Part 1.1 - Laying the Foundation: Basis Points

First of all, don't force it! Flow with it!

The reason you want to write a picture book will be the guide you need to start!

Reasons:

*You want to tell a specific story.

e.g. share an experience, an inspired story idea

*You want to write about a specific topic/theme.

e.g. kindness, blended families, traditions, friendship, social issues, etc.

*You want to write a story using specific characters.

e.g. your favorite animals, humans of a specific ethnicity/religion, etc.

*You want to write a story using a specific genre.

e.g. fantasy, comedy, relatable events, etc.

The above reasons are now basis points to create your story!

You can combine two or more of them to start creating an outline for your story.

For e.g.: You may desire to write a story about one of your childhood adventures.

But, you may want to tell it through your favorite animal which is a cow!

You are now using two basis points for your story:

specific experience + specific character

With that basis, you can start outlining your story!

E.g. Your personal experience is that you ran away from home and hitched a ride to another state.

But, by combining your experience + your favorite animal (cow), your story outline becomes:

"Harry Cow runs away from his home and hitches a ride to another place."

Now with this story outline, you can start building your plot, etc. - but this part is for a future blog post!

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Here are my personal examples of using Basis Points:

George Frost: Creator of Winter

*Story: I had a suddenly inspired idea - Winter is created by a man who sculpts ice.

*Topic: Winter, Legacy, and Friendship

*Characters: Humans, Animals, and Trees

*Genre: Fantasy with a splash of reality

Funzie Daizy

*Story: Another inspired idea - I saw a rainbow-colored daisy who is optimistic and happy.

*Topic: Rejection & Acceptance, Serving Others, Finding Solutions & Hope, etc.

*Characters: Flowers, Insects, Animals, Weather Elements (Sun, Rain, Wind)

*Genre: Fantasy & Humor with a splash of reality

With both of these stories, I started with the story idea that I was inspired with, which led to choosing the main characters, the topic, and the genre.

You may start in another order.

Maybe you have a specific topic in mind:

*Choose your topic.

*Choose the characters you think would best showcase your topic.

*Then, decide how you want to showcase that topic by choosing your genre.

The same topic can be portrayed via different genres: for example, Shrek (fantasy), Steel Magnolias (drama), and Mama (horror) all portray the topic/theme of relationships, yet in very different ways and types of characters!

Oftentimes, you'll find yourself wanting to write what you like to watch (movies, shows) and/or read!

That's ok! That is your writing personality coming through!

Remember: flow with it!

Ok, now it's time for Homework before the next post!

Choose YOUR reason for wanting to write a picture book story from the Reasons listed above!

Then, decide on the remaining basis points for your story!

Talk to you in the next post!