Sesame Street
A children's television franchise with Muppet characters, music and books.
Where Sesame Street comes up1 episode or test
The sources give a craft lesson, not growth numbers. Sesame Street's writers' meetings taught Tish Rabe to build skits backward from the punch line, and a music job there led to her first book in 1986. She has written over 200 books. For builders: define the ending or outcome first, work backward, draft alone, then get an editor's review.
- 1Write the ending firstWhole last page came before the first
- 2Ask what must happenWhat in the middle earns this ending?
- 3Build the middleAmani book: the lion came from the ending
- 4Send to an editorHer Sesame Street editor reads everything
From Tish Rabe on Sesame Street writing method
What was said about Sesame Street
Sesame Street writers built comic skits backward from the punch line. Tish Rabe picked up this method in Sesame Street writers' meetings, after a music job there led to her first book in 1986. She now writes the ending first and then asks what has to happen in the middle to earn it.
For Kindness Is Caring, Friendship Is Sharing she wrote the whole last page before the first, so she knew what the story had to prove. In her Rotary book about Amani and the zebras, the lion in the middle came from the ending she needed. She said: "One of the big things was to write the ending first."
Rabe still has her Sesame Street editor read everything she writes. She drafts version after version alone by hand in spiral notebooks, then insists on a professional editor because you are too close to your own work. She has written over 200 books this way.
Her view: "it's impossible to write a book like this without input from somebody else."
How to Write For Kids (Tish Rabe Interview)
A music job there led to Rabe's first book in 1986, and its writers' meetings taught her to build skits backward from the punch line. Her Sesame Street editor still reads everything she writes.
Sesame Street writers built comic skits backward from the punch line. Tish Rabe picked up this method in Sesame Street writers' meetings, after a music job there led to her first book in 1986. She now writes the ending first and then asks what has to happen in the middle to earn it.
For Kindness Is Caring, Friendship Is Sharing she wrote the whole last page before the first, so she knew what the story had to prove. In her Rotary book about Amani and the zebras, the lion in the middle came from the ending she needed. She said: "One of the big things was to write the ending first."
Rabe still has her Sesame Street editor read everything she writes. She drafts version after version alone by hand in spiral notebooks, then insists on a professional editor because you are too close to your own work. She has written over 200 books this way.
Her view: "it's impossible to write a book like this without input from somebody else."
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