I think it was Shirley Hughes who first spoke to me about the number of pages in a picture book. The sum total is usually 32 and that includes the end papers, the title page, everything. Lois Ehlert shows how she maps out her picture books so that she knows where the pictures will go and where she will write the story.
Having the constraint of a certain number of pages can be really helpful when you are starting to shape a story. It makes you think carefully about the words you choose and how you will put them together. You can think about how many words you would like on a page -sometimes just one or two words on the page make a real difference to how the story moves. And the page turn, can be like a big pause, a cliff hanger, an ellipsis …
We’ll come back to pauses in another post. In the meantime. Make yourself an origami book for your story. That gives you six pages and a front and back cover. Make a draft book from rough paper. Number the pages in pencil indicating front and back cover as well. Then you can open up the folds and lay the book flat. Plan your words and pictures as Lois Ehlert does. Use your draft as a guide for when you write and illustrate the book using good paper.
Writing Box 