I promised the attendees in my picture-book workshop at #Kweli21VIRTUAL that I would answer their questions on Twitter, since I talked so much we didn't have time in class. So: thread!

“Is Lee & Low open to unsolicited subs?” Alas, we are not, because we have a small staff with a big workload, & it doesn’t seem fair to ask writers to wait indefinitely for their MS to be read. We hope this will change in future, & we’re open to agented subs in the meantime. +

+ Also, the submissions period for our writing contests for BIPOC debut writers opens on May 1. Picture books: https://www.leeandlow.com/writers-illustrators/new-voices-award Novels/graphic novels: https://www.leeandlow.com/writers-illustrators/new-visions-award Please check them out & submit!

“Did you say one spread should only crystallize one mood or event?” Yep! As a loose rule of thumb (not a law), each single page or full spread should concentrate on one major idea/mood/event. Having two moods, especially, would create a conflict within the illustration.

“How do you recommend getting started if you’ve never written a picture book?” Read at least 100 published picture books. (I am not kidding.) Choose one and type out the text with pagination to get a sense of how it flows sans pictures. +

+ Brainstorm concepts by remembering your own childhood, observing children, or talking to children or people who live/work with them about what kind of books they wish they could see. Write a bad first draft, then follow the tips from the session yesterday to revise/improve it.

“Is it possible to have a picture book with only pictures without text for babies?” Yes — see Tana Hoban’s BLACK AND WHITE. But it might be a hard sell because caregivers like talking to babies & babies like hearing their voices, & words provide a structure for that exchange.

“What are some ways that illustrator notes can be streamlined when an event or series of events don’t need words? (e.g. wordless spreads)” Keep the note as brief as possible, describing only the action & plot/meaning-essential details. For spreads, you could have text like +

+ “[Four wordless spreads: The bear chases them 1, out of the cave; 2, through the forest; 3, across the meadow; 4, into the house.]” Hopefully you have set up the importance or meaning of this action enough that the reader will understand its significance without words.

“I’m curious about WINGS — a 12-word picture book! How did that work?” I wrote it in ladder form and added one line of illustrator notes per word: “p. 2-3: WINGS! [A little bird stretches its wings.] 4-5 CLINGS . . . [It hovers at the edge of the nest.]” etc. +

+ I think it was a successful submission because it really does get across both satisfying emotional & action plots in the 12 words plus the pictures, and because that's a neat & fun trick to pull off. It's also fun to read aloud, if I do say so myself.

“Do you plan on returning to teach at Highlights Foundation in the future?” Sure, if they’ll invite me! @Highlights, you have my number.

“Do you have any thoughts for authors who are not illustrators who love wordless picture books? Is there a role for us given that the illustrator would be doing most of the work?” It could be hard to sell, because publishers may not want to pay an author for literally silence; +

+ but you could try writing the ms. in ladder form entirely in illustrator notes, e.g., 1 title, 2-3 copyright & dedication, 4-5 [A family picnics in a meadow with a forest in the far distance], 6-7 [As the two kids fight, a bear appears in the forest] +

+ 8-9 [The parents break up the fight as a bear approaches].” That will show an editor that you’ve thought through all the action & how it will fill out an entire book. You might also try joining forces with an illustrator friend to create a dummy & sell it as a package deal. +

David Small & Jennifer Armstrong's ONCE UPON A BANANA is a good example text to check out.

“If you ever receive a picture book in rhyme and love the concept/arc, will you ever ask for an R&R without rhyme?” Yup, if the rhyme is the thing holding the story back. (Though I do love manuscripts written in good rhyme; see @henakhanbooks’s UNDER MY HIJAB, for example.)

“Do you have any tips for increasing illustration possibilities for PB text where the character is going through a lot of internal feelings and thoughts to resolve her problem?” Give her some interesting external hobby/action to do as she thinks: wandering the city +

+ or gardening or baking or playing music. Ideally this will deepen her characterization & also connect to/reflect the problem she’s thinking about. See @rajanilarocca’s SEVEN GOLDEN RINGS for a great example of dramatized thinking.

“Knowing that kids ask us to read books over and over again, are there key elements that you think make a book most satisfying for both the adult reader and child listener?” Good rhyme; prose with simple sentence structures and satisfying rhythms; refrains; selected exclamations+

+ or onomatopoeia. Two of my favorite books to read with my 18-month-old are KITTEN’S FIRST FULL MOON by Kevin Henkes and RED TRUCK by Kersten Hamilton, illustrated by Valeria Petrone. All the quest spreads in KFFM have 3-5 very simple actions, clear & easy to read, +

+ & punctuated by the refrain about the bowl of milk waiting in the sky. Occasional exclamations like “Poor Kitten!”, “What a night!”, and “Lucky Kitten” vary the tone and put emotional buttons on what’s happening. +

+ RED TRUCK has vigorous rhyme that matches the vigor of the truck & is punctuated by words like “ZOOM!” & “SPLOOSH!” that are fun to say & hear. We read RED TRUCK tonight & my son actually clapped after the triumphant ending, all on his own.

“How does the PB text go through further edits once the illustrator has given feedback. Can you explain the editorial process in this back and forth?” This varies from editor to editor and house to house, but I work with the author to develop the pagination & shape each spread +

“How does the PB text go through further edits once the illustrator has given feedback. Can you explain the editorial process in this back and forth?” This will vary from editor to editor and house to house, but I work with the author to develop the pagination & shape each spread

+ to focus on one key idea/mood/event, as above. Then the text goes to the illustrator to create the sketches. When we see the sketches, we might discover some text is redundant with the art, or we need to add some info in the text to make the point of the spread clear, +

+ or we need to revise the pagination because we were packing too much into one spread. So it goes back to the author (often with the sketches so they can see the issue), & we try to revise the text as needed while keeping within the space set up in the sketches. +

+ It’s always a balancing act between art & text so we get the ideas or feelings across without being repetitive or obscure or on the nose — but when we get it right, the picture book is SUCH a satisfying and cool art form!

Thank you all for attending my talk, and best of luck with your picture books!