Betsy Haynes, who has published seventy-nine children and YA books, some of which were made into movies for ABC’s Saturday morning series and an ABC Saturday night movie, has developed procedures for creating young fictional characters. She asks if you want to entertain, inform and inspire the most imaginative, fun-loving and inquisitive group of people on this earth. Would you like to tear them away from television, computers, video games, iPods and Wiis?
Well kids have changed and will continue to change. As a children’s writer, you simply have to keep up with them. It isn’t easy, but here are some important suggestions to help you do it.
Read. Spend a least as much time reading as you do writing. Talk to your local children’s librarian about what kids are looking for to read. Then read everything she tells you, and ask yourself why kids would like the stories. Analyze them. What is there about the characters that make the kids like them? Are they sophisticated in any new ways? So are the kids who read them. Why are they absorbed in the stories conflicts? How much action is there? Emotions? What are the things young readers are connecting with in today’s world. How does the author use voice?
Then go on the internet and subscribe to Publishers Weekly’s Children’s Bookshelf. It contains publishing news, features new books, interviews with children’s authors, stories on industry trends, and more. It’s free and it comes every week. You can check it out at:
The second site that every children’s book authors should read is The New York Times book section, which introduces new books, contains articles about publishing trends and has a best seller list for the previous week. Go to: NYTimes.com. Type children’s bestsellers in the search box. You can also focus on the genre you’re interested in by typing chapter books, paperback books, YA books, series, etc. Check out the ones you’d like to write and decide which is the most appealing.
Also, don’t forget the international SCBWI. You might also search for an SCBWI chapter near you. They have presentations and author review sessions where you read a portion of your manuscript and others comment on it.
You can also go to publishers’ websites to see what their latest lists contain and usually a peek at the backlists, and get an idea as to what they are looking for. You can find a list of publishers in Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market in the reference section of your local library.
The most important thing to remember is that you must write what today’s kids want to read. You need to research and read to find out and adapt your writing to it.
James Haynes - null
Join the Conversation