# How to choose themes and create more consistent picture book stories

How can we create a more consistent picture book story We need to first understand the composition of the picture book story! Unlike a story with text content, a picture book story involves certain illustrations! Therefore, both the picture and the story content are very important! And the most important thing about the picture is the appearance of the protagonist of the story! Therefore, when choosing the subject matter, we need to consider two major themes: **character type and story type**!

**1. Role Type** We can roughly divide the role types into **three categories** : ***Ⅰ. Human role: Human and human*** **When the protagonist of the story is a human, the consistency of the picture book is relatively stable under certain conditions!** However, there are still certain problems in the two-person scene. We try to avoid the following problems in the process of story modification and selection to create a more consistent picture book story! **① Number of roles** When creating a story, the number of characters in a single scene should be limited to 1-2, and mixed groups of people of different genders (such as men, women, old and young) and family settings with complex relationships should be avoided.

**② Character Gender** In a story with two protagonists, two characters of the same gender and age can easily lead to confusion in the character drawing. **Try to set them as two characters of the opposite gender, or characters with a different age difference**!

**Solution :** 1. Use **different hairstyles and clothing colors** to distinguish characters 2. Set up **obvious age and body size** differences 3. Use **simple interactive actions** 4. Control the number of people in the scene (**maximum of 2 people is recommended**)

***Ⅱ.Human and non-human characters: humans and animals, humans and insects, humans and plants*** When the protagonists of the story are humans and non-humans, it is easier to make mistakes when drawing the picture book when the non-human characters are in an anthropomorphic state. It should be noted that **non-human characters cannot be anthropomorphic, such as wearing clothes, talking, etc.** **Solution :** 1. Keep the original features of non-human characters and **avoid describing the characters in clothing** 2. Keep the original features of non-human characters, and **set obvious size differences** for the characters in dual-character scenes 3. Maintain the original characteristics of non-human characters, **avoid text descriptions of characters in the form of dialogues and descriptions of human-specific actions**

***Ⅲ. Non-human characters: animals and animals, animals and insects, animals and plants, insects and insects, insects and plants, plants and plants*** When the protagonist of the story is a non-human character, AI often gives the character clothing descriptions, dialogue descriptions, etc. The system will determine that the non-human character in the story is in an anthropomorphic state, which makes it easier to make mistakes when drawing picture books! **Solution:** 1. Keep the original features of non-human characters and **avoid describing the characters in clothing** 2. Keep the original features of non-human characters, and **set obvious size differences** for the characters in dual-character scenes 3. Maintain the original characteristics of non-human characters, **avoid text descriptions of characters in the form of dialogues and descriptions of human-specific actions** 4. Telling stories from a **human perspective**

**2. Story Type** The story types currently supported by the Readkidz platform are: **Bedtime Story, Fable, Fairytale, Adventure, Educational, Mystery, Science Fiction, Realistic Fiction** Based on the problems that arise with character type inscriptions, what kind of story type themes should we match to create a more consistent picture book story! Through the character **combination recommendations for different types of stories**, we can choose the appropriate character combination in the early stage of creation to avoid problems in the later AI generation.

**Creative suggestions :** 1. When creating a story protagonist, you can **give priority to choosing human characters** to develop the story. 2. When choosing story types, **educational and realistic stories** with human characters will be more consistent when drawing picture books. 3. If you need to use non-human characters, it is recommended to describe them from a **human perspective** and **avoid anthropomorphic descriptions** of the characters. 4. Pay attention to the number and gender of characters in the story. For characters of the **same gender, adjust the age and size differences** of the characters. 5. Keep character interactions natural and achievable, and avoid overly complex action descriptions