Abigail Samoun of Tricycle Press

Abigail Samoun of Tricycle Press was a guest speaker at our SCBWI Conference here in Portland, Oregon.

And she talked about the 12-steps of writing.

She had a great sense of humor and imparted a good deal of information.

She said that the first step to writing is admitting that you need to revise.

She was talking about picture books and the 12 steps to writing a picture book.

She said some people think writing a picture book is easy but that’s not the case. Each word has to carry its weight in the story and when you have so few words the weight is a heavy one to bear.

Some of the questions you need to ask yourself are: 1) Does this book need illustrations, 2) Does it stand up to multiple readings, 3) Is it too short for a 32 page picture book format – or perhaps too long. 4) Would a parent or librarian pay $14.95 for this story?