I’ve written several books for young children and early readers; I’ve taught the Introduction to Writing children’s Fiction course at Middlesex University and 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.
If you have any other writing tips you’d like to share, please send me a message using my contact page.