Developing A Storyline

For the next step in my journey to create a children’s book, I began forming my storyline. I took the information I wrote out in my brainstorming session and started shaping it into a more detailed outline, filling in the gaps in my story and identifying areas I needed to change. 

The two key elements I wanted to improve in my storyline are showing a moment of success in action and making the lesson of the book more subtle for the readers (as opposed to saying it outright).

Thinking about how to show a moment of success, I thought back to my own rugby experience, and moments where I felt that feeling of success and the realization that I could achieve something. Oftentimes in sport, they stem from a physical action that brings with it a sense of accomplishment. One moment that came to mind was from when I was younger, and I was playing on a team that I had been selected for. All the rugby teams I had played on before that point had been non-competitive, so this was the first team I had actually had to “try out” for, and I had made the team. I remember during one of the games in the tournament, I had the ball in my hands, attacking the defensive line, and my teammate beside me had space in front of her— all I had to do for us to score was to give her a wide, flat pass. I remember passing the ball to her, and it sailed right into her hands, and we scored a try. Moments like that have stuck with me in my journey through rugby, moments where I executed a play or a skill, and it led to success. I think it’s partly because moments like that make you feel accomplished and proud of yourself, but also because of the support and celebration of the teammates around you, which also brings that feeling of belonging and acceptance. I decided to include a moment in my children’s book that reflects my own experience in some ways. However, I don’t want the moment to be about the main character being a superstar in her sport; I want the message of the book to be about how women do not have to be exceptional to belong in sport, they belong no matter what.

I decided to have the moment of realization occur for the main character as she joins practice with the girls. The ball rolls towards her, and she reacts, picking it up and passing to a teammate running into space. Her teammate scores the try. Maybe in that moment, she realizes she didn’t do anything special, but she played a role; she was playing rugby, and she didn’t need to change any part of herself to do so. This moment of realization also communicates the lesson of the book quite naturally.

After determining what action I would use in the book for this “moment of realization”, I typed out a rough draft of the entire story from start to finish, then began editing, adding and deleting sections to make the story flow together. It was at this point that I found I was missing something else: I wanted to include something in the story that communicates that every athlete has different strengths that contribute to the success of a team. Acceptance and inclusion are key components of the women’s rugby community, and to me, it was important to also communicate this through the book. I thought that communicating this message would also add to the storyline, and it fits in very well with the theme of the book overall. I wanted to include something where the girls on the team are showing off their strengths, showing that, yes, they are all different, but together they succeed, and they don’t need to change to belong.

To show different players’ individual strengths, I decided to put it into the storyline right as the main character joins the girls and begins talking to them about rugby. I think using it as a way to encourage the main character to join the practice (like “look at all of our different skills, you will fit in here and find your strengths too”) is a great transition into having the main character join in with their practice and recognize her place on the rugby team. Additionally, I can highlight real strengths that rugby players bring to the pitch as athletes when they play!

See below for a draft copy of the storyline for my book so far:

At this point, I feel like I have a solid storyline and plot progression for my book. Next, I need to consider the tone of my book and who the main character in my book will be. The tone of my book should be specific to the audience I want my book to be for. In turn, the tone of a book is significantly related to the personality/representation of the main character. I did some research and found one website that offered helpful insight into building characters in children’s books. Specifically, creating an unforgettable character can drive a book forward and engage readers in the storyline. It is important to establish your character, make readers care about them, explore their strengths and flaws, set clear objectives and obstacles for them to overcome, and allow the character to discover themselves by overcoming these obstacles. While this feels like a lot to cover in a short children’s book, I think I have established some of these elements in my story already, and with some adjustments, I can build a strong main character readers will be excited to follow.

*Image from Ron Lach, Pexels