There are those who think that writing for children must be easier than writing for adults. After all, they’re just children, right? But, in order to write successfully for children, the writer must respect his audience. He must find out what makes children tick and what and why they read.
Read!
When asked if she had any tips for new writers, Newbery Award winner, Linda Sue Park replied, “READ! If you want to be a writer you have to read a lot. Reading is training for writers the same way that working out is training for athletes.” A writer should read as many examples of books targeting the age group that he wishes to write for as possible. The award winners in each genre should be first on his list; followed by books of the specific type he is interested in writing. For example, a writer who has an idea for a middle grade mystery should read middle grade mysteries. A budding YA author should read YA novels.
Finding Story Ideas
Most writers keep some sort of idea file. This could be as formal as a spread sheet on the computer or as casual as a note on a napkin. The point is that a writer never knows when an idea might strike him and he should always carry with him a pad of paper or a small notebook to jot down the idea. Not all ideas become books but some can be the seed that eventually grows into a full blown book outline and from there to a book manuscript and from there, well, the sky is the limit.
Creating Characters
Like story ideas, characters can come from just about anywhere. Maybe the author is sitting in an airport, on a layover when he notices a young girl asleep on the floor, her head cushioned by her bulging backpack. What’s her story? The writer jots her description in his notepad as his mind whirls with possibilities about who she could become.
Show, Don’t Tell
This golden rule of writing is especially important when writing for children who often have short attention spans. They need to be pulled into the story right from the first sentence and this is often accomplished through dialog, sensory description, vivid details and strong verbs.
Plotting
A book for children is generally character driven. The reader wants to know what happens to the main character next and the main character is driven by a conflict that he is trying to resolve. The writer must decide what the problem is and how the protagonist will go about solving it. The character’s attempts to solve the problem should be action packed. While adult readers are used to long descriptive passages, children generally become bored with lengthy stretches of narrative.
Revision
Once the first draft of the manuscript is finished, the writer will go back over it with a fine tooth comb looking for punctuation, spelling and grammatical errors, weedy words and too much telling. He should also make sure that each scene moves the story forward, that the story is fast paced rather than slow and deliberate.
Submitting
Before the writer can submit his work he will study the markets to see where his book might fit. When he is ready to send out his work, he will approach editors in a professional manner.
Barbara Seuling, author of more than 50 children’s books is quoted as saying, “Writing is a tough game. You have to keep proving yourself and you can never take the next success for granted.”
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