With 2011 now behind us, we have no choice but to look forward to the new year. The first thing I am looking forward to in 2012 is to finally finish and publish my second children’s book, Steven the Vegan. It’s been a real challenge to get this book completed and I could not have done it without the crowd sourcing support of Kickstarter.com. Through Kickstarter.com I was able to raise over 2700.00 to complete the book.

2012 will also make way for my next project, another collaboration between myself and my longtime friend and illustrator, Ron Robrahn. Fields of Dreams is something we both came up with and will publish together. This won’t be a work for hire project with Ron, this is a true collaboration.

It’s been a year since I started my online serial, The Gaia Code, and I’ve already thought about some rewrites. Writing an online serial is not easy since you write on the spot with just a guideline and some notes to go by. But I plan on posting some new pages this next month. I usually write the page the night before and post the following day. Once complete I think I’ll work on the rewrites, then possibly look for a ghost writer or editor to hep finalize the work. Publishing a novel would be awesome.

My little black book, know as the app Evernote, holds every story idea I come up with, and there are quite a few. I have several new ideas in there, as well as a sequel for Earth the Sea Turtle.

Well this post is longer than I had anticipated. I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and good luck to you in all your endeavors.

We are quickly coming to the end of our story. I’m sure by now most of you know how it will end, but we’re here for the long run. Slappy now realizes he’s the one “person” who can save the baby pigeon.

In our final pages Slappy will come to the realization that he doesn’t need to fly, he’s unique as is. He will realize that being a plain-old-penguin is pretty special.

Page 25 : He dove into the water, flapping his flippers as fast as he could.
(Slappy diving into the water. On the water’s edge a woman says “Look at that penguin go!”, while a nearby man says “Wow!”. A child says “Mommy! Look!” )

Page 26 : Slappy just knew he could save the pigeon. He swam faster and faster.
(Slappy zipping through the water with a look of determination. )

Page 27 :Being underwater, he could see the pigeon above him nearby. The pigeon was fluttering his little wings trying to swim.
(View from Slappy’s perspective seeing the pigeon above him with ripples in the water as he splashes about.)

Page 28 : Slappy shot straight out of the water underneath the pigeon, scooping him up in his flippers as he popped out of the water.
(Slappy above the water, with his exit splash visible. He is air born, holding the pigeon.)

Page 29 : The mama pigeon landed right next to Slappy and her baby, and wrapped her wings around them both. “Thank you”, She said, “Thank you for saving him.”
(Mama Pigeon with wings wrapped around them both.)

Page 30 : Everyone around the water began to cheer. Ducks quacked, birds tweeted, and squirrels clapped.
(Shot from behind Slappy, viewing his head, and the waters edge where everyone is cheering)

Page 31 :The little pigeon looked up at Slappy and said, “When I grow up, I want to swim like you.”
(Pigeon looking up at Slappy, Slappy listening intently with a smile.)

Page 32 :Slappy thought that was strange. All this time he had wished he could fly. He had thought he was just a plain old penguin. But being a plain old penguin isn’t so plain and old after all.
(Slappy thinking, rubbing his chin, with a smile.)

Page 33 :Being a penguin meant he was a good swimmer. He decided that from now on he wouldn’t worry about wanting to fly anymore. He was just going to be himself, because being himself was a pretty good thing.
(Slappy looking up at birds flying by.)

Page 34  :Slappy jumped back into the water. The people and animals began to cheer, quack, ad tweet louder than before.

Page 35 :He dove down and swam all around. Jumping and leaping into the air, and then back down in the water. He did twirls and swirls, and summersalts underwater. He popped his head out of the water and could hear the people still cheering for him.
(Multiple points of view of Slappy swimming, and jumping. Page 34 and 35 are facing pages and the scenes will span both pages.)

Page 36 and 37:Things were now different for Slappy. Instead of just lying on his rock staring at the sky, he would help people retrieve things that would fall into the water.
(Just like page 18 and 19, he is standing on his rock, with his flipper over his brow looking for “items”. A small montage of items his has retrieved, including a toy boat, a ball, and Sam’s hat.)

The End

There we have it, the last part of our story. The basic goal of this story is to teach kids to be themselves, no matter what they might be. The story needs refining, and most stories do. Considering that this was written “off the cuff” I think we did a pretty good job.

