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Learn To Write: Writing Logical Children’s Stories!

Learn To Write: Writing Logical Children’s Stories!

When we think about children’s books, many of us do not think of them as being “logical”. After all, talking animals, crazy happenings and strange events are often a part of children’s stories! However, no matter how strange the things that are happening in the book seem, an important part of how you learn to write is going to be focused on keeping your story logical. The thing to remember is that no matter how amazing or strange these books are, they still have rules and a good story will abide by these rules that it have been created. Logic is an important part of children’s books, and if that is where you want to be writing, there are a few things that you should keep in mind.

When you sit down to write a children’s book, remember that you should think about the world that you are interested in creating. Is it a world where mice live and act just like humans or is it a world that is essentially unrecognizable from the one that we know and live in? If you are concerned about moving forward and making sure that the world is a good one, you are going to need rules. You are setting up the logic for your story and your story must follow it. Even if the rules are different from the ones that we know are true, you must stick with them!

For instance, when you are creating a story, think about what needs to have happen. It is important that your character go through fascinating things or that they are able to complete interesting or daunting tasks. However, if they are able to finish the tasks to simply, no one is going to be interested in the story, and if they somehow magically finish the tasks for no good reason and without conflict, you are cheating your reader out of a satisfying story! Your character’s conquest needs to be a logical conclusion of the things that have come before it. Unless you can make the victory seem plausible, you are looking at a book that is not going to do well.

If you have a magical item in your story, remember that it should work under its own rules. In Snow White’s story, the poisoned apple would poison everyone who bit into it, and the queen’s magic mirror always tells her the truth. What a poorer story it would have been if the poisoned apple didn’t work or if the magic mirror could lie! Snow White might have been safer, but it would not have been much of a story would it. Learn to write great children’s stories by taking some time to think about the logic in your children’s books and how they work.

When you are interested in children’s books and want to learn to write them, logic is one of the best lessons that you can pick up. Take some time and consider what your options are going to be and how you can keep your logic consistent; this is an essential part of writing and moving forward.

Learn to Write Believable Main Characters For A Children’s Book!

Learn to Write Believable Main Characters For A Children’s Book!

Good children’s books are stories that are specifically written for children and have main characters who are also children. That’s why children love them and can relate to them. But authors need to learn to write effectively to create story characters that are believable, authentic, and lovable. You want to create characters children can relate to and understand. These characters must seem real or at least as real as they are intended to be. Children are very smart and remarkably perceptive, and they won’t be fooled or entertained-by a poorly developed character, particularly the main character. To improve you chances of writing main characters children will love, learn to write specifically for children.

There are several different subcategories of children’s books, so it’s somewhat difficult to tell you how to write about perfect characters for all these subcategories in just a line or two. For instance, picture books and children’s easy readers and chapter books for beginning readers generally have few words and lots of illustrations. Character development in children’s stories are not just about what the characters do and say, but also about what they look like.

However, the illustrations used for your stories like this may be totally out of your control because they are created by an illustrator who is not necessarily collaborating with you, but may simply be taking direction from an editor. Unless you are both the story’s writer and illustrator, you may have very little to say about the illustrations that will accompany your text. As a rule, the fewer words in a children’s book, the fewer words you should use to provide description. You just don’t have that many words to spare! So you’re going to have to rely on the illustrator’s good judgment to decide if the character will have red, black, blonde, or brown hair, for instance, unless it is critical to the storyline. In situations where a physical detail describing the character’s appearance must be verbalized-for instance, if the story is about a child who is teased because she has a large birthmark on her face-somewhere you will need to include enough of a description that the readers know this fact about the character and her appearance. Beyond that, you should simply limit physical descriptions altogether.

You see, with just a few words at your disposal with which to tell your story, you simply can’t afford to waste them giving nonessential physical descriptions. And in truth, you need to learn to write a lot more about a person’s character than physical attributes or description. So that is where you want to concentrate your writing. You want to show the reader the main character’s character rather than telling them about it. And the best way to do this is to apportion the majority of the words you are allotted for your children’s story to dialogue and action.

