by Becky Levine
Here you are, participating in PiBoIdMo. All you have to do this month is come up with ideas. Okay, you have to come up with 30 ideas. But still—short, sweet; bing-bang; and you’re there.
There’s a second goal, though, behind these 30 days. And that goal is that, once the month is over, we will all take at least one of these ideas and turn it into a story. Which means, first, writing that story. And then…yes, eventually, revising it.
We could debate for hours whether it’s harder to write a novel or a picture book. We could debate for more hours which is easier to revise. Especially when you’ve got critique feedback about that project staring you in the face.
Sure, when your critique partner tells you to work on dialogue in your novel, you know you’re facing a lot of dialogue over a lot of pages. That’s work. On the other hand, when your critique partner tells you to fix the dialogue in your picture book, you’re staring at ten, maybe twelve words, with which to get it right.
Let’s face it. Revision, any revision, is hard.
But…the thing I love about revising a picture book is actually the thing that seems the toughest—the tiny number of words you have to write with.
When I critique a novel and pass that feedback onto the writer, I tend to talk about the big things that aren’t working yet. I’ll tell them that I think their hero needs a more specific goal in each scene, or I’ll talk about weaving any necessary background information into the action. And then I’ll make this suggestion: Take one chapter and play. Figure out your hero’s goal in one scene, set up some obstacles, and then revise that chapter until you have the pacing and tension just right. What have you done? Well, you’ve successfully revised a scene, yes. But you’ve also taught yourself a lot more about scene structure, and now you can go on to all the other scenes in the story and make them tight and tense and active.
When I first started getting critique feedback on my picture book, I felt overwhelmed in a kind of backward way. I was used to thinking on the bigger scale of a novel, feeling that I had plenty of time and space to understand that feedback and revise around it. With the picture book, all that time and space was suddenly compressed. I felt like a Mime-in-a-Box; every time I made a turn or tried to stretch, I ran into an invisible, but very solid wall.
The freedom came when I realized that, I needed to tackle the revision in the same way I attacked novel rewrites. I needed to take one scene and revise one problem. The only difference was that my one scene would be 150 words, instead of 1,500. Yes, that was a challenge, but it was also doable. If I needed to make my dialogue more powerful, sure, I only had a dozen words to play with, but those words were right there for me to see, in one tiny chunk on one page. Instant feedback. Change one word and see if it makes things better. Nope? Change it again. Yes? Great. Move on to the next. Yes, every word matters (and I do think it matters more than in a novel), but every word also makes a difference. A big difference. And you can see it happen, or not, really, really fast.
And guess what? You know when I said, above, that I recommend revising a novel by working on one problem in one scene, then extrapolating what you’ve learned to all the other scenes in the story? Well, how much easier (and faster) does that become in a picture book? Especially if you’re using a repetitive structure and some repetitive wording? Once you figure out, in your teeny, tiny picture-book scene what isn’t working and how to fix it, carrying that change through the rest of the story can be greased lightning.
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lots of great info here!
I really liked your article. As a newbie to the picture book scene, I find that edits to a shorter, more concentrated manuscript can be a challenge. Yet at the same time, forces me to be more creative and concise with my writing.
Thanks for sharing these pointers—and in some cases, reminders—of what it is to be a picture book writer
Thanks, Becky! I’m not sure why I find revising so hard. I’ve done it a million times —- again and again and again and….:)
Your book sounds like a wonderful resource.
Thanks for the practical advice, Becky! Very motivating!
Tight writing. Yikes! There is more freedom with novels, that’s for sure. But you’re right. They both have their own trials when rewriting. I write both, therefore I know. And not just anyone can crit a picture book either.
I all ready have Becky’s book. I can’t tell you how many times I have referred to it for my own stories. Let alone crittting other writers.
Great thoughts. *waving*
I think critiques for Pb are harder to give than novels. Because you might end up rewriting for the author instead of suggesting. Sometimes it is easier to show how that sentence can be reworked and that might squash the writer’s Freedom.
Hi – great ideas here and I have found critiquing with a group of PB friends really useful.
Would love more tips on how to help critique my and other friends PB’s.
I agree with Chitra above – where sometimes it can be easier to rewrite the sentance for the author.
I hope I can enter the giveaway comp even though I like in Australia(?)
Thanks Becky. I love working within the tight constraints of the picture book format. It makes me fizz inside. All those special words that need special places. I have had 9 picture books published and another due for release in 2013. Everything you said resonated so well.
Janeen-from-Australia
Hi, thanks Becky for your informative post here. I welcome any feedback, especially with picture book as I tend to be too descriptive. Taking it a piece at a time is excellent advice, thankyou. (kristy, I am from NZ..lol.)
Thanks for participating Becky.
Such common sense informative thoughts. I don’t have your book yet, so if I don’t win it, I’ll buy it. I know that my crit partners will appreciate it!