How YOU Can Learn to Write for Children!
by Karen Cioffi
I write for young children and I also write marketing and health articles. Writing in multiple genres, I can tell you that writing for children can be much more challenging. When writing for children, there are guidelines to keep in mind to help your story avoid the editor’s trash pile.
Writing for children involves specific rules and appropriate story lines geared to each specific age group. Each age group even has its own vocabulary: Is the word “smuggle” appropriate for a 2nd grader? There is just so much that goes into writing for children and the question becomes how do you learn all the rules, tricks and answers. Well, there are a number of ways to learn and hone your children’s writing skills, but the most efficient and expedient is to find an experienced coach.
I’ve only been writing seriously for publication for about two years. And, I admit I had it all wrong at the beginning. While I am still learning, I’ve come quite a ways. I’ve come so far that I recently got a contract for one of my children’s books with 4RV Publishing.
So, how did I learn the children’s writing ropes enough to land a contract?
The answer’s simple, through the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club (CWCC). I joined Suzanne Lieurance’s club when I first became serious about writing for children. I can say without hesitation and with all honesty, Suzanne helped me get that contract. Her guidance, tips, knowledge, advice, lessons, teleclasses, and weekly critiques of my work all helped me to hone my craft.
What’s amazing about the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club – CWCC – is that membership is only $27 per month. It is probably the best outright bargain online. That’s less than a dollar a day!
And, I praise the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club (CWCC), only for what it’s helped me accomplish, but for what each and every member in the club has accomplished. I can’t be certain, but I think every club member has become published through either books or articles. That’s an amazing track record!
Suzanne Lieurance knows her business and has an innate ability to impart her knowledge to others. She’s a great coach, instructor, and motivator.
To add to this, along with Suzanne’s excellent coaching skills, the members of this group are all amazingly giving and helpful—this all makes for a dependable and proven path leading to publication.
But, if this isn’t enough, the CWCC also guides you through creating and maintaining visibility and marketing your work. We had one teleclass on creating a video so we could all learn to make book trailers for our published books!
So, if you’re serious about writing for children, don’t procrastinate, jump on board. It’s an investment in your future!
Join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club today.
Karen Cioffi, Author, Freelance Writer, Reviewer
Digging for Gold – Researching Nonfiction
Our first CWCC teleclass for March 2010 will take place on Friday, March 5, 2010, at 11:00 AM CST. Children’s nonfiction author Pat McCarthy will present Digging for Gold – Researching Nonfiction.
Research is all about finding those little fascinating bits of info that are like gold nuggets, and Pat will present many ways to find those little gold nuggets for YOUR nonfiction book or article.
To receive an invitation to this LIVE teleclass, join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club here now or simply register for the teleclass here.
Field Trips – They’re Not Just For Kids If You’re a Children’s Writer!
February 27, 2010 by admin
Filed under Writing for Children
by Suzanne Lieurance
It always amazes me when I meet people who want to write for children, yet they haven’t read a single children’s book since they were children or since their own kids (now ages 35 and 42) were little.
Don’t they get it?
Publishers change, publications change, and even children change with the times! If you want to write for children, you need to start taking “field trips” to keep up with these changes. You’ll not only be better informed about today’s markets, you’ll also become a better writer in the process. Besides…these trips are fun!
Take regular field trips to the children’s section of your local bookstores and the public library. If your interest is in writing picture books, start by looking at as many pictures books as you can each time you visit. If you’d like to write beginning readers, or early chapter books, take time to look at some of these. Also, look for children’s magazines. If you go to your public library, they will often have back issues of magazines, so you can read up to a year’s worth of a particular publication. This is great because you need to know what has been published by each particular magazine in the last 6 months to a year so you won’t be suggesting ideas they have recently covered.
Your public library might not have some of the newest books available at bookstores. But you will be able to check out the books and take them home where you can read them and study them. So make a point to visit both the library and a local bookstore on a regular basis.
Once you start making these little field trips, you’ll look forward to them and realize how valuable they are to your writing.
Top Ten Writing Mistakes Made by New Children’s Writers
February 27, 2010 by admin
Filed under Writing for Children
by Suzanne Lieurance
Okay. So I’m not David Letterman. But I doubt if he’d know much about the top 10 mistakes made by new children’s writers anyway. I, on the other hand, read from 10 to 20 manuscripts for children every week (I’m not bragging – I’m just an instructor with the Institute of Children’s Literature). While many of the stories I read are destined for publication, I find that 10 common mistakes crop up again and again in the other manuscripts I edit each week.
