What’s this? What’s this? A poetry picture book collection of puns? How terrific! How delightful! How Torrible!

Tricia Torrible enjoys writing books and poetry for children. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and 3 kids, or as she likes to call them, her “Adorable Torribles.” As a self-declared punster, she strongly believes that kids need laughter and attempts to fill this need, one pun at a time. When she’s not busy causing giggles or eyerolls, you might find her hiking, watching science documentaries, or searching for four-leaf clovers. Tricia’s debut picture book, TORRIBLE PUNS: A COLLECTION OF PUNNY POEMS, combines her love of humor and poetry, helping her choreograph laughter for children everywhere. You can learn more about her at her website or follow her on Instagram or BlueSky.

TORRIBLE PUNS is a delicious picture book collection of punny poems. I freely admit that I giggled my way through the book. It’s impossible to pick favorites! If you love a good pun as much as I do, this book is for you!

Welcome Tricia!

Me: Can you talk about your journey? When did you start writing? How did that bring you to this book?

Tricia: I found my love of writing after the birth of my second child. I was spending a lot of time on the couch, feeding one child while reading to the other, and the idea of writing my own book popped into my head. I said to myself, “I can do this!”, naively thinking it would be somewhat easy. Well, I quickly learned that it was anything but easy, but my drive to go for it didn’t fade.

When I began writing, the first thing that poured out of me were stories written in rhyme. While many find meter and rhyme to be constraining, I find that these very constraints help keep me focused. They give me a problem to solve. The challenge of finding the perfect words to fit the rhyme and meter of a story or poem drives me forward. 

Writing TORRIBLE PUNS has brought a lot of laughter and joy to my life. I began writing it in the middle of Covid, when the days were long and spirits were often low. During that time, I knew I needed to focus on something that brought simple joy. Up until that point, I had only tried writing full picture book stories, both in rhyme and prose. I loved writing these stories, but there were times I felt like I was spinning my wheels. Even though picture books are relatively short, my drafts often took me months of revisions and rewrites. I needed some quick wins. Enter poetry. A critique partner of mine suggested I try writing short poems. I gave it a try, and after I wrote my first poem, I was hooked!

Me: This is a hilarious collection of poems full of great puns. What gave you the idea to create a picture book of poetry like this?

Tricia: I often joke that with the last name Torrible, I was destined to write a pun book. When I started dabbling in short poems (vs picture book stories), I knew I wanted to focus on humorous poetry because that’s what I loved as a kid. To me, when I think about humor, I instantly think about jokes, so that’s where I started. Originally, I was only planning to submit poems to magazines or anthologies. However, as the punny poems kept flowing, I realized I could possibly write enough to create a stand alone collection. Often, (especially while in the school car line waiting to pick up my kids), a joke would pop into my head, and I would instantly start trying to turn it into a poem. After sharing a few of my punny poems with my critique group, one of my critique partners suggested I use my last name as part of the title, and TORRIBLE PUNS was born! 

Me: Your poetry has such a cadence and rhythm to it.  Did you use any specific poetic forms or meters? Did you have any favorite poems in this collection?

Tricia: I tried to use various forms and meters, though many of the puns themselves ultimately decided the meters I used. For most, if not all, of the poems, I wrote them backwards. In other words, I started with the endings and then came up with stories to go along with them. Whenever I would think of a joke, I would first ask myself, “Can I find a rhyme to work with this punchline?” If the answer was yes, I’d then let the natural meter of the punchline guide the rest of the poem. For example, if the punchline had an iambic based meter, the rest of the poem would be written in a similar fashion. Once I determined the rhymes and meters that were possible for a particular joke, I would use those parameters to construct a poem, turning each joke into little rhyming stories.

Me: Wow! That’s an interesting approach. Were there any poems that got cut out of the collection?  Or any poems you wish you had included?

Tricia: I actually had many punny poems that couldn’t be included due to space constraints. My publisher did a great job packing in as many poems as possible without overcrowding the pages, but there’s only so many that can fit into a picture book. We had to cut some darlings. When ultimately deciding which poems to include, one factor that was important to me was to make sure there was a good variety in regards to length, meter, and rhyme scheme. In the end, I feel like a good balance was achieved.

Me: Can you talk about marketing this book? Did you pitch the concept first or did you have all of the poems already written for the book? How did the book land at Gnome Road for publication?

Tricia: Prior to sending the manuscript to Gnome Road, I had been exploring the option of self-publishing (while still hoping and striving to get a traditional book deal). Thus, in addition to having all of the poems and backmatter written out, I had also created black and white drawings for each of the poems. (I personally lacked the artistic skill to illustrate a full color picture book, so for the self-publishing route, I was originally envisioning more of a black and white poetry chapbook.) I submitted the poems, backmatter, and drawings to Gnome Road, and was absolutely thrilled when I received an offer to not just publish my poems, but turn them into a fully illustrated picture book.

Me:  The illustrations by Robert Dunn in this book are delightful.  I love how he played with your puns. Were there any illustration surprises for you when you finally saw them?  Any favorites?

Tricia: The biggest surprise for me was how Robert Dunn used some of my original drawings as inspiration for his amazing illustrations. While I was always thankful from the beginning that I was paired with an illustrator, there was a small part of me that was sad my black and white drawings wouldn’t see the light of day.  I had spent a lot of time on them, and even though they likely screamed amateur, I was still proud of myself for trying. When it came time to see the book illustrations, I didn’t know what to expect. However, that tiny part of sadness about my own drawings completely disappeared once I saw Robert’s work. He had incorporated many of my ideas, and executed them with a level of skill that I could only dream about. He absolutely brought my poems to life. As for my favorite illustration, it will always be the one for “Golf Attire”. It was the first completed illustration I saw, and I knew at that moment that the book was going to be amazing.

Me: Any advice for other new picture book writers and/or poets?

Tricia: My advice will always be to write what you love. If you enjoy what you are writing, no time is ever wasted, regardless of publishing status. Some writing styles or genres may be harder to get published, but if your heart lies with a particular type of writing, follow your heart. I was told by many that a children’s poetry collection was very difficult to get published, especially by a debut author. However, I wrote TORRIBLE PUNS first and foremost because it brought me joy. I couldn’t NOT write it. Because I followed my heart, my whole writing journey has been a gift.

Here, here! That is great advice. I love that. Thank you for stopping by my blog today Tricia.

Dear readers, this book was published in March. If you haven’t had a chance yet to track it down, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of poetry AND puns! I do love a good picture book full of laughs!