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by Chiara Colombi
A wise person once said: “That’s one small step for Storystormers, one giant leap for Storystorming.”
Alright, I may have tweaked the quote a bit, but you’ll soon see that the sentiment holds true. Today, we’re storystorming our way to giant leaps of inspiration one small step at a time…literally. Ready to get meta? We’re going to create story ideas out of steps.
First, some context. The power of “one small step” is a key theme in my debut picture book ROCKET SHIP, SOLO TRIP, illustrated by Scott Magoon and releasing this February 2024. It tells the story of a young rocket braving the unknown on her first journey into space, in a celebration of the big firsts of life’s littlest explorers. Over the course of her mission, Rocket learns that when you’re faced with a big, overwhelming task, breaking it down into smaller steps can help you find your courage. Taking that first small step is all you need to launch yourself into success. Or in our case, inspiration.
This prompt is hands-on and involves steps of its own, so grab a pen and paper (or your Notes app, if that’s your jive). Let’s gather up some steps and see where they lead us!
Step 1: Gather your steps
Walk around your house and gather three to five items that each represent a step in a process. These items should be wholly unrelated to each other.
Examples: a hair dryer represents a step in a morning routine; birthday candles represent a step in a celebration; a watering can represents a step in gardening.
Step 2: Line them up
Once you’ve gathered your items, line them up and write down the order that they appear in. Then rearrange them and write down the order again, two more times.
Examples: Order #1: hair dryer; birthday candles; watering can. Order #2: birthday candles, hair dryer; watering can. Order #3: watering can; hair dryer; birthday candles.
Step 3: Turn your steps into stories
Storystorm one to three ideas that involve these items in the orders you’ve written down. How could these items combine to tell a story? Maybe you come up with a how-to book that guides the reader through a series of steps using your items in an unexpected way. Maybe you find an epic quest that only a kid reinterpreting everyday objects could possibly imagine. Maybe just one of your objects reminds you of an activity that filled you with wonder when you were younger—is there a story in that wonder and the path it could lead you down if you took that first step?
There is no right or wrong way to find inspiration in the objects you’ve gathered. The goal is to use one or a few small steps to launch yourself into story drafting success.
An example, to bring it all together…
Here’s a story idea I came up with, using the items in order #2 above (birthday candles, hair dryer, watering can): “How to Throw a Birthday Party for Your Pet Cactus.” (Goodness knows if I could get a cactus to live for a full year, it’d deserve a celebration.) Step one in the story would involve a cake and candles, naturally. Step two would require assisting the pet cactus in blowing the candles out by backing them up with a hair dryer. And step three would find the MC showering their cactus with gifts in the form of a downpour of water from their favorite watering can. Toss in a twist like the cactus not responding well to the hair dryer and sudden shower, and now there’s a problem my house-plant-loving MC needs to solve.
…Or perhaps I just run with the “Birthday Party for Your Cactus” idea and leave the steps out, because there’s gold in that tale of prickly affection all on its own!
As Stephen King so wisely points out in On Writing, often the best stories come out of the collision of two “previously unrelated,” very disparate ideas. Think of your favorite picture books, and you’ll see this time and again. Bedtime for construction vehicles. Mild-salsa-taco-loving dragons. Misbehaving dinos doing all the things parents warn their kids not to do. A girl planting love. Mashing up previously unrelated steps is a way to create new collisions in your mind that just might spin and swirl in such a way that gravity pulls them together into a shimmering new planet, a.k.a. a story.
So, what are you waiting for? Start your next story with one small step.
Chiara Colombi is giving away a PB critique with a 30-minute zoom call and a signed copy of her book to two separate winners.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Chiara Colombi’s debut picture book, ROCKET SHIP, SOLO TRIP, illustrated by Scott Magoon and published by Viking, releases on February 27, 2024. An Italian-American bilingual wordsmith dedicated to the art of engineering with words, Chiara worked for a decade as a translator before pivoting into marketing at a data privacy startup, all the while carving out space for creative writing and storytelling. She is as comfortable talking about PII (personally identifiable information) as she is talking about PBs (picture books), though she’d love it if you asked her about Jupiter’s moons. She currently lives in California with her family and an open view of the sky. Connect with Chiara on Bluesky @chiaracolombi, Instagram @ChiaraBColombi, or through her website ChiaraColombi.com.
by David McMullin
Does Storystorm have superfans? Yes. Yes it does. This is the story of one. Let’s call him StormerX.
- December 2015. StormerX participates in his first Storystorm (PiBoIdMo). He is hooked!
- January 2018. The PB world is in its usual euphoric Storystorm frenzy of ideas and motivation. StormerX is joyfully sketching out his 30(+) ideas inspired by the encouragement of the bloggers and his fellow writers.
- February 2018. Storystorm comes to an end. StormerX is experiencing PSB (Post Storystorm Blues). No more blogs! No more ideas! No more being surrounded by other writers! Fortunately, the spirit of Storystorm doesn’t fade quickly. Inspiration is still dancing in his heart. What if he…doesn’t stop? What if he…continues generating ideas for another month?
The following months. Then, another month? And another? And another?
Fast forward to today! StormerX has never stopped. He has created at least one idea a day for…
- Over SIX YEARS.
