Writing for kids is fun, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s easy. Your story has to make sense under a very tight word limit, as well as lend itself to captivating illustrations. Here are some suggestions for coming up with awesome story ideas and crafting memorable stories for kids.<\/p>\n
Perhaps I\u2019ve never grown up entirely, perhaps I\u2019m just a good actress, but at certain moments every day I act silly. Those who live with me are used to the numerous celebrity voices that fly out of my mouth as I pretend to be various characters. Make-believe is important to children. It\u2019s important to the writer, too.<\/p>\n
They are your target audience, so it\u2019s important to observe them, listen to them, play with them, or even read to them if you can. \u00a0You\u2019ll get a very good idea of what they like and dislike.<\/p>\n
Writers are told repeatedly to read, read, read. It\u2019s solid advice for this genre as well. It\u2019s important to know what kinds of books are being published. You can also do some industrial espionage and ask store clerks which books are the biggest sellers.<\/p>\n
When my kids were little they were hooked on\u00a0Sesame Street<\/em>\u00a0(still going strong all these years later). But since then, many other shows have been created. You won\u2019t necessarily be familiar with them if you\u2019re not a kid or don\u2019t have any kids.<\/p>\n A quick Google search revealed that\u00a0SpongeBob Squarepants, The Floogals, Dora the Explorer<\/em>, and\u00a0Ruff-ruff,<\/em>\u00a0Tweet and Dave<\/em>\u00a0are among the current TV offerings. Who knew?<\/p>\n These shows reflect the modern kid\u2019s mindset and taste. You can take the best of them as inspiration for your own writing.<\/p>\n I have written some stories entirely in crayon. Of course, that\u2019s not how I submit them to an editor, but I do find my ideas spill onto the pages of my spiral notebook much more freely in crayon form.<\/p>\n Kids love crayons; I used to love them, too. And just to prove my point, what should I spot during a recent trip to the bookstore but a picture book titled\u00a0The Day the Crayons Quit<\/em>\u00a0by Drew Daywalt (with pictures by Oliver Jeffers). Most of the words in the book appear as if they\u2019re in crayon along with many of the drawings. Very cool idea.<\/p>\n Pictures play an obviously integral role in picture books. While I didn\u2019t do the artwork for my children\u2019s story\u00a0Maxwell Mouse, the Powerhouse<\/em>, I knew my words would have to be descriptive enough for the artist to illustrate it. (As far as I can tell, unless you are both the artist and writer of a children\u2019s story, the editor will hire an artist of his\/her choosing to illustrate your story, and you will have little to no input in the process.)<\/p>\n It helped that I have written and sold many children\u2019s greeting card verses in the past. For those cards I had to think visually and let the editor know how I pictured the art to go with my copy.<\/p>\n I believe book titles are super important when it comes to kids. To me, the more \u201cout there\u201d, the better. Here are some of the picture book titles I noted on that recent trip to the bookstore: \u00a0Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast<\/em>,\u00a0Tallulah\u2019s Tutu, An Octopus Named Mom,\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Is Your Buffalo Ready for Kindergarten?<\/em><\/p>\n Picture books vary in length. I\u2019ve seen some with as few as ten words, all spread out throughout the pages. According to Barbara Seuling in her book,\u00a0How To Write a Children\u2019s Book and Get It Published<\/em>, \u201cthe average picture book story is 1000 words long, or four typewritten, double-spaced pages.\u201d \u00a0But many books have far less words. So your words need to be chosen carefully, especially if your story is even shorter than average.<\/p>\n In\u00a0The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,<\/em>\u00a0author Jon Scieszka tells the tale from the wolf\u2019s point of view. It\u2019s a hilarious account of how the poor wolf, suffering from allergies, was framed, never intending to huff and puff and blow all those pigs\u2019 houses down.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a very clever idea, putting a twist on the original story, one other writers might attempt as well. Certainly, there are other famous fairy tales one could tell from another character\u2019s perspective. What if\u00a0The Little Red Hen<\/em>\u00a0was told from the other animals\u2019 viewpoints: \u201cAll we wanted to do was chill but that bossy hen kept trying to put us to work!\u201d<\/p>\n Which brings me to\u2026<\/p>\n Kids love to laugh. And need to laugh. We all do. If you do it right, you might be laughing all the way to the bank to cash in your royalty checks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","categories":[29],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/840"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/refiction.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}5. Write your story in crayon<\/h2>\n
6. Think visually<\/h2>\n
7. Choose a catchy title<\/h2>\n
8. Make every word count<\/h2>\n
9. Try revamping a fairy tale<\/h2>\n
10. Make \u2018em laugh<\/h2>\n