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Writing for Children
Writing for children can be magical, hugely creative, fun and exciting. Being a child is a wonderful thing and
reading books for kids
or being able to write for them feels, for me, almost like being a child all over again. There’s nothing I like more than to escape into the world of a child. However, when I was working in children’s publishing there were a few tips I picked up which you might like to keep in mind:
The age of your characters
If you’re writing for children aged 7-9 then you might want to make the age of your main character around 10 or 11. Kids like to read about someone a little older than they are as it gives them something to aspire to.
When is your story set?
Is the way your characters speak appropriate for the time in which the story is set?
This is really important. If you’re writing a novel about children in the 1950s, for example, they would speak quite differently from kids today. Get familiar with how they would have spoken to their friends, parents, teachers etc by talking to people who grew up in that time, read novels from that period and, when appropriate, watch films and TV shows to really give yourself a sense of the time.
If what you’re writing for children is a modern day story be sure to write from the point of view of kids today, not from how you remember things from your childhood as things have probably changed a fair bit. Children today are growing up with technology all around them: ipods, mobile phones, ipads, sat nav – the list goes on! Remember the world is forever evolving and changing in many different ways.
Choose characters’ names carefully
Parents are a lot more experimental with names and spellings of names these days. Society has definitely changed from the time of Enid Blyton in the 1950s when the most popular boys’ names were John, James, Michael and Robert and the most popular girls’ names were Mary, Linda, Patricia and Susan (this is something of which I have to remind my sister.) In the 21st Century we’re more likely to hear the names Ethan, Dylan and Alfie or Madison, Kaya and Hope. Keep this in mind when you're writing for kids.
Think about your audience
Who are you writing for? It’s pretty unusual that a story will appeal to both an 8 year old and an 18 year old (although some do such as Mr H Potter for instance!)
If you know where your book ‘fits’ in the market this will help to steer your writing in the right direction to being published.
Of course these are just guidelines. The beauty of writing is that it is a creative and free process but hopefully this has given you (and my sister) some things to consider when writing for kids.
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