How to Write Children's Books

Writing children's books can be a wonderful creative outlet and a very rewarding career. Before you try to write a children's book you should make sure that you are truly dedicated to writing for children, because the path to publication can be a long and difficult one.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Come up with a great idea. Before you write a children's book you will need a truly inspired idea. There are many ways to get an inspiration to write a children's book. Many times coming up with an idea for a children's book plot can be the easiest part of writing a children's book, but if you are out of ideas try asking yourself some "what if?" questions. For instance: "what if a first grader discovered their mother was dating their teacher?" "What if two best friends started to grow apart?" "What if a boy discovered his pet was an alien?" You can write a children's book that is the answer to this "what if?" question,

2. Fill your children's book with vibrant characters. Make sure that your characters are sympathetic and three dimensional. Check to make sure that none of your characters, even the smallest supporting characters, are simply stereotypes. Think about your characters' motivations and their fears.

3. Outline your children's book. No matter how short your children's book is, you will still want to have a general idea of where you're going with it. Some people do not believe in outlining before they write their children's books, but others can't live without it. Do the type of outlining that works best for you. Make sure that you are comfortable with your plot and characters before you start writing.

4. Write your children's book. Try to write every day. If you establish a routine it will make it much easier to write all the way through your children's book instead of getting stuck in the middle. Push yourself to write a certain number of words each day, regardless of your inspiration levels.

5. Set the book aside. Now that you've finished writing your children's book it is important to give yourself a little bit of time away from the children's book manuscript. Let it sit, and work on something else for awhile.

6. Revise your manuscript. Now that you've had some time away from your finished children's book manuscript you will want to go back through and revise, revise, revise.

7. Submit a query letter to a literary agent who represents children's book writers. Make sure that you write a catchy query letter that works to sell your children's book to the agent. Make your writing snappy and interesting, and target agents who have sold books similar to your own.

8. Work with your agent to find a publisher and sell your children's book.

[frozenmocha]

on 8/19/2009 I want to write childrens books, but don't quite know how to get started. I'll have to re-read your article. Thanks!