How to Write a Children's Book: Structure

1. Lesson 1 Introduction: Hello and welcome to how to write a children's book, Structure. My name is Eve Heidi Binstock. I am an award winning author of more than 150 children's picture books. My work is read around the world from Azerbaijan to Zimbabwe. I am excited to offer this course to share with you the structure that is used by enduringly popular children's picture books. This structure is called the symmetrical picture storybook Paradigm. Okay. Okay. What is so important about this paradigm and its variations is that they can apply to almost any plot and any sequence of events in the story. It doesn't matter whether the story is a fairy tale, a folk tale, or any other tale. It doesn't matter whether the conflict that occurs is person against self, person against nature, or person against person. It doesn't matter whether the story is told in the first person or third person. The symmetrical picture storybook paradigm can apply to most picture storybooks. For your class project, you will be able to apply this structure to create a draft of your own children's storybook. Okay. 2. Lesson 2 Symmetrical Paradigm: Most picture story books are written with a three act structure. The story moves from a clear beginning that sets up a problem to be solved through a middle, having all kinds of obstacles that must be overcome to an ending in which the problem is resolved happily or not. Beginning middle ending at one, two, three. This is what they look like in diagram form. But that's not the end of our story. The symmetrical picture storybook paradigm has guideposts or anchors in the story line called Plot Twist Plot Twist two and midpoint. I will explain each anchor. What sets off the beginning from the middle? How do we know that the beginning is over and the middle has started? Something happens that serves as punctuation between act one and act two. It is an action or event that spins a story off in a new direction. It is a turning point. This punctuation is called plot twist one. There is a similar punctuation that signals the end of act two and the start of Act three. It is an action or event that spins the story off in a new direction. It is the turning point that leads to the resolution. This second punctuation is called plot twist two. Now, let us take a look at the middle act two. What May 1 appear to be one vast stretch of time filled with various incidents actually has its own well defined structure. In fact, right in the middle of act two is a pivotal incident that divides act two into the first half of act two and the second half of act two. This incident is called the midpoint. The first half of act two before the midpoint has its own theme, and the second half of act two has its own theme. The midpoint both divides Act two into two halves and links the two halves together. Very often, the midpoint serves to separate before and after. This is a more detailed diagram of the three act structure. The top section you have seen before. The middle section shows the anchors, plot twist one, plot twist two, and midpoint. The bottom section shows the two halves of act two. You can see at a glance from the diagram how nearly symmetrical the structure is. There are variations, of, because storytelling is not geometry, but most children's picture story books are quite close to being symmetrical. In particular, act one is usually very close to being the same length as Act three. No matter how long or short the story is, x one and three, each make up on average about 20% of the story. Again, that is 20% each. In stories that span 27 to 30 pages, this translates into five to seven pages each. The remainder of the pages, 60% of the story is devoted to plot twists one and two, and act two. Also, as illustrated in the diagram, the first half of Act two is usually about the same length as the second half of Act two. Again, symmetry. In this lesson, you have learned the elements of the symmetrical picture storybook paradigm. It is used by popular children's books, which we have all enjoyed. 3. Lesson 3 Example Leo the Late Bloomer: Let's see the symmetrical picture storybook paradigm in action. We'll look at a very simple story, Leo the Late Bloomer, about a youngster who was slow to develop his skills. Before we continue, please read the story. You can find links to free copies of the book in the PDF of resources for this lesson. Now that you have read the story, let's continue. Act one sets up the problem that our main character must solve. In act one of Leo the late bloomer, young Leo can't do anything right. Okay. We know that act one is over, and act two has started when Plot Twist one occurs. Plot Twist one is the first major turning point in the story line. In Leo the late bloomer, Plot Twist one is when Leo's mother defines the problem for Leo's father. Leo is just a late bloomer. The first half of Act two before the midpoint has its own theme. It is all about Leo's father watching Leo for signs of blooming. The midpoint occurs in the middle of act two. It is a pivotal incident that divides act two into the first half of act