Secrets to nailing rhythm, breath, and page turns.
Dear New Picture Book Writer,
If I could time travel back to my earliest days of coaching writers, I wouldn’t recommend a craft book or a pep talk.
I’d talk about a metronome.
Because pacing — not plot, not theme, not clever wordplay — was the thing I didn’t think I needed to explain at all.
Yet pacing is what separates a flat, “nice idea” manuscript from a story that practically reads itself out loud.
It’s what gives young readers (and exhausted grownups) that delicious rhythm of anticipation, surprise, and satisfaction — all in 500-or-so words.
It never occurred to me to tell me writing clients about pacing. So I’m telling you now.
What is Picture Book Pacing, Really?
Pacing is the music of your manuscript.
It’s the pause before a punchline.
The long, lingering moment before a twist.
The heart-thump before the page turn.
When your pacing is off, your manuscript feels like a long car ride with no scenery breaks. But when your pacing sings? Readers are leaning in, holding their breath, desperate for what’s next.
Thankfully, pacing isn’t magic. It’s a learnable skill — and these recent picture books show us how it’s done.
3 Brilliantly Paced Picture Books (and What They Teach Us)
The Blur by Minh Lê, illustrated by Dan Santat
→ Pacing Lesson: Stretch time for emotional impact.
The Blur captures the breathtaking speed of childhood — and yet, ironically, the pacing is often slow and deliberate. A single sentence sprawls across several pages. One image lingers. This slowness is what lets the heart grow full.
→ Try it: Slow your pacing when you want readers to feel something big — wonder, nostalgia, love. Let the moment breathe.
Hardly Haunted by Jessie Sima (2021)
→ Pacing Lesson: Build tension with repetition and variation.
In Hardly Haunted, a lonely house tries to act “normal.” Sima uses repeated sounds — creaks, groans, moans — layered with increasing suspense. Each attempt builds anticipation until the perfect turning point.
→ Try it: Use repetition with a twist. Let readers know what to expect… then deliver it differently or break the pattern for a page-turn payoff.
A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall, illustrated by Vera Brosgol
→ Pacing Lesson: Milk the page turn for comic timing.
This book is practically a master class in page-turn humor. Every attempt to corral frogs goes just a beat longer than expected — stretching the gag, letting it build, and then releasing it in a hilarious visual surprise.
→ Try it: Place action verbs or cliffhanger lines at the end of a page. Use page turns as mini-punchlines or moments of reveal.
Easy Strategies to Improve Your Picture Book Pacing
Ready to fine-tune your pacing like a pro? Here are some practical, writer-tested strategies.
1. Use Short Sentences for Speed
When you want a scene to move quickly — chase scenes, escalating chaos, or action — lean into short, punchy lines.
Example:
The cat ran.
The dog followed.
The birds scattered.
White space = velocity.
2. Linger on Long Sentences for Emotion
When you want readers to feel dreamy, reflective, or emotionally grounded, go long.
Example:
The moon hung quietly in the sky, soft and full, as if it had all the time in the world to listen to a small girl’s wish.
3. Play with Page Turns
Write with the page turn in mind.
→ What question will make the reader need to turn the page?
→ What image will surprise or delight them next?
→ Can you place a cliffhanger word like “until…” or “but…” at the bottom right?
4. Think Cinematically
Picture books are visual experiences. Think like a film editor.
Zoom in: one beat, one image per page.
Zoom out: a sweeping sentence across a spread.
Mixing wide shots with close-ups instinctively changes your pacing.
5. Read Aloud Like a Kid (Or a Tired Parent)
If you can’t read your manuscript aloud without stumbling, rushing, or running out of breath, your pacing needs work.
Test your manuscript with real kids (or a brutally honest friend). Where do they fidget? Where do they laugh? Where do they lose interest? Please note, I don’t usually advise writers to read to a kid to find out if they like your story–because kids want to please you, or do not want to hurt your feelings–but this is a different focus.
Your manuscript will tell you where to revise — if you listen.
Final Thoughts
Pacing is invisible when it’s done well — but essential for story magic.
It’s what turns your story into an experience, not just words.
So go back to your latest manuscript. Look at where you want readers to slow down… and where you want them to speed up.
Then rewrite like you’re writing music — with rhythm, rests, and perfect little pauses.
Your future readers (and their future read-alouders) will thank you.