As I stated at the beginning of this series, this is how I write a children’s book. It’s not necessarily the best way, or, based on professional writers, the correct way. I’m sure I’ll be tweaking the story, and who knows, maybe I’ll develop it into a real book.

If you have any questions about writing a children’s book, please feel free to contact me. I’d love to hear from you.

Let’s continue on with our story. When we left last our little penguin, he was daydreaming about what he would do if he could fly. It’s time we turn our daydreamer into a hero.

As discussed, our victim is a baby pigeon who will fall into the pond from it’s nest. We will setup our penguin to save the pigeon, and become a hero.

Instead of blathering about what we will do, let’s jump in and do it.

Page 20 : Slappy opened his eyes and sat up, “It was only a dream.” He said, sadly.
(Slappy sitting up,  depressed.)

Page 21 : He stood up, and stretched his flippers as he looked out over the wide pond. He looked at all the birds flying around the pond.
(Slappy looking out over the pond with all the birds flying around.)

Page 22 : He was about to go for a walk when he saw something happening across the pond. There was a mama pigeon crying and flapping her wings.
(View across the pond with mama pigeon frantically flapping her wings.)

Page 22 : Across the pond he could see other birds gather around the mama pigeon. Still she flapped her wings and shouted, ‘Help!’ My baby fell in the pond!’
(View across the pond with mama pigeon frantically flapping her wings.)

Page 23 : Slappy wasn’t sure what to do. He thought the ducks may be able to help, but they were too far away. Someone would have to swim across the pond. “Who could do it?” He thought
(View across the pond with mama pigeon frantically flapping her wings.)

Page 24 : Slappy then remembered, he could swim. He could swim across the pond faster than anyone else.
(Slappy “getting the idea” about swimming.)

Now we have our event, and our means for our hero to come forth. On page 23 we have Slappy bring forward the question about who could save the pigeon. Here the parent that ask the child who could save the pigeon? This allows the child to realize that Slappy could do it. On the next page, we see Slappy coming to the same conclusion as the child, a reason for the child to celebrate. They solved the mystery.

Personally, when a child has a sense of accomplishment while reading a book, they connect with the story, and it can become a favorite book rather quickly.

We are quickly coming the end of our story. Coming up soon our hero will save the pigeon and realize that he indeed can fly, but his sky is the water.

I want talk a moment about verbiage. In the beginning I mentioned that the grade level of the words did not matter at the first draft time. Although this is true, for me, I wanted to let you know the process I use to check these words. The Children’s Writers Word Book is a fantastic resource to find words, and learn what grade level they fall into. It also has a thesaurus for similar words and what grade level they are. Here are two words that I think may need to be replaced.

Imagined

“Slappy closed his eyes, and imagined what it would be like to fly through the air.”
The word “Imagined” is considered a 2nd grade word. If I wanted to change it, I have the option of using a kindergarten level word like “pictured”(K), or a 1st grade word like “thought’. Here I’m going to disagree with the book. (What?) I believe that young children today know what “imagination” is. It’s used in SO MANY kids shows that it’s no longer bound to a 2nd grade reading level. So, no change here. (Side note: I could change it to dreamed, but I did not want to imply he was sleeping)

Retrieve

“If I could fly, I could retrieve other things that get stuck in trees, like footballs, hats, and kites …”
The word “retrieve” is a 6th grade level word. Ouch! That may be a bit out of reach for our readers. We could simplify it with “get”, “find” or replace it with “return”, also indicating a sense of helpfulness.

Writing a Picture Book

When writing a picture book it is important to remember your audience. The story should be between 500 and 1000 words. The story should not take longer than 15 to 20 minutes to read. Remember, our audience has a short attention span. By keeping the story short, time wise, you allow it to become a great bedtime story, and if necessary its possible to fulfill the “read it again” scenario.

Illustrations

The story is only part of the book. As adults, when we think of something we can add our vast range of experiences to the words. When you read the words, “The subway train came to a screeching halt at the platform.” chances are you pictured the platform, you even pictured people, and columns holding up the ceiling. You may have also pictued a dark tunnel at the other end of the platform, an aluminum train, possibly with graffiti, creating a metal on metal screech as it stopped.

You can picture all of this not because you may have experienced it, but because of movies, tv shows and other media that we’ve been exposed to. We paint the picture based on what we know. Ask an adult and a child to draw a picture of a house and you will get two vastly different images.

