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Write
a Children's Book
Do
you enjoy to write? When you read a book to a child
do you find your self embellishing the story a bit
to make it more exciting? Or, do you make up your
own complete stories to tell your children? If you
said "yes" to some of these questions
maybe you should consider Becoming a Children's
Book Author.
Tips
for Writing a Children’s Book
Have
you dreamt for years about writing a children’s
book? The very thought of it can be thrilling. It
can be fun to come up with a character and endow
it with qualities that will be enjoyed by children.
And it can be exciting to think about the possibility
of writing a children’s book that will share
history or teach morals to the children that read
the book that you write. And yes, writing a children’s
book can even be a great way of earning money. But
when you sit down to realize that dream, what you
realize is that writing a children’s book
is difficult. That’s right; reading them might
be easy for you but there’s a lot of thought
and work that goes in to writing them.
Here
are some tips for writing a children’s book
that you can follow to help realize your dream:
- Avoid
alliteration. It used to be all the rage to write
about Tommy the Terrific Toothbrush or Felicia
the Ferocious Fighting Fish. These days, children’s
books are more intelligent than that.
- Be
kind to yourself. If one of your kids came to
you with a story, you wouldn’t berate it
or say it needed to be better. Yes, you’re
going to be harsher on your own writing but treat
yourself as kindly as you can.
- Create
characters with real qualities. Even if they’re
animals or magical creatures, they should have
emotions and reactions that are normal to humans.
This is what brings life to your children’s
book.
- Enjoy
writing your children’s book. If you love
the process, the product won’t even matter.
- Illustrate
the book yourself. No, you don’t have to
have art skills to write a children’s book.
And if you use another illustrator for the final
piece, that’s great. But while you’re
working, sketch out the basic pictures so you
can tell if your text works well visually. Don’t
worry; no one has to see these but you.
- Make
an outline. Most people think that outlines are
for long works but outlines direct the flow of
the story no matter how short or long that story
might be.
- Narrow
down your target age group. Writing a children’s
book could mean writing a book to be read aloud
to toddlers or writing a first chapter book for
elementary school kids. Know what age group you’re
targeting so the length, tone and lessons can
be focused.
- Stick
with simple. No elaborate plot twists or dozens
of characters; you’re just writing a simple
story.
- Test
out drafts on an audience of kids. If you’re
writing a children’s book, it has to appeal
to children. When your draft is ready, read it
to the kids that have in your life. Their reactions
will tell you where improvements need to be made.
And their appreciation will be a reward that’s
even better than publication.
- Write
every day. Just like other writers, children’s
book writers have to work at their craft. You
have to make a commitment to doing a little bit
of writing every day to get into the routine of
writing. It doesn’t have to be on children’s
writing, it just has to be a ritual that you commit
to and complete.
The
FabJob
Guide to Become a Children's Book Author
is an excellent resource on how to become a Children's
Book Author. Not only does this guide have excellent
"how to's" on writing a Children's Book,
but is also has tons of information of what you
need to do once your Children's Book is written.
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