The Dutton Writers' Room

Aspiring authors often ask us, “What common mistakes do you see in submissions?” It seems that few people attempting to write picture book texts really understand how they work. It isn’t as easy as it may appear. We recommend that you read many published picture books aloud before you try writing one. As you turn the pages, take note of how the words and pictures play off of one another. It is crucial that picture book writers use as few words as possible and allow the artwork to do 50% of the storytelling. Too much dialogue or description is deadly. No one wants to read a picture book in which the illustrations show only talking heads.

You don’t need to be an illustrator, nor should you try to find one—that’s the publisher’s job. But it helps to think visually as you are writing. Is there enough varied action to make for interesting illustrations? Think of the picture book as a short animated film.

Once you have gotten your story down on paper, take the time to create a turning dummy for a 32-page picture book, which is the standard format. The story should begin on page 5, a right hand page, and end on page 32, a left hand page. There should be a different scene or action on every spread. Surprises and punch lines should come after the turn of a page. You have about three spreads to introduce your character and set up the situation. The scenes in the middle are for the ups and downs the character experiences. The scenes should build on one another to a climax around spread 24-25 or 26-27, and you have two or three spreads for a satisfying resolution. In many picture books page 32 provides a humorous wink to the reader, or a twist ending, or a postscript of some kind.

Most of the time, if your manuscript does its job well, you will not need to provide any instructions for an illustrator. We want the artist to be able to approach your text with his or her own creative ideas. If the art is supposed to portray the opposite of what the text says, you can make that clear in your cover letter.

Other things to keep in mind:

o Straight prose is preferable to rhyme

o Picture books needn’t teach a lesson

o Stories should be pitched to ages 6 and under

o Keep it short!

We hope you find these general guidelines helpful.

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