You have likely noticed that illustrated books, movies, animated cartoons and comics all have two essential elements that make up the visuals that tell their story…the characters and the scene. The characters provide the expressive part of the story and emotional connection with the viewer while the scene provides the environmental context for the story being told.

That may not seem like a huge revelation but stick with me here. By placing the exact same character into different scene environments, like on the moon with a spaceship, in a palace with a throne or in the midst of the battlefield at Gettysburg, the story context will change completely, right?

The character is the SAME, but the background scene has changed!

As children’s book authors, that context flexibility provides unique advantages to us for telling OUR story (especially if our character is featured in multiple stories).

Let’s look at this scene strategy from a different angle…through a secret Hollywood has used for the past 100 years!