by Karen Miller
This month we indulged our inner child with a look at writing picture books for children.
Ros started us off by taking a look at examples of some gloriously illustrated picture books. We then had a think about the subjects and themes children are interested in like home, school, holidays, friends, family, feelings and emotions. Not much different from adults really. Just substitute school or work, unless you work in a school, of course.
With all that in mind, it was our turn. Ros invited us to brainstorm ideas, individually, using the ‘summarising-the-idea-in-one-sentence-storyline’ approach. We beavered away fifteen minutes in companionable zoom-ey silence.
By the blunders of technology, Ros successfully sent us off into pairs to breakout rooms for another fifteen minutes so we could complain about the covid restrictions, speculate where the sunshine had gone to, and, oh yes, discuss which of our spectacular ideas for a picture book we were going to develop.
Just as we were beginning to think we had this picture book game in the bag, Ros explained about the twelve spread picture book structure.
Oh.
Arh.
Luckily, Ros had supplied us with a natty handout explaining how these spreads work. We then had a generous thirty minutes to get scribbling, plotting and organising what would appear on what pages. We spent the last section of the session sharing our ideas and thoughts.
I think I am safe to say, we were all surprised by how difficult and skilled writing picture books is. This did not detract from a thoroughly enjoyable and productive session. Thank you, Ros.
My take away is this; if you want a challenge and have fun doing it, try writing a picture book.
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