Those of us who write from personal experience often think that we’d like to share life lessons and delights in the form of literature for children.  Excited by our desire to write, we also feel in touch with the child in ourselves who loves learning and has a need to know.   But when it comes to working through the demands of creating literature for children, many of us are in the dark.  In the following article, career children’s book author Nancy Smiler Levinson, shares her responses to the kinds of requests she receives for help. In doing so, she informs Writing It Real subscribers about the many elements to consider if they want to write well for children. She also suggests solid resources for learning the craft.  Very importantly, Nancy Smiler Levinson’s vivid examples about showing instead of narrating prove useful for writing in any genre.

****

Every month I get about three telephone calls or emails from people who know someone who knows someone who knows me.  Sometimes a caller is the wife of a cousin’s boss, a neighbor’s teacher or somebody a friend of mine met at a school open house. They have been sons-in-law of people I know and even their grandchildren.  All of these inquirers want help getting started writing for children or assistance getting published.

Sometimes the “connector” has asked beforehand if I would agree to such a call, and sometimes the call comes directly, along with an explanation of the caller’s relationship to the party who knows me.

Either way, how can I refuse?  Once upon a time I was unpublished, and I recall how much I appreciated a kind word, advice or comment–even a criticism of my writing efforts, if offered in a gentle, non-threatening way.  Having been there myself, I am sensitive to others who want to begin writing and are eager for guidance.

 Mostly, following a conversation, I feel that I have in some small way sent a new writer along a useful and proper path.  I admit, though, that some comments cause me to take a deep breath:

“Children’s books are short and simple, so I guess they must be pretty easy to write and not take too long.” (Actually, some of us who write in a particular genre called easy-to-read books for beginning readers struggle mightily, in draft after draft, to make sure the main character is engaging and that the action is fast-paced, and that the language is readable, but fresh and alive; in non-fiction easy-to-read books we meet the challenge of writing tightly, using factual references that children can relate to, and all the while making sure that the scientific or historical or technical material is accurate.  In good humor, we call these:  “Not so easy to write easy-to-read books!”)

“Children’s books use such simple words.  You don’t have to pay much attention to vocabulary, do you?” (For the youngest children, writers shouldn’t limit themselves regarding vocabulary.   They should write freely, with a poetic voice and a bent toward rhythm for the adult who will be reading to the child. It is also wise not to write “down” to the older child by using baby-like vocabulary or sentences that are so short that the pace sounds choppy.  Now and then including a word a little beyond a child’s age will help the child stretch and learn.)

“Well, no, I haven’t read many kids’ books lately, but I did when I was young.” (Children’s literature has changed greatly in past years. Not only is it good to keep up with current titles, but it’s also very important to read often to get the “sound” of children’s literature and its lyricism into your head.)

“I see so many children’s books in bookstores.  It probably isn’t very hard to find a publisher, is it?” (Finding the right publisher may take time, effort, and patience.)

“Who do you know?”  (This came directly from a woman at a party, who then clarified her question to mean:  “Since you are published, who did you know in the publishing world to make the arrangement?”  I don’t.  Finding an agent with whom you feel comfortable may take time and patience, as well. Here are three good sources to begin an agent-search: Literary Market Place (LMP) Volume 1 published by Information Today, Inc .lists literary agents; Writer’s Guide to Book Editors, Publishers, and Literary Agents, edited by Jeff Herman, Prima Publishing Co. and Guide to Literary Agents, edited by Rachel Vater, Writer’s Digest books.)

“If I mail you my story, would you read it and tell me where I could send it?”  (I am not an agent.  A request to find out if a story is finished is best made of workshop leader or an agent or editor at a conference. See the resources I’ve listed above.)

“No, I haven’t written anything, but I have a great idea.” (Many people, both published and just beginning, have ideas that may or may not work on paper.  Writing, revising, trying an idea with different approaches is the only way to find out if that idea has merit.)

Whenever I talk to people interested in writing for children, I tell them this work is not only harder than it looks, but also requires that the writer never undermine children’s intelligence or capacity to appreciate good literature.  The child’s sense of wonder at the world is vast.  Young ones deserve good literature that is rich with the lyricism of language, literature that will help guide them toward making sense of confusion and chaos within, as well as finding their place in their family, community, and the larger world.  They deserve respect.