- That’s 74 months.
- 2222 days.
- All resulting in 2496 ideas!
Now, I can sense what you’re thinking—What’s wrong with that guy?
You may also be thinking—David, is that obsessive oddball you?
It appears that for as clever as I have been, you’ve seen right through me. Yes, I am StormerX.
Let me explain. I am by nature a procrastinator. Also, a dilly-dallier, a fidgeter, a tinkerer, a meanderer and a doodler. I know many of you identify as at least one of these. And I know you all have different strategies you use to cope.
I personally need an anchor, something that holds everything in place. Giving myself one simple writing related task that I do every day, helps me focus. Daily idea generation has become one of the most important tools on my writing journey. I never go to bed without having jotted down at least one idea in my idea book. (Here’s the shiny little fella, now.)
This is how creating one idea a day has been of benefit to me:
- Routine and structure: Adding routine into one aspect of my life has made it easier to create routine in other aspects of my life. Routine has been shown to reduce stress. Who doesn’t want that?
- A constant reminder: Even if it’s just for 30 seconds, I think about writing every day. And because writing is often on my mind, I find myself wanting to do even more writerly things—improve my craft, engage with other writers, submit manuscripts, read, revise, and oh, actually write.
- Quantity: I write more. I am never without something to work on – At any moment I can just peruse my idea book, grab a pencil, and see where it takes me.
- Quality: This is partly a numbers game. With a new idea every day, there are bound to be a few winners. And it’s become easier to assess which ideas I think are the most writable (and hopefully, sellable).
- Confidence: This is maybe my favorite perk. I’ve stoped worrying if my ideas are good or marketable or kid-friendly or difficult or offensive or weird. I simply let the pencil do its thing. My writing feels more creative, more daring, and more honest than ever before.
- And one last benefit: On May 19, 2018 I wrote the following in my idea book – When Jeremy met Fabulina. Jeremy is now Daniel, and Daniel never meets Fabulina, but on April 30th that scrap of an idea becomes my debut picture book, FREE TO BE FABULOUS! with Clarion Books, exquisitely illustrated by Robbie Cathro. If I had not been jotting down so many ideas this one may never have existed.
Remember, this is what works for me. You may find a different strategy that works better for you. Only weekdays? Saturday mornings? Whatever you choose, try to be consistent. And make sure it’s easy and fun—this should be helpful, not a chore.
If daily idea generating isn’t your thing, here are other simple anchors you can use:
- A daily affirmation.
- Writing sprints: Set a timer and write. 10 minutes?
- Set a daily word count goal.
- Read one picture book. (Heck, read half a picture book.)
- Read one kidlit blog post.
- Build community with a post or comment on social media.
- Write in a journal.
- Learn one of Tara’s fun, cool and interesting words.
- Mix and match several of these.
I know most of you are Storystorm superfans, too. (I’ve seen those participant badges popping up all over social media.) How can we not be, am I right? Have a great month and STORM ON!
Note: I recommend giving yourself an awesome Storystorm nickname. It will help you feel more in tune with your inner superfan. (Sorry, StormerX is taken.)
David McMullin is giving away a fiction critique, an Ask Me Anything Zoom call, or a combo of the two.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
David McMullin is a picture book writer, illustrator, and children’s poet. His poems are featured in several magazines and anthologies. Honors include an SCBWI Ann Whitford Paul Award, an Astra International Picture Book Writing Contest award, a Madness Poetry championship and he was a Picture Book Rising Stars mentor. David and his husband are currently full time world travelers, bird nerds, and YouTubers. In past careers he was a Broadway actor, an educator, and a children’s librarian. Visit him at DavidMcMullinbooks.com and follow him on Instagram @davidmcmullinpb.
by Angela Burke Kunkel
In the Boston Public Garden, near the Charles Street gate, is a sculpture I’ve walked past dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Maybe you have, too. Locals and tourists do it every single day. The statue is Make Way for Ducklings, created in bronze by Nancy Schön and based on the book of the same name by Robert McCloskey.
Now, I’d seen the statue and read the book to my children (again, maybe you have, too), but I hadn’t really thought about either in years—both were so familiar they’d become part of the background, for lack of a better term. That is, until I learned that there’s a replica of Boston’s beloved ducklings in Moscow. And with that, the idea for a picture book began . . .
I didn’t end up writing about the Moscow ducklings (turns out gifts made in the name of Cold War-era diplomacy don’t make for very good picture books), but that little bit of trivia did help me see the familiar in a new way. The more I learned about McCloskey and Schön, the more appreciation I had for their individual creative lives, how they inspired each other as artists, and how they became friends.
Mixing the familiar with a new spark of curiosity resulted in MAKE WAY: The Story of Robert McCloskey, Nancy Schön, and Some Very Famous Ducklings (illustrated by Claire Keane and published by Random House Studio).
It’s worth noting here that Emma Bland Smith also wrote a wonderful biography, MR. MCCLOSKY’S MARVELOUS MALLARDS (Calkins Creek). Even though the books take on the same subject, I couldn’t have had the same approach. While I can’t speak for Emma’s process, I can say my own book took the shape that it did because for me, MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS is very much tied up in a place. I love McCloskey’s work because of my years in Boston—I recognize and remember so many landmarks as I flip through the pages. And I love Nancy Schön’s sculpture equally, because that’s a landmark, too—it’s one of the first places my husband and I took our children to when we visited Boston as a young family.
