As I’m about to embark on the sixth draft of my current work-in-progress,
(=WIP) I’m mulling over this
post that highlights three questions one should ask about the story while
drafting:
Is there a character arc?
Does the plot hold casual progression?
Are characters’ motivations convincing?
While this is important to do when evaluating a novel and
also when giving feedback to others, it is just as valid for a picture book
text if the picture book isn’t a concept text (i.e. lists of shapes, or ABC and such)—Any story
of any length will be compelling if a writer can strongly sign on as having
checked these three marks.
But I’d add a fourth, which is a duh
sort of pillar:
Is it entertaining? It’s best to enlist another’s eyes for
this, but even the writer can tell if they themselves are yawning. If you are
snoozing at your own writing, others would have been snoring by that point.
Great storytelling is both an innate talent and also a craft
mastered with care.