Written descriptions are often unnecessary to the creation and development of a well thought out and believable character. Story characters are about much more than just the color of their skin or hair or their height or weight or any other physical characteristic that can be described. Learn to write good dialogue and a story based on action, this is the key to developing good main characters. That’s because so much of our character becomes evident and is showcased through our words, our thoughts, and our actions. There is no-need to tell a child that the main character in a story is mean when that child says mean things to other kids, thinks mean things about other kids, and acts mean to them, too. The character’s personality shines through loud and clear by showing, not telling.

“Show, don’t tell” is the spirit of great writing-and this applies to stories for readers of all ages, not just children’s books. However, in children’s books where the author must learn to write a story and develop the main character with so few words to work with, it becomes even more critical.

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How to write a great children’s book

How to write a great children’s book

How To Write Children’s Books: 4 Steps

Writing a children’s book might seem like an easy thing to do but there are certain things you need to know before you even get started. There are lots of rules like ‘make your characters believable’ and ‘don’t over complicate the plot’ but before you even lay pen to paper, there are many factors you need to consider.

Be Committed
First off, you need to enjoy it especially if you’re writing in your spare time after work or around other jobs. But, you need to be committed to finishing. Read lots of children’s fiction before you start. Learn about it and maybe even take some recommended courses on it.

You have to practise. Writing is like any other skill, you have to practise over and over again. Take criticism constructively and always look to improve yourself.

You also need to detach your ego from your writing. If when it comes to publishing, you take criticism or rejection personally, you won’t learn from the experience. Take any bad news you get as a learning curve. It will help you in your next attempt.

Set Achievable Goals
When setting goals, think about what you could do in your allotted time and then half it. I know this sounds dramatic but it means that if you do more than you have anticipated, you will feel prouder than if you set a high target and didn’t achieve. By setting unachievable goals, you are likely to feel disappointed if they are not met and the joy of writing is taken away again.

Write when you want
Some people love to spend a whole day with their head down and getting the job done there and then. Others prefer to write for a morning and spend the rest of the day away from it. Whatever your method, write when you want to. But going back to my first point, you have to be committed. Obviously don’t force yourself to write if you really can’t bear to, but in the spirit of being dedicated, you need to be quite regimented about when you write.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you write sporadically, that the flow of your story could be at risk. When you sit down for three or four hours at a time, your mind will generally be in the same place. If you only write for a short space of time and then stop and come back to it, your mentality could have shifted.

Enjoy your writing space
If you enjoy writing in bed, do it. If you enjoy writing outside, do it. Don’t coup yourself up somewhere you don’t want to be. You are more likely to be dedicated to the outcome of your book if you are writing it somewhere you enjoy to be.

The best tips I’ve come across are in Robyn Opie’s ‘How To Write A Great Children’s Book’. It combines attitude and mind set with great tips about plot, characters and even publishing. I highly recommend it to you as it has taught me that there is a lot more to writing a children’s book than first thought.

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Learn to Write for Children: The Purpose of a Writers Group and How to Find One!

Learn to Write for Children: The Purpose of a Writers Group and How to Find One!

When you learn to write a children’s book there are a few things you can do to successfully write stories for children; from finding “How to” books that show you exactly what writing for children is all about, finding websites and newsletters giving tips and articles too reading and researching published children’s books. These are important aspects to building a solid writing career and also helping your writing skills but many writers start their career by joining a local writers group which you can enquire about at the local library or you can find a writers group that is online.

There can be positives and negatives to joining writers groups.

The main purpose of a writers group is to consult with other writers about your writing and to hear ideas from other writers. This is a great way to get valuable feedback on your own writing, especially if you have members in the group that have already been published or who have had experience dealing with publishers. No better way to know what you need to do to get published yourself than learning form those who have been there! Another positive for joining a writers group is that you’ll have a group of people in which you can share your success with when you get that joyful letter that you are going to be published or commiserate with when you receive that rejection letter. These special people will know what you are going through.

