Are you a writer and want to explore how to write a children’s book? First, you have to examine your expertise in children’s literature. But now you are stuck because you didn’t know before that writing a children’s book is not the easy ball you wanted to play. Just because the children’s book target audience is not that much aware of the literature rules, it doesn’t mean that you can quickly write a book. You should implement many things while writing a book for children, like determining your targeted age group to characters, plot, climax, readability, illustration, and more.
The significant aspect of writing a good children’s book is to tell a story that has never been narrated before because no one will buy a book that has already been sold five to six times. Still, if you want to target a topic that already has enough literature on it, then make sure to bring a unique characteristic that has never come into the spotlight.
You must be wondering why children’s books need so much uniqueness; to your surprise, let us tell you that your topic and design must be noticeable even while writing a children’s book. So, while reading the first children’s chapter book, they sense they are reading and learning something new and exceptional.
We will share some crucial advice to support you when writing children’s books, and to make your trip toward writing a children’s book obstacle-free. Before moving on to the direction, let’s first talk about why you should write a children’s book, how it differs from adult books, and how many genres there are in children’s literature.
Why Do Writers Choose to Write a Children’s Book?
The reasons can vary from writer to writer for writing a children’s book. However, writing a children’s book is usually considered a gratifying experience for established writers and those just starting their writing journey. Numerous individuals who write children’s books do so because they have an idea that they are passionate about delivering in an inspirational way. Whether it’s teaching children to read or conveying robust moral values, writers publishing children’s books have the opportunity to make an impact that can last for ages.
Besides, having an audience of young readers who are easily engaged makes this type of writing especially pleasing while presenting them with stories they will remember long into old age. It is clear why many authors enjoy the challenge and bonus of bringing childhood joy through the creation of traditional publishing of children’s books.
How Writing Children’s Book Is Different from Adults’ Books?
Writing children’s books is quite challenging, as it requires different practices than writing for adults. You can’t just narrate facts while writing a children’s book; you must consider the perfect blending of factors like entertainment and education. As a writer, you will be responsible for taking your young readers on an exciting journey where they learn about the world around them appropriately.
Further, the writer should know that this young mind will interpret each character and scene, so they must adjust their style according to them. A writer who understands the differences between young adult fiction and children’s literature will have the power to create unique and appealing stories that keep readers coming back again and again to experience the charm of childhood literature.
How to Make a Children’s Book Attractive?
If the children’s book ideas come out outstanding, then there are chances that it will attract young readers and grab the attention of young and adult readers of books and readers who love children’s literature.
Writing a great children’s book that can quickly draw the right audience’s attention is necessary. To make your writing eye-catchy, you should follow these practices:
- Your story must give the child reader some lessons that teach children what they can comply with in real life.
- It must have the perfect taste of everything, like teachings, information, and entertainment.
- It must have attractive visuals because young children mostly feel attracted to visuals, so it can be a plus point in your book’s success.
- The story must be easily understood and portray something they can quickly connect.
- As a writer, you should use easy and understandable vocabulary while generating content.
- It must follow a developmentally appropriate approach.
- The story setting must be intriguing.
- It must have a proper beginning, climax, and ending.
- The story must have relatable characters.
Types of Genres in Children’s Literature
Children’s literature is written to target young audiences that encompass many genres. Some significant genres of children’s literature are:
1. Pictorial Book
This type of picture book includes illustrations, visuals, and a short text description.
2. Traditional Literature
This type of book narrates old tales that pass from generation to generation. These stories are mostly 1000 years old and have become part of the heritage of the specific community.
3. Poetry and Verses
This type of book has poetry and verses to introduce children to rhymes and rhythms that can help them increase their creativity and imagination.
4. Biographies
Biographies are written to inspire young minds based on real-life heroes who have done some successful work.
5. Fiction
A story based on imagination without connection with reality is mainly fiction.
6. Non-Fiction
Non-fiction books mostly contain content that displays information based on facts and concepts related to the real world.
