How do you write a timeless story

I began sitting at my desk ready to start that next story to send out to literary agents. I had my matcha in hand and my facemask ready to go. I even lit my candle to really get the focus vibe going and there I was staring at a blank screen. What even makes a good story? What separated the timeless books that can be read over and over vs. the ones that get read once then forgotten about.

As a 35 year old millenial woman I can honestly say I still have childrens book living in my head rent free that somehow stuck with me even through all of the years of growing and evolving as a person. These books have somehow made it into my subconcious and I can never forget them even if I try. But why? Why these books? I know I loved reading childrens books as a child especially looking at the expressive art and the stories involved and even as an adult I began purchasing childrens books as a way to keep my childlike self alive and of course for inspiration when I work on my next stories.

The first ones that come to mind would probably the rainbow fish and I already know this was from the colors especially as a visual person. I loved how the rainbow fish had calming blue tones in it as well as the hoographic colors inside. It may be the first book I read that had those special designs. Even through the color though I still 100% remember the story, It’s about embracing your differences, if you feel like you don’t fit in you don’t need to you can always be the rainbow fish and that is a message that I still live for to this day.

As I thought of all of the awe inspiring childrens books I began to notice something they all had in common. Of course the visuals were great but I remembered the story of the book. The lesson, the emotional experience that stuck to me till now. The feeling of the character from the beginning to the end. But how do you do that from a scientific perspective?

My first and only book I’ve released (so far) A World Within is honestly an astonishing book. I can look at it today and feel proud. I can also imagine this book in the future and still feel proud but when I first came up with this story I wasn’t forcing anything. I wasn’t trying to become a self published author, this was just a side project that I was doing during the pandemic since I couldn’t leave the house and I wanted to do something creative and I believe that’s why the story works.

Now let’s fast forward to the end of 2025, My book was completed and I was feeling so proud of the staggering feedback I had recieved. I was ready AND excited to start on my next book.

First of all I didn’t want to rush this one again so I just began doing some sketches here and there. Yes they were rough but I loved the idea of changing your vibration by doing certain things such as listening to music, or going for a walk. I thought this would be a great way to teach children that if your feeling sad or anxious there are ways to get out of it.

Once I hand picked the sketches I wanted to use, I began refining the sketches, making them look more like a book with better lines and coming up with some copy to see how it flows. I honestly loved it at first I showed it to some people and got mixed reviews. The art looked cool and the layouts looked fun but there was no story at all. There wasn’t really a beginning middle and end. And the was the problem.

As much as I loved this idea, the sketches, and how much I wanted to bring this story to life. I knew it didn’t have that timeless feel to it. It’s probably one of those books you purchase cause you like the steps and the images look cool but you don’t remember the story and you won’t come back to it over and over again.

It was a tough decision but I realized it was just part of the process. This was where I learned how IMPORTANT it is to start off with the idea of your book; not the sketches, as much as you want to fit in all of these angles, or characters, or perspectives in your book you need to have the story first.

If there was a way, that I could have a simple outline of questions I MUST answer before starting any book this is what I need to have. My blueprint for coming up with a good story every time. It’s still a process but I think I’m on to something.

You also need to really dissect and think about a fully fledged character that is unique and distinguishable. As well as an emotional arc that the character must go through to accomplish this goal or fix this problem.

The next important thing to really think about is the over beat of the structure, does the story flow well? and does each page easily flow into the next? That’s where coming up with quick thumbnail sketches are important. You can start doing lots of roughs to see what flows the easiest and which pages might need more information vs. being a simple standout full page.

These are both extremely important parts of creating your story through research and practice I believe I’ve found a formula that gets the job done. It contains 9 useful questions to begin understanding your story, your character, your emotional arc as well as how to structure your thumbnails from beginning to end.

Which leads me to the formula I’ve created for you which you can grab right here for free! Right now I feel very passionate about hearing other creatives stories. Human made stories that are special and unique to that individual person and the reason why I want to share this PDF with you.

I also made a video about coming up with the idea in my
new Self Publish your 1st Childrens Book Series here.

I totally understand that sometimes our brain feels blank or there are just no good ideas anywhere and to be honest, that’s normal. Don’t beat yourself up for not feeling creative every single day (something I have to tell myself often). Anyways I truly hope this helps you out and if your working on a book right now feel free to let me know in the comments. Thanks again!