Image via Wikipedia When you have a full text of a picture book, it’s time to PLAY! After all, this is just a story for kids, right? Here are two ways to play with your story. You’ll be amazed at what you find out about the story when you do this:

Cut in Picture Book Text in Half

Count the number of words in the original. Write the story with EXACTLY half as many words as the original. Write it again with EXACTLY twice as many words. Notice what happens when you compress or expand a story.

Some things you might discover:

• You don’t need a character, a scene, a piece of dialogue.
• You cut out prepositional phrases in favor of adjectives.
• You cut adjectives and adverbs in favor of stronger, more exact nouns and verbs.
• The story is stronger when it’s shorter.
• The story lacks the emotional punch when it’s shorter.
• Cutting totally changes the story (for better or worse).

Pastiche or Borrowing from Others

Look around for picture books you admire. When you find one, rewrite your story in the same voice and style as the admired book. Do at least once, but repeat as many times as you can and
Be ready to discuss the experience.

Some things you might learn:

• Your voice is bland, or excitable, or unique.
• The story changes because of a different voice/style.
• The appropriate age of the reader changes as the voice/style change.
• Your default style has too much (adjectives, to be verbs, visual description, etc.)

Read the Series

This is part of a series, 30 Days to a Stronger Picture Book. UPDATED Table of Contents!

See Also: 30 Days to a Stronger Novel

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