Here are some suggested titles for very young readers that you might want to read and evaluate:

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
Jamberry by Bruce Degan
Mr. Gumpy’s Outing by John Birmingham
The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin
Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
(Rereading Mother Goose is great for hearing good rhythm)

For older readers:

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan
For Your Eyes Only by Joanne Rocklin
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Although I don’t do it on demand, I have critiqued many children’s manuscripts at conferences and workshops.  Overall, the two most frequent problems I find involve 1) point-of-view and 2) too much narration instead of creating engaging scenes that show and don’t tell.

Point of view here means that the main character must tell the story and should be a child. (Remember that animals as characters or funny old people are, for young readers, really children in disguise). This entails seeing everything through the child’s eye, getting into the child’s head and heart, and not slipping into talking or thinking the way the mother, teacher, uncle or other adult does.

In my easy-to-read historical fiction, Prairie Friends, my main character, living on the prairie and longing for a friend, has made a cornhusk doll for a newly arrived girl and is heartbroken because the new girl doesn’t embrace her gift. Betsy tells her mama, “I don’t think she wants to be my friend.”  It would not work for me to follow that with a response such as this:  “Mama was so exasperated at Betsy for being upset again and she didn’t know what to do for her daughter.”  This would not work because Betsy would not know such thoughts inside Mama’s head.  Moreover, she is a child who would not use the adult word, “exasperated.”  Instead, I write:  “Moving to the prairie is hard for Emmeline and her family,” Mama said. “They are city folk.  They need to learn about life here, and they will need our help.”

Paying attention to point of view of the main character also means knowing the range of different genres of children’s literature (picture books, story books, chapter books, middle grade and young adult novels) so that one doesn’t write a fifty-page manuscript about a kindergarten child.  (Generally, a story for a kindergartener would be a picture book about a young child and would run about five or six manuscript pages.  This would be a book that an adult would read to the youngster).  You can learn the requirements of the various types of children’s books as well as much about writing them from two wonderful guides, The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children, by Nancy Lamb and The Art of Writing for Children:  Skills and Techniques of the Craft by Connie Epstein.

But here let me say that too much narration tends to lose the young reader.  It’s better to create a scene with dialogue and action so that the reader can identify with the character and his or her situation, feeling and thinking the way the character does. For instance, in a camp scene in my middle-grade novel (for grades 4-6) Your Friend, Natalie Popper, I did not just narrate this way:

When the girls learned that something was seriously wrong with Marlys, they began to worry.  They gathered around the counselor, Babs, and kept asking her what was going on.  Babs wouldn’t answer and continued whispering with another counselor.

Here is how I wrote this scene:

Babs told . . . “everyone to stay put and she would be right back.  But exactly at that moment another counselor appeared, grabbed her aside, and whispered something to her.  Whatever she whispered, it left Babs visibly shaken.  Babs leaned against the wall and tried to catch her breath.

Everyone clambered around the two counselors, insisting that they tell what was wrong.  Finally, explaining that it was her duty to inform the girls, Babs gave in.  “There is very bad news about Marlys, and this is not a rumor,” she said solemnly.  “Marlys has been stricken with polio.”

In a nonfiction book, Hurricanes: Earth’s Mightiest Storms, by Patricia Lauber, Lauber did not write:  “In 1938 a storm swept across the North Atlantic Ocean.”  Instead, she created a lively, engaging scene to begin:

The storm was born sometime in the late summer of 1938, somewhere in tropical waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.  No one saw it.  No one tracked it.  At that time weather satellites did not exist, and no ship happened near the young storm.  Unseen and unknown, it began a long journey.

So, what guidance do I offer beginning children’s writers?  I start with:

Read.  Read.  Read.  Reread books you loved as a child and analyze why you did so.  Read in the library.  Go to a bookstore and read new children’s books to see what is currently being published.

In the library or bookstore get a copy of Writers Market, a book that lists publishers of books and periodicals, their locations, editorial staff names, what their thrust in publishing is (e.g.  all nonfiction, or picture books and novels, etc.) and what kind of manuscripts they might currently be interested in considering.

Take a class.  Meet other writers and form a critique group.

Join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.  It is a national organization, with state and district chapters, as well as several international chapters.  They offer newsletters and have a variety of conferences and workshops.  www.scbwi.org

Volunteer in a classroom or an-after school or camp program to watch and listen to children.

Write.  Write.  Write.

Of course, final results come only if the writer wants to truly work at the craft and is willing to endure ups and downs, of which there can be many.

No, the work does not always come easy, and it is challenging, but the joys and rewards are, as a child says–awesome!