has anyone seen my chihuahua

It's funny how inspiration can strike you. Sometime way back in April of 2007, I took a bus heading across town to visit friends in Islington. During that ride, I had an idea for a children's book. I had a pen on me, luckily, but no paper (I know, I know, a writer should always carry a notebook - goodness knows how many brilliant ideas I've lost through not abiding to this), so I scribbled a rough first draft of the story on my bus ticket. Picture books, fortunately, are short. Even shorter than short stories. A full draft can fit on a London bus ticket.

So I'm thrilled to announce that the book I dreamt up on that bus journey has finally been published today by Walker Books. It's called Has Anyone Seen My Chihuahua? and is illustrated by the brilliant Ollie Lett. If you go into a bookshop to look for a copy it's hard to miss because the cover is a bright shocking pink with a dandy little chihuahua peeping out at you. I have to admit I love that cover.

Ollie and I go way back. His parents are my godparents and I was named after his mum. We've known each other since we were babies. So when Walker spotted his animal-inspired paintings at an art fair and asked him in to take a look at his portfolio, he contacted me to ask if I would write a story for him. I jumped at the chance. This'll be fun, I thought. I certainly never would have imagined that in the time it would take to progress from first germ of an idea to published book I'd be able to produce and raise a child who would be the perfect target audience age (you can read of her reaction in an earlier blog post here! The thing is, there's a whole lot more to writing picture books than you'd think.

You'd think it would be easy, huh? They look simple. Only a handful of words. On average just 12 spreads. Surely there can't be much to it. But therein lies the rub. What I quickly learned is that there's not much room for plot and character development. You have to be absolutely direct. The first stories I was coming up with were much too complicated. 'Think of it like writing a joke,' was one brilliant piece of advice my editor Lucy Ingrams gave me. That's the scale of the idea you're working with.

I remember going in with Ollie for a meeting in the jolly Walker office very early on, even before I came up with the chihuahua idea. We sat round a big table with cups of tea and were joined by a couple of book editors, as well as an art director or two. This is something that makes picture book writing very different from writing adult fiction. It's so much more of a collaborative process. You are creating something together. It's very exciting. And at times a bit disarming if you've been used to working all alone and being wholly in control. 

I'm hugely indebted to my editors at Walker for all I've learnt from them. 'Don't try to rhyme,' was one of the first things they said. I don't think this was simply because it places the experimenting new writer at risk of producing something that can easily sound rather twee, but also for the more practical reason that it makes it harder for the publisher to sell translation rights! Probably the most helpful thing I took from that first meeting though was the advice to think of the book as a whole unit. It's small enough in scope that you can do that.  12 spreads, remember. Try thinking of these in three-page blocks and shape the action of the story that way. Make sure you have something that is drawing your reader through the book - literally making them want to turn the pages. Bring in your crescendo at the end of the third block, not right at the very end. The final block is for you to tail things up and to make sure your story has a good pay-off. You want your reader to feel it has a satisfying conclusion. 

Thinking of the story in this way really helped me and made me see why early drafts of stories that I'd been coming up with didn't really work. Of course it's not a formula you should feel obligated to stick to - remember, there are no rules when you're writing creatively - but if you take a look at a lot of the successful picture books out there, you'll note that this structure is one that often applies. 

Take one of the most famous picture books, for example, one which you're sure to know. Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. If you were to break it roughly into four blocks, the first block covers the caterpillar hatching from the egg and feeling hungry. The second covers the food he eats on the first five days of the week. The crescendo comes in the third block when he scoffs all that junk food and gets a stomach ache. And in the final block we see him transform into a beautiful butterfly - what an incredibly perfect pay-off to conclude the story!

Indeed, looking at other picture books was something I did a lot of when I started working on the book. I didn't have a child yet, remember, so it was a long time since I'd read any books aimed at the 2-4-year-old bracket. The good thing about doing research of this nature is that the books are quick to read - you can literally read them from cover to cover standing up in a bookstore or a library. I read a ton this way. I looked at what books the booksellers were placing on their bestseller tables. I read reviews on Amazon to see what parent reviewers picked out as making a great picture book. I searched out recommendations for the best children's books (this site is a great resource for this, by the way, take a look here).  I reaquainted myself with old favourites, and discovered a few new gems along the way (Mo Willem's hilarious Pigeon books, for example, or Vivane Schwarz's wonderfully inventive There Are Cats in this Book). The whole process was a huge learning curve. And a lot of fun.

Something else I'd point you to if you're interested in writing picture books is the brilliant online book put together by former writer in residence and picture book-maker-extraordinaire Polly Dunbar. Take a look here. It's brilliant and she gives truly excellent advice in such an imaginative way. I wish this had been around when I embarked on the process.

Walker have given me a spread from the book to share with you in which you can see Ollie's brilliant vibrant illustrations. Maybe if you look really hard you can get an idea of the fun I was having with the word chihuahua - such a fantastic word to read out loud to tiny ones and so funny when they start to repeat it - 'wawa' is what my daughter now calls the chihuahua, although she does so each time with a sceptical little frown, as though she continues to suspect I might be pulling her leg. I think at heart she still believes he's a mouse.

Don't blink and you should also be able to spot the little fellow in this video promoting Walker's new Picture Book Picnic venture, designed to encourage the sharing of your favourite picture books, and introduce you to new treats.

If you know a small child or a chihuahua-lover, do tell them about the book.  I'm off to celebrate, maybe dance a little flamenco like this tiny critter...

Yip!