“Don’t use art notes,” is what you may hear as a new writer.
It’s not that editors don’t like art notes. It’s just that many new writers want to dictate illustrations that do not require direction.
For instance, you shouldn’t pick what your character looks like. Red hair, blue shirt, green sneakers, pigtails, etc. are not for you to decide. The editor of Mary Ann Hoberman’s THE SEVEN SILLY EATERS thought the characters should be animals, like crocodiles. Marla Frazee, the illustrator, thought they should be people, and she was right. She even made the mother a cello player, which was not in the text, but it added a delightful layer to the mother’s personality. The options were wide open—the author never described the characters’ appearance.
The exception to this rule is when your character’s appearance is crucial to the story, like FRECKLEFACE STRAWBERRY. Although the title pretty much says it all, right?
You must trust that your editor and illustrator have ideas for what your scenes should look like. Better ideas than you. Leave the art direction to them (and the art director). Writing that the house has a front porch, or that the cat is calico, or that the car is yellow is all unnecessary. Again, unless that car needs to be yellow for your story to work.
But you will no doubt read picture books with subversive text—where the character is doing completely opposite what the words say. Or books with text so spare, the action comes thru only in illustration. These are times when your text requires art notes. SCREAMS for them.
But if you have an art-heavy manuscript, where much of the story relies upon the illustrations, how do you submit it? Putting the art notes in [brackets and italics] is typically the way to go. However, too many art notes can interrupt the flow of the story. It gets difficult to read and comprehend.
So what do you do?
Maybe…submit your manuscript in grid format.
What?! But Tara, I’ve NEVER heard of this before.
I know, me neither. But my agent just submitted a manuscript like this. I was skeptical at first, but then I realized the grid was the best no-nonsense way to present the text with the illustrative mayhem. Yes, this book has MAYHEM. And FRACAS and PANDEMONIUM, too.
Here’s what the grid looks like in manuscript format:
The header includes your name, contact details and a word count.
Then the title (in caps) and your byline.
There is a general art note at top which introduces the story idea. Moreover, it states the art notes are “intended as a guideline.” Again, as an author, you cannot rule over all that is picture in picture books.
Next comes the grid. On the left is the story text, on the right appears “rough art direction.” Notice we said “rough” because they are only suggestions for the editor to understand the story. Remember that the illustrator may create something even better, funnier, more poignant. Remember the CELLO.
The grid continues for as long as it takes to tell your story. Typically one or two more manuscript pages.
Please note this isn’t a standard way to submit, it only serves as an example of what one author and her agent did. It’s like the photos on the front of frozen food boxes that say “serving suggestion”.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I suddenly became very hungry.
44 comments
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October 3, 2012 at 10:06 am
Deb Lund (@deblund)
Love this! And it really would have helped for a manuscript of mine. Wait. It still might help!
But really, Tara. MAYHEM, FRACAS, and PANDEMONIUM? You? ; ) xox
October 3, 2012 at 10:52 am
Tara Lazar
Believe it or not, I’m currently working on a story that is HEARTWARMING and POIGNANT. Me????!!!!
October 3, 2012 at 10:09 am
wendy greenley
Tara, you crazy rule-breaker–good luck with this story and thanks for sharing your outside the box ideas!
October 3, 2012 at 10:10 am
Tara Lazar
Thanks, Wendy! I just hope editors don’t get overrun with grid submissions now. It’s only to be used under very specific circumstances. And maybe not at all!
October 3, 2012 at 10:16 am
Julie Falatko
Excellent! That makes sense. I haven’t written any manuscripts that would need so much art direction, but this is such a clear way to do it, should that need arise. I think in some ways I may have shied away from spare-words-that-need-art-direction because I was afraid of the whole art direction thing.
October 3, 2012 at 10:27 am
Tara Lazar
Hopefully you won’t shy away any longer! Spare words and MAYHEMIC art (wait, I don’t think that’s a word) make for some of the best picture books!
October 3, 2012 at 10:28 am
Jo Ann Kairys
Wonderful article, Tara! My picture books are densely illustrated and I publish via my own company, so I don’t submit manuscripts. But I love how you walk through a submission process using the grid example. Great idea! Great and fun writing!
