Writer's Corner: How to Cut Your Picture Book Down to 200 to 1,000 words

   Have you ever thought about writing a picture book? One of the struggles when I started writing for children was to keep the word counts down.  Usually a picture book should only be 200 and 1,000 words. Theory has it too many words... a child's attention wouldn't last. In our society of overkill of too much information even adults prefer shorter writings to longer.  How to get started:
First what's upmost is just sit down and write down what you want to say.  Take a break. Get back to your writings. I like to use Microsoft and do a word count immediately to check out word count. If I am over 1,000... that is when I start cutting out words and visualize what that scene would look like as a picture.  Be creative. See if using shorter sentences would work. Get to the point quicker with less words. Like my Mom always said, "Stop going around and around the block... just stop and get to the point." Same goes to writing. Do not describe to the point of overkill. Just get to the point. Some writers use thoughts or characters speaking using balloons with short expression over the characters head.  This is when I start sketching out the scene. It is amazing how you can tell so much more just in a picture. This is where illustrators come into play.  Instead of using words to describe an action or emotion draw your point of view. A picture can show more compared to lengthy descriptions or wording. Again, take a word count. If you brought it down... GREAT. If you still have too many words. Maybe your story just needs that wording.  Every writer has their own way of writing. Find your niche and stick with it.  The best fan is you yourself. If you feel you cut too much.  You feel you would lose the whole story, if you cut any more… stop cutting. Just go with what you have. If you are still worried about word count have a child read it or friend. See what they think of your story. If they like the story do not change a thing.  I hope this article will help you get started to write your own picture book.