How do I help my 10 year old become an illustrator and writer of books?

Answer 1

This is a cut and paste of a similar question I answered last night - I hope it helps you as well.
I doubt that you are going to be published or sell a screen play at eleven. However, that said, I totally understand your drive and desire. I am a novelist - I have six books published. I started writing when I was in second grade. Naturally I wasn't very good, but you know how practice makes perfect? It took me another thirty years to publish, but I kept writing and getting better that whole time. My advice is to continue writing. Take every class you can. Listen to criticism and take it to heart - it's really hard, because you want to think your work is perfect, but if you are going to be a real writer this is one of the most important things you can learn. Read constantly - not crap, but well written books in the genre in which you are interested. Your parents or teachers might help you put together a reading list. Be willing to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. Research writers' conferences in your area and ask your parents to send you to one for your birthday. Think of it as you would think of being a basketball player - you are probably not going to be at the top of your game when you are eleven, but all the work and practice that you put in when you were eleven will get you that scholarship down the road. Good luck to you and keep writing!

Just a comment on the above post. I think he is refering to vanity publishing, where you pay a press to 'publish' your book. You want to stay away from any press that wants you to pay, unless you're just printing them up for Christmas presents. Bookstores are not interesting in vanity books. Eventually, if you stick to it, you will have to hook up with an agent (that's where writers' conferences come into the picture!) who will sell your books to a publishing house.

Also, you might want to look at a 2007 Children's Writers' and Illustrators Market ( a book you can check out from the library or request for Christmas). It will list magazines that are open to submissions from younger writers. Submitting shorter pieces is an excellant way to practice and get better.

To mom - good for you for being supportive! I wish someone had taken similar interest when I was a child. Your child is probably too young to get much out of a writers' and illustrators' conference right now, but in a few years you can research one in your area at scbwi.org. If this is something your child would really like to do, I suggest extra instruction in both writing and drawing and painting. College is a way down the line, but these are also both things that can be studies then

Answer 2

Do you wanna do comics or manga? For both right out the first chapters/issues than do a rough sketch and get the dialouge bubbles down. Sketching isn't the same as fully drawing the panels. For Comics you need color and most comics have inkists and artists. Manga is easier, it's just the drawing and shading. Find an artist, anyone at your school or idk put out a craigslist post but you would have to probably have to pay for that. Submit your chapter to various magazines or publishers of manga/comics. The art is a big deal so if you can't find an artist don't even attempt to draw them unless you start practicing your sketches. That's pretty much it. Just start off slow and attempt multiple stories and redraw panels and dialouge to dry different stuff. If you can make a good enough story companies will give you an artist to be partnered with. But in this case they wont do that. Good Luck and be Original. Also you could try making the book and selling it online. There are various websites that sell independent books.

Answer 3

Encourage him/her to read books in the area s/he is interested in pursuing. The best way to become a good writer is to be a good reader. As for illustrating, often children's books are written by one person and illustrated by another. Usually the publisher has a stable of artists and select the best artist to best illustrate a book. However, if your child is naturally artistically talented, by all means, encourage that talent with art classes, available at school or community ed and make art supplies readily available to him/her.

Answer 4

To be an illustrator at 10, he must be very skilled at drawing, so i would suggest giving ideas for pictures, but be specific.

To be a writer, such as myself, I would suggest having him write short, 3-10 page story and try to get it published in a local newspaper. It really helps encourage the mind of a 10 year old.

Answer 5

Unless your ten year old wants to, don't force him/her to do anything. You can't make somebody do something they don't want to do. If they do want to become an illustrator/writer of books, then one thing you could do is read a story to your child without showing them the pictures and after reading a page, tell your child to draw what he/she thinks should be the picture for that page.

Answer 6

tell him to read more and more books