October 3, 2012 at 10:40 am
Sarah M. Isaacson
Wow, this is Great Stuff. Thanks, Tara Lazar. In a few words, (544 according to my word-count, ‘cuz I’m interested in that kinda thing) you gave a succinct answer to my question from many years. (I’ve been taking a stab at picture book manuscripts for over 12.) Then you gave the answer(s) great validity by sharing your agent’s experience and presentation. Ahhh, good Blog (*pats its head*).
October 3, 2012 at 10:41 am
Tara Lazar
Arf, arf! *waits for treat*
October 3, 2012 at 10:56 am
Catherine Johnson
I love this idea, since I like having minimal and sometimes no text on a page and I’m dyign to say what I think should happen. Thanks Tara!
October 3, 2012 at 11:03 am
Penny Klostermann
Thanks, Tara…very useful and bookmarked for future reference!!!!
October 3, 2012 at 11:13 am
A.M.B.
It is very interesting to get a glimpse of how a children’s book goes from manuscript to published work. As a parent, I am a heavy consumer of children’s books, and I must admit that I am usually more drawn to the text and message of a book than I am to the illustrations, and it irritates me to see “subversive” illustrations that deviate from the text. When you say that new authors “cannot” pick what their characters look like, is it that they shouldn’t do so (because it’s within the illustrator’s area of expertise) or is it that their contracts have taken that power away from them and given it to the editors and illustrators?
October 3, 2012 at 11:26 am
Tara Lazar
It is not in the contract, it is an expertise best left to the editor, illustrator and art director.
What are some of your favorite picture books? Please share with us!
October 3, 2012 at 11:39 am
A.M.B.
Thanks for the clarification! I have several favorite children’s books, including David Wiesner’s Art & Max (which has minimal text), Peter H. Reynold’s The Dot, and Patrick McDonnell’s The Gift of Nothing. We’re always looking for more suggestions. I have three little girls who love storytime!
October 3, 2012 at 11:42 am
Tara Lazar
A.M.B., I’m not familiar with The Gift of Nothing, I will check it out! I am trying to get more people to use the Twitter hashtag #bedtimepicks to share what they’re reading to their children. I think I need to do a blog post about it! Check out my “Links” (in the nav bar up top), I link to several book review sites. And I review picture books here, often with a giveaway.
October 3, 2012 at 11:26 am
Laurie Ann Thompson
Great post, Tara, and really interesting insight. I’m currently working on a manuscript where every other spread is wordless. The feedback I’ve been getting so far (including from editors) is to add MORE art notes, so they can really get a sense of my vision, but that just feels so wrong! Maybe super-agent Joan and I will get to use this format again. 🙂
October 3, 2012 at 11:38 am
Darshana
Thanks Tara! Will be saving this for future reference.
October 3, 2012 at 11:56 am
LeslieG
Totally bookmark-worthy! Thanks for sharing it.
October 3, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Niki Masse Schoenfeldt
Tara! That is an awesome idea. I have a PB that I love, but relies heavily on the illustrations. My art notes don’t tell the illustrator what to write, but they do give a quick overview of what is happening. (Example: Drops cookie jar.) Since I am not an illustrator, I’m very confused as to how to submit this. I love the whole grid idea!
Now for the big question. How do I make a grid? I just have no idea what buttons to push to get me there. Can you tell me where in Word I go?
October 3, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Tara Lazar
Wish I knew! I worked off my agent’s manuscript…she submitted a story like this before I did. And it sold!
October 3, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Sarah M. Isaacson
Niki, did the awesome graphics show up on your email? When I first read the post in my email, they didn’t. But when I went to the website, they were there in doh-full glory. In MS Word, the graph/chart would be “Insert” “Chart” and you specify how many columns and rows you want.
October 3, 2012 at 3:02 pm
Tara Lazar
Huh. I had no idea that the graphics didn’t show in the email version. Has that happened with other posts?
October 3, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Sarah M. Isaacson
Hi Tara, it seems that after some review of “Tara Lazar” emails in my Gmail archives, some posts show graphics and some did not. This, however, is probably a Google thing, and I didn’t press the “always show graphics from this site…” or such. It seems like I have to press it every so often to get the graphics consistently. It had been too long of a time since I visited the site, so I am very happy for that! The graphics are way cool, by the way, THANKS!!!!!
October 3, 2012 at 5:16 pm
Tara Lazar
Huh. Google being glitchy? Never heard of such a thing. ;p
But please tell me you’ve seen the Ryan Gosling graphics!
