Case Study: Part 3, PLOT DEVELOPMENT

This is the third post about the children's book I am creating titled 'Catch that Fly.' I will be writing about every step of the process and all the resources I use along the way so you too can create your own book.

In my previous post I created a draft and sent it to a manuscript assessor. I have taken the constructive feedback on board and had another attempt at developing the story.

The first problem was that there was no real reason for mum wanting the dinner to be perfect. So I decided a good reason would be if someone is coming to dinner. I introduced another character 'Grandma.' There are plenty of reasons a mum gets stressed about a grandmother coming to dinner and she’s a great character that every child can relate to.

Next was figuring out a way to make the scenes more interesting and animated throughout the story. I have now created more descriptive text about each family member trying to catch the fly. I have also written more about the fly’s direction and objective.

The story was still feeling a little dull so I have tried a few more things to bring it to life. I have added rhyme which is not recommended for beginner writers however I had some help from a talented song writer. Here is a sample of one of the spreads.

The fly keeps buzzing against everyone’s wishes

Under the table and over the dishes

Into the lounge past the television

Avoiding everyone with great precision

After figuring out the problems with the narration I started to think of interesting visual ways of telling the story. One of the things I through would work well is if when the fly finally buzzes out the window we can see grandmas car pulling into the drive way.

I will continue working on the story development and post about my progress very soon. Feel free to give feedback and comments.

How to write a Picture Book

So you have your plot ready to go. You know who you main character is and the events that will unfold leading the story to a conclusion. Now it's time to start writing the book. The most important thing to remember is that your story can always be better so keep working on it. You should have at least 20 drafts before it is ready for publishing. Show as many people as you can and get as much feedback as possible. Make sure you show an editor before publishing it.

Firstly you need to have an idea of the number of pages in your book. This gives you a good guide for how long your story should be. The most common quantity of pages for picture books is 32. The number of pages must be a multiple of four because of the way they are printed and bound. Bare in mind that all 32 pages will not be your story. Usually 8 pages are taken up by the book ends, title page and copy right page. So you should aim for 24 pages.

Your word count will be anywhere from 500-1200 words depending on the reading level. But make sure you know what this is before you start writing as the vocabulary and words should suit your target market. The more advanced the reader the more advanced the words can be.

With this in mind you should be able to figure out roughly how many words or sentences to write per page. This gives you a structure to work with. Obviously you can have different lengths on each page but it’s good to have a base.

With a picture book the illustrations and page turns have a major influence on how the story is told. Keep this in mind while writing and try to make the page breaks enhance the story. Have things reveal themselves from page to page. Use the sense of surprise and mystery as to what is on the next page.

Tips

Make sure the problem or aim is clearly stated in the first few pages.

Make sure the audience can tell who the protagonist is and that they routing for them.

Use the element of surprise to keep the audience interested.

Make sure everything in your story relates to the plot, goals and aim of the story. Don't lose track of what you’re writing about.

Good luck

How to Write a Strong Plot

The plot of your story is the most important thing when it comes to any book. Without a strong plot your book simply will never capture and involve the reader. The basis of a plot is the idea and the message. What are you trying to communicate through your story? With children's books it’s not enough to simple write a sequence of events that end with something funny happening. There needs to be a message or something you are trying to say or teach through writing the story. Think back to all ancient fairytales and folktales they all have strong moral messages and teachings that was the reason they were created.

Publishers look for specific things when choosing manuscripts to publish.
The more of the following elements your story has the more likely it will be published or sell when self published.

Moral
Multicultural
Entertainment
Funny
Lesson
Niche Market
Age Specific
Universal Theme

It’s good to have this all figured out before you start writing your plot. A plot is a plan for the story that has yet to be written. You should create a brainstorm before the plot.

(1) Brainstorm
(2) Plot
(3) First Draft

Now that you have the message or idea you are trying to communicate you need to figure out how. This is where the plot is created. The first plot you figure out might not be the plot you end up with for you final manuscript or story. Plots can change a lot as your story develops so don't get too attached.

A basic plot consists of the following:

Main character is introduced and sets a goal or aim

Main Character runs into obstacle or problem that jeopardises achieving the goal or aim.

Main character triumphs and resolves the obstacle or problem and achieves the goal or aim.

The way to make this structure work best is to have layers of ideas within the story. Try to make each event relate to the next and connect elements throughout the story that later reveal themselves. Be clever and try to use things like metaphor to add meaning. The basic story must be simply understood however there can be many elements that add to the story both in the text and illustrations.