Idea-wise, I didn’t think this familiar-becoming-new spark was likely to happen again. But it did, with Barbara Cooney’s MISS RUMPHIUS. Like MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS, it’s a beloved classic I rediscovered with own children. But I never considered it as the subject for a book until listening to Betsy Bird’s Fuse8 n’ Kate podcast, where I learned there was a real “Lupine Lady” named Hilda Hamlin. Now, I thought I knew Miss Rumphius—I’d pored over the illustrations in childhood, and can recite most of the words from memory. But here was this new piece of information, and the very thing that sparked an idea for Cooney, too?
Much like those Moscow ducklings, there wasn’t quite enough there to make a book about Hamlin. But I turned back towards Barbara Cooney—and started to see ways in which her own life, travels, and artistic development aligned with the fictional Miss Rumphius. My picture book biography, WORLD MORE BEAUTIFUL: The Life and Art of Barbara Cooney, is illustrated by Becca Stadtlander and will be released by Random House Studio this August.
So here’s my advice, Storystormers—look at your influences, especially the ones that call to you over time (George Saunders has an amazing exercise for this). It’s OK to retread familiar territory! It’s great if ideas are Big, Expansive, Original—but also, don’t worry about it so much? What feels familiar about those Big Ideas? Why do they make your brain ping and your chest ache a little bit in recognition? What places, themes, and images keep recurring in your life? What keeps showing up for you, and how do you want to respond on the page?
Angela Burke Kunkel is giving away a copy of MAKE WAY: The Story of Robert McCloskey, Nancy Schön, and Some Very Famous Ducklings to one lucky winner.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Angela Burke Kunkel is the author of DIGGING FOR WORDS: José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built, MAKE WAY: The Story of Robert McCloskey, Nancy Schön and Some Very Famous Ducklings, PENGUIN JOUURNEY, and the upcoming WORLD MORE BEAUTIFUL: The Life and Art of Barbara Cooney. She lives with her family in Vermont, where she works as a school librarian. They visit Boston and Maine as often as they can. You can visit Angela at her website, AngelaKunkel.com, follow her on Instagram @angkunkel, or subscribe to her Substack newsletter.
Kidlit Works is a group of picture book authors with books coming out in 2024 and beyond. Today we are excited to share with our fellow writers the way that “how questions” inspire our work. Children ask “why?” all the time. They’re famous for it. But perhaps the foundation of those “whys” is really a “how”—how does the world work? As writers for children, we honor our audience’s constant curiosity. And as we reveal to children the grand and tiny ways in which the world works, we also discover how writing works. Below, nine Kidlit Works members discuss the “hows” that sparked our books, and “hows” we hope will spark ideas for you.
Sara Holly Ackerman
I’ve always been captivated by how things are made. In fact, adult me is still enthralled by Mr. Rogers’ crayon factory tour. As a teacher in Ethiopia, my favorite unit was all about fabric, particularly local weaving traditions. I wished there was a book about making Ethiopian garments…and soon there will be! A Gabi is made by a team, and so was this book. Fasika Adefris and I taught together and wrote together, so it made perfect sense we would author THE GABI THAT GIRMA WORE together. We chose a cumulative structure to highlight the process from cottonseed to finished product, and Netsanet Tesfay created the stunning illustrations.
Prompt: Pick an object that intrigues you. How is that object made? How can you use language and structure to invite children to experience the creation of this object?
Zainab Khan
The idea for NOURA’S CRESCENT MOON (Candlewick, March 5, 2024) came as a bolt of lightning hitting the right place at the right time. A gift from God. I was inspired to write about fasting, Ramadan and Eid ul-Fitr all in one book. Then I imagined the story arc in my head as I wrote it down. I thought of the colors in the sky, the food Noura would eat, the things needed to be done for Eid to be special.
Prompt: Are you able to think up a story’s beginning, middle and satisfying end in your mind? How will you evoke the senses so that you are able to jot down what’s in your head into the written word? What colors and shapes do you see? What can you almost smell and hear? Is there something special your character can touch? How will all of these answers be part of the puzzle?
Sylvia Chen
How did TRICKY CHOPSTICKS (illus. Fanny Liem, Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, March 19, 2024) come about? I was brainstorming “How can I write a fun PB with some sort of STEAM tie-in like my other stories, that also captures my cultural background?” when the title TRICKY CHOPSTICKS popped into mind. From there, so many “how can…?” thoughts helped to shape and deepen my arc: How can I express that the MC Jenny feels all this cultural pressure in a relatable way for any reader? How can other characters add tension without being too mean or intense? How can Jenny use STEAM thinking for her solution? How can she succeed in an entertaining but realistic way? How can I phrase the ending with an encouraging takeaway and fun wordplay?
Prompt: How can you add elements from your personal experience to help your manuscripts stand out even more? As you revise, try imagining yourself as your MC and use a “how can…” lens to explore adding more depth to your story: How can you express what’s really driving your MC? How can your characters interact to strengthen the story arc? How can you show (vs. tell) the various emotions your MC feels? How can your MC work through certain challenges or circumstances in a relatable way for young readers?