October 3, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Mirka Breen
My first lesson in PB writing was to leave a lot of room for illustrators to co-create. It’s a good exercise in relinquishing control and learning to trust.
And then I had to learn to allow an *occasional* only-if-must art note.
Regardless of publication, writing is good for us in so many ways…
October 3, 2012 at 2:49 pm
Hannah Holt
Linda Ashman’s picture book NO DOGS ALLOWED has no words. Here’s how she submitted it: http://www.lindaashman.com/no_dogs_allowed_108750.htm
October 3, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Tara Lazar
That’s a great post, Hannah. Thanks for sharing!
October 3, 2012 at 5:42 pm
tinamcho
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing your sample. Sort of reminds me of Julie Hedlund’s app proposal submission.
October 3, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Helen Ross
Hi Tara. Thanks for sharing this different idea. All great food for thought. Now I’m the hungry one.
October 4, 2012 at 3:25 am
danacarey1
Thanks so much for writing this up, Tara. I love the clarity of this grid format although I understand it is to be used with caution. Go enjoy your pizza—I’m suddenly in the mood for some grid-dle cakes.
October 4, 2012 at 7:08 am
thiskidreviewsbooks
Thanks for sharing! This was very interesting!
October 4, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Stacy S. Jensen
I really appreciate you sharing this Tara. I’ve read Linda Ashman’s No Dogs Allowed post. This adds another layer to the idea of how to submit this type of story.
May 4, 2013 at 12:33 pm
INCLUDING ART NOTES IN PICTURE BOOK MANUSCRIPTS | Alayne Kay Christian
[…] Tara Lazar, Writing for Kids: Art Notes in Picture Book Manuscripts […]
November 15, 2013 at 11:42 am
Juliana Lee
I have been struggling with this idea for months! Thanks so much for the notes, I didn’t even know about the square brackets and italics.
June 4, 2014 at 7:00 am
Your Kidlit Questions Answered! Part II | Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)
[…] I’ve also written manuscripts with so many necessary art notes that my agent has submitted them in graph format. This is because the art notes broke up the flow of the story too much, making it difficult to read. The graph format allows an editor to scan through the story easily while still being able to comprehend the illustrations. I explained this in a post here. […]
August 24, 2014 at 9:42 pm
viviankirkfield
WOW! Tara – sorry I am so late to this awesome explanation of art notes/grid format post party. But better late than never. Thank you so much for a clear and concise lesson. 🙂 I appreciate it all the more because, in one simple sentence, you explained what a ‘subversive’ text is – please don’t laugh, but when I read that some agents were looking for subversive picture books, I thought they wanted stories where the characters were plotting anarchy. :)_ 🙂 You’ve helped me more than you know. 🙂
November 21, 2018 at 6:04 pm
Katie Engen
Yes! And so satisfying to see this option succeed as my critique group was quite mixed about me trying it. Inspired to soldier on…but carefully without bossy or redundant art notes. Thanks!
November 22, 2018 at 12:08 pm
Johnell DeWitt
I’m glad to see this. I have a manuscript with dual stories, which I’ve put in a grid like this. I felt like it helped the reader visualize the corresponding texts better, so yay! This made my day.
November 26, 2018 at 12:39 am
writersideup
Just saw this in a tweet…and I actually had to format a manuscript this wa. I’m the illustrator though, and there’s a lot of dialogue in speech bubbles (no tags) and a lot of subplot in the illos so this was necessary if not able to submit the dummy.
August 5, 2019 at 5:19 pm
Darshana
I’ve been using your grid format for years on my sparse picture books. Congrats on your new book!
August 5, 2019 at 6:21 pm
Moni Ritchie Hadley
This is one of my favorite blog posts in the last year. Every kidlit writer asks this question and you showed us your method. Such practical advice. “Show don’t tell” right? Thank you for this!!!
August 5, 2019 at 8:40 pm
Debbie Robl
I enjoyed this post as a reader of picture books (rather than a writer)! So much insight into the process. As a teacher/staff developer/lover of picture books, I found this post enlightening! Thanks for sharing your process.
August 6, 2019 at 10:15 am
nicolesalterbraun
As always, thanks, Tara. We were just discussing Art (Action) Notes in my critique group last week
September 3, 2019 at 1:33 pm
Sheri Radovich
This was so helpful and shared without a dime for the information.