How to Write a Children's Book: Advice for a Young Writer
If you dream of writing a children's book but don't know where to start, this step-by-step guide will help. We'll tell you about the genre's features and the pitfalls that await aspiring authors. And we'll share techniques that will help your book find its way to the hearts of young readers.
How children's books differ from others
The main feature of children's literature is diversity. A book for toddlers who are just learning to use the potty and a novel for teenagers experiencing their first crush and rebellion against their parents are completely different works.
And yet, all children's books have something in common. They should teach, inspire, make you laugh, explain, and at the same time not lose their fascination. So that the little reader cannot tear himself away or begs his mother "read one more chapter, please!" Publishers are looking for books with commercial potential, and bestsellers can be anything but boring.
What a good children's book should be like
Simple and understandable
The younger the reader, the simpler and more understandable the book should be. Children love it when they are spoken to as equals, without baby talk, lectures, or overly complex vocabulary.
Dynamic
Less description, more action. The child will get bored at the first sentence if you start describing how the morning dawn blazes like a fire and spreads with a gentle blush, imitating "A Hunter's Sketches". Turgenev wrote for adults, do not forget about it. If you want to be inspired by the classics, it is better to pay attention to the stories for children by Prishvin, who enlivens the stories with the help of dialogues between an adult and a child.
Close to the young reader
The hero should be "one of us" - understandable, close. A peer or slightly older and more experienced than the reader. It is good to give the hero a bright, memorable feature - in appearance, behavior or habits. Remember the rule: when inventing a superpower, you need to add a weakness. For example, Carlson's ability to fly is compensated by a craving for jam (and pranks).
Who to write for? For little children, schoolchildren or teenagers?
Maybe you want to give the world a new "Moomin trolls", "Winnie the Pooh" or "Karlsson who lives on the roof". You have probably already come up with and told several fairy tales for your children or the little ones of someone close to you. Or maybe you like to compose funny poems or write harmful advice. In any case, you already feel that you want to become a writer. And you definitely want to write for children! Let's decide on the audience and genre together.
Toddlers (up to three years)
The main goal of literature for this age is to introduce the child to the world around them in a simple and fun way. Books for this age are looked at more than read, and there is very little text, so most often this is a joint work of the illustrator and the writer.
Popular formats:
- nursery rhymes;
- lullabies;
- wimmelbooks;
- poems;
- alphabet books;
- swimming books;
- educational books;
- toy books, panoramic books.
Preschoolers and primary school children
The child begins to learn social rules and socialize. Actively learns to read, gradually finds what is interesting to him. The most popular formats of children's books for this age:
- poems;
- educational books;
- fairy tales;
- comics and short stories.
Middle school age
If the child has been shown how much pleasure he can get from reading, and the school program has not yet managed to discourage this interest, then the schoolchild is already actively looking for interesting stories for him. Or he is guided by the advice of his peers, since social interaction is becoming increasingly important.
What children's books to write for this age:
- school stories;
- non-fiction (stories based on real events);
- fantasy;
- summer adventures.
Older teenagers
The search for one's place in the world begins, that very teenage rebellion - against parents and the system as a whole. The first relationships begin, the first real friends appear, the first, not always happy, love happens.
The answer to what to write about here is obvious, but here are the popular formats:
- the formation of the hero;
- fantasy and mysticism;
- detectives.
Young Adult
A new genre for "young adults" with blurred boundaries. Some claim that this is literature for ages 17 to 21, others expand the boundaries to 25, but in fact, young adult novels are enjoyed by adults and older people. The main thing that unites these books is a young protagonist who has to face difficult challenges to understand who he is and overcome his own limits. Therefore, popular formats in this direction are:
- the formation of a hero;
- fantasy and mysticism;
- esotericism;
- politics, satire.
Where to look for ideas
Writing a book requires more than just sitting down and literally writing it. Experienced writers will unanimously confirm that a significant part of working on a story is collecting material and working through ideas.
Eavesdropping and spying
Who can tell you what to write about better than the children themselves? Of course, we are not talking about starting to interview kids and asking this question point-blank. Children often say something very funny, but at the same time thought-provoking. Teenagers themselves rebel and make us look at things differently.
Record your children, watch the kids of your friends, notice any funny and interesting moments involving children that you see everywhere - for example, in a cafe, at the airport or on the street.
Such sketches will come in handy in the future, becoming vivid scenes or funny dialogues.
Remembering
Remember your childhood dreams, cases that shocked you and your classmates. What worried you then? What did you think about and what did you discuss? For inspiration, you can listen to Grishkovets's monologues about childhood, watch your favorite childhood films, or listen to music.
Read the classics
Get out a pencil, marker, and a notebook for notes. Now you can start reading - Agnia Barto, Lewis Carroll, Vladislav Krapivin, or any other famous author in the chosen genre.
Because before, as a reader, you were used to enjoying books. And now you need to figure out how they work. Learn to write children's books using a successful example. To do this, you need to constantly analyze. How did such vivid characters come about? What is the conflict based on? What linguistic features make a book unforgettable? Now you will not just read children's books, but notice techniques, studying writing skills using successful examples.
Step-by-step instructions: how to write a children's book
Study the market
Look at what books are on the shelves of bookstores, what are the first ones to appear in the search results of online stores.
Come up with a concept
What genre will the book be? Maybe it will be a funny and kind fairy tale or a coming-of-age story that makes you think about eternal questions.
Think over the characters and the plot
You should know your hero from the freckles on the tip of his nose to what he likes to eat for lunch.
Find like-minded people
A great way to not lose your enthusiasm at the start is to get into the writing community. Meet other authors at literary courses, competitions or publication platforms. Colleagues will give feedback, help you catch mistakes and improve your work. Writing a children's book with such support is much easier.
Write a book
The main thing you need for this is stability. Write at least a few lines every day.
Find an editor and reviewers
You can show the book to experts during the process, but at the end you definitely need to find an editor who will give professional comments and point out weak points.
Wrote, what next: a publishing house or an e-book?
Every writer is pleased to see their book on paper and, of course, it is worth contacting publishing houses. To increase the chances of getting into print, it is worth participating in literary competitions: it is important not only to win, but also to get into the long and short list. Another way is writing workshops and literary courses, where you can meet representatives of the publishing house, show your work. Small publishing houses read "self-submissions" (manuscripts sent by mail) more carefully, while for large ones the waiting time for a response can take up to a year.
In any case, you can always start with an electronic edition of the book, publishing it on one of the platforms. Publishing houses are more willing to pay attention to authors who have not only written a book, but also found regular readers in electronic format.
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