The (Hard) Truth About Making a Picture Book
I’ve been a professional writer for 20 years, so I thought creating a children’s book would be pretty easy.
Wrong.
It’s a lot of planning, then changing the plan, then changing the plan again, then … you get the idea. Here’s what it looks like behind the curtain.
Storyboarding
First, I created an overall narrative arc (beginning-middle-end). Then, I plotted the major events along that arc (I did this by hand on paper, as you’ll see below). Finally, I thought through how to link those events together and created a working outline.
One of the many hand-written storyboards I created for Mortimer the Terrier’s Second Chance.
Drafting
This part — the honest-to-god writing part — was probably the shortest step in the whole thing.
Editing
I and my project manager went through the draft several dozen times to nitpick word choice and sentence length, making the story as easy for children to understand as possible.
Reshaping
A picture book is designed in two-page spreads, so I had to break my draft into smaller chunks to flow well across page breaks. This was tough for me, as it’s so different from what I’ve learned to do as a journalist and content marketer.
Directing
I had to write super-detailed notes for my illustrator, Adriana, so she could understand my vision. Have you ever tried to explain a dream to someone else, but you can’t seem to find the right words? That’s what this is like. It’s hard.
An excerpt from the final Word doc draft for the book. On the right, you’ll see some of the illustration directions I wrote for this spread.
Adjusting
You don’t want your words to repeat what the pictures show. After finishing my illustration notes, I had to comb back through the draft several times and tweak the words so they didn’t duplicate the illustrations. I’m even doing that now in the final stages of my illustration reviews. Putting it bluntly, it’s been a pain in the a$$. :)
Waiting
There is a lot of downtime as your partners — your editors, illustrator, and designer — do their work. I’m someone used to fairly quick turnarounds in my day-job, so I’ve needed to practice uncommon patience with this process.
The entire “writing” process took about eight months to navigate, much longer than I anticipated. Illustrations have taken more than six months so far. And I expect design to take at least two months.
It’s been an arduous road — but I’m geeked about the end result. I can’t wait to share Morty with you in living color soon!
To learn more about Morty and how you’ll be able to buy the book this fall, visit his page on this website and sign up for the Morty Memo newsletter at the bottom!