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Reload this Page I was told this by an agent... What do ya think?
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Old 07-18-2008, 09:14 PM   #26
MsJudy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joyofcooking View Post
Okay...now I have a question...is 400 words too SHORT for a picture book??? Actually, 380...?? It's 20 rhymed triplets ABA if that makes a difference...
Probably not, if it will appeal to 4-6-year-old kids. First-grade-level books tend to be in that range. Clifford the Big Red Dog is less than 300 words total.
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Old 07-19-2008, 01:59 AM   #27
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No, I'm thinking more in the range of 4-6-year-old kids...and on up to teens...and on up to adults...what can I say, "I have ambitions."

Look at 'Twas the Night Before Christmas...what's the age range for that? 'Twas the Night is 540 words...and as far as poems go, it is a bit wordy - for the most part 12-syllable lines, +/-....Rudolph lyrics are a mere 111 words...and the original Rudolph story by Robert L. May is approximately 1400 words...but if you read the story and then the lyric, the lyric is a very tight compression of the story....hmm, now that I'm looking at the "story," it's actually written in rhyming couplets...very interesting (to me at least)...it's seems to be actually an 90-stanza poem (on a rough count) consisting of rhyming couplets...mine is only 20 stanzas...I'm not sure I need to write 70 more stanzas though!?

**If I might add** I don't think we poets get enough credit - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a poem...and so apparently is the original Rudolph "story." Looks like poems have been central to Christmas-as-we-know-it in the US.
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Old 07-19-2008, 02:00 AM   #28
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Good job poets!
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Old 07-19-2008, 07:55 PM   #29
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EVERYTHING can be whittled down.
I promise.
Don't think of it as your baby, think of it as a block of wood you are carving down to a smaller, more beautiful thing.
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Old 07-19-2008, 07:57 PM   #30
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Originally Posted by joyofcooking View Post
Good job poets!
Yes!

My teenager has gotten me hooked on "alternative punk" music, and I'm realizing that poetry is most definitely alive and well in the US. We just call the poems "lyrics" now. And anybody else hooked on "So You Think You Can Dance?" When choreographer L'il C is the judge, he critiques people using the most amazing images--"don't let your mistakes bleed onto the skin of the dance floor..." Hiphop artists, punkers.... Lots of poets out there.
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Old 07-19-2008, 08:00 PM   #31
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When choreographer L'il C is the judge, he critiques people using the most amazing images--"don't let your mistakes bleed onto the skin of the dance floor..."
Ha.
I think L'il C speaks a load of rubbish personally.
He reminds me of a very dear friend of mine who, if he couldn't think of a word or an expression, or didn't know the pronunciation of a word, would just make it up.
Often I was the only person in the room who knew what he was talking about.
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Old 07-21-2008, 12:15 AM   #32
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Ha.
I think L'il C speaks a load of rubbish personally.
He reminds me of a very dear friend of mine who, if he couldn't think of a word or an expression, or didn't know the pronunciation of a word, would just make it up.
Often I was the only person in the room who knew what he was talking about.
Yeah, well, we all know people's opinions vary.
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Old 07-23-2008, 03:43 AM   #33
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No, I'm thinking more in the range of 4-6-year-old kids...and on up to teens...and on up to adults...what can I say, "I have ambitions."
Good for you! Ever read Walk On! by Marla Frazee? Insanely brilliant, for ALL ages. I think Marla is getting sick of me having her sign copies (but she has to be nice to me, so she signs them and draws baby shoes and writes "Put your walking booties on!" inside, and it's a-frickin-dorable), but I can't help but give the book to everyone I know - kids, college graduates, teachers! It's simply amazing.

Picture books rock.
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Old 07-23-2008, 09:37 AM   #34
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My agent doesn't like me to go over 500 words, I have before, but 1000 words, unless you just get very lucky, won't fly. I've had several children's stories be 300 words. Remember your audience is ages 3-5 for picture books, so actually the shorter the better.
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Old 07-24-2008, 03:09 AM   #35
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400 words isn't too short.

1400 to 900...way to go! Keep us posted!
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Old 07-27-2008, 10:54 AM   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Elliot Cowan View Post
EVERYTHING can be whittled down.
I promise.
Don't think of it as your baby, think of it as a block of wood you are carving down to a smaller, more beautiful thing.
Nice thought!

Or even... carving away all the marble that isn't David.
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Old 07-27-2008, 09:35 PM   #37
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My mother just wrote (another) picture book, and this one is 36 words long. (Took her a solid 15 minutes to write, heh...) She's pitching to her agent next week, out in LA, while she's there for the SCBWI conference. So nothing is too short! Keep at it and let us know how it's going.
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Old 08-16-2008, 01:32 AM   #38
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No problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PurposefulGirl View Post
My picture book is too long! 1400 words. He says the concept is amazing, but too many words.

Hes interested, but only if I whittle it down.

Thoughts?

I dunno if I can whittle down my baby.
Hi, thank you for posting this. I am so happy to have found this forum. This thread inspired me to send in a picture book idea to agent today that I wrote in 2003 and it has withstood the test of time. I wonder where it will lead me?

It was inspired by the first grade writing assignment, write about twenty things you like in complete sentences: I like horses, I like trucks, I like candy and so on. When an adult tackles this problem, turns it on its head, and puts it through all of the creative ropes, magic happens. Try it. To get into the mind of a child try being one by doing their assignments

I just recently edited my picture book masterpiece, a different story, down to 1036 words. It started at 3600+ words. Quite an accomplishment. Is it intact? No, entire passages were dropped, dialogue that I loved was scrapped, but it is now a focused, engaging story. Somebody said that physical descriptions should be dropped. They have a point. Once those are out, it opens the manuscript up to the creativity of the illustrator. I discovered this when slashing and burning my story. I plan to illustrate it myself. I am a trained artist. I thought, although it reads well I can just put this description in the illustration. This idea slashed 1000 words at least.

In closing, think of writing a picture book like writing a play. You can describe the scene in your script but the audience will see the director’s interpretation with actors, scenery and so on that you do not choose. You are primarily responsible for the dialogue (literal or figurative) of the story.
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