7. Adventure
A book depicts the narration of some heroic and full-of-action story involving exploration & survival in an outdoor setting.
8. Mystery
The story is mainly based on puzzles or crimes that need to be solved by heroes.
9. Fantasy
The stories that happened in the magical world feature magic and fairy-tale creatures.
Tips to Write a Children’s Book
We provide vital insights that will help you find a fresh perspective and speed up your creative process if you want to improve your ability to write children’s literature. These guidelines might give you the skills to create a stunning work on par with Roald Dahl‘s. Are you ready to advance the quality of your writing? Together, let’s investigate:
1. Pick Your Genre
The first step that is the most necessary while writing a children’s book is picking the right genre according to your expertise and interest. When you choose the genre according to your expertise, there is a high chance that you already have much knowledge related to it. But to make your writing more targeted and impactful, you should explore literature about your chosen genre.
Literature exploration will allow you to broaden your thinking and get direction to think from diverse perspectives.
2. Determine Your Target Audience Age Group
Now you know what genre you are going to specify in your book. So, in the second step, you will elaborate on your targeted audience. We know that children’s books have a vast target age group, from board books to picture books to young adult novels. If you know your genre well, before you start writing, you should also be clear about what age group you will target in your book. For your ease, we are specifying the target audience based on the age group.
- Children of the age range 0-3 are babies and toddlers. This age group is always interested in visuals because they don’t understand how many words there are.
- Children of the age range 0-3 are babies and toddlers. This age group is always interested in visuals because they don’t understand how many words there are.
- Children of age 4-6 belong to Pre-K to 1st grade. This age group loves to read poems and verses but is also interested in simple stories.
- Children aged 7-9 belong to middle grades from 2nd to 4th grade. This age group can read simple English, so they are fascinated mainly by fantasy or mystery books.
- Children ages 10-12 belong to 5th grade to 7th grade. This age group is based on young adults who love to read stories, fiction, non-fiction, biographies, and all types of accounts with some lessons, mystery, climax, and entertainment.
3. Determine Your Book Length
After getting an understanding of the target age group, you are going to focus. The 3rd important step in writing a children’s book is determining book-length. The book’s length depends on the word count you will use in your book. Word count can also be differentiated according to age group.
- The word count for diverse age group are:
- Ages 0-3 are suitable, with the book-length containing 200 words.
- Ages 4-6 are practical middle-grade books, with the book-length having 400 to 600 words.
- Ages 7-9 are ideal for early readers, with a book length of 600 to 200 words.
- Ages 10-12 are young adults with a good grip on vocabulary, story understanding, and other reading skills; that’s why they are good to go with a book length of 3,000 to 10,000.
4. Pick Style and Tone
A robust style and tone can make you different and effective from other children’s book writers. Your style and fashion should be like an authorial voice that will speak to children, as most of the time, children’s picture books are read out loud.
Maybe you are confused about being unable to pick a style and tone instantly that may be beneficial to attract children. But there is no need to worry; you can like it by making your practicing game strong. Take a deep dig to know your style and tone better and utilize it to write a compelling picture book story.
5. Decide Your Book Topic
So, after deciding your genre, target audience, book length, style, and tone, the thing that matters the most is your book topic. Children’s book topics must be simple, easy, and thoughtful. They have the intense power of imagination, so your topic should be related to something that can help them strengthen their imagination skills.
Brainstorm your mind to develop fantastic ideas; list 3 to 4 topics related to your chosen genre. Explore literature about you and then finalize the one on which you think you can write excellent, appealing content.
6. Choose Your Protagonist
Developing an inspiring and exciting protagonist for your story will be an excellent opportunity for you as an author to discover your imagination power and come up with something unusual that can touch the heart of your audience. Your main lead should be original, have complex emotions, and include exciting quirks that make them memorable.
