How to Become a Writer of Children's Literature
Writing children's books can both be easy and hard, depending on how you look at it. It is easy because you only need to think of a simple story for children, and that is also the reason why it is difficult because thinking of stories that can appeal to children these days can be rough. If you want to know how you too can be a successful author of children's literature here are several tips that can help you out.
Do Your Research
You should first do a little research on what kinds of books children are into these days. Check out your local bookstore and find what genres of stories children are interested in. Take inspiration from the works of the successful authors but do not copy their style of writing, create your own style of writing. Once you know what kind of stories that children would like then expound on it.
Plot and Plan Your Stories
Even though you are writing with a younger audience in mind your stories still need to have sense and substance to it. Even children know what makes a good story, and if they find that your stories do not have a very entertaining structure to it, will most likely not want to continue reading. Plot out a rough plan on how you want your story to unfold; how to introduce the main character, from what point of view you will be writing, locations and settings, among other things.
You do not have to stick to this plan while writing, you can change it midway if your story deems it fit, but it is easier to write a story if you have a guide.
Create and Develop Great Characters
To have a great story you need to have great characters. Develop your main characters before you start writing your story because the plot of your whole story would revolve around your main characters. Imagine what your characters look like and how they would behave in real life, doing this will make your characters consistent throughout the whole story. A good source of inspiration for what characters to use is the people who are around you; most authors base their characters on the members of their families and friends. Basing your characters on real people will greatly help in imagining how they will interact with each other and their environment in your story.
Take your Time
You can't expect to finish an entire book in just one sitting, even if you are just writing a simple children's book. Writers do not look for stories; it just comes naturally to them at seemingly random times. Don't rush in your writing, in fact you need to take it slow for a story to come to you; it is easier to write something if you are relaxed.
Inspiration Can be Found Everywhere
The whole world is actually full of different story ideas; you just need to look at things differently. Doing the laundry for example, it is a very boring task if you look at it one way, but try to see from the vantage point of an ant; gigantic bubbles floating all around, meadows and plains made of soft cotton and wool of different colors, looking at laundry this way makes it infinitely more fantastic and suitable for the story you are writing.
These are just tips on how you can get started on writing your own children's book. But if you want to have a great story you need to have an imagination like that of a child's; let your imagination go wild and your pen will surely follow.
More On Specific Authors of Children's Literature
Official Web Sites of Authors of Children's Literature
- Brown, Don
- Carle, Eric
- Demas, Corinne
- Drucker, Malka
- Gray, Dianne E.
- Greene, Rhonda Gowler
- Hobbs, Will
- Johnson, Arden
- Johnson, Nancy
- Lisle, Janet Taylor
- Marcus, Leonard S.
- Matson, Nancy
- Namioka, Lensey
- Oberman, Sheldon
- Pattison, Darcy
- Peters, Julie Anne
- Pilkey, Dav
- Qualey, Marsha
- Russell, Ching Yeung
- Shasha, Mark
- Shefelman, Janice and Tom
- Wadsworth, Ginger
- Warner, Sally
- Whitman, Candace
- Wilhelm, Hans
- Willis, Nancy Carol
- Wong, Janet S.
- Yee, Tammy