It is for this reason that illustration is imperative to your story. Bright, vibrant colors, along with characters that possess visibly noticeable emotions and personality. If what they see matches what they read or hear read to them, they will make the connection. For the child, that’s understanding … they get it … they will like it and feel a sense of accomplishment.

In the next part, we will dive into the tragedy that creates our hero.

We are now getting to the meat of the story. Back in Part 1, I mentioned that the concept for this story came from my Illustrator, Ron Robrahn. He had sent me a sketch of a penguin and told me he had an idea for a story about a penguin who wishes he could fly. The story concept was sound, but needed some more substance to it. I saw the opportunity to make this more of a self-esteem story.

By the way, here is the sketch he sent to me. If you have the means, and have an illustrator, or someone with drawing ability. Try to get a sketch of your character, it can help in the story development process.

When I said this was a sketch, I wasn’t kidding. If you notice, it was done on the back of something that said, “CREWMEMBER”.

So let’s move forward with our story. When we last left our airborne-impaired penguin, he was watching the other birds flying around Sunshine Park. We established that he had tried some Wile E Coyote style methods to get into the air. To go to those lengths, we need to show how much he truly wants to fly. So how do we do that? Well, we could have him just go to the airport and buy 50 different tickets for 50 different destinations. (I’m sure Delta would love that.  “Penguins, they love to fly, and it shows.)

How about something a little more subtle, but with great graphic potential. Let’s spark the imagination in the reader. Let’s have him daydream about flying. This way, we show the use of imagination, and get to show what it would be like if penguins could fly. We can also show intent. By this I mean, what he would intend to do with this gift. Would he just fly around dropping ice cubes on people? What would he do? There would have to be a selfless act involved, since we are trying to make our protagonist into a hero.

So without further ado, here we go.

Page 12 : He tried in the past to fly. He tried using a kite, a parachute, he even made wings out of bird feathers he found, but nothing worked. It just wasn’t the same as flying.
(Montage of his different efforts at flying. Note: These images need to reflect failure, not the attempt.)

Page 13 : As he finished his ice cube treat, he laid back on the rock and looked into the sky.
(Slappy lying on the rock, with his flippers behind his head, staring upward.)

Page 14 : The clouds in the sky above began to take shape. One looked like an eagle, another looked like a flock of geese.
(View of the sky from his perspective showing the shapes in the clouds.)

Page 15 : Slappy closed his eyes, and imagined what it would be like to fly through the air.
(Slappy on the rock, same as page 13, with a dream bubble above him. In the bubble he is flying.)

Page 16 : “If I could fly”, he thought to himself, “I could sit in the highest trees and see everything in the park.
(A small corner of the page with Slappy’s face, eyes closed, the remainder is the bubble with him sitting in a nest at the top of a high tree, looking down.)

Page 17 : “If I could fly, I could rescue kittens stuck in a tree.”
(View from above as he rescues a kitten, and at the bottom of a tree a little girl, happy.)

Page 18 : “If I could fly, I could  retrieve other things that get stuck in trees, like footballs, hats, and kites …”
Page 19 : “.. and toy airplanes,and balloons. ”
(Montage of his five thoughts encased in a though bubble. Each bubble has a top and bottom, the top depicting him retrieving the item, and the bottom showing him returning it to the owner. 18 and 19 Split in two pages. )

I’m going to stop here. We have now established that he has the most noble of intentions, helping others. I don’t think I have to explain what a great lesson this is for a child. What is great about how we’ve done this is that, at no point, did we use the word ‘help’. This is implied for the child to understand. The split page is meant to provide a wide view for the child to see everything. All the items he retrieved. We could have elaborated more to things like finding “lost pets” and “lost children” but I think that children can related more to a toy of some sorts being stuck in a tree.

Next chapter, we’ll talk about a few words that may need changing, and how we go about doing that.

We are already on part five. Be sure to check out the other parts if you’d just started reading this because you’ve missed some good stuff.

We’ve already introduced our protagonist, Slappy the penguin, and we’ve partially introduced the scenario. We now need to express his love of bird, and his sadness for not being able to fly. We can also introduce the relationship between him and Sam the ice cream man.

Page 4 : Slappy loved the mornings. This was the time of day when birds would sing, and fly from tree to tree in search of breakfast.
(Arial view of the ice cream cart in the park. On the cart are also pretzels, and donuts. You can see the walking paths, and closer to the readers view, some pigeons and blue birds flying about. Small, and near the cart is Slappy looking up toward the reader.)