Shaping a charming protagonist is an exciting process and a key part of ensuring that your young readers will enjoy your book! The fundamental trait of an ideal protagonist is having a related problem or challenge, one that your younger readers themselves can feel on some level. You need your book’s story arc to revolve around the subject as the character learns how to overcome it while remaining true to their exceptional qualities.
7. Create Interesting Plot
Now it’s time to start work on the story. But before starting proper formatting, give your account a plot around which your story will revolve. Your plot must be something that can easily persuade readers to turn the page and at least give your book a complete read for one time. Also, add conflict about what your story’s main character will experience and learn a moral lesson from it.
Your plot will display how your protagonist deals with the conflict, so while setting the field, line up the events clearly in the story with a firm grip on the problem. Creating a complete report will be easy once your plot and the central conflict are ready.
8. Add Humor
Humor will be a great ingredient in your story. Adding humor while writing a children’s book is essential because it connects the reader and the characters. It can also lessen any tension or difficulty in understanding for younger audiences, as nothing is more engaging than a good joke or funny narrative.
It can also help children learn how to cope with specific problems by giving them space to laugh even when upset. Humor relieves children from otherwise serious situations, enabling them to keep their minds active! It creates an immersive experience and, if utilized correctly, can make the learning process much easier and more enjoyable for young readers.
9. Have a Clear Message
Your story should have a clear message for several reasons like it will be an easy source of learning and development. It helps the children to learn essential values, concepts, and skills. It also lets the young audience understand the story’s purpose and concept and allows them to relate to the characters and level of the book, so they know how they will apply it to their lives.
It also lets the parents understand the story’s purpose clearly and let them know whether it aligns with their values, as it will matter while selecting the book.
10. Create First Draft
Start collecting all the things on paper that you have in your mind related to the story. It’s time to create a first draft that will be known as a rough draft. It is supposed to be an initial version of your writing, so don’t think about the other.
Your first draft will have typical rough edges, incomplete scenarios, grammatical errors, and many more. While making the first draft, you don’t need to be demotivated, as every writer’s first draft usually ends with the unnecessary thing. The most important thing while creating the first draft is to write a complete story on paper or screen with all the necessary and unnecessary details.
11. Reviewing and Editing
After creating the first draft, the most significant step in how to write a children’s book is reviewing and editing. After mentioning everything related to the story of children’s books, it’s time to gear up with all the editing tools and turn the messy draft into a perfect account. Here are a few steps to complete your review and editing step.
- Start reading your story aloud.
- Cut unnecessary details, characters, and errors.
- Start to give a finish to your idea.
- Add a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter to make your story interesting.
- Remove grammatical errors, long sentences, and tricky vocabulary to make reading easy.
- Be bold to edit your writing, keeping the young reader’s expectations in mind.
- Ensure your manuscript has all the parts ready: Beginning, climax, and ending.
Even after rewriting and editing, hire a professional editor if your content still needs improvement.
12. Start Formatting
Once the reviewing and final editing are done, it’s time to put your story into book format. The choice of formation is also an essential part of writing a children’s book because, in the end, what makes your book look good is your book’s layout. There are diverse layouts available in the market. You can choose according to your need for shape and size.
13. Work with illustrator
Here comes the most exciting part of writing a children’s picture book. Determine the visuals your book needs and tell your illustrator to illustrate the best visuals for your book. As your target audience is children, you should keep your visual colors bright, bold, and eye-catching.
14. Give the title
Now that your illustration and the final format are ready, it’s time to give an engaging title to your book. The title is the most effective marketing tool to catch readers’ attention first. So brainstorm properly and develop a captivating title to make your book catchy for readers.
15. Get Feedback
When the copy of your first children’s book is ready, share it with children in your circle and get their feedback to improve the things they will identify.
Conclusion
Writing a children’s book is fun and exciting if you know the pattern well. So we hope that after reading all the tips now, you are ready to create a perfect write-up for your young audience.
Do you have some other ideas in mind related to writing children’s books? Share with us.
