I wish I could tell you some great strategies I use to brainstorm picture book ideas. I really do. Unfortunately, most of my best ideas don’t work that way.
No, my best ideas are more like a butterfly flitting by. They’re beautiful and they’re fast and, if I have a butterfly net handy and I’m really quick, I just might be lucky enough to catch one for a closer look.
So here’s how catching an idea works for me (and how you can try it too):
Are you listening?
(Yes, I know you’re listening to me, but that’s not what I meant. 🙂 )
Are you listening… to yourself?
Yes, that’s the way I come up with many of my best ideas. By listening, to myself.
Here’s how it works:
I’m talking to my husband or my son or a friend and suddenly I hear myself say something curious or funny or thought provoking or odd.
Before I took myself seriously as a writer, those comments used to just “fly away”, but now…
“That sounds like a picture book,” I exclaim, and use my handy dandy “idea net” to catch it and store it in my ideas with possibility pile.
Now if you want to be even more effective at catching promising ideas before they fly away, here’s another hint:
It can really help if the people around you start to listen for picture book ideas too. (My husband and I were in the middle of a wacky conversation, when he pointed out that the silly topic we were discussing just might make an interesting picture book idea. It hadn’t even occurred to me. But, guess what? He was right!)
Now, maybe because many of my best ideas start out sounding like picture books, I often seem to catch titles. That’s what happened with my upcoming picture book, WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT?
I was talking to my almost-three-year-old about his favorite topic, trucks, when I heard myself saying, “Where do diggers sleep at night?”
“That sounds like a picture book!” I exclaimed, and I had my idea. Hurray!
But just because I had my idea didn’t mean I knew what to do with it. For me, that’s when the brainstorming really starts going in earnest. So I decided to go just a bit further with this post, to trace what happened to this idea after I caught it.
Should a book called “Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night?” be a nonfiction book, factually explaining where a variety of trucks slept at night?
I definitely considered that possibility. After all, my truck-loving son had exposed me to many wonderful informational books. I eagerly began researching where trucks truly spent the night. Somehow, though, this direction didn’t feel right to me. Nonfiction is awesome, but the title I had caught felt more fanciful.
So, I went back to the drawing board. What else could I do with this title? I wondered. It should be a bedtime book, I thought, and I started to draft a rather sweet book about a bunch of trucks getting ready for bed.
Right direction, but this new version still had one major problem. It just wasn’t “truck-y” enough. The getting ready for bed story I was writing could have been about airplanes or clowns or elephants (or little boys).
The whole reason I was intrigued, and that I thought my young readers would be intrigued, was that this story would be about trucks. So I headed back to the drawing board once again. This time, I made sure that each stanza contained something about bedtime and something about trucks. Bingo! I finally knew where to go with my idea.
Then came lots and lots of revisions, but that’s another story.
So, good luck with Picture Book Idea Month! Listen to yourself closely and you just might catch an idea. And once you catch it, good luck with brainstorming until you know just what to do with it. 🙂
Brianna Caplan Sayres has taught students ranging in age from kindergarten to graduate school. Now she’s busy writing and raising two kids of her own. Brianna’s writing has been published in magazines including Highlights for Children and Cobblestone, and she’s super excited that her first picture book, WHERE DO DIGGERS SLEEP AT NIGHT?, is scheduled to be published by Random House in Summer 2012. Brianna and her critique group chat about writing for children at The Paper Wait. Brianna is represented by Teresa Kietlinski of Prospect Agency.
21 comments
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November 21, 2010 at 11:55 am
Lynne Marie
Thanks for your inspiring post, Brianna! Whether you dig for ideas, everyone, or let them land on your shoulder, let your ideas, fly!
November 21, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Erin Liles
Thanks for the great post! Sometimes ideas come to me as titles and I go from there. Sometimes I just start jotting down ideas and see what comes from them. But PiBoIdMo has helped me figure out how to work for those ideas instead of waiting for them to just hit me! I wrote a short blog post about it if anyone is interested:
http://eliles-coloringoutsidethelines.blogspot.com/
~Erin
November 21, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Ishta Mercurio-Wentworth
“The whole reason I was intrigued, and that I thought my young readers would be intrigued, was that this story would be about trucks.”
This is such an important point – something we should all remember is to keep going back to what intrigues us about an idea, and what we think will intrigue our readers about it. Thanks for the reminder, and for the reminder to listen!
November 21, 2010 at 4:35 pm
ccgevry
This is such a smart idea. At night I make up silly songs and I wonder if one of those could end up becoming a picture book. Hmmm…
Thanks for sharing your inspiration.
Cheryl
November 21, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Ty's Adventures
Hi, Briana! I’m Ty!
Thank you for your post…it really hit home for my Mom. She has a sticky note app on her phone (which I like to fiddle with when she’s not looking hehehe).
When an idea pops up she snags it & puts it on a sticky note on her phone to write down & explore later…just like your butterfly net!
After reading this, I think Mom is on the right track. Thank you!!!
