If you are reading WRITING PICTURE BOOKS along with me, I hope you are humming along and have been able to find some of the picture books cited, as well as your “good” and “bad” example books to type out. I had a little trouble finding a good “bad” example (if that makes any sense), but finally unearthed one, and a few days ago typed in all 1300 rambling, unstructured words. Whew!
Next week, I will check in about my progress with the first section of the book—Becoming a Picture Book Scholar—and would love to hear from you about your progress as well. Have you found it helpful to type out a manuscript or two? What are your thoughts about the chapter?
As a reminder, below is the assignment for this section. My advice is, don’t skip this assignment. The good and bad manuscript examples that you type now will be used throughout the rest of the book, and of course you will want a manuscript of your own to work on as you do the exercises she recommends. I’m taking the easy way out on that one and using a story I wrote last year that I want to revise, rather than writing something completely new.
Section 1—Before You Write Your Story
Assignments for Chapter 1: Becoming a Picture Book Scholar
– Spend time reading picture books (especially those mentioned in Writing Picture Books)
– Choose a published book you love, and one that you think doesn’t work (both published in the last 5 years). Type out the text of both books.
– Read a new picture book
– Write a draft of a picture book (if you don’t already have one)