FMP Thoughts And Ideas

Realised I was supposed to include this in my Hopes, Fears and Opportunities blog post...


Note to self: READ THE BRIEF 


As usual I have already decided what I want to do and feel reluctant to think of any other possibilities. I know that I would love to write and illustrate my own children's picture book. I have not however, decided on which story I want to move forward with...


I want this book to take the successful aspects of the Uganda Children's book project and move those onward but also to think about the unsuccessful aspects and make sure they don't happen again.
This book will be aimed at younger children aged around 3-5years. The story will need to be simplistic, have a happy ending and also convey and important message. 


I have considered going back to the My Nana Knits Cats story and re-writing it so that it ticks all the above requirements. I spent too much time explaining how the cats were created but have since realised that children just accept these factors when looking through a picture book. You don't need to explain why the animals can talk or how they understand each other.... They just do!

Another thought was to go even further back to a story I wrote in my foundation year about a lost chameleon called Moe. The story is strong enough to not need a re-write so would give me more time to focus on the illustrations. 


A final possibility was to write a new story idea from scratch. I've been thinking a lot about colour theory and the brilliant effects that can be achieved when used.
I came up with the idea of an Ugly Duckling inspired story about a pig that is born bright blue onto a farm where everything is a various dull shades of brown. The pig would be treated much the same way the ugly duckling is treated until she realises (thanks to her mothers unconditional love) that it doesn't matter what you look like. Soon after this the pig realises it's magic and that it can make objects and the other animals all the colours of the rainbow just by pressing her snout against them. Then all the animal realise that being different is ok, blah, blah and so on...
This story would require time to write before starting the illustrations so I would need to consider how much time I have to complete this project...