Find the Right Words When Writing for Children
Tips on Using Child-friendly Language in Stories for Kids
Aug 10, 2009
When writing fiction for children it’s important to choose the kind of English that modern children speak.
If it is many years since a writer last read a book for children, and particularly if they don’t have daily contact with kids, their writing may be difficult for children to read.
Write a Successful Book for Children
To write successfully, watch out for Language that is:
- Over formal, using more Latinate than Anglo Saxon words. This makes the writing stiff and colourless. E.g. ‘Mother purchased a number of items and proceeded to prepare the evening meal,’ is much better as ‘Mother bought a few things and started making supper.’
- Old fashioned or antiquated.Don’t use old-fashioned words like ‘disquietude, transpired, bid farewell’ unless they relate directly to the way a character speaks. E.g. ‘Her spirit was filled with disquietude after all that had transpired, and she bade farewell to the assembled company and left.’
- Overly poetic, unless this is essential to your personal voice. Too much poetic writing becomes irritating or difficult to negotiate for a young reader. In picture books poetic language is encouraged, but the reader has the advantage of the illustration to help work out what is happening in the story. But in books for older kids keep it to the minimum. Eg. ‘The dripping, dropping dewdrops dawdled on the rosebush. I gathered arms of roses, sprinkled petals on the path, waiting for the morning sun to light their rainbow colours with his radiance.’
- Too complicated for the age group. Children’s ability to negotiate sentences with complications like sub clauses, multiple ideas or which use the passive voice, develop over time. Introduce them too young, and the reader will struggle to work out what you are trying to say.
- Too simple for the age group. Children are quick to feel patronized, and if the writer is speaking down to them, and the level is too easy, they may discard the book. The exception is second language readers, where the writing level is traditionally about two years below what a child can negotiate in their first language.
Learn to Write for Children at the Right Level
It’s important to listen to how children really speak, not to rely on memory. Notice their speech patterns, the kinds of words they use, the way they respond to one another in a conversation. Taking the time to study children’s speech is the equivalent of a painter drawing a portrait from memory, or drawing with the model in front of him or her.
Read Finding Your Voice as a Writer to learn more about the words to choose when writing fiction for children.
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