Writing a picture book? If you're planning to have adult characters, you'll need to avoid some common traps. This quick video provides some models for creating compelling and original grownup characters.

Interested in learning how to write a book and send it to children's book publishers? Come on over to The CBI Clubhouse for audios, videos, insider writing tips and much, much more!

The best literary agents are also talented editors. They can instruct and guide an author toward writing a better book. So when those agents talk about writing, it's wise to listen. Veteran agent Donald Maass gives advice for writers in his book The Fire in Fiction: Passion, Purpose and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great, and you can read an excerpt on character-building here. Maass mentions something children's writers often overlook: the impact of greatness, either by the protagonist, or on the protagonist by another character. Children are drawn to greatness and want to see heroes in their books. Infusing ordinary, flawed characters with moments of greatness makes them immortal. And immortality is what every writer dreams of.

Picture book author Lynne Marie has started My Word Playground, which she describes as a "children's writing & illustrating inspiration/promotion blog".  Each post features a writing prompt or tip from children's book authors, illustrators, or other book-related creative people. In addition to the prompt, the post highlights and promotes the creator's latest work.

She's looking for guest posts. The prompt/tip could be themed with your book topic. Or, instead of a prompt or tip you could share the story behind the story. You could touch upon plot, dialogue, scene, point of view, pacing, punctuation, characterization, genre, school visits, book trailers, promotion, jacket flaps, pitches, queries, theme – anything about which you feel you have something to offer.

In addition to the prompt or tip, Lynne needs a short accompanying blurb about you or your book, illustration or creative endeavor, as well as a .jpg of the cover/art to upload, an author photo .jpg and/or any website or blog links that you may have. You can email everything to: LynnePisano@aol.com
 
So visit My Word Playground to get inspired, then add your own contribution to the mix!

I've written in Children's Book Insider newsletter and on the CBI Clubhouse about the difference between middle grade and young adult books. One hallmark, in my mind, is that in YA fiction the protagonist is faced with an adult situation for the first time, and in living through it crosses a threshold into the adult world. At the end of the book the main character is forever changed–he/she can't go back to being a child or adolescent. The protagonist's eyes have been opened a bit to the larger world, and a certain innocence has been lost. In middle grade fiction, though the main character may emerge a somewhat wiser or more worldly than at the beginning of the book, that character is still fundamentally a child. That internal shift that signals a more adult way of moving through the world hasn't quite taken shape.

But writing isn't an exact science, so a second opinion is always welcome. Agent Michael Stearns' post Middle Grade? Teen? Where Do You Draw the Line? on the Upstart Crow Literary blog offers a slightly different way of measuring where your book fits, and comes with a nifty graph. Check it out.

"Anything cliché such as ‘It was a dark and stormy night’ will turn me off.  I hate when a narrator or author addresses the reader (e.g., 'Gentle reader')."
        - Jennie Dunham, Dunham Literary

"I don't like an opening line that's 'My name is…,' introducing the narrator to the reader so blatantly. I might be prompted to groan before reading on a bit further to see if the narration gets any less stale. There are far better ways in Chapter 1 to establish an instant connection between narrator and reader. I’m also usually not a fan of prologues, preferring to find myself in the midst of a moving plot on page 1 rather than being kept outside of it, or eased into it."
        – Michelle Andelman, Lynn C. Franklin Associates

"1. Squinting into the sunlight with a hangover in a crime novel. Good grief — been done a million times. 2. A sci-fi novel that spends the first two pages describing the strange landscape. 3. A trite statement ("Get with the program" or "Houston, we have a problem" or "You go girl" or "Earth to Michael" or "Are we all on the same page?"), said by a weenie sales guy, usually in the opening paragraph. 4. A rape scene in a Christian novel, especially in the first chapter. 5. 'Years later, Monica would look back and laugh…' 6. "The [adjective] [adjective] sun rose in the [adjective] [adjective] sky, shedding its [adjective] light across the [adjective] [adjective] [adjective] land."
       - Chip MacGregor, MacGregor Literary

"Here are things I can't stand: Cliché openings in Fantasy can include an opening scene set in a battle (and my peeve is that I don't know any of the characters yet so why should I care about this battle) or with a pastoral scene where the protagonist is gathering herbs (I didn't realize how common this is).  Opening chapters where a main protagonist is in the middle of a bodily function (jerking off, vomiting, peeing, or what have you) is usually a firm NO right from the get-go. Gross.  Long prologues that often don't have anything to do with the story. So common in Fantasy again.  Opening scenes that are all dialogue without any context. I could probably go on…"
       - Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary

"I know this may sound obvious, but too much 'telling' vs. 'showing' in the first chapter is a definite warning sign for me – the first chapter should present a compelling scene, not a road map for the rest of the book. The goal is to make the reader curious about your characters, fill their heads with questions that must be answered, not fill them in on exactly where, when, who and how.  Don’t ever describe eye color either…"
        – Emily Sylvan Kim, Prospect Agency

"Characters that are moving around doing little things, but essentially nothing. Washing dishes & thinking, staring out the window & thinking, tying shoes, thinking … Authors often do this to transmit information, but the result is action in a literal sense but no real energy in a narrative sense. The best rule of thumb is always to start the story where the story starts."
        – Dan Lazar, Writers House

My eight-year-old daughter is a scientist. This isn’t a career choice. This is just a fact of her being.

