Writing Nonfiction Picture Books

Which type of picture book is published in greater numbers, fiction or nonfiction? If you answered nonfiction, you are correct. The demand for nonfiction titles is growing, in part due to their use in elementary classrooms. Today’s nonfiction incorporates dramatic narrative and engaging language and reads with as much appeal as fiction. 

Creative nonfiction uses elements of fiction with nonfiction facts woven into the text. In my book, ON THE BANKS OF THE AMAZON, I used two characters, a boy and a girl, that watched the animals of the Amazon rainforest at the same time the animals watched them. I embedded factual information about the various animals into the story. 

As you develop the structure of the story, think of the way you want to reveal the information. I first began by listing the animals I wanted to use but I did not have a structure that seemed to work. A simple listing of one animal after another at page turns wasn’t creative or engaging to me so I knew it would not be for the reader either. 

I played with different approaches and realized that some of the animals were awake earlier than others and some prowled at night. That was my Ah-ha moment. The structure would be circular and some animals would appear in the morning, some midmorning, afternoon, twilight, night, and back to the next morning. Of course, I had to rethink the animals I used to fit the structure that made the story unfold in a natural, interesting way. 

Call for submissions for Adult Writers

Dagan Books, Ltd. is now reading for the next issue of Lakeside Circus (est. 2013), a speculative fiction magazine published quarterly with selected stories published at its website. The editor curates short spec fiction stories of under 2500 words.The editorial team is open to other subgenres of science fiction, including urban fantasy, magic realism, horror, the weird or the surreal, doomsday themes, mad science, etc. The ideal story is layered with meaning, driven by an odd, dark, stylish or extraordinary plot without the story evolving into something too strange to understand. Stories must have a fully fleshed out beginning, middle and end, regardless of how short the story runs. - See more at: http://writingcareer.com/post/140458065201/lakeside-circus-magazine-seeks-speculative-fiction#sthash.VeFWyfSV.dpuf

Submission guidelines at https://coffintreehill.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/ongoing-submissions-lakeside-circus/