Learn to Write – Do I Need to be Creative to Write for Children?
One can learn to write children’s books but it involves a different level of a writer’s creativity to keep children’s attention within what you are writing. Children’s topics can be most compelling to draw out curiosity from them and to let them stay focused on your book. A children’s book has to be well organized; plots should be appealing and thrilling as well and they must be composed of colorful characters too.
Being creative is a natural gift waiting to be unleashed within you and it requires neither education nor age. Find your purpose in writing some children’s book that will satisfy you and your senses. Unleash the creativity in you by practicing being creative in everything that you do and think daily. Creativity can become your ally when all your dreams disappear and you want to bounce back from life. When writing a children’s book think like a child and let your imagination work.
Being creative will not happen magically within a snap of a finger. When you learn to write children’s books it can actually make or break your writing career so knowing how to proceed is very important. Here are 4 good reasons why you need creativity in writing books for children:
1. Being creative will make it easier for you to pick topics that you feel like writing about instead of thinking what others would like you to write on. You can draw on the inner passion within you to express nice plots and you can make the scenes appear real to your young readers.
2. Creativity will lead you to develop and shift any kind of plot structures from action, drama and adventure beautifully. It takes a lot of creativity to do this especially when your audiences are children. It is never very easy to create rising and falling action, terrifying stunts and exciting moments because only a creative person can do that.
3. A creative writer can guide the young ones to express their ideas and emotions. If you are just writing for the sake of writing something, well then it can bore your audience especially when they are children. By being creative, you can think of a learning interaction between you and your readers perhaps by way of fun activities to test their reading comprehension. Reading is never enough for children; it has to be reading with comprehension matters most.
4. A creative mind is an observant mind. When you are creating children’s books, it is necessary that you have keen observation in almost anything that caught your attention. Being creative can set you above from the rest; you want better results and to achieve all your goals.
Writing can be a rewarding career path for anybody if you only believe that you can do it yourself. Learn to write children books as soon as possible so that your creativity can take its place and you will never know that by just writing children’s books you can unleash the creativity in you! If others can, why can’t you?
Learn To Speak French Fluently? You Need To Hear French People
If you want to learn to speak French fluently there is only so much you can get from books. Books are great for the nitty-gritty of a language, and I wouldn’t be without a good English to French dictionary, but a language is a series of sounds so it makes sense that to learn it well you need to hear it.
Modern French language lessons on CD, MP3 or podcast are a huge step forward. They are much more entertaining and involving than your average French text book and it’s very likely you will enjoy them more. It stands to reason then, that if you’re having a good time you learn French quickly.
You can search for free French lessons online and you’ll find a variety of sound files. Some good, some not so good. Some have been around it seems for ever and it can be frustrating to find that they are in a format that isn’t compatible anymore. Don’t complain too much though, you’re looking for free so you’ve got to expect it to take a while to find the good stuff.
If you want to short-cut the process and learn to speak French fluently in the shortest possible time you will want to consider French CDs that you have to pay for. You will find you have a huge choice, from those that are a few dollars to those that are in the hundreds. Mostly it’s a question of getting what you pay for. The cheap ones tend to be OK for beginners and are often aimed at children. For more advanced learning you are going to have to pay more money.
When making your choice, try and make sure you get sound files that are spoken by French people. No matter how fluent you get, or the teacher is, if you’re not actually French your accent will be different. If you are English you must accept that you will never be mistaken for a French person – just like you would instantly recognize a French person by their accent even if their English was excellent. You just know. That’s not actually important. What’s important is that you try to learn the French accented language, not the accent that someone has if they come from another country.
If you find free French lessons online that are of an acceptable standard you don’t need to be so fussy – but if you are paying for lessons, it makes sense to pay for a French person to teach you!
You can’t learn to speak French fluently in an afternoon, or a week, but the more you practice the faster you get. Your ear gets accustomed to your new language. Luckily it’s no longer the chore it used to be, pouring over old text books. Modern language systems make learning French fun and you’ll be fluent in no time!
