Childrens Writing

Childrens writing is a specialised craft. It is a rewarding, inspirational and often demanding branch of writing and it seems that there is a growing market for books for children. Because we all were once children, and because childrens books often appear so simple, many would-be writers believe that writing for children is easier than writing for adults. This is not the case, for children are as choosy about what they read as any adult (maybe even more so) and will quickly put down a book that does not immediately hold their interest. Adult readers, on the contrary, are often more willing to wade through a couple of unexciting chapters before they decide that a story is not worth reading.

There is no "golden rule" when it comes to writing for children. Many successful writers of children’s stories and books succeed because they have developed a sensitivity to children's needs and have developed their writing accordingly. Others succeed because they write well, even though they are not particularly sensitive to children or their needs. In other words, you do not have to have or even like children to write good books or stories that children will want to read. But you do have to write well, and that can take a lot of hard work.

Student Comment: I never considered children’s writing very stimulating, until now. Janine - Children’s Writing.

Lesson Structure

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Introduction
   • Understanding Children
   • Children's thoughts
   • Children's needs
   • Child development.
2. Overview of Children’s Writing
   • Categories (fiction & non fiction)
   • Understanding the market place
   • Analyse and understand what is needed for the different categories, etc.
3. Conceptualisation: Conceiving a concept
   • Where & how to find inspiration/influence.
   • Developing a concept
   • How to plan.
4. Children’s Writing for Periodicals
   • Children’s pages in magazines
   • Newspapers, etc.
5. Short Stories
6. Non-Fiction
   • Texts (writing to satisfy curriculum).
   • Other (eg. nature, history, biography, hobbies).
7. Fiction
   • Settings
   • Characterisation
   • Fantasy
   • Science fiction
   • Adventure.
8. Picture Books and Story Books
9. Editing your work
   • Grammar
   • Spelling & punctuation
   • Improving clarity
   • Cleaning out clutter
   • Expansions.
10. Project
    • Write a short story, picture book or kids page for a (hypothetical) periodical.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims

• Describe children’s cognitive development and target writing to be appropriate to various developmental stages.
• Explain the nature and scope of writing for children.
• Describe the process of planning a written manuscript of children’s writing.
• Describe the planning and processes involved in writing articles for children’s magazines.
• Develop a short story for children to read.
• Discuss the specific requirements associated with writing children’s non-fiction
• Describe the various categories of children’s fiction and the writing processes involved.
• Explain the scope and nature of literature aimed at young children.
• Explain the scope and significance of editing skills and processes for children’s writing.
• Plan, evaluate, edit and present a piece of writing for children

What You Will Do

• Develop lists of imaginary titles and brief descriptions of stories that would be appropriate in your society (or country) for children of different age groups.
• Analyse the page(s) in a text aimed at children in terms of language complexity and style, conciseness of the writing, content, graphic layout, etc
• Determine concepts for children’s writing.
• Develop outlines that would help you to write about each concept.
• Develop a set of guidelines (or a plan), that a writer should follow in regular preparation of a children’s page in a newspaper, and consider what, in your opinion, is the purpose of a children’s page in a daily newspaper.
• Discuss how you would approach writing a comic, and why you think this would be the best approach for you?
• Write short articles or stories, suitable for situations such as: An educational magazine, A preschooler or infant magazine, or a magazine for teenage boys or girls.
• Write a short story.
• Identify a non-fiction book for children which you would be suited to write.
• Write an outline for a proposed non-fiction book. In your outline, you would include a list of major subject areas (or chapters) that the book would cover and a brief description of the content of each chapter. Include a brief description of how the book would be illustrated (ie. are photos appropriate, or line drawings, paintings, etc?). You would then write one or two pages for your non-fiction book.
• Write a fantasy, adventure or science fiction short story for a 7-8 year old, which fits specified criteria.
• Write a story for a 5-6 year old child.
• Edit some sample short articles.
• Plan, then write, a children’s short story, a picture book or children’s pages for a newspaper.

Many editors will only consider books that they know will sell well. Some publishers might accept an exceptional book or one that is different on the chance that it becomes a new best-seller, but most have exacting requirements, and the writer must do the research needed to know what the publisher wants. On the other hand, publishing is a changing business, reflecting the sometimes rapid changes in readers’ tastes and expectations and reading levels. For example, children are much more likely to read what is called ‘high fantasy’ (which involves the creation of a whole alternative world) since the Harry Potter books by Rowling and the series by Lemony Snicket have become so popular and a new generation has been introduced to the wonderful Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien.

Before starting out as a children’s writer it is important that you clearly identify the age group and the category (often called genre) that you wish to write for.