The Wisdom of Making Dummies
Yes, it's smart to make dummies. Why? Because they give you an excellent sense of how your story will work as a typical 32-page picture book. In The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Writing Picture Books, I show three ways that I make dummies. For those of you who haven't read the guide (or are reading it on a smallish electronic device on which the images don't show up as well), I've included the pictures below.
Here's the fold-and-staple approach I learned from editor Steph Lurie after she acquired Maxwell's Magic Mix-Up --originally called "Hocus Pocus (Out of Focus)" as you can see below-- one of the first manuscripts I sold. The story was too long, so making the dummy helped me trim it to picture book length.
This dummy uses nine sheets of paper. The outer page is the book cover. Remember that the first few pages are for the dedication, copyright and title, so your story typically begins on page 4 or 5.
Here's the storyboard approach I used for Rain!: 
And here's the two-column table approach I used for Starry Safari and other books. 
Which one works best? For me, it depends on the story. I like using the storyboard for wordless manuscripts, but appreciate the book-like feel of the fold-and-staple dummy. Make whichever one most appeals to you. I guarantee it will help you with your manuscript.
Here's the fold-and-staple approach I learned from editor Steph Lurie after she acquired Maxwell's Magic Mix-Up --originally called "Hocus Pocus (Out of Focus)" as you can see below-- one of the first manuscripts I sold. The story was too long, so making the dummy helped me trim it to picture book length.
This dummy uses nine sheets of paper. The outer page is the book cover. Remember that the first few pages are for the dedication, copyright and title, so your story typically begins on page 4 or 5.
Here's the storyboard approach I used for Rain!: And here's the two-column table approach I used for Starry Safari and other books. Which one works best? For me, it depends on the story. I like using the storyboard for wordless manuscripts, but appreciate the book-like feel of the fold-and-staple dummy. Make whichever one most appeals to you. I guarantee it will help you with your manuscript.
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