I am still thinking about the Answers, Inc. post from a few days ago on rhyming picture books. As a novelist, I don’t think too much about rhyming picture books, but as I mulled over the post a great writing truth presented itself to me; therefore, you shall have to hear about it. Ready?
Rhyming is to picture books as prologues are to novels.
Am I right, or what?
Both—rhyming, a prologue—are inordinately tempting to a writer. And more often than not, neither the rhyme nor the prologue ends up serving the story. But every now and then each proves indispensable, the perfect way to tell or begin the story.
That’s it. Have a lovely Memorial Day.
You are right as two rabbits, as we say in Indiana. And while rhyme or prologue may be a doorway that leads us into a story, we have to be willing to abandon those doorways if they no longer serve a purpose, like the walled up doorway that used to go from my kitchen to the back hallway. When the kids were little they ran in circles from the kitchen through that doorway to the back hallway to the dining room to the kitchen, endlessly round and round. But the kids don't run in those circles any longer, and I love how much better my kitchen works now with counters where the doorway used to be.
What about the rhyming prologue?
Ack. What are the odds that I would read this with my big superstitious eyes on the same day I am trying, determined, running endlessly around my house in circles, trying to finish up my rhyming picture book for my creative thesis?
It's a sign, isn't it?