We are so excited to have Lisa Wheeler join us today to share information about writing lyrical picture books!
Lisa Wheeler is the award-winning author of over 50 children’s books including Someone Builds the Dream, People Don't Bite People, and the popular Dino-Sports series. Lisa's book, The Christmas Boot, was the 2017 SCBWI Golden Kite Award winner for Picture Book Text. Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum was the 2017 Michigan Reads! One Book, One State Children’s Book Program recipient. Her awards include The Michigan Mitten, Texas Bluebonnet, and the Theodore Geisel Honor given by the American Library Association. Lisa shares her Michigan home with some terrific characters--one husband, one dog, and an assortment of anthropomorphic characters. Check out Lisa’s website at: www.lisawheelerbooks.com
Even as a child, I had the uncanny ability to memorize silly rhymes. Jump-rope songs, goofy commercial jingles, hand-clap games on the playground. . .I loved them all. I can still recite many of my favorites. (Number 9 Cutie is a song from Sesame Street which my dad asked me to sing often. He still calls me his Number 9 Cutie!) So it's no surprise that I was drawn to writing picture books in rhyme. I feel that my job as an author who writes rhyming lyrical books is to make it look easy. But it's not.
While all rhyming books should be lyrical, all lyrical books are not in rhyme. So having an ear for meter and flow is an important skill for any picture book writing. It helps with timing. If you don't have an ear for rhyme, prose might be a better choice. If you really want to write in rhyme, try taking classes. Years ago, I joined a poetry group to strengthen my meter.
If you are writing a book in prose, read it aloud. Listen to the cadence. Does it match the mood of the piece? For instance, if you are writing about a river that is slow moving, make sure your sentences aren't short and clipped. Use lines that feel as if they are floating and flowing along like the river.
If you choose to rhyme for your story, make sure that you have more than just rhyming end lines. Meter is the basis of all good rhyme. Study the masters--Maryann Hoberman, Margaret Mahy and Dr. Seuss are all good choices for meter. I also have to mention my old friend Mother Goose. Mary Had a Little Lamb has perfect meter.
In my lyrical book, A Hug is for Holding Me, I explored the idea of "things that hold other things" and compared them to hugs. I chose a an ABCB meter right from the first draft. But the book went through many revisions along the way. When my editor at Abrams bought it, I had sold her my third draft. While she saw the promise of what could be, we went through twelve more drafts and over a year of revisions before the aha! moment arrived. In the course of all that time and those many revisions, the book had wonderfully changed. While I always had nature scenes throughout, they were originally interspersed with other types of 'holds'--buckets, sheds, and mittens to name a few.
When my editor wanted to keep it all about nature, it felt perfect for the book. Then, when she suggested we cut the text in half, the magic happened. The sweet lyrical text became a loving ode to nature and the relationship between a caregiver and child. Lisk Feng 's art fleshed out the story and made the book into a perfect package.
This book taught me that less can be more. A perfect lesson for anyone writing picture books.