An assignment

/

I’m kind of taking the week off, but I thought I’d share this. At Backstreet Writers yesterday, somehow we ended up chatting about children’s books and some of the weird ideas some of us had for them.

So I laughingly challenged the table to bring in a 16-page children’s book next week. Today I sent them the following instructions:

  • Create a mock-up of a 16-page children’s book, preferably a picture book.

  • Take four pieces of letter-sized paper, fold them. (I’ll bring my long-arm stapler for those who want to use it.)

  • There are your 16 pages. Notice that you don’t have to “write” anything for the cover or the back, so you actually only have to invent 12 pages.

  • Don’t know what to write? Visit the children’s section at Barnes & Noble. STEAL FROM THE BEST. (Do not steal an actual book, please.)

  • Try to make it a real children’s book, but don’t take the assignment too seriously. Have fun with it. Write ABORTIVE ATTEMPT at the top of the page. Draw bad illustrations. Do not try to make it a finished product. 

#ReadySetGo

update: After making the little mock-up pictured above, I had a scathingly brilliant shinyperfect and might actually have mine done for next week. I’ll share on Monday.