/adaptation

Picture Book

A picture book tells a story in words and pictures together, usually in 32 pages. The text is short (often under 500 words; story init --form picture-book sets target-words: 500) and leaves room for the illustrations to carry half the story. In traditional publishing, the publisher chooses the illustrator; an author-only manuscript goes out as text with sparse art notes. Self-published authors commission art and need the full spread briefs.

Pagination

Books are printed in signatures, so 32 pages (sometimes 24 or 40) is standard. With self-ended books (the endpapers are part of the 32 pages), a common plan is:

That gives 14 spreads of story (pages 4-31) plus page 32. Books with separate endpapers, or with the title and copyright on one page, gain a page or a spread. Front-matter placement varies; confirm the plan with the printer or publisher. Keep the text in chapters, one per spread, numbered to match (chapter-01 is spread 1), so story wordcount counts the text per spread. Art notes and briefs stay in the plan file (see Art Notes below).

Spreads And The CLI Checks

The CLI treats each spread as a chapter, so give each one what a chapter needs rather than ignoring the warnings:

• One scene record per spread. Without one, story validate warns has no machine-readable scene records for every spread and story next lists [P1] Add scene records. Create it with story add scene "Spread 1" --chapter chapter-01 --scene 1 --pov {pov} (add --location and --character for who and where the picture shows). The record carries the spread's cast and props for continuity.
• hook is the page-turn beat. Set each spread's chapter hook to what its turn does (question, reversal, revelation, cliffhanger, decision, emotional; resolution for the last spread). This clears story pacing's has no hook warnings and records the beat the pagination plan names.
• Sequel runs do not apply. With a scene record per spread, story pacing warns scene units in a row with no sequel. Picture books run on page turns, not scene and sequel, so leave that warning as it is and do not add sequel: true to spreads to silence it.
• No spread 15. Until story.md is revising or complete, story next keeps suggesting Draft chapter 15. Once all 14 spreads are drafted, set status: revising in story.md; the suggestion stops and story next moves on to revision passes.

Page-Turn Beats

The page turn is the picture book's cliffhanger. Plan what each turn reveals:

• End the recto (right page) on a question, a setup, or a sentence that breaks mid-thought; reveal on the next spread.
• Rule of three: two attempts that fail, the third that works or goes spectacularly wrong, each on its own spread.
• Pace varies: a quiet spread before the big reveal; a wordless spread for the emotional peak.
• The ending lands on the last spread or page 32, often with a final image that twists or echoes the opening.

Text And Illustration

• Do not describe what the picture shows. If the art shows a red coat, the text need not say so.
• Let the pictures contradict or extend the words for humor and irony (the text says "Nobody noticed"; the picture shows everyone staring).
• Every spread needs an illustratable moment: a location, an action, an emotion. Two spreads in a row with the same scene and pose is a problem.
• Read aloud: rhythm, repetition, and refrains matter because adults read these books to children. Rhyme only if every line scans perfectly; write and scan rhyming text with the verse-craft skill.
• The child character solves the problem; adults do not rescue them.

Pagination Plan Template

Save as adaptations/picture-book/pagination.md:

---
type: pagination-plan
story: {story-id}
pages: 32
updated: YYYY-MM-DD
---

# Pagination: {Title}

| Spread | Pages | Chapter | Text (words) | Page-turn beat | Picture |
|--------|-------|---------|--------------|----------------|---------|
| 1 | 4-5 | chapter-01 | 32 | Setup: Pip wants to fly | Pip on the fence at dawn |
| 2 | 6-7 | chapter-02 | 28 | Attempt one fails | Pip in the hedge, feathers everywhere |

## Spread Briefs

Spread Brief Template

One per spread, under ## Spread Briefs:

### Spread 1 (pages 4-5)

- **Text:** chapter-01
- **Moment:** what the picture shows at this instant
- **Characters:** who is present, their emotion and pose
- **Setting:** place, time of day, weather; location id if any
- **Must show:** details the text depends on, or that later spreads pay off
- **Must not show:** what the next page turn reveals
- **Text placement:** where the words sit (clear space left or right,
  top or bottom)
- **Continuity:** clothing, props, and colors that must match other spreads
- **Art note:** only if the text misleads without the picture (see Art Notes)

Art Notes

An art note tells an illustrator (or an editor reading a manuscript sent without art) something the text is misleading or incomplete without. Keep art notes in the pagination plan, never in chapter prose: text in a chapter is counted as words and ships in the narration script, EPUB, and print interior. Add an Art note line to the spread's brief:

- **Art note:** Pip is not a bird. Pip is a pig.

When the manuscript goes out without art, copy each note into the submission copy you build (for example dist/, which is disposable) in the conventional form [Art note: Pip is not a bird. Pip is a pig.], after the spread's text.

Keep them short and rare. A manuscript full of art notes tells the publisher the author wants to direct the illustrator.

Checks

• Total words inside the form's range (1-1,000 for picture-book). Run story wordcount . --write and check the total yourself: while drafting, story validate checks only that target-words is inside the range, and it warns about the actual manuscript length only once story.md has status: complete
• Each spread has a scene record and a hook, and no art notes sit in chapter prose
• 14 spreads (or the printer's plan), each with a text and a picture moment
• Every page turn earns the turn
• No spread repeats the previous spread's picture
• Read aloud from start to end without stumbling