy it just as much I've got more on this sort of thing in the course that I made on picture books I'll leave the link below number two make a character that you like this is incredibly important especially for the protagonist the central character the one is delivering your story if you don't like them why would you expect your audience to like them and particularly when it's a very young audience they need to be able to feel like they know this character and like them and most readers don't want to spend their valuable time getting to know a character that nobody likes what is your character called the name needs to be believable it conveys such a lot about the character so try it out on a few different people your friends and family but ultimately don't forget that this is your story so you feel really strongly about that nay then you use it number three you need to become very familiar with the genre of picture books this means getting very friendly with your local library make the most of it it's free go in and read read read what sort of books are you drawn to what common features do you see in the layouts and the structure of the book itself for young readers picture books are usually under 500 words and they have mostly 32 pages from front cover to back cover and the story is out laid over about twelve to fourteen spreads I'll leave a link below that explains a lot more about this it's a free PDF that I use in my workshops number four their plot when thinking about the plot you might want to decide what happens at the end first this is because the end is usually and quite often the hardest thing to get right readers want a satisfying experience not a sort of oh and then they all went home kind of cop-out I'll be making a video on ending books later on in in the year so make sure that you do subscribe so that you don't miss that video once you've decided how your story is going to end then you can plot out the journey to get there make sure your beginning also has the essential items of laying out your central character and giving an idea as to what is going to happen to that character the formula for a great story is enticing first page + page turning plot + satisfying end equals brilliant story well maybe that's a bit glib but you get the idea the important thing here is to finish your story you don't have to get all the spag right that's the spelling punctuation and grammar you don't have to do any editing here you don't have to decide on the page louse or who's gonna do your illustrations you just need a story that has a beginning middle and end it's very easy to get bogged down in all the details of the story and not actually finish it it's at this point that many writers give up and go to the pub don't go to the pub get your story finished number 5 if you're having a bit of a nightmare with the plot then ask what is what if he was wearing bunny slippers what if she was scared of spiders what if it suddenly started snowing write yourself a long list of imaginative what-ifs it might just shake your brain out of mind block number six you must plan your story I'll say again you must plan your story I always use the layout pad and do lots of drawings I usually start by doing tiny little thumbnails and I have them all the whole of the book laid out on one a three page this means that I can see the rhythm of the story and make sure that there are those page turning sort of elements to it so that I know that people will want to know what is happening on the next page I call it page turning enthusiasm don't spend ages on beautiful drawings just some little scribbles or notes or ideas about things is absolutely fine at this point you can add more detail later as you go through the process and if you don't have a layout pad then just use any old notebook don't legs not having a layout paper be a rubbish excuse to procrastinate number seven once you have done some planning and maybe even written the first draft of your text read it out loud children's books are very different from other genres because they are meant to be read aloud particularly picture books it's pretty unlikely that the child who the book is designed for will be reading all of the work they might be able to read some of them they probably won't be able to read all of them therefore they're relying on somebody else to read it to them and hopefully that adult will be putting maximum effort into the performance that means putting on silly voices and making funny faces perhaps you could sprinkle a little bit of onomatopoeia instead of the door closed perhaps the door banged shut or instead of the dog barked it could be our own I think so read it aloud to yourself read it to your partner your parents your friends your dog and get them to read it back to you okay not the dog but get them to read it back to you and then you can listen out for any problem areas or phrases that don't kind of roll off the tongue easily well I really hope that helps you if you're starting out on your story journey I'd love here about what started you on that journey or what you're going to be writing about so please do comment below I'm all ears and if you're interested in the course that I make then I'll link that below as is the PDF that I promised you that's also below all you got to do click the link follow the stuff go into the whatever do the thing right what I really should have said was it's a jolly useful genre overview showing things like word count and other strategic anomalies to do with each reading age group meet me here next Friday because we're doing a video on drawing buildings and seam setting that's it I'm off to ride unicorn into the sunset I'll see you next time nananana

Channel: Jules Marriner

Views: 163,252

Keywords: planning your children's book, children's picture books how to write, plot for your children's book, names for your children's book, how to write a children's picture book, starting a book project, characters for your children's book, tips from professional author, rookie children's author tips, how to write a childrens book, tips on writing a children's picture book, tips on writing a children's book, children's picture books writing, how to write a picture book

Id: knA9AlI3R8g

Length: 9min 13sec (553 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 07 2020