How to write a good story description
What to include, what to skip, and the one thing parents always forget.
he description is a brief for the Wiz. He's good at illustration; he needs you to be good at the brief. Two minutes of specificity beats an hour of vagueness.
Lead with the kid: name, age, current obsession. Then say what you want the story to be about. The Wiz will turn that into a 10-page script you can review before any drawing happens.
- 1.
Name your kid.
Use their actual name, the spelling you'd want on the cover, and their age. "Mia age 4" beats "my daughter" every time.
- 2.
Say what they love this week.
Dinosaurs? Garbage trucks? Their grandma's strawberry farm? The book is built around the obsession, not a template.
- 3.
One core arc, not three.
Stories with three subplots feel rushed at 10 pages. Pick the one beat you want the book to land.
- 4.
Mention the people who matter.
If grandma should be in the book, say so. The Wiz won't infer family roles from photos alone.
- 5.
Skip the lesson (mostly).
Drive the story with delight; let the lesson ride along. "Mia learns to share" reads like homework. "Mia and the noodle bowl her brother also wants" reads like a story.
What works
- Specific moments."The afternoon Po Po made yogurt popsicles on the porch" gives the Wiz a real scene to draw.
- One emotional beat."Mia is nervous about her first day of swim class" is a single landing point. The Wiz can build to it.
- Style hints if you have them."Watercolour, soft pastels" or "bold ink lines" gives the Wiz a register. Optional.
What makes thin scripts
- Pure adjectives, no scenes."Brave, kind, and clever" describes a person, not a story. The Wiz needs a verb.
- Three plots in one book.Pick the one. The other two are next month's book.
- Generic lesson framing."A story about responsibility" is a textbook chapter. Find the moment where responsibility shows up.
If the script preview comes back generic, edit the description and regenerate — it's free at the script stage. The first time we draw is when generation cost starts. Your descriptions get better fast.