Page 5 : Summertime is hot in Sunshine Park, and everyone knows penguins prefer cold weather. Slappy’s friend Sam runs the ice cream cart. He always makes sure he has something special for Slappy.
(Slappy tugging on the pant leg of Sam the ice cream man.)

Page 6 : This was Slappy’s favorite treat. Ice cubes on a stick.
(Closeup of Sam handing Slappy what looks like a shish-ka-bob skewer of ice cubes)

Page 7 : With his treat in hand, Slappy headed off to his favorite spot in the whole park.
(Arial view, similar to page 4, showing Slappy heading down the path, with ice-cube treat in hand)

Page 8: Slappy has a special secret spot in the park where he loves to watch birds. From there he could see the lake, and all the trees around it.
(Montage image of him scurrying under a bush, and up onto a boulder, with a wide view of the water and all the trees around it. Many birds fly around, darting in and out)

Let’s review : We now know that Sam the ice cream man is Slappy’s friend. So much to a degree that he creates a special treat for Slappy each and every day. We also know that Slappy has a special place in the park. This establishes that Slappy has been there for a while. In the illustration descriptions, we’ve included several statement indicating “birds”, lots of birds. Birds are a big part of the story and we need the illustrator to know this.

What we haven’t done yet is establish his love of birds, and his sadness about not being able to fly.

Page 9 : Slappy sat in special spot, licking his ice cube treat. He gazed up at the sky as he watched many different color birds fly back and forth, and up and down.
(Slappy watching birds. Perhaps a perspective from behind Slappy where we see his back plus the view he sees)

Page 10 : There were red cardinals, and blue jays. Grey pigeons and white doves. So many birds that Slappy didn’t know where to look first.
(A view facing Slappy as he watched the different colored birds fly about. Create a layout so parents can point out the birds and teach.)

Page 11 : But Slappy was sad. Being a penguin, he had flippers, not wings. They helped him swim in water, but not fly through the air like other birds. This made him unhappy.
(Slappy looking at his flipper, sad face)

Page 12 : He tried in the past to fly. He tried using a kite, a parachute, he even made wings out of bird feathers he found, but nothing worked. It just wasn’t the same as flying.
(Montage of his different efforts at flying. Note: These images need to reflect failure, not the attempt.)

Let’s review again : We now have his love for birds. On page 10 we create a way for kids to interact with the book by pointing out the different birds. We’d also established why he is sad. On page 12, we show how he tried to fly, but could not. Some people may say this would encourage kids to do what he did, that is why we want to depict failure, not success. If we show him tangled in a kite and the string, it shows it didn’t work. If we show the parachute stuck in a tree and him depressed, it shows it didn’t work. Remember, you can learn as much from the bad, as you can from the good.  Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Next, Slappy will daydream about flying, and we will learn what his true intentions are.

We’ve come to the part where we actually get to start writing our story. Yay! Okay, page one, once upon a time. Page thirty-four, and they lived happily ever after.

I’m sure many writers wish it were that easy. It’s not. Keep in mind, as I write these articles, I am also writing this story. This is not something that was entirely written that I am showing you a behind the scenes view of.

When I write, I usually place a summary of the story, locations, goals and characters that are important at the top of the page.  As I enhance these aspect, I then alter the information.

Summary : A penguin wishes he was a bird. He loves watching birds fly through the air. Nearby a baby pigeon falls from it’s nest into a lake. The mother frantically calls for help, but no ones comes to her aid. Our penguin hears her cries and dives into the water, flapping his flippers like bird wings, and saves the baby pigeon.

Location : Central Park

Goal : Teach about being yourself and embrace who you are.

Characters :

• Slappy – our protagonist, he is a small penguin who wishes he could fly.
• Mama pigeon -
• Baby pigeon -
• Sam the ice cream man -

Right off the bat, I’m going to make one change. I know we spoke about using Central Park as the park for the story. Here is why I’d like to change it. My using a known location, people will expect more factual information in the story. I can hear the people now, “There are no trees like that in Central Park.”, “Pigeons don’t have nests in the area by the water because of the … blah blah blah.”  Let’s silence those nay sayers before they get the chance to write. Let’s just call it, “Sunshine Park”.

Location : Central Park Sunshine Park.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s start writing.

