Resources for Writing Character Driven Picture Books

We see it everywhere. Editors and agents are seeking: Character Driven Picture Books.  But what exactly does that mean?

Pam Calvert from Woven with Pixie Dust wrote a fantastic post about Character Driven Picture books. Her list of Must Haves consists of:

Must haves:

·      Unique characteristics that go outside the box

·      Have an emotional connection with children

·      The “star” of the book

·      Big internal conflict that outweighs the external conflict

·      Story focus is on the main character not on the plot (although most title character driven books have wonderful plots!)

·      If you take that particular character away from the story, it falls apart or you wouldn’t have a story.

·      Character image is instantly recognizable (this is beyond a writer’s control, but if you’ve written your character well, you won’t have to worry about this.)


Be sure to check out her entire post. 



Wendy Silvano, author of Just One More and Turkey Trouble gives a fantastic definition of character driven picture books:


A character-driven picture book is just what it says—a picture book where the character drives the plot. Think of it this way: In a character-driven picture book the story is more about the character than about the plot. What happens in the story happens because of the attitudes, personality and character traits of the main character.

She also gives a great list of  eight questions to ask when trying to figure out if your character is compelling enough.  


Be sure to check out her entire post. 


I've spent some time researching resources for Character Driven Picture Books.


Character Driven Books to Read

http://www.pinterest.com/mandycyates/character-driven-picture-books/


Blog Posts and Articles

http://alaynekaychristian.wordpress.com/tag/character-driven-picture-books/

http://literaticat.blogspot.com/2011/07/whole-lot-of-info-about-picture-books.html

http://carmenoliver.livejournal.com/23091.html

http://operationawesome6.blogspot.com/2012/10/salina-yoon-on-difference-between.html

http://cfitewrite.blogspot.com/2013/01/notes-on-character-driven-pb.html

http://picturebooksonly.wordpress.com/2011/04/21/transcipt-21-april-what-drives-your-pb-character-or-plot/

https://suite101.com/a/plotting-your-book-for-children-a52757

http://writeoncon.com/08/17/irresistible-picture-book-characters/

PDF List

http://alaynekaychristian.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/character-driven-picture-books-suggested-reading-list.pdf

Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4XVn1bTlME

Industry

http://metro.nyscbwi.org/news/in-a-weak-economy-agents-look-for-safe-books-2/

Courses

http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-character-driven-stories.html


Are you currently writing a Character Driven Picture Book?  If not, use the resources above and give it a try.