First, it’s useful to know what picture books are not. They are not short stories with pictures. They are books made up of illustrations with some explanatory text, but the pictures should tell the story.
Secondly, it’s a common misconception that the limited amount of text in picture book means they must be easy to write. They are not! In fact, it is a real skill to convey the story in so few words – each one must count.
Now we know what they are not, let’s look at what they are. Below are some of the ingredients you need to make the perfect picture book:
To help you understand more about picture books, it’s worth having a look at these famous authors. Their work will give you a good idea of what is needed to be successful:
This is, of course, only a brief introduction to the world of writing children’s picture books. If you are interested in learning more, request a copy of our Writing for Children course.
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"After completing the course I began writing as much as I could and in 2014 I was finally signed by my agent and within two months I had a contract with Bloomsbury.
To date I have nine picture book contracts all at various stages of publication. There Is No Dragon In This Story (Bloomsbury) and Pirate Stew (Orchard) both published last summer and Oscar The Hungry Unicorn (Orchard) is due to be released on Sept 20th 2018. "
Lou Carter
The WRITERS BUREAU
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10th August 2018
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