The tight word counts of children’s writing, especially if you’re writing for picture books or children’s magazines, can be painful when your story seems to demand to swell larger and Larger and LARGER. How do you get a story to fit the required lengths without taking a machete to it?

KNOW THE NEEDS OF THE FORM

Are you a reader? Most writers are readers, often voracious readers. What do you read most often? If you’re like most writers struggling with plot bloat, you read novels. You might even read only novels for adults. Reading novels can be hugely helpful in writing smooth, clear prose. It can help you internalize how to create tension and how to handle dialogue – but it also trains your creative mind to think like a novelist. And novelists don’t write 500-word stories or even 1,200-word stories. They write stories that push into the ten thousands and feeding your creative mind only these long, long forms will easily cripple your ability to write short.

If you want to write short stories – read short stories. You can do it right now from the comfort of your computer chair. You can read dozens of stories at the Highlights website – and you’ll see how authors handle some of the tightest word counts on earth.

If you want to write picture books, read picture books – but you’ll need to do just a little more. You’ll need to read them without their pictures. The illustrations in a picture book tell much of the story and you’re mind will therefore tell you that the book is much longer than it really is. The average picture book only runs about 500-words. So read dozens of picture books where the author and illustrator were different people (a few hours curled up in a comfy chair at Barnes and Noble or in your local public library will let you read many books at once for free.) Then choose a few that you really connect with – a few that seem like “your” kind of book. Take them home and type up the text portion of the story. Set the text aside a few days, then read these transcripts – that way you see how WRITERS go about doing picture books.

One of the first things you’ll learn with these picture book transcripts is that visuals are left to the illustrator. One of the second things you’ll learn is how much is implied or left unsaid. And when you look at your picture book manuscript, suddenly the bloat will be much easier to spot.

While you’re doing this reading, you’re “feeding” your creative brain with a new way to look at story. A shorter way. A tighter way. Then when it comes time to write, your brain will have these shorter forms to draw upon.

A SHORT PLOT NEEDS LIMITS

The easiest way to tame plot bloat (after you’ve taught your brain that short forms exist and can work well), is to set limits on your plot. Short stories tend to have limits in scope, time, setting, number of scenes, and number of characters. If you know that it would take months or years to work out the problem you’re about to give your main character, then you’re still drawing from that novel writer’s brain. The short story writer’s brain chooses a plot that will work out in minutes, hours, or days (at most) – but more importantly, the short writers brain realizes the plot must unfold in three or four scenes at most without the back-up of informing the reader of the rest of the story.

Many times the novel writer’s brain will just whisper to go ahead and just tell the story. Do a good old-fashioned, all exposition story. It’ll be okay. You used to read those as a kid. Do it….go ahead. That little voice will keep you out of publication every time. It’s true that many short stories from long ago were all exposition and no specific scenes or details. And kids today tend to require force to read them. They’re dull, they’re emotionally flat, and they feel static. They only work if the kid has no lively, fun, exciting stories built from scenes to compare them too.

So to build a short plot…imagine something the main character can work out (without miraculous or adult “solve it for you” intervention) in three or four scenes. In the first scene, he’ll experience the full pressure of the plot and be forced to act. Action drives plot. The action will probably not make things better and he’ll need to act again. Follow the action and keep it related directly to the plot…keep the action pushing us toward this character’s resolution of the plot pressure. Focusing on the plot and action will also help keep things short.

Short plots are also easier if you stick with your main character. Trying to balance a huge cast of characters will bloat your plot. Trying to jump from one viewpoint to another will lessen your emotional impact and bloat your plot.

Trying to solve the biggest problem you can imagine anyone having in 500 words or less is going to either cause you to create totally unrealistic plots or bloat bigger and Bigger and BIGGER. If your character is dealing with the loss of a parent, you have a big big problem – why are you trying to use a tiny tiny form to deal with it? If your character is dealing with her urge to commit suicide or her friend’s urge to commit suicide – that’s a huge deal, why are you trying to smoosh it into a tiny form? Choose your issue and your form that work well together. Trying to cram a plus sized issue into a slender form is going to create problems every time – either it’s not going to look good at the end, or the issue is going to bust out the form at the seams. Either way, you’ll not make a sale.

NOTHING WITHOUT A REASON – OR TWO

A short story plot limits everything to the purposeful. At any point in a story, someone should be able to say: why is that in there? And you should be able to tell them using plot and character motivation in your answer.

Why are we looking at all the pretty flowers?

Because they’re pretty! And, um, we’re supposed to show, right? And she’s walking to school so I wanted to include some detail. Awww….come on. You mean I have to have a reason.

Yes, now why are we looking at all the pretty flowers?

Because the character is going to realize that pressed flowers are the key to winning the art contest that means so much to her!

Ah, good reason.

Now, why did your character just pull a yoyo out of his pocket and start playing with it?

Um, because he’s a boy and I thought boys like yoyos. I want him to look like a real kid. Uh…I like yoyos.

No, in your plot and motivation, why did your character just pull a yoyo out of his pocket and start playing with it?

He’s a nervous kid who plays with the yoyo whenever he tries to solve a problem. And as he watches the yoyo go up and down, he’s going to realize that he can pull the stuff he needs into the tree house with a basket and rope.

Ah, good reason.

Now, look at your story. Do you know why every character does everything? Do you know why you showed every detail that you chose? It can’t be JUST for the sake of showing…it has to be for the sake of showing this detail that illuminates something about the plot and character.

By checking everything for purpose, you’ll find any bits of bloat that might have crept in. And your efforts to cut down to size will hurt a lot less.