Storystorm 2024 Day 3: Lisa Katzenberger Mines Her Emotions

by Lisa Katzenberger

In my nine years of writing picture books, I’ve been most drawn to (and most successful at selling) Social Emotional Learning (SEL) picture books. Storystorm is about inspiration and idea generation, and I can share what I have learned over the years and through oodles of ideas: dig deep and share your authentic self.

I have had story ideas about everything from talking skyscrapers, to mounted police officers, to orchestra conductors. But I am none of the above, and I don’t know much about them. It was only when I started writing stories about authentic experiences with my own emotions that my stories blossomed and my work became acquired.

As an example, I wrote IT WILL BE OK: A Story of Kindness, Empathy, and Friendship, illustrated by Jaclyn Sinquett, about my own experience with anxiety—although I didn’t know I was doing that at the time. It wasn’t until I my publisher asked me to do a Book Talk about where I got the idea, and I spent time reflecting on the story development and revision process, that I realized what I had written: a story about how some of our emotions (like fear) can look really small to others on the outside, but still feel really big to us on the inside. Once IT WILL BE OK was published, I heard from many teachers that they used it as part of their SEL curriculum, and this story led to helpful discussions about identifying our emotions, listening to others, and being a good friend.

While I kind of stumbled upon writing an SEL story for IT WILL BE OK, I challenged myself to be more intentional with my future stories. I wanted to continue writing SEL books that could serve as a conversation starter for kids about their emotions. I certainly had some false starts—not every concept was a winner, but that’s OK! But I eventually found success with an idea that came straight from a therapy session. This picture book is I CAN DO IT EVEN IF I’M SCARED: Finding the Brave You, illustrated by Hannah George.

In this story, I talk about a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tool I learned: Acting “As If”. The gist of this tool is about acting as if you already are the person you want to be. After it helped me, I thought kids could relate to it this way: playing pretend. So I took a very deep, emotional, private moment of my life and poured it onto the page.

So, how can you mine your own life for stories with an emotional heart? Here is an exercise to try:

• Think of a time you felt a strong emotion—as a child or an adult. It could be a joyful moment, a scary moment, a sad moment. Anything goes.
• What were you like when you first felt that emotion? This defines the character and establishes the story beginning.
• What did you do as that emotion washed through you? This describes the action and is your story middle.
• How did you feel afterwards? This presents the emotional shift and serves as your story end.

As an example, in my picture book IT WILL BE OK, the emotional shift looks like this:

When it comes to writing SEL picture books, I advise you to look deep into your heart, and mine your emotions for experiences that kids can relate to and grow from. I’m not going to lie, this is all VERY scary for me to write and share. But when I think about a kid sitting in circle time, listening to my story and thinking, “Hey, I feel that way too. Maybe I can talk about it with someone,” it’s all worth it.

Lisa Katzenberger is giving away a fiction picture book critique to one lucky Storystorm winner.

You’re eligible to win if you’re a registered Storystorm 2024 participant and you have commented only once on today’s blog post.

Prizes will be distributed at the conclusion of Storystorm.

Lisa Katzenberger has been writing stories since she was a kid. Books have been a part of her life since her mom took her to the local library each week and let her roam around the children’s section, picking out whatever she wanted to read. She loved escaping into stories, and she still can’t believe she gets to write them for kids now!

She’s on the faculty of The Writing Barn where she teaches picture book writing courses including Perfecting the Picture Book, Writing Social Emotional Learning Picture Books, and Write. Submit. Support.

She lives near Chicago in La Grange, Illinois with her husband and two children.  Visit her website at  LisaKatzenberger.com and follow her on Bluesky @lisakatzenberger.bsky.social, Instagram @lisakatz17, and X @FictionCity.