There are quite a few ways to think about picture book structure. Here, I’m going to present a looser “Problem and Solution” structure, and a more specific page-by-page breakdown that you might find interesting.
Keep in mind that you are working with 24, 32, or 40 pages for most picture books, with 32 being the hands-down favorite. Take three or four pages away because you need to accommodate front matter (like the copyright and title pages), and I’d say you have about 28 usable pages to work with.
When you are planning your picture book, imagine telling the story in individual pages (either the right or left side of the book, “profile” view) or spreads (both pages, “landscape view”).
How do you fill those pages? Spend five of them describing the character’s favorite ice cream flavor and how nice they are? NOPE. You need to dive right into story without wasting too much time. Preferably, you will jump straight into action. Here are two examples of common picture book structure that you can work with.
When I was doing some speaking on picture books in 2012, I wrote a talk that incorporated simple Problem and Solution picture book structure. Basically, your character is introduced in terms of a problem they’re having. Then they make several attempts to solve the problem, before some kind of resolution. It looks like this, assuming that your book starts on page 4 because of front matter:
Page 4: Character introduction
Page 5 to 6: Conflict introduction
Page 7 to 8: Raise the stakes (establish why the conflict fights the character, what happens if they don’t get what they want, etc.)
Page 9 to 18: First two attempts to solve the conflict, story stakes rising
Page 19 to 26: Third and biggest attempt
Pages 27 to 29: Climax and success hanging in the balance
Pages 30 to 31 or 32: Resolution, reversal, final image (whether you go to page 32 depends on if you end the story on the right side of the page or after one more page turn)
Note: These page number prescriptions are a starting point for helping you map out your thinking, they are not a hard-and-fast rule.
Nobody cares what your character’s name is or what their favorite ice cream flavor is. Sorry. You do, but nobody else does. That’s not what makes them a character. Fancy Nancy was a character not because she liked poodles but because her whole driving passion in life was making ordinary things fancy. This is a characteristic that will fire up reader imaginations.
So once you’ve established a character with an objective (something they want) and motivation (why they want it), you can give them a conflict that grates against who they are. This makes the conflict more powerful, and gives them extra reason to want to solve it. Is also establishes stakes–what happens if they aren’t successful, why it matters.
Otherwise, if readers don’t understand why your specific conflict is a big deal for your specific character, your whole story won’t matter. But if you create a strong foundation that ties character to plot, their attempts to solve the conflict will be noble, and the classic Problem and Solution picture book structure will work well for you.
But keep in mind something I mentioned above. Their attempts to solve the conflict. That means you’re writing a proactive protagonist who is going to drive the story.
Preaching in picture books is very tempting but a huge no-no. You need to empower your main character, rather than having wise old Grandma swoop in and solve everything.
You can check out the following simple narrative books that may not hew to the page counts mentioned above, but which follow a relatively straightforward attempt/resolution structure:
CLICK, CLACK, MOO, COWS THAT TYPE by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin
A GARDEN FOR PIG by Kathryn Thurman and Lindsey Ward
LITTLE BLUE TRUCK by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry
TOAD ON THE ROAD: MAMA AND ME by Stephen Shaskan
This idea for picture book structure comes entirely from Eve Heidi Bine-Stock’s HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOK: VOLUME I: STRUCTURE. Her writing on the topic of picture books is definitely worth investigating. I’ll summarize the structure here but won’t reveal several fine-point components, in fairness to their creator.
This is a looser wrapper and more applicable to different types of story. It has a lot in common with the Problem and Solution structure, but there are some nuances. Here’s how it goes:
Act I: the Beginning or the set-up, about 20% of the story or 5-7 pages
Plot Twist I: a plot twist that separates the Beginning from the Middle
Act II: the Middle, or the primary action, about 60% of the story
Midpoint: a moment in the middle where the story splits into a “before” and an “after”
Plot Twist II: a plot twist that separates the Middle from the Ending
Act III: this contains the resolution or the Ending, about 20% of the story, or 5-7 pages
What I really like about this Symmetrical Paradigm is that it inspires writers to carefully consider what separates the different sections of their book, the plot twists and midpoint, which provide emotional layers to the character and story.
Bine-Stock cites many classic examples in her book, and her explanations are worth looking into. They include:
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak
CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM by Bill Martin, Jr., John Archambault, and Lois Ehlert
IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE by Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond
GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd
There are exceptions to every rule. While the above are good options for narrative-style picture books, those aren’t the only ones around. Non-fiction picture books are their own animal, and need to be organized according to the narrative structure of their subject matter (for example, in a picture book biography, the subject’s life is going to provide its own flow).
