Young Writers Society

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or information or links about how to write children's books. (I'm talking like picture books, minus the illustration part because I can't draw.)

I know it seems silly, but it's something I've never tried before and it's a new year, so I wanted to give it a shot. It looks like it should be easy, right? Only it's probably super hard. Haha, oh well. I want to try it either way.

We had to write children's stories in 8th grade, but I opted for a YA story. xD

Uhh... *tries to remember* I know that you have to keep the language simplistic. Most children's books have some kind of moral and an animal protagonist. And they're usually quite humourous. [/botched memories]

*does a Google search*

Here's a nifty little guide: http://www.aaronshep.com/kidwriter/Tips.html

Sorry, I'm less than helpful. xD

-:pirate3:

I really don't know any sites, but I love writing children's stories! If only we had a lit section for it.........

My creative writing teacher gave me heaps of links when she set us an assignment on writing a childrens story. I'll see if I can find them up.



EDIT:I didn't find up the page of links that my creative teacher gave as they are in my folder which is at a different house, but I did use my awesome (*cough*) memory to recall the name of the only site I actually used. Soyouwanna.com!

Link: http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/chi ... dbook.html

What age group were you thinking? I wrote and created a children's pop up book as my graphics project a few years ago but I'm thinking five to seven isn't the age range you was thinking.

Just try not to use any words that are too complex but at the same time, don't over simplify it. That always annoyed me as a child. Read some children's books to get the feel for it.

Good luck!

Heather xx

I have a few notes for very young children from my English classes -- and I'll probably be getting more since we're doing language accuisition soon. I could dig them out.

I suppose the usefulness depeneds on what the age you're looking at is.

Fishy, that would be so awesome. I'd love to read your notes, if you want to share them.

Rightyo, most of it's based on phonology because we were studying at the time, using the stories to learn the different things, so, erm, yeah.

Repetition of sounds; so things like 'Fowl Owl', 'A bright light shone that night', 'Crust Crab' and 'Big Ben' are all in my notes. It appeals more to young children, apparently, because it sounds more fun. Both alliteration and assonance.

Also, which I never picked up on and found interesting, was the bunnies in Peter Rabbit. The good ones; Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-Tail, all share the similar 'o' sound at the beginning of their names, while Peter's doesn't, which separates him from the other rabbits. although I never noticed it until my teacher pointed it out, I think it's quite fun ^^

What else, erm...

Rhyme and Rhythm!

In my notes I have this thing all annotated with little dots and stuff XD I'll try and put them in. This was from a book which has a spinning wheel at the side, so the child could turn it to show each object as they read through it.

. . . . .---.
Jake puts on his t-shirt *
.---. . . . .
Laura puts on her vest o
. . . . .---.
Jake puts on his trousers *
.---. . . . .
Laura puts on her dress o
. . . . .
Jake puts on his shoes #
. .---. .---. . .
What's Laura missing? You choose. #

(GAAAHHH the dots got all messed up XD basically they were above each syllable)

There's a beat to it created by the syllables, so it's just like a sort of poem I guess. I was in a class of people who neither read nor wrote much, so my teacher had to explain everything. (Like no-one knew what a synonym was... anyhoo)

There was the pacing of how it would be read, the repetition of names, words, vowel sounds, assonance (why did she make me write that when they're both the same thing?). The sibilance and 'tuh' sound were both repeated throughout to help develop the reader's language, and the sounds would be familiar to them which would help.

That's what I had to hand, ie. in my notebook. My folder might have more, I don't know I'll have a look. Like I said, it was for very young children, more like those learning to read.

Well, I think having lots of siblings helps. I'm the eldest of 6, soon to be 7. The ages range from 14 to 2.
Pay attention to which books little kids read over and over (whether its the kids you babysit, siblings, or the kids in the nursery at church).
My 2 year old sister loved this really simplistic book. It was like a sentence per page. Not to mention it had kittens and a little girl in it. Her favorite words. 'Kitty' and 'baby'.
I notice kids like books that rhyme also. Such as Dr. Seuss.

When I was ten, my favorite books where the Steven Kellogg ones (I still can't believe I remember his name).

Heck, go to your local library and pick up a bunch of picture books! Who cares about the looks you get from the librarian?

Hope that helps .

EDIT: looks like Meep posted ahead of me. I didn't read Meeps post so, if I'm repeating what she said, I'm sorry .

Thank you, Fishy. (Sorry I'm just replying!)

Pacific, I actually don't see small children that often. I don't babysit and my "little sister" is sixteen. (I was working at a nursery school, though, which is what made me think that this might be something fun to do.) I do still have my old favorites (shh, I hoard books), so that should give me a place to start.

We had to write picture storybooks for an assingment. I threw out my notes, but keep it all very siple, not to long and funny, if you can do that.