The idea of the stories

Being interested in the way people make decisions, I wondered how to support children to make evidence-based decisions.

These stories, some based on traditional characters, emerged.

When I spotted Rachael Ball’s picture book course. I signed up. That was just what my stories needed.

Developing the story

Rather than turning up with my stories all ready - I thought I’d learn more if I developed a new story as part of the course.

Developing ideas on the course

We thought about things we did when we were children. I remembered sitting on a bench with my friend, making notes in a book about things happening in the street. SPYING …. annoying for adults - having children nosing around them. But, it is also a way that children can collect and analyse evidence - an important skill.

Characters

Developing characters included sketching them, thinking about how they behave - what they like and dislike - what is important to them.

Pictures and the story

Getting the story to flow, and editing out material that did n’t contribute to the story was hard. It hurts to delete work that involves effort and creativity!

Deciding on a style for the artwork was also challenging, as there are so many options. Looking at existing picture books helped to establish a list of features that would and would not work for my story.

It was tempting to work up the images - as this is rewarding. But it is more efficient to stick with rough sketches until the story is really ‘tight’.