How to make the perfect picture book...

Lesson 7: Think about how the story will look on the page.

The perfect picture book is more than just the right words in the right order, it needs the right pictures in the right order, too.  And they have to fit together perfectly.

Get any one of these elements wrong then it all falls apart.

You need to have a clear vision for your concept. Because, if you don't, how can you expect to communicate to your illustrator what it is that you want?

Some questions to think about...

Will you start your story on a left hand page or a right hand page?  Will you be wanting spot illustrations, full page spreads, double page spreads or a combination of all three?  Where will the page breaks be in the story?  Which pages will be in the middle of your book?  Will the text be above, below, or on top of the illustrations?  Will your final page be on the right hand side or the left hand side of the page?

But, where do you start?!

First you need to take a look at other books out there on the market.  Traditionally, most picture books have 32 pages.  However, this does not mean that you have 32 pages of text to work with.  On the contrary, you'll end up with about 12 double page spreads to work with, depending on how you choose to lay out your story on the pages.

Have a look at a few picture books to get an idea of the different ways of laying out the pages.  For example, The Very Hungry Caterpillar uses 11 double page spreads to tell the story, whereas We're Going on a Bear Hunt uses 16 double page spreads and is 40 pages long over all.

The picture below gives you an overview of the standard layout:

Standard picture book layout

For it to make any sense at all, you need to get your hands on a hardback picture book.  Got one?  Good.

Now, have a look at the inside of the hard cover.  It's got paper stuck to the inside, doesn't it.  What you see there is page 2 of the picture book.  Page 1 is the side with glue on it, attached to the hardback itself.

Page 3 rarely has anything on it of any significance (doesn't that always seem to be the case), in this instance it's because librarians stick their borrowing record on there.

After that, you need your copyright details, ISBN number etc on page 4 and then the 'half title' on page 5.  If you want to add a note of thanks or a dedication then you can use page 6 for this, before finally starting your story on page 7.

There are, obviously, exceptions to this rule.  How to Catch a Star by Oliver Jeffers, for example:

How to Catch a Star - the perfect picture book?

This picture book has the half title on page 3 then jumps straight into the story on page 4.  It then proceeds to use 15 double page spreads to tell the story before finishing with the dedication, ISBN and copyright details on  page 34.

A very unusual layout, indeed.  That didn't stop it from being shortlisted for the Book Trust Early Years Awards.  So, don't be afraid to think outside the box.  At the end of the day, you need to make your choices based on what's best for your book, not on what everyone else is doing.

But how do you turn your book into the perfect picture book?

Now you need to sketch out some rough ideas as to how your story should be spread across the pages.  Here's a picture of my first draft... (but please bear in mind this is precisely why I need an illustrator!)

The less than perfect picture book

Originally, in the interest of keeping my illustration and printing costs down, I produced a 20 page mock-up.

But, by doing this, I was able to see:
a) that it was too short
b) the text was a bit squashed in places
c) the story was a bit rushed in others

Even though I knew it was flawed, I still sent this mock-up to my newly appointed illustrator, John Balsley, with copious notes on each page.

This gave him a good idea of what my vision was for the project and to seek his opinion on the potential solutions to each problem.

Sir Nibbles' layout at the pencil stage

I've also done a few storyboards throughout the whole process, to reassess my decisions as the project progresses.  On the left, is the first sheet of the storyboard I did at the pencil stage.

Here, I haven't worried about what I'm doing with the end pages or half title, I've just focussed on where my story is going to fall on the pages and where the page turns are going to fall.  For example, you really don't want a cliff-hanger to fall on a left hand page, otherwise the child will already be able to see the resolution on the right hand page!

I've done another storyboard at the line stage, making a few more adjustments and then I'll do a final storyboard and mock-up once all the colours have been inked in.

It's an exciting and nerve-racking process but, I have to say, I'm loving every minute of it!

What's your favourite picture book?  What makes it stand out as the perfect picture book for you?