Tips on Writing Children's Books
I've written several books for young children and early readers; In Summer, I teach the Introduction to Writing children's Fiction course at Middlesex University; I've also taught children's writing courses for the Arvon foundation and Leicester University. I was also the resident writing coach on Channel 4's "The Richard and Judy Show" and one of the judges on their write a children's short story competition.
Here are some of my tips on writing for children; If you are interested in writing for adults, take a look at my tips on writing for adults page.
Chicken House, who published some of my children's books, are running a competition in conjunction with "The Times" to find new Children's Authors - If you are a new writer this is worth looking at.
Tips on writing picture books
Think in pictures
- In picture books it is most important to visually about what is happening in each scene.
- If your character isn't doing anything (thinking perhaps) what is the illustrator going to draw?
- In a 32 page picture book, only 24 pages are for the story (other ones are for title page etc). There isn't really a fixed rule as to how many scenes you can write - a page can have multiple scenes
How long should a picture book be?
- A picture book should be 0-1000 words; shorter is more preferred at the moment, aiming for 500 words would be a good idea.
Story structure
- Story is defined as a character with a conflict, who resolves the conflict (on his or her own) and in so doing changes or grows in some way and learns a lesson – but the lesson must be subtle and not told in a didactic way.
- Character – avoid passive hero/heroine. They must have a problem that they themselves resolve.
- Conflict – a story needs a problem that leads to tension or action.
- Wants – conflict is propelled by what the character wants.
Animals or people?
- Often picture books are written with animals as characters because it gives more creative freedom - people don't like stories of young children wandering around but for an animal this would be OK.