The Journey To Publication Hood - Part 2 - The Difficult Third Book (And That's Before They've Even Been Sent To An Agent...)

The Journey To Publication Hood - Part 2 - The Difficult Third Book (And That's Before They've Even Been Sent To An Agent...)

So, last time we spoke I had one complete picture book text, one almost-complete picture book text, and one first draft of a story that should have been a picture book but ended up being so long it turned into the first in a compilation of stories. Having researched into the process for getting picture books sent to an agent, I had discovered that a lot of them suggest sending up to three manuscripts together, so I was still searching for an idea for a third book. As my first two are rhyming based, I've been looking to do a 'regular' style of picture book. It's taken a couple of attempts but I'm finally there I think.

Firstly, after a brain storming session with my wife and mother-in-law, I hit upon the idea of a story about a young boy whose mother is pregnant, and as she gets larger his father keeps commenting how 'it looks like you've got a hen/pig/cow/horse growing in there!' He panics that there isn't enough room in the house for each animal, so he builds her a chicken coup/pig sty/cow shed/horse stable etc. It's an idea I think could be funny, but I just can't get the words down very well at the moment.

After this idea stalled, I came up with another story about an alien crash landing in the garage of a boy called Magnus. He has to help the alien refuel his spaceship and get it in the air, and drawing inspiration from my son, the alien is like a demanding toddler who speaks in 'toddler babble'. I like it, but again I think it's a bit long for a picture book, so it'll need refining before it's ready to submit.

However, tonight I've stumbled across an idea for the third book which I think is the best one yet. It's called 'Clarence, Where Is All The Food?', and it stars Clarence Giraffe again, and a suspicious looking badger. It's written as if the narrator/reader is talking to Clarence on each page, with Clarence replying underneath (using plain text across the top of the page for the narrator, and speech bubbles for Clarence). The narrator is trying to prepare for a party by bringing food and balloons into the room, but every time he leaves for a second, Clarence eats what he's left. It basically forms every conversation my wife and I have ever had as our fictional giraffe-counterparts, so to me and her it's funny, but I hope it will be to everyone else as well. All that's left now is to refine it in a second draft (it's 34 pages at the moment, when it really needs to be 32), and I might just have three picture books ready to send off.

Which means exciting times!