Planning and Writing a Children's Picture Book
Use a Book Dummy as an Aid to Layout and Design
Oct 27, 2009
While the general advice for picture book writers is "don't even think about illustrating your own book unless you are an accomplished artist as well as a writer", there are still good reasons for creating a picture book dummy.
Even if the author knows that the publisher discourages book dummies, the mock-up picture book is an aid to imagining how the story will look. It can give the author new ideas about how to present the text, how to build tension from page to page, and how much of the story can be carried by the illustrations.
How to Write a Picture Book Using a "Dummy" for Inspiration
The picture book dummy is more or less a home-made version of a picture book. By making a rough mock-up of the book, the author is able to better visualise:
- how the text will be divided between the number of pages in the book (including the title page and copyright information)
- exactly how the text will work in with the pictures (how much of the story is told in text; how much in pictures)
- where the text will appear on the page
- how the text will look (a standard block of text or presented as a form of artwork itself, with different sizes and shapes)
- how anticipation will be build at page turns (what the child will be thinking at the end of a page; the rhythm and pace of words before a page turn; what the child will see when the page is turned)
- the impact of the final page (a funny twist; an answer to a puzzle; repetition of a favourite phrase; or a picture without text)
Picture Book Writing: What if the Author Can't Draw?
Most writers have a fairly clear understanding of their talent (or lack of it) as an illustrator. If the picture book dummy is for the writer's use alone, as an aid to planning and writing the story, then it doesn't matter if the writer is a stick-figures-only type of artist.
However, if the writer wants to build a career in writing and illustrating his own picture books, then the illustrations need to be of a high standard. Most writers are destined for disappointment if they insist on the book being taken on by a publisher as a total package: it will almost certainly be rejected. Publishers are wary of books that come packaged with illustrations done by a friend or relative, too. All too often the friend is an okay-but-not-great artist whose work doesn't meet the standards required by the publisher. In general, publishers prefer to assign the illustrations themselves.
A Guide to Picture Book Layout
It's a good idea to start designing a picture book with storyboards before moving on to creating a full mock-up. (A storyboard is simply an outline of what will appear on the book, page by page. This is usually presented in a series of squares to represent the pages.)
Picture books can be 16, 24, 32, 40 or 48 pages (always in multiples of four) with the most common size being the 32-page picture book. The basic structure of a 32-page picture book is as follows (although, as the outline below shows, there is room for variation).
Page 1: the title page (sometimes a half-title page).
Page 2: copyright information (also known as the 'imprint page').
Page 3: may be a half-title page; may be the title page; may be a dedication; may be the start of the story.
Page 4: story begins, then ends on page 31 or 32.
Making the Picture Book Dummy
Start by making a very rough dummy to see whether the book works out as planned in the storyboard stage. Play around with the placement of pictures and text. Don't forget the importance of the text immediately before and after the page breaks. Check that every page gives the illustrator something to work with. It will quickly become evident if the action of the story is too repetitive, with only a limited number of options for illustrations.
The pages of the dummy can be slipped into a folder with clear plastic sleeves, or it can simply consist of pages stapled together.
A final tip: Before creating a picture book dummy, spend some time looking at a range of picture books. Pay special attention to the way the pictures are presented (close-up? from a distance? unusual viewpoints?) and how the pictures carry some of the story on their own. Check out the placement of illustrations, and the pacing of the story – how does the tension build? What makes the reader want to turn the page? All of these things will help a writer to plan and write a better picture book.
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