pagination

[MOO]

It seems to me that pagination is pretty tricky. I am trying to break up some text for a new book project. It's always so challenging me to do layout and pagination! Some people seem to just whiz through it without hardly a thought. I know it can be changed once you lay it all out but......
are ther any tips to make the page turns good. I don't have a high adventure or really huge climax. Here's a summary. It's a rhyming story: Granny loses her glasses and a few other things-like shoes, keys, etc.. She needs to go to the store. She looks everywhere, the cat and dog start looking too. The glasses are found. She goes to the store and gets her shopping done (wordless spot images there) and then she comes out to the parking lot and can't find her truck!

Any tips?

Thanks.

[smceccarelli]

Hi Marsha! I know the manuscript, so I tune in. I think that one is really tough because it´s so short (which is a good thing). One possible solution would be to spread the first stanza (the introduction) on 2-3 spreads, then have the middle part use one page or even one spread per line (that´s where the tension and fun of the story is and I believe it should get more space as well as more tempo), then have the resolution again use 2 spreads. Then there’s the wordless spread of granny shopping and the last page would be the twist - either the last even single page, no 32 or the last full spread, 30-31, with 32 just having back matter or another twist (for example we see the cat and dog have stolen the truck to go and have fun by themselves). I’m not sure that would work, but that would be my first try.
One way I sometimes plan is to create a physical booklet with the right number of pages (8 plain copy paper sheets, folded in half and held by sewing a stich or two through the folds gives you exactly 32 pages), and then write the text in, on each page, in pencil - so I can erase and transpose and make changes. Sometimes I cut up a printout of the text and glue it in line-by-line. The booklet then doubles as mini-sketchbook for the book´s thumbnails. Looking forward to seeing this one!

[MOO]

@smceccarelli Thanks, Simona. I actually sat down after I wrote this and decided to give it a go. I did thumbnails, not the booklet but I will do that for sure. I'll see if I can post it. It's very rough of course, you might not even be able to tell what is going on. Sometimes I just put a word instead of the whole sentence. I am definitely going to do the little booklet. I did that with Uncle Carl too except full size.

Comments welcome.