The July Edit

How to write your first picture book--all my favorite resources!

If you’ve have always wanted to write a picture book but have no idea where to start, I’m sharing all my favorite tools and resources here.

Here’s what you’ll want to gather.

• A stack of your favorite picture books—You’ll want to read these again and again. Come back to them when you’re on your tenth manuscript too. You’ll see how you’ve grown and notice what has changed with your personal aesthetic. Make sure that more than half the books in your pile were written in the last five years.

• Notebook and pencil (Not an affiliate link, just my go to.)

• Sketchbook for character sketches and thumbnails (even if you’re a writer not an illustrator)

• Sticky notes—I like to mark up the books I love, putting one sticky note on each page and writing a phrase about what happens/why that spread matters. Then when I want to write my own version, I take the sticky notes out of the book and use them as a kind of prompt or template.

• Craft books—not a zillion, just the best ones

• Inspiration from other fields and genres (A study about dark matter, a podcast episode about Bigfoot, a chocolate milkshake you love the name of, that song you listened to on repeat in sixth grade, a locket that feels magical…Choose elements that mean something to you and put them together in unexpected ways.)

• Rachel Bachman’s delightful essay on what kids really want to read (This is essential reading for PB authors.)

• Writing friends (Find alternatives to SCBWI critique groups here.)

  

These are the steps you’ll want to take.

• Read a zillion picture books.

• Take notes.

• Record all your ideas.

• Figure out what kind of book you want to write. (Concept, lyrical, character driven, nonfiction, poetry?)

• Read a bunch more books in that genre and notice what you like or don’t like.

• Fill a notebook with ideas for your book. Snippets. Words. Character names. Questions. Hopes for your book. Put it all in one place and don’t try to make it make sense.

• Write an outline or draw a thumbnail version of your story.

• Try a few different POVs on for size. Tinker with the tense. Try writing sales copy.

• Write a drafty draft. Super rough. Like a slip of an idea that could blow over at any moment.

• Start a scraps file, where you store any bits you need to cut but might use later

• Write a tighter draft.

• Zoom out and think about what thoughts and feelings you want to leave the reader with. Is the text doing that?

• Revise.

• Make something that is not a picture book but represents your picture book (A mood board, a play list, a recipe, a poem…See what happens and add any inspiring bits that come through.)

• Read your book out loud. Is your book doing what you want it to do?

• Revise.

• Repeat as needed.

• Try writing sales copy again.

• Share your work with writing friends. Try reading it out loud to kids you know. Are they bored? Confused? Laughing? Asking a million questions? Take notes on which sections feel alive and which feel like they can be cut.

• Revise.

• Repeat as needed.

• When it feels like your book is headed in the right direction, but you’re stuck…

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This Month I’m…

• Writing with The 10 Minute Writing Club (It’s intimate, low pressure, and life giving if you need a little boost! I would love to see you there. Our next session is 8/6.) 🪩

• Feeling proud to see my poem in Motherhood Minute 🤩

• Celebrating a client signing with a BIG agent who is perfect for her (No link for this, just sharing the good news!) 🥂

• Wondering what you would put on your shelf in this Japanese bookstore—such a cool idea! 📚

• Hoping every MG writer reads what kids want in their books (AS TOLD BY KIDS) 👩‍🎤

• Smiling at a poem I wrote a few years ago 🍱

• Following Neha Ruch’s journey as she looks back on how she wrote and launched The Power Pause into the world and Ashlee Gadd’s vulnerable experience with Create Anyways going out of print (Anytime writers share transparently what a book cost them financially, emotionally, or professionally, I think it’s so helpful. There’s no way we can know unless we talk about it!) 📙

• Living vicariously through these joyful moments! ☀️

• Falling asleep thinking about these playful yet couture gowns 🎈

• Reading the Platonic Love interview with the founders of Quite Literally Books and loving their idiosyncratic approach to publishing 📖

• Feeling inspired by these aristocratic oils of women in puffer coats 🧥

• Sharing this guide to solid search engines (in the age of AI everywhere) for my NF writers 👩‍💻

• Loving these bright paper sculptures 🌈

XO

PS

Want more support? I offer creative coaching and critiques at helloheidifiedler.com.