Arts >> Books >> Book Publishing

How to Turn a Traditional Indian Story Into a Children's Picture Book

"Coyote the trickster," "Rabbit" and "Raven" are animal-characters featured prominently in different Native American-themed stories, while half-human "Iktome Spider Man" is a sacred figure in the Sioux tradition. Colorful archetypes including nature elements such as Wind, Moon and the global Coyote, who differs according to region and thus, nation, adapts well to a picture book format. Imagery, metaphor and action depicted in traditional Indian tales make perfect page-turners in an illustrated children's book. Transferring the Native Indian stories, known as "re-tellings," to a picture book manuscript, however, requires skill with a beautiful but complex language syntax. Native American picture books are easily mistaken as simple to write. Integrating folklore while honoring authenticity to Native American prose and culture cannot be overemphasized.

Instructions

    • 1

      Re-read the original Native American story. Identify accurately the American Indian nation narrating the story.

    • 2

      Go to the library to research the American Indian nation featured as narrator of the story. Jot down the cultural markers, customs and traditions specific to the heritage of that nation. Set data aside to reference later.

    • 3

      Make a list of the character names in the story, or underline the characters with a light-colored marker or highlighter.

    • 4

      Draft the plot of the story. Identify the main action and uncover the message or moral of the narrative. Sequence the order of the story's events to construct a picture book's beginning, middle and end. Write the story in your own words first, to reinforce comprehension. Final drafts should eliminate colloquial English, crafting the narrative according to the prose tradition of the Native American narrator of the story.

    • 5

      Revisit the researched data. Reconstruct the story including the heritage traditions and integrating the language of the American Indian narrator as the story's voice. Incorporate dialogue between the characters if it aligns with the style of the narration. Divide the narrative into 16 sections from beginning to end, adhering to pacing, climax and conclusion.

    • 6

      Assemble and align 16 sheets of paper and fold them in half to create a simple visual spread or "dummy" of the book. The standard length of a picture book is 16 two-page spreads or 32 pages. Add each section of the story to the dummy by writing in longhand on one page of the two-page spreads. List image ideas for the illustrator on the pages opposite the text, which are reserved for the illustrations.

    • 7

      Sketch rough drafts of the images that emerge in the story if you are the writer-illustrator. Edit the images to select the most compelling illustrations and those that best complement the text. Pencil in illustration ideas opposite the text using the structure of the dummy to view the visual flow of the story.

    • 8

      Proofread for grammar for the final draft. Ask Native Americans in the tradition of the story to also fact-check for authenticity.

+:
+:

Book Publishing

Related Categories