Writing tips?

Question

I want to write a simple children's book but I have no idea what.. Please advise me on how to be creative with thinking stories... I don't want any ready-made stories from you guys, don't want to plagiarize, just some advises on how to write well and come up with interesting ideas.. Is there a certain technique?... Thanks..

Answer 1

Children's books are the hardest to write. You see, although language doesn't have to be technical, or sometimes even emotive, it's hard to learn to control the language used. Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl were popular because they knew how to do it. Don't be too childish - children, though you may not think so - are smart, and realise when they are reading something immaturely inappropriate. Therefore, limit your childish writing. Put it simplistically, not childishly.

I hope that helps.
http://www.wikihow.com/Write-and-Publish...
I wrote this a while back - a lot of other people attempted to change it - you will notice by the number of "authors" at the bottom, but only the wikihow format change ones were right! Don't worry, it's changed back, even though their names are still there. My account there is Disaron, so contact me for anything you need, here or there.
However, that was more for novels, though publishing company Allen and Unwin accepts picture story books.

Answer 2

Please dont say that childrens book are easy to write. Theyre arent. Its only a different kind of writing.

The basic of any kind of writing is to get ideas. Bad as well as good ones. Without ideas there is no books. After that is said most of the peoples usually have ideas of some sort. Theyre only tend to think that there are of no use or isnt good enough. Dont think so. Just try to be creative and came up with ideas.

After you have an idea its time to do two things: Caracter describsion and outline (a step by step guide to the book). Without theese two youre gonna get into a writers block for sure. So do your outline.

The best thing to do to came up with an idea is to think.
The best way to learn how to write well is to write and learn from your misstakes in your previous books.

So how to get an idea for a childrens book? Well a good trick would be to start to think about your own childhood. What kind of stuff was you interrested in then? What kind of stuff are you interrested in now? There arent many subjects that cant be written for children if you do it in the right way and that is the trick. You got to know how to present your stuff and your idea for the age you are writing for. Whats fits for a 6 year old child is childish for an teenager. So decide what age youre writing for and adopt the stories for them.

Well that is some advice. Hope it help! Johan

Answer 3

You probably need to have an age group in mind. The childrens' market is very segmented - five year olds and nine year olds need different books.

Observe and listen to children around you. What do they like and dislike most? What games do they play? What are their most used toys? How are their lives structured? This should give you lots of ideas for stories.

There are a lot of advertised writing courses, but one of the best things you can do is read lots of books for children in the age group you want to write for. That will help you see what works and what doesn't work. What do the most popular books have in common? How do authors plan and pace their stories? You can teach yourself a lot by reading, and it's free.

Best of luck.

Answer 4

Why not go back to school and take a creative writing class or two. I bet there's a community college near your area, it's cheaper and you'll be able to hone your skills in the process. You'll learn from their critiques and whatnot. They offer online classes too so it's convenient especially if you're bsuy with work, family, life, etc. If going to school is not an option, well start with what interested you when you were a kid. Interview your own kids, nieces, nephew or your friends kid on what they like for a story. Writing would be easy if you know your medium's likes and dislikes. Best of luck and let us when you get published.

Answer 5

TEN BASIC WRITING TIPS

The following may be useful for the beginning writer and reminders for those who have written for years:

1. Avoid pretentious words, clichés, and trite expressions in the narrative. Do not put quotation marks around a slang word or a figure of speech that is not being pointed to or emphasized as a word or figure of speech. When in doubt, omit the quotation marks. A careful writer will spare the reader such annoyances.

2. Start a new paragraph for each character’s dialogue. Great Britain and Canada use modified rules, but the American writer should place the closing quotation marks after all punctuation marks except for the semi-colon and colon. The dash is another exception to this rule.

3. Dialogue should be identifiable to each character in the story, but use appropriate tags to let the reader know who is talking. Tags may be omitted if using an action line, such as: Mark glared at Joe; his menacing figure only inches away. “No, man! It’s your doing!”

4. Write the narrative using English in its perfect compositional form, avoiding foreign words unless they are of prime importance. Never use quotation marks for emphasis, but rather, use italics. The dialogue should fit the narrative if included in the same paragraph.

5. It is not necessary to write the character’s written thoughts in italics, but be consistent in whichever form you use. Using italics to denote the inner thoughts of a character is easier to discern.

6. End your chapters or parts with a cliffhanger or something to make the reader turn the page. Build suspense and tension throughout the story and don’t hesitate to write your character in a situational corner. To have everything work out coincidentally nice and conveniently smooth for the characters is laziness on the part of the writer and his imagination. Keep the readers wondering if the protagonist will work himself out of a precarious dilemma.

7. Keep your story within the style you began—either first, second, or third person narrative.

8. Write a good wrap at the ending by serving justice to the antagonists and rewards to the protagonists. There are exceptions to this guideline, however, and it depends on the plot.

9. Keep a grammar reference book and a dictionary nearby. Employ a computer spell check freely as you write. Watch for words such as, their, they’re, whose, who’s, it’s, its. Know their differences.

10. Have your work edited for grammar, punctuation, and flow before submission. Thicken your writing skin; as a writer, you can ill-afford hurt feelings when your manuscript needs improvement.

Answer 6

Think of a lesson you want the children to learn. (Sharing is good, fire is bad, always tell the truth, etc.) Then, think like a kid. Keep it simple. Don't complicate the plot with more than one thing per page. Children usually can't remember more than a few pages at a time anyway. Always have a happy ending. (Finding the puppy, everyone gets dessert, happily ever after, etc.)

Answer 7

A land of wonder and unexpected surprises.... that's what you need to have between the covers of a children's book.

Answer 8

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