Concept picture books or picture books for very young readers often have their own structure, and it tends to be very repetitive. Alphabet books are obviously organized according to … the alphabet. And concept books like DUCK RABBIT by Amy Krause Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld follow a Problem and Solution framework but only insofar as there’s a question asked, and then variations on an answer (or question) are given over and over. If you examine that example, there isn’t really a resolution at all.
Let’s dig into your own picture book project. Hire me as your picture book editor and get advice customized to your manuscript.
I’ve read a lot of picture book manuscripts — written by current and aspiring authors — during the past year.
Some have been from conference critiques I’ve done, some from contests I’ve helped judge and some from mentorship programs or writing seminars I’ve been part of. And, recently, as I thought back on all the stories I read, I had a revelation.
Structure is way more important to writing a successful picture book than I had realized.
I’d always focused more on other things — heart, clarity, pacing, plot. And those are, undoubtedly, still important.
But, as I read mountains of manuscripts during the past 12 months, the ones that really stood out were ones where the authors knew exactly what they were trying to do with their story structure, and THEN WENT ALL IN.
As I say, you have to “Pick and Commit.”
I think many writers, myself included, start writing a picture book manuscript based on a general idea or vague concept and let the story fall out of their head, onto the page, in a way that seems sort of picture-bookish without asking themselves some vital questions, like:
Why is it important to answer these questions?
Successful picture books use an economy of words to tell a powerful story. Using a defined structure provides a framework for your story. It helps you know where to start and where to end and what goes in the middle. It also helps you know what to leave out.
There’s always so much that COULD go into a picture book, and having a defined structure encourages you to take out anything that’s not needed or distracts from what you’re trying to do. You might have a funny joke or a beautiful line or an interesting tangent that doesn’t fit your structure. And, if that’s true, it shouldn’t be in your book. No matter how funny or beautiful or interesting it is.
The right structure puts more power behind your story’s punch. It helps you focus on hitting your story out of the park instead of swinging at every wild pitch that comes by.
There are tons of possible picture book structures. The one beginning writers hear about the most is the classic picture book structure. It goes something like this:
This format works best for character-driven picture books. Examples of this structure include: ZOMBIE IN LOVE. DANDY and AMY WU AND THE PERFECT BAO. And, it’s a perfectly acceptable structure.
But, there are so many other ways to structure a picture book. You can structure a picture book as a:
So. Which structure should you choose?
You might find you need to try telling your story using several different structures before you find the right one. Because, remember, there’s always more than one way to tell the same story.
I’ve done this.
My book with Melissa Crowton, IN OUR GARDEN, coming next year from Putnam, went through 24 drafts before I found the structure that worked best for the story. That’s OK, and that’s why being willing to revise is so important.
But, once you find the right structure, it’s important to “Pick and Commit.”
I’ve read lots of manuscripts that try to do two different things in one story. Like, be a classically structured picture book and a how-to guide. Or, be an absurd, over-the-top, never-could-really-happen story AND a factual list story.
I can see how this occurs. A writer completes a first draft and shares it with writing friends or a critique group. Feedback comes in. “I like the humor here. You should amp that up throughout.” “What if you added informational sidebars?” “I’ve heard your character has to try and solve their problem three times. Yours doesn’t”
None of these statements, on their own, are necessarily bad or wrong. The problem occurs when the writer doesn’t have a strong sense of what they’re trying to do with the story structure and attempts to respond to all the feedback. Then, you have a story that isn’t any one thing.
Instead, you, as the writer, need to Pick and Commit.
If you decide you want an absurd, over-the-top story, then commit to that, go all in and take out everything that doesn’t fit that vibe.
If you want a how-to story, then read lots of examples and hone your text until that’s all it is.
If you’re going for a factual list story, take out the random rhyming couplets that don’t match the rest of your text.
Now, I’m sure, somewhere, there are successful published books that are, as Donny and Marie Osmond used to sing, “a little bit country and a little bit rock-and-roll.” But, those books are few and far between and usually are done by very experienced authors who intentionally chose that hybrid structure, went all in and executed it well. It wasn’t a random occurrence.
It may be clear by now that I have a lot of thoughts on this topic. So, this will be a two-part post.
The next time I’m up, I’ll talk about a picture book with one of the most unusual — and effective — story structures I’ve seen. And, I promise you, the structure was very thoughtfully chosen by the author.
In the meantime, please let me know which picture books have a structure you admire.
Or, if you’re a writer, tell us how you choose the structure for your books.
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