Description:
Picture books have been described as the hardest book to write. They might be short, but they are also deceptively simple (which does not mean easy or without great depth and considerable heart). Writers of picture books must become students of picture books. In this Creative Lab we will take a focused look at picture books, possibly in ways you haven’t analyzed the form before. From what you notice and learn from our study, you will then come up with a plan for revision, and even start to apply it to a current work-in-progress.
Skill Level:
Beginner and Intermediate
This lab is best for:
Writers who want a deeper study of the picture book form and who have a picture book in progress, or a completed picture book, that they wish to make even stronger.
Prerequisites and Advanced Preparation:
This will be a very hands-on lab. Please bring a copy of your picture book work-in-progress/draft (you can have it on your computer, but you might also want a hard copy to write on). Your picture book should be written using standard manuscript format (double-spaced, 12 pt font, Times New Roman). If you need more guidance on standard manuscript format, please see SCBWI’s Essential Guide to Publishing for Children, page 43 (available to SCBWI members on scbwi.org). Bring a mentor text (a picture book you admire, ideally one that has been published recently). Or even better, buy one of the faculty picture books at the conference bookstore to have with you for the intensive (and then you can get it signed during the autograph session). Print 2+ copies of the two storyboards (32 page and 40 page). You might even bring an extra copy or two for a neighbor who might have forgotten theirs. Bring several colored pencils, markers, or highlighters.
Schedule:
- Introduction
- The importance of mentor texts (and the unlimited ways we can learn from them)
- Begin at the beginning: small group and whole group discussion
- Our focus of study for the Creative Lab
- Picture book constraints
- Map it out
- Mark it up: character, problem, obstacles, turn, resolution
- Small group and whole group discussion
- Type up standard ms format of your mentor text
- Analysis: small group and whole group discussion
- A closer look at your manuscript in standard ms format or a story map
- Revision considerations
- Rewrite your first 50 words: small group share and whole group check-in
- What else can we study in our mentor text?
- Q&A
Participants will:
- Understand the many ways we can study picture books more closely
- Identify strong beginnings
- Learn how to determine page counts of picture books
- Analyze a story map of a mentor text – character and structure
- Analyze a mentor text typed in standard manuscript format – with a focus on beginnings and endings, language, transitions, and page turns
- Consider and plan revisions for their own works-in-progress
- Play with the first 50 words their current work-in-press
- Have an even deeper appreciation and understanding of this beautiful book form
- Experience a fun and engaging look at the picture book!