This is a basic story structure that can be used in millions of ways. This seems to be standard for any children's book or story written in English speaking countries. However this was not always the case and there are many other countries who write for children in a different way. Most of the original folktales and fairytales did not have happy endings but they have been adapted over time.

While at the Bologna Children's book fair I was fortunate enough to see an exhibitions and presentation on Korean children's books. Their plots were completely different they didn’t follow the structure above at all. They addressed serious issues with no happy ending, amazing sensitivity for the reality of events and amazing creativity. Just something to think about. Be warned though when approaching publishers they are usually only interested in a plot structure like the above.

The Process of Creating a Children's Book

In this post I will write a brief overview of each step in the process of writing a children's book. It is very important to understand the order of the process as it can save you a lot of time and money. Many people get this wrong and it can end up creating double the work for either yourself or the people you employ to help you. I will write full posts on each of these steps in more detail however this post is purely for an understanding of what order the tasks should be completed in.

IDEA
The first thing you need is an idea. Once you have come up with something you feel passionate about and would like to turn into a story the hardest part is over. You might find my post Best Selling Ideas and Concepts or Creating a Book for a Niche Market helpful.

RESEARCH
Research your idea as much as you can. Not only the topic you have chosen to write about but also the potential market for you idea. See if you can find other books that fit your market and have done well. You might find my post Different Types of Picture Books helpful.

WRITE
Write your story. This is not as easy as it sounds, writing for children is hard. You must develop your story over and over until it is the best you could possibly write. Get other people you know with strong writing skills to read your drafts and give you pointers.

TEST
At this stage you have not invested any money into your story so it is good to test it before you do. Read your story to as many people as you can especially children. You want to keep developing it at this point.

LITURATURE ASSESSMENT
Once you are happy with the story it is a good idea to send it to a literary assessor specialising in children's literature. They are professionals and have a lot of experience with writing. They can tell you the weak points of your story and what you need to do to it to make it a successful marketable book.

EDITOR
Once you have made the improvements the literacy assessor pointed out the story is ready for editing. Again editors are professionals with a lot of experience they will probably make major changes to the story as they see many things you won’t. An editor is a very important part of the process one that should not be skipped under any circumstance. They are the difference between a professional story and an amateur story.

DISTRIBUTION PLAN
Before you move forward you need to decide what size your book will be. This is especially important if you are going to distribute it as an ebook and ipad app. You need to have the specifications of your final book in order to brief illustrators and designers.

Kobobooks.com

eBooks.com

Why wait for distribution? Self-publish and start selling your books, film or music on-demand with CreateSpace, an Amazon group.

ILLUSTRATIONS
Once the story is complete and you have decided what formats you require it’s time for the illustrations. You can either commission an illustrator or do them yourself. There is a massive difference in quality between an untrained artist and a qualified illustrator. Be aware of this. Illustrations must enhance the story not confuse it. Be very clear in you brief as to your expectations of the artists final images however trust them to make creative decisions. The more restrictions you give them the less creative the result will be. See my illustrations at http://www.amyburrell.com/

ISBN
While the illustrator is creating the artwork it is a good time to apply for an ISBN. This can take a while so it pays not to leave it till the last minute. You need it in order to complete the next step in the process. CreateSpace provide free ISBN's

BARCODE
You will receive a barcode with the ISBN. This is also needed for the next step.

BOOK LAYOUT
Once the ISBN and barcode have come through and the illustrations are complete you are ready to lay out the book. You can either hire a graphic designer to do this or do it yourself. I wouldn’t recommend giving it a go unless you actually have some kind of layout experience. A professionally laid out book will sell a lot better that one made in MSword. Graphic designers can also make sure you have all the right formats for the different distribution channels i.e. epub format, print format, ipad format.

PUBLISH
Now it is time to publish in all the selected formats. There are hundreds of options for distributing your book, I will explain in more detail in a publishing specific post.

Get access to FREE book publishing tools, resources, and a growing online community of authors. Learn how.

MARKETING PLAN
It is a good idea to set out a marketing plan. Figure out what steps you are going to take to advertise your book.

DISTRIBUTE
If you have decided to print books you now need to distribute them. Get them into book stores or other avenues you decided on in your distribution plan.

MARKETING
Start applying your marketing plan and promoting your book in every way possible.

SELL
Hopefully if you have followed these steps successfully you should be starting to sell books at this stage.

PROMOTE
It is important to keep the promotion going for years. A lot of books won’t start getting big success until their 2nd or 3rd year on the shelf. The more exposure you can get your book the higher your sales will get.