November 21, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Lynn
Thank you for this. A few times I have had funny conversations with our young grandson and I think now that some of those slightly zany topics could have been diverted into picture books. I will try to pay better attention to myself from now on!
November 21, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Corey Schwartz
Great post. I love hearing SPECIFICS! Thanks, Brianna.
November 21, 2010 at 7:12 pm
tammi sauer
Nice post, Brianna! Congratulations on your upcoming book. 🙂
November 21, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Heather Kephart
Brianna, your post was quite helpful. I too come up with ideas throughout the day (much to my kids’ chagrin – I’m always dashing out of “a moment” to “write that down!). Harder to develop an idea, though. I usually just run with it, but it would be prudent and FUN to perhaps mindmap each nugget to see the different directions we could go with it. And definitely remember to keep the ESSENCE of the idea firmly intact. Love it!
November 21, 2010 at 9:28 pm
Brianna Caplan Sayres
Hi All– Thank you so much for your kind comments! (I was a bit nervous about posting. The posts from last year and this year have all been so fantastic, I wasn’t sure if I had anything new to add to the already incredible array of ideas about how to come up with ideas for idea month. :o) )
— Lynn Marie– Your comment made me wish that I did “dig” for ideas! It would fit well with the title of my book. :o)
— Erin– I totally agree with you about not just waiting for ideas. During PiBoIdMo, I have found myself listening a lot more actively. It is amazing for me to see how often I say something that could become a picture book– when I’m really listening carefully! (And I really enjoyed your blog! I especially love your blog title and the philosophy behind it.)
–Ishta– So glad to hear this point resonated with you! If we lose what intrigued us about the idea in the first place, writing becomes a lot less fun and motivating. (And, in my book, fun is definitely good!)
–Cheryl– I make up silly songs too! I’ll have to start listening to them more closely. Thanks for the great idea!
–Lynn– Good luck paying attention to those zany conversations! I am a huge fan of zany!
–Corey– So glad you enjoyed the specifics! (I wasn’t sure about how much detail to include. Like you, I’m a fan of seeing the real nitty gritty behind how ideas are created and how they turn into books.)
–Tammy– Thanks so much for the congratulations!
–Heather– It’s definitely fascinating to me how many different books each idea could possibly turn into. Hope you have fun mindmapping!
November 21, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Stephenie Hovland
Great blog post. I think in a similar manner. It’s lots of fun, isn’t it?!
November 21, 2010 at 10:44 pm
Marcy Pusey
Yeay! Someone who write like me! Its so true… my best ideas come like butterflies as well… usually at the very moment that I am falling asleep, or with shampoo-slathered hair in the shower, or sitting beside a toilet with a potty-training child. I have found a kindred spirit! Now I just need to embrace that and wear a notebook around my neck!
November 21, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Christie Wild
Hey! That sounds just like me, titles first, then brainstorming for the HOW later. You inspire me to not give up on the brainstorming too soon. It’s the hardest part for me. Then I outline, then I get to WRITE!
November 22, 2010 at 1:54 am
Dorina Lazo Gilmore
Thanks for the challenge to listen to myself and the world around me for picture book ideas. I think this has been the resounding lesson for me these past 21 days. Some of my non-writing friends and family are even pitching story ideas to me now that they know I’ve taken on PiBoIdMo. Time to get my butterfly net!
November 22, 2010 at 4:40 am
M. G. King
Loved this. I’m constantly inspired by my kids, and I think it’s because I’m not afraid to say silly things like “I wonder where diggers sleep at night?” Wondering about stuff like that sounds perfectly reasonable to them. Creativity is so much about giving ourselves permission to chase ideas . . . like butterflies. Perfect analogy. Thanks for the post!
November 22, 2010 at 7:58 am
Kimberly Lynn
“This time, I made sure that each stanza contained something about bedtime and something about trucks. Bingo! I finally knew where to go with my idea.”
These are the types of details that make a story stand out. Congrats on your first picture book, Brianna!
November 22, 2010 at 8:41 am
laurasalas
Thanks for sharing your process with your digger book–very cool. I agree–it’s not a matter of “coming up with” ideas, it’s recognizing them, because they’re always swirling around us.
November 22, 2010 at 12:45 pm
kathy stemke
Thanks Brianna.
November 22, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Catherine Johnson
I absolutely agree. My son has been great at helping me with ideas and yesterday on the way out to see Cirque du Soleil with friends (yes it was brilliant btw) I quickly got my notebook out to jot down an idea everyone in the car had given me, to groans from my husband. Give it a rest he said. The only non-writing thing I’ve done in ages and I’m still at it 🙂
November 22, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Diana Murray
I love the story of how you came up with your pb idea (which is brilliant, by the way). Thanks for sharing your process!
November 23, 2010 at 11:11 am
Catherine Denton
This is so true! I’ve caught a few that way myself but it’s good to be reminded to pay attention. Thanks for sharing Brianna!
Catherine Denton