I’ll start with number 10 (just like Letterman) and work my way up to the number one writing mistake made by new children’s writers (and, just so you know – I’ve been guilty of making some of these mistakes myself, so don’t beat yourself up if you realize you’re guilty of some of these, too):
10) No Clear POV Character – Children tend to relate to the POV character in a story. This is the person they will root for. Make it clear right from the start whose story is being told. Even if you have two main characters (twins, for example), you need to pick just one of these kids to be your POV character. And, it should go without saying, when writing for children, make sure your POV character IS a kid – even if Grandma has a big part in your story.
9) Multiple Points of View – Unlike stories for adults, stories for children are generally told from only one POV. It isn’t difficult to maintain a single point of view once you get the hang of it. Just remember – if you are “showing” everything from your main character’s point of view, then he or she has to be present for everything that happens. I see stories all the time where the POV character suddenly leaves the room. Yikes! If your POV character wasn’t there to see or hear what went on, then we can’t see or hear it either.
Telling instead of Showing – Read a good story and chances are there is a lot of action and dialogue (showing) with minimal stretches of straight narrative (telling). Too much narrative and the story sounds like a summary. Readers don’t want a summary. They want scenes with action and dialogue that make them feel they are actually experiencing what is going on. So “show” as much as possible of your story through action and dialogue.
7) Overuse of Adjectives, Adverbs, and Other Unnecessary Words -Do you really need to say someone “whispered quietly” Or “shouted loudly” Or, my favorite – she “nodded her head”? What else could she nod? Or, she “shrugged her shoulders” – she certainly wouldn’t shrug her foot!
6) Dialogue That is Not Punctuated Properly – Get a grammar book to learn how to punctuate dialogue properly. But, most importantly, remember to change paragraphs each time the speaker changes. I read manuscripts all the time where three or four characters are speaking, yet the paragraph never changes. Just imagine how confusing that is to the reader!
5) Long Timeframes – I know Harry Potter takes place over several years. But, the story also takes place through several books. Most children’s writers start out writing stories for children’s magazines or they want to write picture books for very young children. Either way, the timeframe in these stories should be rather short – a couple of hours or a day or two. If your story takes place over a couple of weeks or (gulp!) a couple of years, then you need to shorten the timeframe.
4) No Narrative “Hook” for the Reader – I know what you’re asking -”What is a narrative hook?” Well, that’s simple. It’s just an opening sentence or two that “hooks” the reader and makes him or her want to continue reading to find out what happens.
3) Dialogue That Doesn’t Sound Real – Listen to any child or teenager and you’ll find out that much of what kids and teens say (at least to each other) tends to sound like a series of grunts. So don’t have the child or teen in your story use words like “shall,” or never use contractions. If you do, the dialogue will sound too formal and your work will not have a child’s or teen’s voice.
2) Adults Who Step In to Save the Day for the Child – I know what you’re thinking. Parents and other well-meaning adults DO step in all the time to save the day for kids. So why can’t they do it in stories for children? The answer to that is – because children don’t want to read stories like that. Stories for children have strong children (or children who eventually become strong throughout the course of the story) as characters. This empowers the children who read these stories. They figure, if the POV character can solve his own problems then maybe they can too.
Now. Drum roll here.
The number one mistake new writers make in their stories for children is
1) No real conflict – There’s no story problem. Your POV character needs to face some big problem right at the start of the story. Then, he or she needs to struggle and struggle with this problem as he/she tries to solve it. That is, things need to keep getting worse and worse until finally the POV character is able to solve the problem (or at least resolve it) and change or grow somehow in the process. Without a story problem you have what editors like to call “an incident,” and editors don’t publish incidents. They publish stories.
So that’s my list of top 10 mistakes new children’s writers make. Use this article as a checklist when you’re writing for children. Avoid these mistakes and you’ll be well on your way to publication.
See you in print!
Six Tips to Help You Break into the Children’s Magazine Markets with Your Nonfiction
February 27, 2010 by admin
Filed under Writing for Children
It’s no secret that one of the best ways to break into the children’s magazine markets is with nonfiction. So follow these 6 tips to have the best chance of acceptance with your short articles for children:
1. Study the markets – Each children’s magazine is different, with a different style, voice, and variety of subject matter. Take time to study the markets you wish to submit to and you’ll know which ones are the most appropriate for the articles that you wish to write.
