"We get a lot of submissions in rhyme and it's hard for it not to come out stilted. It does take an original voice, an original story...and reviewers can be very nasty about it."
--Nancy Paulsen, president/publisher of Dial and G.P. Putnam's Sons (publisher of Skateboard Mom).
"I don't think that rhyme is the problem per se, I think that it's the lack of a story. That's why I write the story before I rhyme. It took me YEARS to learn this: story first, then rhyme. You can have the best rhyme in the world, but if you don't have a story, why would an editor want to see it?
--Anastasia Suen, author of several rhyming picture books, speaking about how she always "storyboards" her stories, scene by scene, before she begins to write.
"When I first started writing for children in 1979, most of the picture books
I wrote were in rhyme. They weren't too bad--I'd been writing poetry
since the age of 7--but they weren't great either. Every mistake you
could make in writing a picture book, I made. Every. Single. One.
Including less-than-perfect rhyme. Needless to say, I got a pile of
rejections, knee-high."
--Lee Wardlaw, who gave up rhyme, sold fifteen books in prose, then went back to rhyme...with aplomb. Her SATURDAY NIGHT JAMBOREE got rave reviews.
"I told my husband to do some illustrations, and without knowing a damn thing, I sent them off to Little, Brown...and lo and behold they accepted it. But they told me there weren't enough poems for a book--I probably had enough for half--so [the editor] asked, `How long do you think it would take you to write the rest?' And I said: `Oh, will Friday be all right?'
--Mary Ann Hoberman, on selling her first poetry collection in the mid-1950s.
The trouble with picture book rhyme
Is that sometime
It doesn't really scan all that well.
And often you can't tell
If the author knows what she is doing,
Or if she is just throwing
Slant rhymes around
For a sort of
Kind of
Interesting sound,
Thinking that what's Seuss for the goose
Is even grander
For the gander.
Moral:
If you want to rhyme
Think twice
And do not do it 'cause it's nice.
It isn't.
Just.
--Jane Yolen
"I think rhyme is a secondary issue. The stumbling block for most writers trying to create rhymed picture books, and the missing quality that drives editors up the wall, is RHYTHM. Only if a text is truly metrical and thus easy to read aloud can authors and editors go on to address near rhymes, extraneous phrases or episodes for the sake of rhyme, and other weaknesses that arise simply because of rhyme."
--J. L. Bell, Regional Advisor, SCBWI, New England.
"For most of my professional life, I've read about the dangers of rhymes in terms of submission, and yet I've seen rhyming picture books published by the dozens. I was never able to fully reconcile the two until I judged the Writer's Digest Magazine's yearly competition [in 2000]. I read more than 1500 manuscripts in four weeks time. And I finally came to understand the editor's rhyme time dilemma:
"It isn't that the children's book industry doesn't WANT to publish rhyme. It's that they cannot publish BAD rhyme. And if my one time experience is any indication, bad rhyme is much more common than good. Even so, I wouldn't let that discourage the writing of rhyme. My first picture book [I BOUGHT A BABY CHICKEN, Boyds Mills Press, 2000] was in rhyme. My selected winner of the Writer's Digest Children's category, UP NED'S NOSE by David Simon, was delightfully scripted in rhyme. In fact, Dave was also chosen as the grand prize winner for 2000. So, clearly, rhyme can find its way to publication -- if it's worthy of the rise."
--Kelly Milner Halls, author, book reviewer.
"I think most editors like rhyming stories if they're done well. 'Rhyme + Story + Children' have always made a delightful combination. Key elements to writing good rhyming stories:
1) The rhythm and rhyme need to be perfect. And even with perfect rhythm and rhyme, the story should read in a lyrical way rather than a sing-song way.
2) The telling of the story in rhyme should read as naturally as prose... no inverted sentences, stilted lines, or forced rhyme.
3) All elements of a good story must be present... opening hook, solid beginning and middle, surprise twist, satisfying ending, good characterization, etc. Long after the book is read, the reader should be able to remember it as a good story, rather than as a good rhyme."
--Dori Chacanos, author of ON A WINTRY MORNING.
"I see bad rhyme all the time--even on bookstores shelves. It has made me more of a perfectionist about my own work. I always envision other writers standing in the bookstore, holding my book, going "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Her meter's off, it's too sing-songy, and this line is weak." That alone gets me running back to revise to perfection."
--Lisa Wheeler, who's sold eleven picture books, eight in rhyme.
"Another reason that editors might have a knee-jerk reaction against
verse is that many beginning authors have a sense that picture books must be
written in verse, and disproportionate number of unprofessional manuscripts
come in that are written in bad rhyme when they should have been written in prose.
"I've seen this reaction begin developing in me. When I see a rhymed manuscript from a beginning writer, my first response is negative, because I'm
expecting something amateur and weak. Rhyme is very difficult to pull off.
You need regularity, yet variety. You have to have a rhythm in the text,
yet with a feeling that the language is natural. And you have to write the
text in such a way that the reader gets the same rhythm that you have in
your head. It's very hard for a beginning writer to do all this. (Though
I've run across some that do it remarkably well.)"
--Rick Walton, author of SO MANY BUNNIES (and so many others).
"Having been a children's librarian for many years, I define a "perfect" rhyming picture book as one that can be read aloud without stumbling. If a word can be pronounced in more than one way, you stumble. If the line is broken in the wrong place, you stumble. Always, always have someone other than yourself read your manuscript aloud."
--writer Diane Mayr
"Rhyme can be so fun and kids love wordplay so much. I think it can actually help your chance of a sale if it's done right. The rhyme should enhance the telling of the story, rather than be there just because. If you find yourself pushing the story around to achieve rhyme then you probably should think about it. The story should drive the words rather than the other way around."
--Bonny Becker (THE CHRISTMAS CROCODILE, TICKLY PRICKLY), who's sold six books, four in rhyme.
"I always think `how strange' when I hear this at author's conferences--I think there's a perception that this is true outside the industry but I don't think I've ever heard a colleague or fellow professional say this. Maybe this comes up because we do a lot of complaining about the preponderance of bad rhyming texts received in submissions--though I don't know that there's more bad rhyme than there are disappointing renderings of any other style or genre."
--Dial editor Cecile Goyette, speaking about the supposed "anti-rhyme" sentiment among editors.
"Perfect," when referring to rhyming stories, means more than ending
each line with a rhyming word. Flow, pacing, how the piece sounds when read aloud, how the rhythm/rhyme matches the action of the words... all these
things, and more, must be considered.
"Imagine the music of The Sorcerer's Apprentice and how the illustrated
actions of the film fit that music. It's my understanding that the
rhythm/rhyme of a story must fit the action of the words in just this way."
"Writing picture books in prose over the years actually forced me to write in a succinct, rhythmic, vivid manner. Each word is so important: the sound of the word, it's internal rhyme, the pictures it conjures, etc. Each
picture book is a poem in itself - - even if it doesn't rhyme - - so writing them was a good exercise. Over time, my skills improved to the point where I no longer made every mistake possible. And my rhyming was dead on.
Hooray!"