Marzieh Abbas
AWE-SAMOSAS! (March 26, 2024, illustrated by Bhagya Madanasinghe) was born out of me asking myself how I could share the joy of experimental cooking, and celebrate my favorite tea-time snack and culture all in one book. In this story, Noor, a Pakistani girl fond of cooking, has misplaced her grandma’s famous samosa recipe. As the story built to the climax, I asked myself, how else can Noor fail? How can her creativity save the day? My backmatter also includes: How else can you stuff a samosa?
Prompt: If you have a plot-based story, ask yourself ‘how’ you can keep your MC from achieving their goal by putting more obstacles in the story. Is there something your MC really wants? How can they fail repeatedly so you can raise the stakes and build to the climax?
Gabriele Davis
PEACHES (May 7, 2024, illustrated by Kim Holt) was inspired by a childhood memory of the joy my dad took in sharing peach cobbler with our family. For my dad, a kind, quiet man, sharing food was sharing love. This likely stemmed from his own childhood, growing up on his family’s large Virginia farm, which included apple, plum, pear and peach trees. When inspired to write about this memory, I asked myself: How can I capture the joy of those peach-cobbler moments? How can I create relationships in this story that convey how loved I felt? How did this tradition begin? How was it passed along? I later added additional layers (loss and healing) to the story, which prompted even more “how” questions. I didn’t adhere strictly (or at all) to the original details of my experience—or of my dad’s. My loyalty was to the emotional truth.
Prompt: Think about your childhood memories and choose one that resonates deeply for you. Ask: How can I capture the emotions that this memory evokes? How can I recreate the relationships associated with this memory? Once the bare bones of the story are down, ask: How can I weave in key details (sights, sounds, scents, history, etc.)? How can I add conflict or tension to keep readers engaged? Finally, once the story feels complete, ask: How can I add additional layers to give this story even more meaning?
Cheryl Kim
While watching basketball with my husband back in 2012, LINSANITY took over the NBA news. We loved how Jeremy Lin broke stereotypes and I assumed he was the first Asian American to play in the NBA since he was the first I’d heard about. I was shocked when I found out that there had been others and the very first was Wataru Misaka who broke the color barrier in the NBA the same year Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. I wondered HOW I hadn’t heard of him before. That led to writing WAT TAKES HIS SHOT: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF WATARU MISAKA to share his story with the next generation of readers.
Prompt: Is there an overlooked or little-known piece of history that you want the next generation to know about? This could be a who, a where, a what, or a combination of them. How do you want to bring that piece of history to life in a way that would make young readers want to know about it?
Carol Joy Munro
It was a double whammy of ideas that resulted in SPRINGTIME STORKS: A MIGRATION LOVE STORY (Chelsea O’Byrne, illustrator). While cleaning my office, I found a print out of text I had typed from a book by Jane Yolen. It was a free verse poem. I love free verse! How had I never tried it for a picture book? How could I not try now? Days later, I saw a video on Facebook about two Croatian storks. He migrates. She can’t fly. How must she feel to await his return each year? How is their story not perfect for a free verse PB? So I got to work!
Prompt: Find picture book mentor texts that read like free verse poetry. Type them out. Study them. Watch for intriguing stories on social media, in newspapers, magazines, wherever. How do they inspire you? Tell your story in free verse.
Christina Shawn
When my son was a baby he only wanted to be with me and as time went on he became more comfortable with other people too. I wondered how I could express that special bond and his reluctance toward change, but also how our hearts and relationships find room to grow. THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM FOR MORE (Chronicle Books, 2025 illustrator Shahrzad Maydani) features a reluctant child in a growing family who finds there’s always room for more love.
Prompt: Ask yourself, how do you feel about change? How do you react? Do you get excited, resistant, angry, uncomfortable? How can you express these emotions through word choice or character voice in your writing?
Stacy S. Jensen
While living in a new community, I saw new houses and construction around me. I wondered, “How did this land look before all of this?” The answer: BEFORE I LIVED HERE (Spring 2025, illustrator Victo Ngai) which focuses on a boy’s neighborhood in Colorado. The land was home to many people, dinosaurs, and an ocean.
Prompt: While my story is about how land changes, ask yourself how something changes or was before your character arrives on the scene — a family before a new baby, a class before the new student enters, or a party before you knock on the door.
Thanks for exploring HOW with Kidlit Works today! You can follow us on Instagram @kidlitworks and TikTok @kidlitworks.
