Week of August 5, 2012—Odds and Ends
Tuesday, August 7—Magazine Article vs.
Picture Book
A
few weeks ago I featured posts about the top five problems I most often see in the
manuscripts I critique. Well, here’s Number Six! I frequently say in
face-to-face critiques, online critiques, and paid critiques, “This sounds more
like a magazine article than a picture book.”
There’s
nothing wrong with writing a story for a magazine. Many writers make their
livelihoods from magazine writing. But it is important to know what makes a
magazine story a magazine story, and what makes a picture book a picture book.
Some distinguishable differences are:
· R
Length
(magazine articles often have a larger word count, than picture books)
· R
Level
of details (magazine articles include more details which picture book authors
often leave to the illustrator to show)
· R Pacing
(picture books have a “snappy” pacing, while the details and dialogue in a
magazine article may slow its pacing in comparison)
When
Cheryl (a critique group friend) shared an article comparing picture books and
magazine articles, I knew it was something I needed to read and that I wanted
to share with the readers of Picture This!
Below
are links to some articles for you to explore to learn more about the difference between magazine articles/stories and picture book manuscripts:
As
you write, know your genre and write to that genre. If you mean to write a
picture book, but the manuscript comes out more like a magazine article, never fear. Why not submit
that magazine article, and then find a picture book idea within that story that
you can also write?!
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