The Things You Need To Know About Raising Bilingual Children
When I was growing up, the only way to raise a true ‘world denizen’ was at an exorbitantly priced Swiss boarding school. Luckily, such elitism has been thrown out the window, and now parents raise bilingual and multicultural children themselves. The children grow up just as world-savvy and sophisticated — and actually know their own parents! Still for the do-it-yourselfer, a few tips can smooth the way.
The most common question people ask me is “How do I raise a bilingual child the best way?” “Easy, just talk to them!” is my tongue-in-cheek response. It seems almost impossible to imagine the baby transforming into a communicating creature, let alone one conversant in several languages. Although the miraculous progress from cooing to speech occurs in exactly the same fashion whether it transpires in one or in several languages, the practicalities are different.
Here are the first steps to raising your very own polyglot tot.
1. Family agreement: Even though agreement within the family is perhaps the most essential ingredient, I am sometimes asked, “What do I do if my partner doesn’t want me speaking to our child in a language he doesn’t understand?” An insecure spouse may fear being excluded from ‘the secret language’ between the other parent and the child. Discuss and compromise. It is very important that couples find some solution that is acceptable to both parents as well as beneficial to the child. 2. Enthusiastic, yet realistic: Once the idea of two languages has settled in, many people consider adding more. Usually the number of languages spoken within the household is enough for the child to absorb, but it’s actually possible to successfully introduce as many as four languages simultaneously — provided you can offer enough exposure and need for each one. Still, research suggests that a child needs to be exposed to a language 30% of his waking time to actively speak it, and since waking time is a finite quantity, so, too, is language acquisition.
3. The practical plan: Next, you need to make sure you have a plan. Agree on who speaks what language to whom and then stick to it. There are endless variations on the two most successful language systems. The most common involves one person who always speaks to the child in the ‘foreign’ language. Anyone who is spending a significant amount of time with the child can function as this primary speaker. The second common language system is where the whole family speaks in the foreign language. To add another language beyond those already spoken within the family, or if your family doesn’t speak any foreign languages, you’ll need to provide an outside source like an immersion program, a nanny or an au pair.
4. Get together: Building a support network is probably the most underestimated success factor, so find others who are raising their children to speak your language. You’ll benefit from their knowledge and be able to share both your doubts and your triumphs. It also ensures future play dates that will provide your child with the ultimate language teachers — other kids. Books, music, movies, and toys in your minority language are the most obvious ways to boost your child’s exposure, but there is also an amazing range of other household items such as place mats, tableware, posters, etc.
5 Be patient: Raising multilingual children requires patience, and there are going to be times when doubt sneaks in. As with most aspects of parenting, it’s a long-term commitment and there will be ups and downs. But remember, that’s happening to the parents of the monolingual children too! Don’t worry if your child doesn’t speak his multiple languages as quickly or as adeptly as his peers. Instead focus upon his successes and marvel at the development of his little brain. Always praise, praise, and then praise some more! Know that when your child says, “I want a hug” in your language, you’ll almost cry with pride. At that moment, it won’t matter that it took some extra effort or that you had to wait a bit for the result.
And, hey, remember, you’re not alone. Madonna, Andre Agassi, and Antonio Banderas are among those raising bilingual children. And if they can do it, why shouldn’t you?
Write a children’s book – 5 Tips you NEED to know!
Are you in the progress of writing a children’s book? Have you thought about writing a nice little story that children and their caregivers would like to read? There is defiantly a need for more well written children’s books. Write a children’s book, you never know what might happen if you do!
Writing for children is a fun and creative and the stories you can write can be filled with excitement and imagination. Once you know what you’re doing; you could be asked to write books faster than you can come up with the ideas. Wouldn’t that be nice. You could be busy for quite awhile or choose to write whenever you want!