Kidlit Works is offering the following prizes:
- 30-minute Ask Me Anything with Cheryl Kim
- 30-minute Ask Me Anything with Sylvia Chen
- One-hour Ask Me Anything with Zainab Khan
- 30-minute Ask Me Anything OR a MS critique (under 600-words non-rhyming Fiction/Nonfiction picture book/board book) with Marzieh Abbas
- One-hour Ask Me Anything about websites or Canva OR a live picture book critique on Zoom with Stacy S. Jensen
- MS critique (under 600-words non-rhyming fiction picture book/board book) with option for Zoom brainstorming chat with Christina Shawn
- Manuscript critique (picture book, fiction, poetry or prose, rhyming okay, under 700 words) from Carol Joy Munro
- Picture book manuscript critique (max 600 word, non-rhyming, fiction) OR a copy of Peaches from Gabriele Davis
- $20 gift card to your favorite indie bookstore from Sara Holly Ackerman
Nine separate winners will be randomly selected.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
by Dawn Babb Prochovnic
One of the things I appreciate most about Storystorm is that it nudges me to write a little something (even if it’s just a whisper of an idea) each and every day. Today’s post provides an opportunity to sustain this creative routine all year long.
When my kids were bitsy, our household amassed a daunting collection of party favors and piñata toys. Somewhere along the line, I started incorporating that clutter into my creative writing practice.
Maybe you have your own copious collection of clutter? Stuff displayed on your desktop or bookshelf? Treasures tucked into your handbag or backpack? If yes, take a moment to locate an object—any object—and put it in front of you. If you don’t have anything easily within reach, use the image below as a stand-in:
Take a long, close look at your object, and begin writing down any words that come to mind in the following categories:
- Nouns:
- Adjectives:
- Verbs:
- Miscellaneous words that you don’t want to bother categorizing:
Now go a little deeper…
- What memories does this object evoke for you? (Write this down.)
- What connections does this object elicit for you? (Write this down.)
- What assortment of seemingly random thoughts are coming to mind for you? (Write this down.)
Now let’s get the creative juices really flowing. Set a timer for a three-minute freewrite that incorporates…
- The object itself, or
- One or more of the nouns, adjectives, verbs, miscellaneous words, memories, connections, or assortment of seemingly random thoughts that you’ve written above, OR
- Anything else that’s clamoring to get onto the page.
GO!!!
Write for three solid minutes. Don’t self-edit. Don’t judge. And don’t feel any obligation to apply the structural guidelines I’ve suggested above. Just let your imagination run wild and see what pops out.
DING!!!
Time’s up. Stop writing. Seriously, STOP writing at the three-minute mark. Even if you’re in the middle of a word, or a sentence, or a thought. Stop. Wiggle your fingers. Shake out your wrists. Relax your shoulders. Read and ponder what just poured out of you and onto the page.
Where might the words or ideas fit into a story you are working on? A character you are developing? An idea you are exploring? A story problem you are trying to solve? What new story ideas come to mind? What are you clamoring to keep writing about? Add some notes to capture your musings. Whoo-hoo! You have words on the page. Your creative brain is awake. You’ve already accomplished a little something, and the writing day is still young!
I’ve used variations of this activity for my own writing projects and for book events, school/library author visits, and creative writing workshops. Some examples:
- For early literacy events featuring WHERE DOES A PIRATE GO POTTY?, I display a small treasure chest and a container of toys with signage that says, “Ask How This Jar of Toys Can Be a Literacy Tool.”
- For school/library author visits I share how a little glass bird that sits on my desk, a gift from my Gram, found its way into early drafts of LUCY’S BLOOMS. As the story blossomed, the bird eventually got cut from the text, but the love and warmth I felt when looking at this object helped me tap into the love and warmth I wanted to convey between my characters, Lucy and Gram.
- I bring a bag of treasures with me when I teach writing workshops, pulling an object from the bag as I lead the group in a warm-up exercise similar to what I’ve described in this post. Time allowing, after the exercise, participants break into small groups to share what they’ve written; this helps illustrate that we all have different memories and experiences to draw from, and even if the prompt (or prop) is the same, our writing reflects these differences. For longer workshops, I distribute a unique object to each participant, and repeat the exercise. Young writers enjoy discovering they can keep my clutter er, their object after the workshop ends.
- For more in-depth writing programs, I display a selection of objects on a table, and invite participants to select one or more to use at their desks to help them generate a new story idea or get unstuck on some aspect of their work-in-progress. I provide different object-related prompts depending upon the content of the workshop, for example, “Write about the day your character found (or lost) this object,” or “Describe how this object fits into the setting of your story.”
- Illustrators (and non-illustrators) can substitute timed drawing/sketching in place of writing. I’ve found it to be especially liberating for young writers to be given “permission” to draw/sketch instead of writing words during the three-minute “freewrite.”
- If you’re running short on time in the morning, you can still select an object to keep in the back of your mind throughout the day, then sit down and write about the object in the afternoon or evening.
- If this particular activity is a good fit for you, you might also appreciate Object Writing, a technique developed by song-writing guru Pat Pattison (discussed in his book Writing Better Lyrics) that focuses on deeply describing an object using all of your senses.
I hope today’s post helps you collect heaps of new ideas!
Dawn Babb Prochovnic is giving away THREE prizes:
- A copy of LUCY’S BLOOMS (US);
- A copy of WHERE DOES A PIRATE GO POTTY? or WHERE DOES A COWGIRL GO POTTY? (winner’s choice, US); and
- A 30-minute Ask-Me-Anything Zoom Session (for an individual, critique group, or classroom).
