The Chopping Blog

Do you need to hire an illustrator for your picture book?

March 04, 2024

If your artistic skills extend only to drawing stick people, don’t fret!

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Five Prompts for Writing Relatable Characters in Children’s Stories

August 31, 2023

Perhaps your story’s hero is a loose sock who has woken up on the bottom of the dryer all alone. How will it be reunited with its pair?

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Little Darlings: Real-World Story Setting in Middle Grade Fiction

March 02, 2023

Real-world settings and "reality with a twist," whether that’s magical or time-related, offer wonderful imaginative scope for authors and lots of fun for young readers.

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Little Darlings: Will your idea work as a picture book?

November 17, 2022

Nothing is off limits, so long as you check in with “little you” and ask, would I have liked this story? Would it have made sense to me? What would I have enjoyed about it, and would I have wanted to read it over and over?

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Little Darlings: Should your picture book characters be animals or children?

August 15, 2022

Animal characters or children? Both have been well represented in deeply loved, long-lasting, heartwarming, laugh-out-loud, and inspiring books.

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Little Darlings: "Why I Write Middle Grade"

August 10, 2022

These were the kinds of books that made me fall in love with reading (and writing) in the first place. They were filled with story, pure and simple.

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Little Darlings—Time-crafting in children's fiction

July 20, 2022

When writing kidlit, it’s particularly useful to consider time alongside friendship, since the business of meeting and making new friends is central to many children’s books.

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Little Darlings—How long should a picture book be?

March 02, 2022

The important thing is to play with your words across the twelve spread format, reducing as far as possible with the thought that "less is more" in mind.

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