Is ten pages too long?

Anonyouth said:

I want to write a picture book. I've always wanted to write one, but I am wondering, at 250 words per page, is a PB story around ten pages, too long? Because even though I can wrap a story up in about four pages, I want a little more more to add more detail (colored hair, grass, warm soup, that stuff) and maybe more of a plot.

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Anonyouth, yes, in general, 2,500 words is going to be too long for most picture book texts.

But more importantly, your questions, and especially the kind of detail you stated you wanted to include, makes me think you need to read up a bit on picture book formats and basics before starting.

There are some great sticky threads right here in the Writing for Kids forum, pretty much right above this thread. Read these threads, and then go look at some of the picture book manuscript critiques in children's syw, to educate yourself a bit on the "rules" of picture book text and what is expected in them. They are very difficult to do well, so do your research first.

These sticky threads would be especially helpful:

Sticky: Writing a picture book
Sticky: Writers and Illustrator Toolkit

But read all the stickys, and a bunch of the critiques, before starting.

~suki

Also, I suggest going to a bookstore and reading lots of modern picture books. Skip the ones by famous authors (i.e., Madonna) because they can do anything they want. What you will see is that the large majority of picture books are under 500 words -- in total. And that the illustrations tell at least half of the story.

Amen to what suki and Inkblot said. Strongly suggest that you take your time and do all the things that should be done before even thinking about putting a serious pen to paper. It will be to your benefit.

I have a question that relates to the advice you've already gotten:

Why do you want to write for children?

Some people write for children because they love a certain age. For example, quite a few people who wrote successfully for kids (like Rick Riordan and Carl Hiassen) have started writing for a younger audience, often inspired by becoming parents themselves and hanging out in that younger world.

Other people write for kids because we love children's literature, read a lot of it, and what to be part of that.

The questions that you ask, things like Is this too long?, make me think you don't really read a lot of current children's literature. And that really is the important first step. Writing for children is very different from other kinds of writing.

You need to read A LOT of children's books before you will understand what makes each type unique. And once you have done that, you won't need to ask questions like, How long should a PB be? You'll have a much better feel for what kinds of ideas will make a good bedtime book, or learning-to-read book, or chapter book, or novel.

...I want to read more PBs by people who hate children. They could be interesting

Just as a quick guide, most agents/editors who mention PB's on their sites/blogs suggest sticking to 2-3 narrative pages for a PB story.

While a properly formatted manuscript is going to have 250 words a page, a pb is going to have significantly less. I'd say less is more.

abctriplets said:

...I want to read more PBs by people who hate children. They could be interesting

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Yes!

The "I love children" thing is something you hear from young people going into teaching, as well.

I always encourage them to go out and meet a few, before they decide on a career.

Children can be absolutely horrible creatures. They are rude, crude, selfish, violent, impulsive, noisy and destructive. I'm serious. I've been a teacher for 20 years, and I've seen children that are very, very unlikeable.

And those children can be the most rewarding to teach, and make the most interesting characters in stories. Think about Joey Pigza or Junie B. Jones. Really, what adult would want to spend 10 minutes in a room with either of them? Get out the duct tape and the Ritalin, for god's sake! But they make great heroes of their own stories.

Children are also a very fickle and picky audience. Give up on trying to bring them joy. If you really want to make them happy, bake them Rice Krispy treats. Easier, cheaper, guaranteed to work.

My advice: instead of focusing on this mythical audience of Young Readers you hope to please, focus on yourself. What kinds of stories do you love to read? What kinds of stories pop up into your brain? Learn how to tell the stories that really speak to you, and learn how to tell them well.

I know, I'm not answering your original question. Sorry.