When I write, I try to visualize each page. I write a page at a time and, if I have any ideas on how it should be illustrated I include that.

For example :

Page 1 : It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents.
(An wide aerial view of the landscape below. Rain is falling hard, and lightning fills the sky)

Keep in mind this is my format, not necessarily something you need to follow. Some writers write the whole story, then break it down into pages.

Hmm. So how should we start? Once upon a time is no longer really used for story books. Although artist and illustrator Dani Jones created a great story titled, “Once Upon A Time“. You can read the story online, or purchase a print copy. Be sure to check it out. Remember, inspiration comes from everywhere. For our story, I think we should describe Sunshine Park. Let’s set the stage for our star and then introduce him.

Page 1 : Sunshine park is the most beautiful park in the world. People and animals from all around come to spend time in this wonderful place.
(Sunrise at the park. A view from above,as if in a tree, looking down on the park. The park has trees, bushes, paths, people are about, as well as birds, squirrels and rabbits.)

Page 2: But for one of the residents, the park is a place filled with great happiness and great sadness.
(Inside view of the ice cream cart. Our little penguin is waking up to his alarm clock. It’s dark, but light shines though certain areas.)

Page 3: His name is Slappy, and he is the only penguin in Sunshine Park.
(View from the outside of the ice cream cart. You see the legs of Sam the Ice Cream man, ICE CREAM written on the cart. The side door of the cart is open and we see Slappy leaning out smiling at the day.)

Let’s look at what we’ve done here. We’ve established “where” the story is taking place We’ve established that our main character’s name and that he is sad about something. We’ve also established that he lives in an ice cream cart, without openly saying “… who lives in an ice cream cart …” This is why jotting down illustration ideas is a great way to get your vision across.

Next, we will establish his love for birds, and why he also sad.

Welcome to part three of how to write a children’s book. So far we’ve established our story idea, figured out where our story will take place, and our lesson. What’s next you ask? Let’s take some time to develop the story more. In turn, this will also help us develop the characters.

Let’s dive into a little more detail about our protagonist. Some additional detail will help us communicate to our illustrator how we feel the character should look. This is not essential to the story, but I usually see my characters in my mind as I write.

What’s in a name? With Eartha the Sea Turtle, the name was easy because it was based on real sea turtle. Steven the vegan rhymed. (For the record, in Steven the Vegan I named a female character Marion for a possible spin off book, Marion the Vegetarian.)

How are we going to name our lead character? We could go out and get a big book of names and go through it one by one. I think we can come up with one ourselves. Let’s think more about the character itself. Physical characteristics can often help us name a character, like a dog named spot, or a dinosaur named Rex. Visualize our penguin. Is he tall or short? Thin or stout? Does he speak? Does he have spots or a distinguishing mark? the list could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Okay, to keep this project going, I’ll make some decisions. He is small, not short, or stout, just small. He looks like a regular penguin, no weird marks. Of course with just this description alone, we could easily call him Tux. Everyone knows penguins look like they are wearing a tuxedo, so this could fit. But, being me, I’m not settling for what is expected. Let’s build some more details. I’m going to say that the penguin doesn’t speak. This is good and bad. It’s good because there will be no spoken dialog from him. It’s bad because we have to make sure our storyline and illustrations depict his emotions properly. I know what you are thinking, if he can’t speak how does he communicate. Well that will help us name him. To communicate, and get the attention of others, he slaps his flippers on his sides. Due to the way he communicates, we will name him Slappy.

This can also work to our advantage for parents reading the story because children can clap their hands with Slappy.

Next we have our victim, the pigeon. The more I think about the pigeon I think that our victim really needs to be a character that is cuter, and a bit more helpless. So I’m thinking that the victim isn’t the pigeon, but the pigeons baby. A baby pigeon. (I know, so one ever sees a baby pigeon in New York. Just go with me on this will ya?) The story starts to make more sense because the baby could fall out of a nest, and into the water. That creates the situation where our protagonist can become a hero.

Let’s review what we have…
A small penguin named Slappy who lives in an ice cream cart in Central Park. He spends his days watching birds fly, and wishes he could fly himself. A baby pigeon falls out of it’s nest, and into the water. The mama pigeon calls for help, and Slappy dives into the water, flying underwater, and saving the baby pigeon.

Next we will start writing the actual story.

So we now have a story concept, “a penguin that wishes he could fly”. Next we have to establish why the penguin thinks this way and more importantly, the end lesson.

