Thinking about a “target audience” can sound cold and impersonal, especially for writers who are pouring their hearts into a manuscript. After all, it’s not like we’re lining readers up, eyeing the red circles painted on their torsos, and lobbing our books at them. Or are we?

An enlightening discussion about creativity, picture book writing, illustration, inspiration, and making mistakes ... in a good way!

Wondering how to write diverse characters? Many writers aspire to create worlds that look like a true fusion of personalities and cultures, religious beliefs, and ethnicities. How do we create art that imitates the life we are striving for?

If you’re interested in writing a children’s picture book that uses fantasy elements to engage readers in a meaningful way, then you’ve come to the right place. In this post, we provide four tips on how to write original, highly engaging fantasy picture books that stand out!

Writer, writing teacher, ghost writer, and general literary icon Roz Morris joins Mary Kole for an interview on the Good Story Speaker Series. They dive into the mechanics of storytelling and discuss how to connect with your audience—whether you're writing someone else's story or your telling your own.

If you’re an author/illustrator in the picture book business, you probably feel like you’re at an advantage. While there is value in being able to create an entire work on your own, I’d like you to imagine not using your words. What does it look like to create wordless picture books?

Books that teach life lessons are fine...as long as you don't clobber readers over the head with your theme. So how do you weave a message into your story without being too obvious?

Story ideas don’t always come easily, but sometimes we get glimmers that turn into a list of foggy ideas. How do we decide which new idea to run with? And how do we take steps to make it shine?

On this month's episode, children's author Anna Staniszewski chats about her path to publication, writing for different age groups, and what it takes to make it as a full-time author.

Anthropomorphic animals in children’s fiction are common, but are these characters the best approach when you’re writing for young readers? Let’s talk about this popular topic for children’s writers by defining what an anthropomorphic animal is.

A fantasy premise that doesn’t engage on any themes of good versus evil can feel empty, but when those lines are too stark, it can feel a bit thin. So how do you find the balance?

Story Mastermind is our small group writing workshop. We'll tell you a little bit about the program, but mostly we will be talking today about picture book premise, and how to make sure that your story has strong bones and how to tell a compelling picture book story in today's market.

Publishing loves its buckets. In children's books, there are several buckets that you need to fit into, with word count guidelines and all of that. There are buckets and tropes in adult publishing as well. Books that don't lend themselves easily to categorization can be a really difficult sell.

Don't teach in your picture book. Do not preach. Do not talk down to the reader. Kids are lectured and told what to do all day every day, and they feel disempowered. So, the strongest possible way to get a message across is to have a child go through something, learn something, practice something, maybe even teach something to somebody else, without actually coming out and directly saying the words.

We've all heard people who claim that somebody took their idea and is now publishing it, or that somewhere somehow, another writer has come up with basically the same idea, sold it, and now, what does that mean for your idea?

Writing invariably is a passion for a lot of people that I work with. And they just, for whatever reason, have not been able to sort of devote themselves to it until now. And that's usually when they come to me and I plug into their process.

This one's for all the people who are still casting around for an idea. How do you create a story? What matters to you, and what matters to readers?

Stories are like people. They have a body, and a soul. The body is the plot, the actions that happen. And the soul is the character, the protagonist, the key person (or persons) bound by the circumstances of the plot and forced into decisions.

Here's an energizing pep talk on how to write, including the ingredients you need to get started and keep going.