Before you start or if you already have, have a look at the following 5 best-kept secrets that you need to know when you write a children’s book! These guidelines will help you to make sure your children’s book is as great as it can be!
1. Research
Do your research. Research what you’re writing about. If your story idea is based on something you’re not exactly sure about or the story is unclear to you, your readers will probably pick up on this. When you write a children’s book ensure you do your research so your writing is clear and valuable to the reader. It is important to do your research so you’re knowledge of the situation is credible for the reader. The worst thing is leaving your reader thinking “What if….Be precise and straight to the point. Don’t ramble into too much detail; again, you will lose the interest of the reader.
2. Characters.
Have you made the big mistake a lot of writers of children’s books are making? Many beginner writers develop a wonderful story that they believe everyone will fall in love with then they try to fit the characters around this storyline. This can see you in a wee bit of trouble down the line. The best way to create realistic characters your readers will connect with and care about is to develop them first! Get to know everything about the characters you create. Know their physical characteristics, their personality traits, their background and emotions. The more you know about them the better off your story will be! This will show your readers you have passion toward them and will project through your writing. Therefore, your audience will want to find out what happens to them.
3. Mood of the story.
As most of us writers know, you rarely sit down and write a book cover to cover in one sitting right! Unless you don’t fancy sleeping, then you are the minority. The rest of us will write in sections or little bits here and there. Attempt to write when you are in the same mood you were in when you were last writing. Otherwise, you might have a situation where the readers emotions are up and down throughout the story. This can be quite upsetting for a young child. Another reason could be when the beginning is fulled of excitement, the middle is dull and the best is saved till last. You’ll probably end up with an uncomfortable read for your audience. Try to divide the drama throughout the story and keep the tone and mood steady. You don’t want to lose the reader before they get to the best part of the story.
4. The Plot
When you write a children’s book, as it is with all books, the plot is another important aspect to consider. Especially when writing for children. Children are more likely to look to the characters as role models. Therefore, when you are creating the plot for your children’s book, you need to keep your audience in mind. All great books have one thing in common, weather it’s for children or adults.It’s plot will have some sort of conflict! There are two types of conflict, internal and external. Internal conflict is when the main character has to deal with a conflict from within. For example, fear, insecurities or a struggle of right and wrong. External conflict is when the main character has a conflict to deal with outside of their control. For example other people, animals, or a situation where they have no control. Add some sort of conflict to the characters journey and you have a great story!
5. “show, don’t tell”
Have you heard about “show, don’t tell”? All modern day writers are now using the “show, don’t tell” way of writing. You can defiantly learn how to write in this style, and I strongly recommend that you do. But “show, don’t tell” is where you become a ‘storyshower’ and not a storyteller. What I am trying to explain here is, that even though writers are telling the story, you want to show your readers what is happening so they can create a picture in their mind. This can be done through description. Show your reader how the character is feeling, their actions, their physical reactions and body language, where they are in the story, etc. Add description of the surroundings and the feel of what’s happening around them so you reader feels like they are standing next to them. Show the reader through description as much as possible to add depth to the story. Imagine a movie; the director doesn’t put words up on screen when a character is sad, happy or excited. He instructs the actors to act a certain way and show through their faces and actions how they are feeling. This is the same with an author. You must give enough description to show your readers how the characters are feeling and the situation they are facing.
I hope you have found these 5 best-kept secrets helpful when you are planning how you will write a children’s book. Next comes editing, proofing and formatting. Remember to find out what individual publishers are looking for so you have the most success when submitting your manuscript. Don’t forget to check for grammar and spelling mistakes so you finished result will look professional.
Learn how to write the story for achildren’s book in this free how-to video on writing and publishing children’s literature. Expert: Angela Sage Larson Contact: www.petalwinkthefairy.com Bio: Angela Sage Larsen is a professional artist and published children’s book author. Filmmaker: Ross Safronoff Video Rating: 4 / 5