When you are considering joining a writers group, you would want to be sure that the group has a writing goal for each meeting. Each writer should always bring a piece to discuss at each meeting. A writer must also make sure that there is in an interest in their type of writing at these new groups. For example, find a writers group that has other passionate people writing children’s books. Keep in mind that it is also a good idea to see if there are guidelines for behavior. Sometimes writers groups can get rowdy, a good writer will have extream passion for their story, which is why some writers do not like writers groups.

Joining a writers group is a great way to learn to write for children and/or other genres. Talk to local writers to find local meetings. If there are not any meetings in your area, the Internet is a great source for up and coming writers. Whether your area of writing is picture books, early readers, or young adults; try a writers group and see where it takes you!

#1 Reason you should learn to write for children!

#1 Reason you should learn to write for children!

Learning to write children’s books can see you creating a recession proof income and having the lifestyle of your dreams. It’s true! There are thousands of ordinary people worldwide who are now making an extra income or even a very nice full time income by writing books for children.

Many people have felt the enormous pressure from the global economic recession, creating devastating effects on financial freedom. Learn to write well and you can set yourself up with the skills to write from home or anywhere you like. Finally, you can have piece of mind and security in your life.

It has been proven by Bookscan, a division of Neilson Research that despite the worldwide economic downturn, the sales of children’s books has defied logic. Sales in the genre actually increased by 6.2% for 2007-2008. This is a great market you should learn to be a part of.

It’s official! Children’s writing is recession proof. You should always find a need for children’s books. Learning to write well for children can give you the chance to build the lifestyle of your dreams, like others around the world are doing every day.

There are many authors who have published large numbers of books, and continue to do so on an ongoing basis. There are even cases where movies have been based on these books. There are authors who have spent many years learning about writing children’s books and are extremely happy to share their knowledge with you, if you know where to find them. Imagine! They have done all the hard work of learning the process that is required and all you need to do is follow their advice and you too, can carve a path to success as a writer of children’s books!

Once you Learn to write well for children, you really can set yourself up for financial freedom! There are great quality resources available out there that will show you exactly how to write really great children’s books.

I’ve listed below some of the things you need to learn if you want to become a children’s book author and this information is available to you with a little research.

- Learn what you need to know before you start writing your book
- Research the different types of children’s books
- Find out what makes children’s fiction different from other fiction
- What are the important aspects of children’s fiction
- Learn how to create believable characters
- Learn to write great dialogue
- Learn to write what children want to read
- Find out what it takes to keep the reader ‘hooked from page one
- Find out how to show your reader the story instead of telling them
- Learn how to plot and create your book
- Learn the skills required to professionally edit you work
- Learn the most common problems novice writers face

With this knowledge you can produce great books with all the right content. Your first book will be published in no time! It sounds all too easy doesn’t it? What are the next steps now that your book is completed? Well, you probably need a bit more information on things like…

- Formatting your manuscript
- Researching the marketplace
- Preparing your submission
- Submitting your book to royalty paying publishers
- Finding resources and courses available to you

Learn these skills when writing your children’s books and you will be off to a flying start. Learning should never stop! If you could learn how to think your way to success and how to find the time to write every day, you can Learn to write well for children. Publishers will be screaming out for your well written children’s book.

So, if you’ve ever thought about it, then now is the time to get started! Learn to write great children’s books. Your imagination expands right on the page, writing can be empowering and creative. When you apply these learning methods, you can get started straight away on your masterpiece, getting you closer to achieving your dreams!

You’ll soon be writing books for children that will set you apart from the rest and have you looking like you’ve been writing for years! All it takes is a little dedication and a great system to follow. Make the choice today; Learn to write well for children. Remember there is a huge, hungry market out there just waiting for your first book!

LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Mr. Pencil’s Learn to Draw and Write

LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Mr. Pencil’s Learn to Draw and Write

9d597d35bb031b413f1fe2e5a4455aed LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Mr. Pencils Learn to Draw and Write

  • Part of the Leapster Multimedia Learning System (sold separately).
  • More than 100 interactive lessons
  • Combines engaging lessons, tools and games with LeapFrog’s proven approach to learning
  • Built-in lessons designed to teach drawing and writing the fun and easy way

Mr. Pencil’s Learn to Draw and Write is a fun new game for your child’s Leapster. This game cartridge holds a series of games that teach drawing and reading, the fun and easy way. Its recommended for ages 4 and above

buynow big LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Mr. Pencils Learn to Draw and Write

List Price: $ 24.99

Price: $ 12.59

Learn to Write – Do I Need to be Creative to Write for Children?

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 Write Children’s Books – Unleashing The Creative Child Within!

Learn To Write Children’s Books – Unleashing The Creative Child Within!

Have you been writing or are you considering to write a children’s book? Do you think the stories you want to tell are exciting enough for children? Well, children’s stories are filled with characters going on wild adventures and solving problems as simple as finding a lost sock. But when you learn to write children’s books, an element of creativeness is needed to develop stories that children find fun and exciting.

A story about a child looking for a lost sock could be quite a dull read, unless, the journey the child takes has it’s ups and downs and is a unique adventure. The aim of writing stories for children is one they can relate to and see themselves in. Unleashing your creative child within is what can help you do this.

As adults, the pressures of everyday life, from raising a family and maintaining a home to full time work, not to mention the social pressure of friends and extended families, plays a toll on our imagination and creativeness. We simply ‘grow-up’ and leave our young selves in the past, when we were children. The important thing here is that imagination and creativeness is what we need to really write those stories children will connect with and enjoy.

Children live in their own worlds, surrounded by stuffed toys and magical worlds they develop in make believe games. They simply do not feel the pressures around us that we do. In other words, us as parents, caregivers and grandparents, we are always encouraging children’s imagination in the early years. But why do we stop doing this for ourselves?

When writing children’s books, it’s the simple utter of joy and creation that you once knew as a child and tapping into this is important. Getting back to the feeling of when you were a child, what you liked about the stories you read and the simple ideas that had you jumping over the moon to express. Helping to bring out the creative child within not only aids your story creation but also the passion, purpose and fulfillment you feel when writing for children.

Writers block is one example of creativeness being pushed further from your mind and hidden well and truly within you. Learning how to spark your creativity and bring it out to play is the key to writing successful children’s books. Thinking outside the box is how you will discover the joy of making your own creative way in the children’s book industry and that will set you apart from the rest.

Once you begin this journey of developing your creativity, there is no looking back and you can produce creative children’s books over and over again. Because when you live creatively and in the moment, the only place you’ll want to look is to the future, to your next story, where the next creative reward awaits.

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How to Write Short Stories for Small Children

How to Write Short Stories for Small Children

Every person during his/her childhood has heard a lot of stories and fairy tales. Most of them are fictional barring a few that are based on actual events. It is not at all difficult to write short stories, all that you need is a good command over the language and a bit of creativity. Apart from these there are certain things that need to be taken care of like the beginning of the story, the ending etc.

If you want to try writing short stories for small children then here are few tips that will make your story the best.

An appealing and an interesting beginning will arouse the curiosity of the reader which will keep them glued to the story till the end. But before you start writing the first paragraph, you must decide on several story elements. Consider choosing the following before you write the first paragraph:

1. Setting (This is where the story takes place.)

2. Time (Commonly most short stories cover a day or up to a week. If your short story covers a month, you will probably need a shorter time period.)

3. Major conflict (that is the main problem that the characters will solve.)

4. Characters (it is advisable to have 2-4 characters in your story. The plot tends to get complicated if you have more than 4 characters)

5. Ending (There should be a resolution and all of the loose ends should be tied up.)

Once you have decided on the basic story elements, the next thing is to decide on the major element of the story i.e. the target audience. In the case of short stories it is the children whom we target.

After choosing the major story element you can start writing your story. If there are any conversations between the characters which are referred to as dialogues then just keep in mind that each time a different character talks, you need to indent and start a new paragraph. To come up with better dialogues it is suggested to put yourself in the shoes of the characters you are creating as this will help you come up with realistic dialogues.

