Be Smart - Use a Dummy! by Patricia Toht

Are you a picture book writer? If so, you need a dummy.

No, not this!

No, Brits, not this either!

A picture book dummy. Illustrators make great use of them – sixteen sheets, clipped together, that help to plan the layout of a book. (Check out Uri Shulevitz here or Brian Selznick at Tina Burke's blog.)

But I’m a word girl. Stick figures are the height of my artistic ability. 

I’m not keen with scissors or rubber cement, either. So I use a “down and dirty dummy” or DDD.

Here’s how I do it (VERY little skill involved):

Take a blank piece of paper.

Fold in half, long edge to long edge. Fold in half again.

Open the paper up. (You'll have three creases lengthwise.)

Now fold short edge to short edge. Fold again. And again.

Open up. (You’ve added seven creases crosswise.)

Your paper now has 32 little boxes. (Most picture books have 32 pages).
Add page numbers.

Mark each spread.

Voilà! There’s the DDD.

(I've inked in the crease marks, so you can see them.)

Sometimes I use a DDD to study a book that I like, noting where the problem occurs, three-part movements, clever use of illustrations, etc.

My study of The Little Old Lady Who was Not Afraid of Anything,
by Linda Williams, illustrated by Megan Lloyd

Mostly, I use a DDD for laying out my own text.

In the US, the first few pages are business-y stuff, so X those out. That leaves 14 to 14 ½ spreads. (When I lived in the UK, I had to fit text into 12 spreads – TWO fewer! Yikes! See Tara Lazar's explanation of the different treatment of end pages.)

Next, add story. Don’t write down every word, just enough to know what falls on each page.

Erase and try again and again, until you get everything to fit.

Then return to your typed manuscript and mark the page breaks.

Now what?

Here are some things I look for:

• Will there be a variety of illustrations? No variety = BORING!

• What text could be cut because it will be shown in the pictures? Leave room for the illustrator!

• Still too many words on a page? Tighten!

• Do key parts of the story happen in the right places? Check out this great post by Miranda Paul on pacing.

• Is the reader encouraged to read on? Pop those page turns!

• Are the words on each spread perfect for that spread?

This practice is one of the best things I’ve done to improve my picture books. I now use a DDD for every PB I work on – fiction, nonfiction, and even poetry collections. 

Give one a try!