From Idea to Book

How to Pick the Perfect Story for a Children’s

Book

If you are reading this blog, I’m assuming you’ve been wondering how to create a children’s book. I’ve been in your shoes and asked myself the same questions just 3 years ago. This blog will share insights on how to narrow down story ideas from many to one. Since you can’t pick the perfect story for a children’s book without finding the best story first.

One thing I know for sure is that many people who want to create books, any type of book, ask themselves two big questions:

Which story idea do I go with first?
How do I start writing the story?

Answering these two questions are going to help you pick the perfect story to write for a children’s book.

This blog is about: How to narrow down your story Ideas and pick the perfect story to write for that children’s book.

Let’s begin! Authors, grab your sturdy pen and notebook. The information I’m about to share is not only helpful, I’ve used it to write my two books. Which means this works!

It’s time to write them all down!

Write what down exactly?

Why, all of those great story Ideas you’ve been storing up. It is time to grab your laptop, notebook, random scraps of paper and start writing them all down.

But, I don’t know what the actual story is, just a thought or two.

Write it down! Even if it’s a one sentence description of an idea you’ve had floating around for months. The most important thing in this first step is to empty your mind of all and any ideas for a story.

The reason we want your thoughts to be empty of all the story ideas is so that when you do pick the one idea you are going to create, you can focus solely on that story alone. Thus, writing all the ideas down clears your mind and keeps the ideas safe for if and when you go back for another one later.

Author Tip:

Has a single idea, or thought been sneaking it’s way back into your mind? Have you been thinking of this one idea or thought randomly. As if it’s a boomerang, you think about, chuck it away and Zoom! It’s back. If there is an idea or two with this boomerang effect, put a star next to it. We’ll come back to that later.

I highly recommend putting a timer on for 30 minutes for a few days and just dump the story ideas out. Write as MANY as possible. Clear your mind of all the possible great ideas so we can get ready to work on the perfect story.

All written out? Grab your highlighter.

Calling all highlighters, bright colored pens and star shaped stamps. Your author needs you!

Time to go through all of your story ideas and take a serious highlighter to the ideas that strike you in the heart and soul.

BUT FIRST! We need to get the best mindset in place.

Our minds must be ready to pick just One idea. We are looking for the idea that fills our hearts and souls with excitement. The story that keeps you thinking about it’s possibilities. That one story that you keep saying “That would make a perfect story!”

Highlight any and all of the ideas that make you feel like we described above. We want to narrow down the idea list from many to at least your top 3 or 5.

Author Tip!

Take a break. If you’re looking at the paper, words are starting to slur together. Put it down and walk away for a break. We are in no rush. Go the speed you need to.

Break Time is over! Show your stars.

Pull out another piece of paper, we need to separate the highlighted stories from the rest. Keep both papers! Call the first paper your Story Idea list. An idea is an idea forever. Authors can always go back to their Story Idea list. As long as we keep it in a safe spot. Haha.

Set the timer for 15 to 30 minutes and brain dump on these top ideas. Write absolutely as much as you possibly can about what the idea will consist of. If you can add details, go for it! Write as much as you can then move on to the next story idea you have. Do this process with your top 3 story ideas.

Here’s an example from my own children’s book:

Story idea: A baby, a blanket, and a Grandma.

Basic plot: Grandma is looking forward to her first grandchild. She decides to make a special blanket as a gift for the baby. As she makes the blanket the Grandma talks to her daughter about how excited they all are about the new baby. The book will be from the baby’s perspective inside the womb. Hearing all about this blanket from her grandmother, the baby is getting excited! Once the baby is born she meets her family and gets her very own special, magic blanket. Colorful, bright, full page illustrations.

Look at the 3 story topics. The moment has come. Which one is the perfect one for your book?

Which one? Which one?

Breaking it down here. Answer the questions below honestly. Apply to each of the three story Ideas.

Does this story idea (SI) make you feel excited? YES or NO

How much do you know about the subject in the story?

How much research will you need to do in order to complete your story?

Can you dedicate yourself to this story?

Do you love this story idea? Would it make you happy to bring this story to life?

After all the questions are answered, which story did you end up choosing? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear what story you have chosen for your new adventure.

P.S. Congratulations on picking your perfect story! Take a moment to party. You just decided on a story to create, a whole new world to bring to life. This is a very exciting moment for all Authors.

The Perfect Story is ready for you!

Pull out a new piece of paper or a fresh document on your computer. Add your book title and start writing.

Author tip:

Now that you have a story picked, make sure you know what type of book you are creating. This is the 2nd biggest step for you.

Let’s talk about your book bones.

It is very important to establish the bones of your book. Picking a story out of many ideas is step one. Since we have the story idea picked it is time to make sure we have a solid structure for building your book bones.