2. Study Past Issues – Besides studying current issues of each publication you wish to write for, look at several past issues of each publication. Make a list of the various nonfiction article titles in each issue to get a “feel” for the way various authors narrowed their focus for each topic they wrote about. One of the big mistakes most beginning children’s writers make with their nonfiction articles is that they don’t narrow the focus of the article enough. If you want to write about camels, for example, don’t propose an article that tells anything and everything about camels. Instead, focus on just ONE aspect about camels and develop your article around that.
3. Include subtopic headings when writing your article – These will break up your article into “chunks” which are easier for young readers to read. These subtopic headings will also “lead” the reader through your article. They will also make your article “look” more like nonfiction instead of fiction.
4. Give your topic an unusual slant that will appeal to kids and editors alike – When you do this, your article won’t sound so much like a textbook. And articles that sound too much like textbook material are NOT in big demand with magazine editors.
5. Consider topics that will relate to themed publications – Many children’s magazines have themes for each issue. And, even for publications that do not have themed issues, editors still look for topics that can be used for holiday issues as well as other seasonal issues. For example, most publications feature some sort of back-to-school articles in their August or September issues. In the summer months, these same publications tend to feature articles that give vacation tips or crafts ideas and games to keep kids occupied during the summer. So, be sure to include some of these types of article ideas in your queries.
6. Look for lesser known publications – Competition is fierce for Highlights, Spider, Cricket, and most of the very popular publications for children. You’ll automatically increase your chances for acceptance if you query publications that don’t receive so many queries.
Try these 6 tips and it shouldn’t take you long to start receiving acceptances from the children’s magazines that you query.
******************
Stay-at-Home Moms – Why Writing for Children Can Be the Perfect Job for You
February 27, 2010 by admin
Filed under Writing for Children
If you’re a stay-at-home mom with small children, writing for kids can be the perfect part-time job for you. Here’s why:
1) You’re in contact with kids 24/7, so you know what kids think about and how they talk. This can be very helpful when trying to develop story lines that kids would enjoy reading. It will also help you write dialogue that sounds like things kids would actually say these days.
As a mom, you probably also read many picture books to your own child or children. And, as every writer knows, one of the best ways to learn to write picture books and other stories for children, is to READ these types of materials. So just think – each time you read to your child, you’ll also be doing something to develop your own career as a writer.
2) Since your full time job is taking care of your family, you’ll probably only have short snatches of time during the day and evening to write. But this is perfect for writing short works for kids – things like picture books, easy readers, and even magazine articles and short-stories.
And, if you carry a pocket-size notebook with you during the day, while you’re watching the kids play at the park, or supervising them as they go about their daily chores, you can take notes for story or articles ideas. And, please note, it IS important to jot down a few notes about your ideas. Otherwise, by the end of the day you will have forgotten them.
3) In addition to writing stories and articles FOR kids, you will also develop a wealth of topics for writing ABOUT kids – articles for parenting magazines, for example, or even tips for classroom teachers.
And, there are usually at least a couple of small regional parenting publications in every large city, so you can gain publishing credits by starting out writing for these publications. If you’re good at it, you might even eventually gain your own regular column in one of these publications.
4) You can develop professional connections and associations with other moms who write, so you’ll have other adults to communicate with on a regular basis every day. Many moms can feel isolated when their only contact during the day is with their children. But as a children’s writer and mom, you can become part of a professional network of other stay-at-home moms who write for children.
5) You’ll build up your writing skills and publishing credits through the years, so by the time your children have grown and left the nest, you will probably be able to make the transition from part time children’s writer to full time children’s writer fairly easily if you so desire.
As you can see, for moms who like to write, writing for children offers the perfect part-time career.
Marketing Tips for Children’s Book Authors
Every month, members of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club have the opportunity to take part in a LIVE 55-minute teleclass called Marketing Tips for Children’s Book Authors & Aspiring Children’s Book Authors presented by Suzanne Lieurance, children’s author and coordinator for the CWCC.
This month’s marketing teleclass will take place on Thursday, March 11, 2010, at 3:00 CST.
Nonclub members may also register for the teleclass. Get more information about that here.