Three separate winners will be randomly selected.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Dawn Babb Prochovnic has devoted her life’s work to initiatives that support literacy and the literary arts including early literacy enrichment programs; creative writing workshops; author visits/virtual visits to schools, libraries and bookstores; programming for professional development conferences/e-conferences; and robust enrichment materials on her educational blog. Dawn received the 2023 Walt Morey Young Readers Literary Legacy Award in recognition of significant contributions that have enriched Oregon’s young readers and was named an Oregon Library Supporter of the Year in 2015 for her work advocating for strong school libraries. Her publication credits include 19 picture books and a contribution to the award-winning anthology, OREGON READS ALOUD. Dawn enjoys collaborating with music professionals to create original songs and videos for her books.
Find Dawn online at DawnProchovnic.com, YouTube @dprochovnic, Instagram: @dawnprochovnic, and BlueSky @dawnprochovnic.bsky.social.
by Mylisa Larsen
So, I’m off to write a picture book. I sit down at my desk, and . . . nothing. Or something that sounds exactly like me, but not in a good way. Something that’s a whole lot like the manuscript I started last week which was a lot like the one I wrote last month. (Sigh.) Now what?
We all have favorite ways of entering the writing of a picture book. I think of them as different doors. I tend to go in through the door of voice (blue door with a dragon doorknob in my imagination.) But always going in through the door I’m most comfortable with sometimes limits the kinds of picture books that I’m able to write.
And one of the glorious things about the picture book genre is that it is varied and wide-ranging. There are so many doors you could step in through. What if today you go through a door you haven’t opened before?
Here’s some doors you might try.
- Concept—a book built around an idea (weather, family, water, etc.)
- Rhythm—Can you mimic the rhythm of a process or event? Where does that take you?
- Patterns—Set up a pattern and then break it (or pay it off) in a satisfying way. Or try adding a chorus to a picture book you’re writing? Does it make it richer?
- The Physical Form of the Book—How could you use the gutter of the book as a design element? Or trim size? Shape? Flaps or folds? Cut-outs? Page turns? Endpapers?
- Character—Can you create a book where everything that happens in the book happens because of who the main character is and how she sees life and behaves?
- Personification—Can a usually inanimate object tell a story in an intriguing or comic way?
- Visuals—even if you aren’t an illustrator, could you “write” a wordless book where the story is told entirely through the visuals? It’s good practice for us word people to think more visually. Make a storyboard and break out those stick figures, if need be!
- Dialogue—Can you tell a story only with dialogue? Or letters? Or signs?
One more thing. A picture book may start by going in through a certain door, but the best picture books actually have many things going for them—great story, told in a distinctive voice with unexpected elements that surprise and delight us. So try out a new door, sure. But when you find something that you love, make sure that during revisions you take yourself (and your manuscript) in and out of several doors as you layer elements to make that book as worthy of multiple reads as you can.
Go try out a new door today. Or several. Have fun!
Mylisa Larsen will be giving away a signed copy of her newest picture book ALL THOSE BABIES which started by going through the door of loving odd words (when she found out baby echidnas are called puggles, she was off to the races) but then also went wandering through rhythm and rhyme doors, concept doors, and pattern doors before it was finished.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Mylisa Larsen has been telling stories for a long time. This has caused her to get gimlet-eyed looks from her parents, her siblings and, later, her own children when they felt that certain stories had been embellished beyond acceptable limits. She now writes children’s books where her talent for hyperbole is actually rewarded. You can visit her online at MylisaLarsen.com.
by Courtney Pippin-Mathur
Hello Storystormers!
When Tara approached me about doing art for STORYSTORM, I was thrilled. I have been a participant and an occasional guest author, but this was different. I was excited. I was determined. I was nervous.
I started with a few sketches. I love drawing gnomes, fairies and elves, so thought I would try that. I added some carrying or thinking of lightbulbs.
But it didn’t feel quite right.
When I wasn’t sketching ideas, I thought on it. Thinking on it is one of a writer’s greatest tools. You can do it anywhere. Doing dishes—Think On It. Drawing an elf for a monthly challenge—Think On It. Take a shower—Think On It.
During my Think on It sessions, I came to two conclusions:
- I wanted the character to be an animal.
- I wanted the “storm” part of STORYSTORM to be a blizzard.
So I started sketching animals. I filled up a page of various animals with lightbulb ideas.
Two stuck out to me: the lion and the bear.
When an idea or sketch is appealing to me, I draw it again.
The little lion was really appealing to me; I loved his wee raincoat. But as I sketched him more, I realized I liked him BUT he wasn’t right for the STORYSTORM blizzard idea. So, I put him aside to use sometime in the future. Maybe as a picture book idea?
I went back and sketched the bear in different positions and ideas. (For the participation badges, winner badges, banner, etc.)
Then I sent it to Tara to see if she liked the idea. She did, so I started on the color. Actually it was a week or so later. My art creation process is usually a series of scribbly twists and turns instead of a simple line. It used to frustrate me, but now I accept it as part of the process and look for any extraneous sketches or ideas that I can use in the future.
When I came back to start the final art, I decided I wanted the bear to be a full sized bear instead of a little guy. So I did drew it again.
I played around with compositions and finally came to the ½ view you see in the “Participant” badge.
Added color…
Tara and I hopped on a Zoom to find the perfect font. (Which Tara is better at than me.)