Read the stories of other writers to get an idea of how to go about writing short stories. Consider reading some folklore stories, which are available on the internet.

Although you read stories of other authors it is really important to have your own style of writing. The story you write should be different from the ones you have read, in other words the story should be unique. This way you can attract more child readers and at the same time make a good name as a popular author in a short span of time.

Writing Children’s Books: How to Write Bestselling Books for Kids of Any Age

Writing Children’s Books: How to Write Bestselling Books for Kids of Any Age

Get excited about writing children’s books! Write bestselling books for kids of all ages! Writing for kids can be rewarding: discover how to write bestselling kids’ books by knowing what your target readers want. 

 
<b>Writing Children’s Books for a Target Audience</b>
First, choose your target readers: babies, toddlers, preschoolers, beginners or preteens. A story that’s a potential bestseller with one age group may fall flat with another.

It’s important to decide on the age level before you start writing: this will determine the kind of book you write, the length and complexity of your story, and the number, ages and treatment of your characters.

Studies in childhood development show that as kids grow from babyhood to the preteen years, they look for different kinds of books.

<b>Writing Children’s Books for the Earliest Years: Toddler and Baby Books</b>
Babies and toddlers love to listen to simple tales revolving round the familiar world of home, family and friends. Also popular are adventures of mischievous children, talking animals or toys that come alive.

<b>Babies</b> love to hear about the doings of other babies (especially naughty ones) and baby animals. Learn from bestselling baby books like <i>Welcome, Little Baby</i> by Aliki and <i>Spot the Puppy</i> by Eric Hill.

<b>Toddlers</b> enjoy stories with lots of repetition, catchy words and rhymes. Take a cue from favorite children’s books like <i>Goodnight Moon</i> by Margaret Wise Brown and <i>Jamberry</i> by Bruce Degen. Toddlers also love to hear about the escapades of other kids and talking animals, as in the Alfie stories by Shirley Hughes and the Little Crittur series by Mercer Mayer.

<b>Writing Children’s Books for Preschoolers</b>
Although some preschoolers may have started to read by themselves, most will still have adults reading to them. How your story sounds is therefore very important; read it aloud — does it flow smoothly? Does the story hold your attention?

Books about family and school life are popular with preschoolers, especially if they’re funny stories with children or animals as the principal characters. Get a taste of kid humor from bestselling children’s books like <i>Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day</i> by Judith Viorst, and <i>If You Give a Mouse a Cookie</i> by Laura Numeroff.

<b>Writing Children’s Books for Grade School Kids: Beginner Readers and Chapter Books</b>
<b>Beginner books</b> — also called easy-to-reads — are for kids just starting to read by themselves. The writer’s aim is to make the reading experience a pleasurable one for the child, who can then claim to have read the book “all by myself”. This happy result comes about when the vocabulary and sentences are kept simple and concrete. Most beginner books run to only about 1,000 to 1,500 words, or between 40 and 64 pages.

<b>Chapter books</b> are for more advanced readers, and may range from 1,500 words to 10,000 words, or between 40 and 80 pages. They are usually divided into chapters of 3 to 4 pages each.

Grade school kids enjoy funny stories, and fast-paced adventure and fantasy stories revolving round family, school and friends. To understand what appeals to kids, look at popular children’s books like <i>Kids of the Polk Street School</i> series by Patricia Reilly Giff, the <i>Babysitters Club</i> series by Ann M Martin, and <i>Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing</i> and sequels by Judy Blume.

<b>Writing for Preteens</b>
Preteens want their stories to zip along at a fast pace, with plenty of action, adventure and humor. They prefer protagonists who are their own age or slightly older: active, intelligent, resourceful characters capable of solving problems by themselves.

Preteens look for stories that address relationship and growing-up issues in a way they can identify with: books such as <i>The Divorce Express</i> and <i>Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice?</i>, both by Paula Danziger and <i>Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret</i> by Judy Blume.   

For more tips and ideas on writing children’s books, visit http://www.creativejuicesbooks.com/creative-writing-ideas-kids.html to help you write the best books for kids.

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