two and the second half of act two. The midpoint also links the two halves together. In Leo, the late bloomer, the midpoint is when Leo's mother cautions his father not to watch Leo anymore, because as she says, a watch bloomer doesn't bloom. The second half of act two after the midpoint has its own theme. It's all about what happens when Leo's father is not watching Leo. Plot Twist two signals the end of act two and the start of Act three. Plot Twist two is the turning point that leads to the resolution. In Leo, the late bloomer, it is when Leo blooms. Okay. In Act three of Leo the Late Bloomer, Leo can now do everything right, a happy ending. Okay. Is what the diagram of the story looks like. This diagram is included in the PDF of resources for this lesson, so you can study it at your leisure. But for now, you can see that plot twist one, the midpoint and plot twist two are the anchors in the story line. You can see at a glance how nearly symmetrical the structure is. In particular, act one is the same length as act three, the first half of act two is nearly the same length as the second half of act two. Also, Plot Twist one and plot twist two are the same length. Two pages each. Again, symmetry. Leo the Late Bloomer illustrates the symmetrical picture storybook paradigm very well. The PDF of resources for this lesson takes you through another story, Harry the dirty dog and shows you how it too uses the paradigm. Have a look. 4. Lesson 4 Refinements: The paradigm has additional refinements called pinch one, pinch two, mid spot, and Coda. I'll explain each of them. A pinch is something that happens an action or event that keeps the story moving on track. The pinch propels the story forward. If a story has a pinch at all, it comes in pairs. Pinch one in act one and pinch two in act three. Not all storybooks have pinches. Simple stories such as Leo the Llumer and Harry the dirty dog do not have pinches. An example of a more complex picture storybook that doestcorporate pinches is Sylvester and the magic Pebble. This story is covered in the PDF of resources for this lesson. Whereas the midpoint is a single incident that takes up only one or two pages. The mid spot is an interlude in the middle of the story that usually takes up three to five pages. An example of a picture story book with a Mid spot is miss Nelson is missing. This story is also covered in the PDF of resources. The coda is a very short sequence that tells us what happens after the main story line is completed. Miss Nelson is missing is a story with a coda. The PDF of resources for this lesson takes you through stories which use these refinements to the symmetrical paradigm. Take a look. 5. Lesson 5 Planning Your Story Using the Paradigm: This lesson will guide you through the steps you need to plan and structure your picture storybook before you sit down to write it. You will be asked to determine two things, the theme of various sections of your story and the action or incident that occurs at each anchor in the story line. You know that you have identified the theme of a stretch of the story line. If you can describe it by saying, this portion is all about blank. All of the actions or incidents in that portion of the story are related and can be summed up in one short sentence. When you are planning your story, you can identify an action or incident as a story anchor, if it involves a new scene, a new time, a new location, a new kind of action, a new theme, a new character, a new feeling, a gesture, a warning or foreshadowing. As you can see, one of the hallmarks of a story anchor is that something new or different has just happened in the story line. Here's a surprise. You won't plan your story line in the same order that you read the finished story. Instead, you'll start at both ends and work your way toward the middle. The complete lesson with step by step guidance is available in the PDF of resources. You can work through it at your own pace. 6. Lesson 6 Iterative Paradigm : While most picture story books follow the symmetrical paradigm, there is another pattern you should be aware of that appears from time to time. It is called the iterative paradigm. In the symmetrical paradigm, we see that the two halves of the story are mirror images of each other in terms of page lengths. For example, 36163. That's 36163. In the iterative paradigm, the page lengths simply repeat three six, one, 3636, 136. The PDF of resources has a complete chapter on the iterative paradigm, which you can read at your own pace. 7. Lesson 7 Conclusion: Thank you for joining me for this exploration of structure in children's picture storybooks. You have learned the elements of the symmetrical paradigm, which is the most commonly used structure in story books and has been guided to apply this paradigm to your own story. You have also learned the elements of the iterative paradigm, a less common structure, but one which can be used successfully. Congratulations. You have just completed a study of one of the most important secrets to writing a masterful storybook. If you enjoyed this course, please leave a positive review. Thank you.