And ta-da…
I was very happy with him. So much so, that I added color to the earlier sketch-version and have it on my website for my winter welcome page. (And as stickers!)
I love projects that inspire other art or illustrations and since STORYSTORM is all about inspiration, it seems perfect.
P.S. While all of these revisions were happening, I WAS THINKING ON IT. In the banner, there are several ideas (lightbulbs). Some are easy to find—like on the trees, some are closer to home, some are half-buried in the snow—you just half to go look for them. See how many you lightbulbs you can find in the banner. And good luck on finding your 30 ideas!
Courtney Pippin-Mathur is giving away one 30-minute “Ask Me Anything” Zoom plus a pack of stickers from her Etsy shop to one lucky Storystorm winner.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Courtney Pippin-Mathur is an author/illustrator of picture books. IT’S HOLI, written by her sister-in-law, Sanyukta Mathur, will be released February 2024 from Holt BFYR. When she’s not teaching at Highlights Foundation, writing, or making art, she’s playing with clay or working her local bookstore. Visit her at PippinMathur.com.
by Lisa Katzenberger
In my nine years of writing picture books, I’ve been most drawn to (and most successful at selling) Social Emotional Learning (SEL) picture books. Storystorm is about inspiration and idea generation, and I can share what I have learned over the years and through oodles of ideas: dig deep and share your authentic self.
I have had story ideas about everything from talking skyscrapers, to mounted police officers, to orchestra conductors. But I am none of the above, and I don’t know much about them. It was only when I started writing stories about authentic experiences with my own emotions that my stories blossomed and my work became acquired.
As an example, I wrote IT WILL BE OK: A Story of Kindness, Empathy, and Friendship, illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett, about my own experience with anxiety—although I didn’t know I was doing that at the time. It wasn’t until I my publisher asked me to do a Book Talk about where I got the idea, and I spent time reflecting on the story development and revision process, that I realized what I had written: a story about how some of our emotions (like fear) can look really small to others on the outside, but still feel really big to us on the inside. Once IT WILL BE OK was published, I heard from many teachers that they used it as part of their SEL curriculum, and this story led to helpful discussions about identifying our emotions, listening to others, and being a good friend.
While I kind of stumbled upon writing an SEL story for IT WILL BE OK, I challenged myself to be more intentional with my future stories. I wanted to continue writing SEL books that could serve as a conversation starter for kids about their emotions. I certainly had some false starts—not every concept was a winner, but that’s OK! But I eventually found success with an idea that came straight from a therapy session. This picture book is I CAN DO IT EVEN IF I’M SCARED: Finding the Brave You, illustrated by Hannah George.
In this story, I talk about a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tool I learned: Acting “As If”. The gist of this tool is about acting as if you already are the person you want to be. After it helped me, I thought kids could relate to it this way: playing pretend. So I took a very deep, emotional, private moment of my life and poured it onto the page.
So, how can you mine your own life for stories with an emotional heart? Here is an exercise to try:
- Think of a time you felt a strong emotion—as a child or an adult. It could be a joyful moment, a scary moment, a sad moment. Anything goes.
- What were you like when you first felt that emotion? This defines the character and establishes the story beginning.
- What did you do as that emotion washed through you? This describes the action and is your story middle.
- How did you feel afterwards? This presents the emotional shift and serves as your story end.
As an example, in my picture book IT WILL BE OK, the emotional shift looks like this:
When it comes to writing SEL picture books, I advise you to look deep into your heart, and mine your emotions for experiences that kids can relate to and grow from. I’m not going to lie, this is all VERY scary for me to write and share. But when I think about a kid sitting in circle time, listening to my story and thinking, “Hey, I feel that way too. Maybe I can talk about it with someone,” it’s all worth it.
Lisa Katzenberger is giving away a fiction picture book critique to one lucky Storystorm winner.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Lisa Katzenberger has been writing stories since she was a kid. Books have been a part of her life since her mom took her to the local library each week and let her roam around the children’s section, picking out whatever she wanted to read. She loved escaping into stories, and she still can’t believe she gets to write them for kids now!
She’s on the faculty of The Writing Barn where she teaches picture book writing courses including Perfecting the Picture Book, Writing Social Emotional Learning Picture Books, and Write. Submit. Support.
She lives near Chicago in La Grange, Illinois with her husband and two children. Visit her website at LisaKatzenberger.com and follow her on Bluesky @lisakatzenberger.bsky.social, Instagram @lisakatz17, and X @FictionCity.
Welcome to Day Two of Storystorm! If it hasn’t happened yet, soon your world will be full of stories. You walk down the street and every bird, every dog, every odd-colored car seems like they could be the star of a picture book. I love this. Yes, the sparrow, the puggle, and the car the color of pineapple juice are there every day, but there is magic in suddenly seeing ideas, and seeing that they are everywhere. I get such a thrill from writing down all of these possibilities and figuring out what their stories might be.
Here’s how writing usually works for me:
- Write a persistent idea into a draft.
- Revise it a few times.
- And then: A significant amount of future-tripping. I imagine my agent telling me it’s the best thing she’s ever read. I picture what the book will look like when it’s done. I think about how I’ll feel when I get a call from an award committee. I dream about how it will feel to get a high five from Oprah.
