By Melissa Stoller
www.MelissaStoller.com
This April, arrange your ideas so they are organized and ready to fit into your manuscripts.
Here are some tips to get started:
www.MelissaStoller.com
This April, arrange your ideas so they are organized and ready to fit into your manuscripts.
Here are some tips to get started:
1. Pull together any idea notebooks and journals, scraps of paper that have snippets of conversations, phone notes, doodles, illustrations, and any other places where you store your ideas.
2. Arrange the ideas. List the ideas and prioritize which you want to focus on. Start with your top three ideas. Then focus on your top one idea. Write a title, opening line, first page, or more of that most promising story.
3. Re-arrange your ideas. Choose six ideas. If possible, combine the six ideas into three ideas. Mix and mash up subjects/settings/characters. Have fun and play. See where this exercise takes you. Then choose one of the re-arranged mash-ups and write a story.
I hope these prompts help you arrange and re-arrange your ideas in April and beyond . . . let me know in the comments.
MELISSA’S BIO:Melissa Stoller writes to bring heartfelt connection and joy to her readers. Her recent picture books include: Hazel and Mabel: Two Hearts Apart, illustrated by Anita Bagdi (Gnome Road Publishing, 2025) and Mojo’s Return: A Story of Resilience and Hope, illustrated by Uzi Binyamin (co-authored with Lishay Miran Lavi and Mary Millman) (Niv Publishing, 2025). Melissa’s next picture book, Stella’s Special Recipe: A Rosh Hashanah Story, illustrated by Valerya Milovanova, releases from Kar-Ben Publishing on August 4, 2026. Melissa is also the author of the chapter book The Enchanted Snow Globe Collection - Return to Coney Island, and the picture books Scarlet’s Magic Paintbrush; Ready, Set, GOrilla!; Sadie’s Shabbat Stories; Planting Friendship: Peace, Salaam, Shalom; and Building Bridges: Peace, Salaam, Shalom (co-written). Melissa is a Rate Your Story Judge, a Blogger for the Children’s Book Academy, a member of SCBWI, a Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center Trustee, and a former school and synagogue trustee. In other chapters of her life, Melissa has worked as a lawyer, legal writing instructor, freelance writer/editor, and early childhood educator. She lives in New York City with her family, and enjoys theatre, museums, and travel.
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