Let’s say he loves watching birds. After all, who doesn’t. He loves to see them take flight and zoom through the air. He thinks they are simply amazing. Being a penguin, sorely he can’t fly, but he can swim. We still need to establish the lesson. The lesson will be one of the reasons your book will be purchased. The lesson should be something a child can relate to, even if the parent has to explain it the first time through. For our story, the lesson could be something like learning to be yourself, or perhaps he learns that he can fly, but unlike the birds he loves, water is his sky. Yeah. I like that.

Now we need to establish what makes him realized this. Some event must happen for him to step up and show his true skill, and how it compares, or contrasts his love of flying. What if something happens so that he becomes the only one who can solve a problem primarily because of his swimming ability.

See how the story is developing. One decision leads to another.

So what could happen? Remember, the story is about a penguin that wishes he could fly. The event should involve a bird as they are a point of interest in the story.

So now we have something at needs to happen to a bird and involve water. Well, that rules out a duck, because ducks are water fowls. I guess if we knew where this would take place we could figure out what kind of bird our little penguin could help.

We could easily place the setting in a forest, but this story has an underlying theme of self esteem. For me, this means that we need to make him a hero. So let’s place him somewhere that there are people. Keep in mind, in a children’s books, people and animals can talk to each other, and things that may seem impossible, become possible.

How about a crowded park, like Central Park. There are several types of birds to choose from and as an added bonus we have food vendors, and performers which could add to the illustrations. To include the surroundings even more, we have the penguin living inside an ice cream vendors cart. We have several birds to choose from for our victim. Being New York, and Central Park, the likely victim could be a pigeon. There will be an abundance of other pigeons there, that could cheer on our hero.

Here is what we have so far :
A penguin that lives in an ice cream cart, in Central Park.
Something happens to a pigeon that includes water.
Our penguin does something to save the pigeon, making him a hero.
Our hero realizes he doesn’t have to fly, because he’s special just the way he is.

In the next part, we will talk about character and story development.

I am often asked the question, “How do you write a children’s book?” I honestly never knew how to answer that. I’ve only published one children’s book, and I have one set to be published later this year. In all truthfulness, I never really considered myself a children’s book writer.  But, hey … I’ve written two books. People who have read my second book really think its great, and I know my first book is good just based on sales. So I guess I am qualified to answer that question. But how do you answer a question that has so many steps to it. There is no one answer. It’s not like people ask, what’s your favorite color? (Hunter green by the way).

So although I cannot answer the question simply, I can explain my process. I am going to create a multi-part series on how I write a children’s book. So without further ado, here we go.

How I Write a Children’s Book

When I set out to write The Tale of Eartha the Sea Turtle, I had never written a children’s book before. It was my first. Most writers will tell you to create an outline, or define the character and their goal, or some other worthy advice. But, in reality all you need is an idea. Start simple, and expand from there. Nobody starts with the entire story it all gets developed as you go along.

Is this a rule? No. There are no rules when it comes to creativity. My next book, Steven the Vegan, was a book I wanted to write. There are a lot of kids being raised vegan these days, and their friends don’t understand why. I tried for months to force this book. The story was terrible. One of the strong points of my sea turtle book is that it teaches conservation without you even knowing it. The lesson is strong, but subtle. I needed to find a way to create a similar feeling, but with a vegan concept. I tried several story ideas with no luck.

One day I was sitting at my laptop and Bam!, the entire story came to me. I spent the next hour writing the entire story. Yes, there were edits, but the basic storyline was done.

Everyone has their own ideas on how to write a story. I’ll give you a few of my Do’s and Don’ts.

Don’ts

• Don’t force the story.
• Don’t worry about the reading level of the words.
• Don’t worry about trivial things like the color of the characters eyes, unless it’s important to the story.

Do’s

• Do, Have fun with it.
• Do research the story, and see if it’s been done before. (But don’t let that discourage you.)
• Do keep notes. Ideas will pop in your head all the time.

With that in mind, I’m sure you’re wondering, “How do I get started?”

You start with an idea. For this example I am going to use the following idea. It is based on a drawing my friend and illustrator, Ron Robrahn created of a penguin.

Idea : A story about a penguin who wishes he could fly.

Seems rather basic. I mean, where’s the goal, where’s the challenge? Where’s the storyline. We will get to all that in the next parts.