While I do like the writing process, I also really like the part where I send the manuscript out and it’s no longer my problem. I like checking things off my to-do list. But I have learned I can’t rush it. Creativity isn’t an item to check off. I need to give the manuscript time. How much time? As much as it needs. Sometimes that’s a few weeks. Sometimes it’s years.
It’s like stories are artifacts we’re unburying, and some are fairly clean and close to the surface, and for some you have to dig for miles and clean off a lot of dirt before you even know what you’re looking at.
It’s a magic trick to take your invisible brain thoughts and form them into real words and stories. Of course it takes time.
Time lets me see what’s working and what’s not in a story. It’s only by letting a draft sit for a day, a week, a month, that I can understand what it’s trying to be and shape it into that thing. There are always parts that helped me get the story to where it needs to be, and then, three drafts and some time later, it’s obvious that part can be cut away. There are also always parts that stick out somehow, that take me out of the story, or just bug me. Often it takes a few drafts (and time) for me to realize that part is poking at me and needs to go. Time is what takes a manuscript from good enough to great.
At some point, the changes I’m making to a draft are small and insignificant (adding a comma, say), and there aren’t any more pointy bits that poke me when I’m reading or thinking about it. And that, finally, is when I send it out and (at least temporarily) get it off my desk.
I have a picture book coming out in June called HELP WANTED: ONE ROOSTER. I wrote the first draft of this book in 2012. It’s about a cow who is interviewing roosters for the rooster job at the farm, and they’re all terrible candidates. After many revisions, it got a book deal in 2014.
This is easy math. The book is coming out twelve years after I wrote the first draft, ten years after the book went under contract. When people say publishing is slow, they’re not kidding. So, listen: TAKE YOUR TIME. There is truly no rush.
As the years went on, I deleted characters who didn’t seem quite so funny to me any more, and replaced them with better ones. I worked and reworked why they were looking for a new rooster in the first place. I didn’t really figure out the ending until 2021—years after it was originally supposed to publish.
It took ten years from the first draft for the story to get fully unburied. I wasn’t working on it nonstop during that time—years would go by when I wouldn’t work on it at all—but it was always simmering, and the full plot of it didn’t really come to me until three years ago.
I never would have expected this book to take so long when I first got the idea. But I know that some books just take longer. And it’s always right to give them the time they need. So go forth! Write up those ideas! Some will flow right out of you, and some will take much longer, which is, frankly, fascinating. Why are they buried so deep? We’ll never know. But we are so lucky to be the ones who get to dig them out.
Julie Falatko is giving away a seat at her picture book revision class to one lucky Storystorm winner.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once below.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Julie Falatko writes books for children. She is the author of several picture books, including SNAPPSY TTHE ALLIGATOR (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), THE GREAT INDOOORS, RICK THE ROCK OF ROOM 214, as well as the TWO DOGS IN A TRENCH COAT chapter book series. Julie lives with her family in Maine, where she maintains the Little Free Library in front of their house. Visit her at JulieFalatko.com and subscribe to her Substack newsletter.
Words—if you’re a writer, you love them. You NEED them. They’re our story building blocks.
I love the sound of certain words, the way they slide off the tongue. My book ABSURD WORDS began when I ran across the word “archipelago”. I stopped reading, transfixed by the exotic and lovely term for an island chain. I wrote it down…and my “favorite word list” began.
Whenever I read a fantastic word, in a crossword puzzle, novel, or news article, I wrote it down. When I heard it in a movie, TV show, or YouTube video, I wrote it down. I wanted to keep the good words close.
Since the Internet loves a list, I slapped the words on this website. Then when the list became the most heavily-accessed page on this site, I pitched my agent the concept for ABSURD WORDS.
I know, it’s not a picture book. A picture book brimming with substantial words isn’t fit for the age group. However, a wondrous word on its own can conjure up ideas for marvelous picture book stories!
Let’s go back to “archipelago”. This word was featured in the Christmas stop-motion classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to describe the location of The Island of Misfit Toys.
Toys! Misfits! On an island far away! Longing for a child to love them! Did all these ideas originate with the word “archipelago”? Maybe???
I don’t shy away from using difficult words in my picture books, as long as I use them sparingly and in context so their meaning can be sussed out. But I’m not suggesting you just slip “labyrinth” into your story—I am encouraging you to begin with “labyrinth” to discover where it leads. What ideas spring forth? Children love secretive places about which adults are clueless—so where does your “labyrinth” story go?
I’ve got more words to love!
- zhuzh
- scrumble
- derring-do
- sardoodledom
- swellhead
- finicky
- pareidolia
- gravitas
- moonbow
- fiddlesticks
- galactico
- jimberjawed
- shackbaggerly
- soliloquy
- nonuplets
- cahoots
- sticktoitiveness
- againwend
- flipperling
Plus, of course, the entire original list!
But you don’t necessarily need my lists. Think of your favorite word as a jump-start. Thumb through a dictionary. Devour a thesaurus.
Words can take us (and our readers) anywhere we want to go!
Tara Lazar is giving away a fiction picture book critique to one lucky Storystorm winner.
You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once below.
Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 