Plotting the Plot
The average picture book is only 32 pages long. With endsheets and front matter, the story portion of the book is a mere 28 pages. Allowing room for illustrations, the author has 14 pages or less for text. Most classic picture book texts are 1000 words or under. That’s not a lot of maneuvering space in which to tell a story. A good picture book allows the illustrations to tell part of the story, reducing the word count. Some people even claim the illustrations should tell half the story. How does the writer pare down the text to let the illustrations do their job? In this essay I will look at how storyboarding can help an author think visually and edit text.

In Picture Writing Anastasia Suen presents a storyboard format of 16 horizontal rectangles, each divided down the middle, to represent the 32 pages of a picture book. Included are endsheets, front matter and a pattern for a story. On page five, the first page of text, she recommends introducing the main character, the big story problem and the setting. The main problem leads to a smaller problem on page six, for which there are three failed attempts at solving, each receiving a spread. The first smaller problem leads to a second problem, with three ensuing failed attempts at solving, which leads to a third problem, three failed attempts at solving and a crisis. On page 30 the main character makes a ­decision to solve the problem. The decision produces a resolution and the story is over (25-26).

This is an interesting analysis of a story’s structure, but many classic picture books don’t follow it. Introducing character, setting, and major story problem on the first page is a lot of information for a child to absorb. The great classic The Story of Ferdinand gives only the setting on the first page of text: “Once upon a time in Spain”. On the second page we are introduced to the main character: “there was a little bull and his name was Ferdinand.” The main character in Madeline is not introduced until almost half way through the text. And neither of these classics present the major story problem until late in the story, nor are there three failed attempts to solve it before the crisis.

While Suen’s grid presents the entire structure of the book, as a writer, I find it cumbersome. I am so intimidated by all those boxes I can’t bring myself to grid a story. The boxes don’t fit on one page well, which makes it hard to see the flow of the story. If put on one page, the boxes are too small to hold the necessary information. The prescribed plot inhibits the story development and is artificially formulaic. Not all stories have three failed attempts to solve three smaller problems that lead to the climax which is resolved in one page. It didn’t help me visualize the story as much as I had hoped.
The picture book grid by Jack Gantos is more streamlined and less restrictive. This grid is four boxes across by four boxes down for a total of 16 boxes; each box represents two pages. The character is introduced on page one, the setting on pages two and three, and the story problem on page four. The action, story, and characters are treated from page five to page 11. The climax occurs on page 12, character feelings are examined on pages 13 and 14, and the story problem is solved on pages 15 and 16.
This grid is much less intimidating and cumbersome. It is easy to use and works better visualizing the story’s flow. I like the way each box represents two facing pages, and how the treatment of character, setting, plot spreads across several pages. The main problem I have with it, though, is that there are too many pages: the story will be 32 pages instead of 28. I also question whether it’s necessary to examine the character’s feelings for four pages; it puts too much time between the climax and the end. So I decided to create my own storyboard grid.
I designed this grid to conform to the current picture book design trend of 28 pages of text and illustration. A triangle represents a single page. A square box represents two facing pages. This allows me to see where illustrations could spread across two pages, and to get a feel for where the pages turn. Since good stories have a beginning, middle, and end, the first row of boxes represents the beginning of the story; the next two rows represent the middle; and the last row is the story’s end.

Rather than specifying what specifically needs to appear on each page, such as main character, setting, or story problem, I prefer to think of the the page’s function. The first page of text needs to entice the reader to enter the story. A good story revolves around a compelling character, so the reader should meet the main character by the first two facing pages. It helps me to shape the story by thinking more in terms of “what does the main character want, and why is that a problem?” than just “major story problem.” And the basic premise and setting of the story should be established by page 9, which is the end of the beginning portion of the picture book.

The middle of the book should develop all the elements introduced in the beginning segment: character, setting, plot. I borrowed Jack Gantos’ arrows across several boxes to indicate this. I moved the crisis from the end of the third row to the beginning of the fourth row. The middle of the story should lead up to the crisis. The crisis conceptually should be beginning of the story’s end. After the crisis the problem needs to be solved, rather than examining the character’s feelings as per the Gantos grid. And on the last page, all lose ends should be tied up neatly into a nice bow. Otherwise the story isn’t fully resolved. It’s interesting to note that a bow on a package and a bow on a stage are spelled the same way.

I have shown in this essay that gridding is a great way to visualize a story without being an illustrator. Working from the general to the specific is an efficient method to establish a plot without getting mired in minutia. By focusing on form and function, rather than specifics, you can sketch the story’s structure quickly. Then, with diagram in hand, it is possible to sculpt away that which is not part of the masterpiece.

Works Cited
Bemelmans, Ludwig. Madeline. New York: Puffin Books-Penguin Group, 1939.
Leaf, Munro, and Robert Lawson, illus. The Story of Ferdinand. New York: Puffin Books-Penguin Group, 1936.
Suen, Anastasia. Picture Writing. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest, 2003.