Better ideas, better books. Strategies to unlock better stories
The KidLit Creator’s Chronicle – Issue #41
This week, I’m sharing a special excerpt from my Picture Book Manuscript Master Plan. If you’ve ever felt stuck on what to write about, or worried that your idea isn’t strong enough, this edition is for you.
Whether you’ve got an idea that won’t let go or you’re still waiting for that inspiration, this will help you come up with ideas and improve them so your next story has a rock-solid foundation.
It All Starts With An Idea
Most authors I work with want to write because they have an idea. Of course, sometimes it starts simply with the desire to write a book, or a picture book. But I find most often it’s an idea that just “has to become a book” that starts their journey.
What many authors don’t realise is they can often improve their ideas, setting them up to write a stronger book. More on that under “Strategies to Improve Your Idea” later in this edition.
First, what if you have trouble coming up with an idea? Here are some tips.
Ways to come up with ideas
Life
Observe and listen to kids. What’s real to them in their life, or what do they deal with day to day? Which flights of fancy do they come up with? What do they find fun, funny or exciting?
Being around kids often may be more than enough for you to come up with ideas. Just listen to what they say and look at what they do.
If not, there are many other ways to come up with ideas. Think of what is your purpose in life? What is your purpose for writing the book? Do you just want to create something fun that kids would enjoy? Or something funny that makes them laugh? Do you want to create something beautiful and inspiring that makes readers go, “Wow, the pictures and the words are just poetic and beautiful”?
You may have a personal motivation, like writing for your own kids or grandkids to share a message, or about something one of them loves. There may be a moral, message, or life lesson you want to get across about bullying or being shy, etc.
The book can be about anything you are passionate about.
It’s easier to write about something that you’re passionate about, or that you enjoy. What do you enjoy doing, or what are your hobbies? If you love painting, that can be something fun to bring into a book, and there are different and interesting ways to do that. I’m not referring to nonfiction in this context, like a book about how to paint.
For fiction, maybe your protagonist loves to paint, or they get pulled into one of their paintings and an adventure.
Idea Generators
You can use idea generators, or apply the method I describe in this article, under Ideas For Writing A Children’s Book. This will help you come up with hundreds of ideas.
Google “idea generator,” “children’s book idea generator,” or “writing prompts” for many more of these.
You can make a more manual “idea generator” with many small cards or post-it notes. Write down many characters, desires, problems, places, inciting incidents, and/or decisions on them. You can do any two or three of these, you don’t need to do them all. E.g. you can write down characters, desires and problems only, or characters, places and problems only.
Then take your papers or post-it notes and place the characters all in a vertical line, the desires all in a vertical line next to the characters, and the problems in a vertical line next to that. So, you’ll have numerous rows of character–desire–problem (or whichever cards you chose to write). Each of these rows is an idea.
Examples:
Character–desire–problem could be:
a tired ballerina–wants to go to the moon–is terrified of almost everything
Or character–decision
a platypus–decides to build a pirate ship
Write out all the characters first, then all of your next cards, and so on, and then randomly combining them, will help you come up with many ideas you wouldn’t have come up with otherwise.
Once you’ve laid out all the cards in rows, you are also free to move the cards around as you please, to come up with ideas you like better.
The Extra Benefit of Coming Up With Many Ideas
Using idea generators to come up with 20, 30, or even a hundred ideas can be wonderful to give you options to write and publish, but it has another enormous benefit–practice!
Many quick, random ideas can save a lot of time and also take the pressure off. Writing about a ballerina who wants to go to the moon but is terrified of almost everything may not be THE story your heart MOST wants to write, which makes it perfect for practising. The pressure is off to get it perfect, and you can write and self-edit the story simply to practice, without being so invested in the outcome.
Practising on THE story you want to publish can be a very long route to success, and it can be stressful and take the joy out of the process.
So, I’d suggest using an idea generator for this purpose. Before you even start writing your next story that is close to your heart, write five or ten practice stories about “any old” ideas. You can still choose ones you like and are similar in tone or genre to the books you ultimately want to write.
A Caveat
If you’re writing a story about morals or life lessons, avoid being preachy. Keep this in mind even as you come up with an idea.
Kids get told what to do enough. They get told, “This is the way it works, and you must do this, and you must do that” enough. They don’t want that in a book. A picture book, regardless of the message, is there first and foremost to be enjoyed by the child. You can certainly convey a life lesson or moral, but the story comes first.
The way to get your lesson or message across is to put it into the story in a way that the child learns for themselves. If they keep losing their socks, show them in a fun way how Johnny keeps losing his socks and how that wreaks all kinds of havoc. And then Johnny sees that if he puts his socks in the laundry basket, they don’t get lost, and all the havoc can end.
Don’t write, “So don’t lose your socks, and always put them in the laundry basket…”
Don’t even write, “Johnny realised it was the right thing to do to put his socks in the laundry basket…”
Simply make it fun and so that little readers will realise all by themselves they want to emulate Johnny, so they don’t lose their socks.
Strategies to Improve Your Idea
You may have a wonderful idea, and you don’t have to change it. But I always advise exploring the possibilities and see if you can improve it. You may discover something that takes the idea from good to great. If you prefer to come back to your original idea, that’s okay too!
An excellent strategy to improve your idea is to combine unrelated items. For instance, instead of Sally the dog, how about making Sally a superhero dog, a flying dog, or fireman dog that drives a fire truck and puts out fires? In other words, combine two elements that don’t go together, but make the idea more interesting.
The Tiger Who Came To Tea by Judith Kerr is a good example. The author could’ve just made it a tea party, but she decided to have a tiger invite himself.
Probably my favourite example is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you think of it, it is quite bizarre, but it was a massive hit with admirable longevity. And it had to start with someone (or a few someones) thinking they’ll combine turtle, teenage, mutant and ninja. It could’ve just been teenage turtles, or mutant turtles, or ninja teenagers, but they went a step (or two) further. Getting a bit out there with your ideas makes them interesting.
Once you’ve picked your idea, have some fun with it, and develop it. See if you can improve it by changing something about the character or setting.
Changing the character could be as simple as making it an exotic animal instead of a human or a common animal. Or you could make it a secret agent, a wizard, an alien family, or anything more unusual than your everyday character.
Changing the setting–the story could happen on the moon, a spaceship, under the sea, in another country, at a carnival or funhouse with crazy mirrors, or a castle.
An Idea For Your Ideas
It’s frustrating when you come up with a good idea only to rack your brain later, but the idea has disappeared.
Have a notebook, or several notebooks, where you can always easily access it. Then, whenever you have an idea, jot it down. You can also use your computer or phone if you prefer that.
This way you also get it out of your headspace and make way for new ideas.
Over to you…
Ideas are everywhere, but only if you know how to spot them and what to do next. Whether you’ve already got a spark you love or are still waiting for the right one to appear, give yourself space to play.
Practise first. Write a few messy stories from ideas you’re not attached to. That’s how you build the muscles that will help you do justice to the story your heart most wants to tell, and it may also help you come up with your best idea yet.
Try this: Choose a random prompt or mix-and-match three unexpected story elements, and write one short practice story in the next day or two. No pressure, just have fun. You might be surprised what shows up.
Let your creativity lead, and let the pressure go. The more you play, the more ready you’ll be when the right idea comes along!
