I adore a book that feels classic yet revisionist, but I really a love a book that is full of laughs.

Brittany Pomales wrote this book. Unless you didn’t find it funny; in that case, someone else wrote it. When she isn’t writing books, Brittany is often playing with, singing to, or reading to her daughter along with her husband and dog in their Arizona home. She has celebrated over thirty birthdays. Thankfully, none have resulted in a celebration crisis–yet! You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Twitter, Instagram, or BlueSky.

IT STARTED WITH A P is a story about young King Liam, who is prone to meltdowns, and his ever-so-tireless royal advisor Cedric. (Cedric really doesn’t get enough credit in this story, so I’m highlighting him.) It’s King Liam’s birthday and he has just woken from a bad dream. Something he dreamed out, though he can’t quite remember what it is, was going to ruin his birthday. It was something that started with a P. And since he can’t remember it, King Liam decides that anything that starts with a P must be banished. Poor Cedric must then find anything that starts with a P and get rid of it. Pancakes, pepperoni pizza, and presents? Gone! And thus the laughs ensue. It’s ridiculous in the best of ways! It left me guessing at every page turn what P word would be next. Oddly enough, I didn’t predict a single one! These choices and plot turns are surprising at every turn. The illustrations by Andrew Joyner gleefully add to the chaos and hijinks (just wait until you see those end papers!).

Welcome Brittany!

Me: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing journey? How has that brought you to writing this picture book?

Brittany: Up until this point, I’ve been about seven different writers. As a teen, I wrote angsty poetry. Then I tried writing a YA mystery novel, a new-age thriller novel, and an adult fantasy novel. I didn’t finish any of them. I turned to horror short stories. Finally, something I could finish!

Turns out, short-form works better for me. But when it came to revising and polishing those short stories, I fell flat. I didn’t actually know how to write a story. Character arcs, plot. I had been winging it. I knew I needed to learn and decided to learn while writing picture books. 

I took a few of the popular Kidlit courses which tend to focus on social-emotional learning and the traditional three-tries formula so I did too. Which there is nothing wrong with, but I struck out there too. After trying to write six different genres to no avail, I tried writing humorous picture books.

Yahtzee! IT STARTED WITH A P was the first humor manuscript I wrote. I had no idea how to execute it so after initial feedback from my critique partners I put it away—for over a year. In 2021, I submitted a different humor manuscript for a mentorship and figured If I was going to try and be a humor writer, I needed more than one humor manuscript. So I also took this one off the virtual shelf and got revising.

Me: The idea of a pampered King who throws a fit on his birthday over a letter of the alphabet is so outrageous, it’s hilarious! What gave you the idea for this story?

Brittany: During Storystom 2020—yup, five years ago—I wrote down the phrase ‘The Land of Nothing’. I then started to think of how a land that once had many somethings would end up as a land with nothing. While King Liam doesn’t get rid of everything he gets rid of a lot and ultimately leaves for a deserted island in an attempt to get rid of his own palace, so it’s pretty close. 

Me: Why the letter P and not a different letter? It’s perfect, but I’m curious why you chose that letter over all the others in the alphabet. Was it always a P?

Brittany: It was always a P! And it was a subconscious choice. While brainstorming the idea I could hear (in my mind) King Liam and Cedric talking. Writers often talk about characters taking over, but I had never experienced that before. The exchange between them was a bit more Who’s on First by comedians Abbott and Costello, and I believe that vagueness is why the ”it started with” came into the story. The letter P is less clear.

Me: Your writing is so funny and so succinct. Please tell me that there were a lot of revisions to get to this state! Did the story evolve over time or was it like this from the first draft?

Brittany: There were SO many drafts! At first, the king—who was an adult at the time—dreamt that his life was in danger. This was then changed to the more kid-focused party storyline you see today. That revision came courtesy of a Rate Your Story speed pass. This helped tie all the P items together which was also their suggestion.

Then, I worked on pushing it further and upping the funny with Dev Petty during my Pbchat mentorship. The big reveal scene, which adds a bit of heart, came about from edits with my editor Claire Tattersfield. In between that, there were drafts with edits from critique partners and my agent.

Me:  The illustrations by Andrew Joyner are so fun! They fit your story and remind me of picture books I read growing up with tons of details to pour over. Any illustration surprises for you? Any favorites?

Brittany: I remember getting the initial sketches and just laughing out loud at the duck paddle boat in the scene where everyone is loaded into boats. The text says paddle boats and yet I was so surprised by the duck version that I couldn’t help but laugh. Hopefully, readers will too!

Me: What is one thing that surprised you in writing this story?

Brittany: How much I grew as a writer while working on it. Three years from the first draft to the final edit. Originally the story was all humor but the big reveal—which was different at the time—was falling flat. My editor Claire advised that it needed something more, perhaps more humor. But as I sat with the revision, upping the humor wasn’t working. I opted to add a dash of heart instead.

I sent it back to her asking if this direction was okay since it was different from what we had discussed. She loved the new direction and we polished it up from there. Not only did I need the confidence to go in a different direction than my editor suggested, but I also needed the writing experience to execute it. I ended up elevating the manuscript in a way that neither of us had expected. And to think I took over a year between the first and second drafts because I didn’t have the skill necessary to do the story justice.

Me: Any advice for new picture book writers?

Brittany: Get comfortable hearing no. Because when you do, you can use (most of) them as clues to finding your yes. For example, hearing no consistently can let you know that a story is not ready, or that the concept isn’t resonating. It can let you know whether an agent or editor will make a good partner. It can push you to find your community, try new genres, and land the book deal (or self-publish if that’s your goal.) No did all those things for me. And it can do it for you too!

That’s great advice Brittany. Thank you for stopping by my blog today.

Dear readers, this book is published next week. Be on the lookout for this outrageously funny story from two very talented creators. It had me in absolute fits of giggles. Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss it.