When she was 18 months old, she accidentally pulled on her sensitive big brother’s hair.

He cried!

Another child might have felt guilty or might have been upset. Not my daughter. She had only one possible reaction:

I wonder what will happen when I do that again!

And again and again.

Fast forward seven years, and she’s a regular exhibitor at our county science fair. If I want her to practice her penmanship, we do science. If she learns new words, it’s through science.

In the midst of this we had an accidental book club. We’re homeschoolers, and we do a lot of driving. Those two combined mean that we love audiobooks. I balk at the high price tag, so we get most of our audiobooks from the library. This means that more often than not, we listen to whatever happens to be on the shelves.

Unintentionally, two of the books we listened to were about girls who love science.

The first was The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. This lovely book by Jacqueline Kelly covers nearly a year in the life of a girl living in rural Texas at the turn of the 20^th century. She forms an unexpected alliance with her grandfather, an amateur naturalist, and becomes entranced with science the way that some girls now become entranced with teen idols.

This positive portrayal of a girl scientist in a place where she is so completely out of place is riveting. Not only did it inspire more interest in evolution and botany in my already science-loving kids, but it presented the role model of a girl who is a scientist against all odds.

The second book, The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, is also historical, set in Los Alamos as scientists work desperately to create the “gadget” that will end the war. Dewey is a born scientist also, in this case, an inventor. She loves to create her own gadgets, and largely ignores the taunting of the other kids. When she is unexpectedly required to spend a few weeks living with another family, she forms an alliance with another misfit girl, who is finding her calling as an artist.

Sea and Tate are very different books. In Tate, the negative pressure on the main character comes largely from adults. In Sea, however, adults are largely charmed by Dewey’s inventiveness, but the kids are just short of brutal to her.

In both books, however, today’s girl scientists can see girls sticking to science because it is what calls to them. Interestingly, both books almost ignore the girls’ schooling, which seems tangential to their real lives. Read more

Editor's note: Audrey is a 13-year-old student from California who is currently working on her own novel between school, sports and choir. She's also a Contributing Editor to Write4Kids, focusing on middle grade and YA literature. If you have writing-related questions for Audrey, or want to suggest a topic for a future column, please contact Laura at Laura@write4kids.com.

Hi!

Since I’ve received some questions from YA writers, I’ve decided to do a Q-and-A post. If you like it, I’ll do more in the future.

Elizabeth asks:

 Do historical mysteries appeal to you at all?

My answer:

I hate to have a cop-out like this, but honestly, it depends. The historical fiction we read in school is so darn boring. Everyone agrees about that. It’s because every single book we read in class has the exact same plot: orphan goes on a “quest” to find their remaining family/find out who they are. Seriously, all the books we read have the same plot, but just a different time period. The Girl Named Disaster (Nancy Farmer), Crispin and the Cross of Lead (Avi), The Sign of the Chrysanthemum (Katherine Paterson), The Winter People (Joseph Bruchac) are some of the books we’ve read, and if you are interested, choose a couple of titles out of that list, read them, and just see for yourself the oddly identical plots.

I know there is an influx of “glam” historical fiction coming into the YA market now. The Luxe (Anna Godbersen) is what, in my opinion, started this influx. But I apologize in advance, because some people now equate insulting The Luxe to dissing Twilight (but dissing Twilight has become somewhat PC now), but I really didn’t like The Luxe. Ok fine, it was superbly researched, but it was just boring, because once you get over the pretty cover picture and fluffy vocabulary, it’s like, “Plot? What plot?”

So I guess it depends. A historical novel I enjoyed was Wicked Girls (Stephanie Hemphill), which was a beautiful novel-in-verse about the Salem Witch Trials. I liked Wicked Girls because the characters were very interesting and entertainingly creepy, and the poetry was stunning. Another that I enjoyed was Abundance (Sena Jeter Naslund), a fictionalized account of Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution (Abundance is listed as adult fiction, but I’d say it is very YA). I liked Abundance because it was very intriguing, and painted the queen in a sympathetic manner. I also enjoyed the semi-insane cast of supporting characters. What I didn’t like about Abundance was that it got really boring and overly political in the middle/end parts.

History has always interested me, but I’ve yet to find a completely engrossing historical fiction novel, which is a shame.

Taurean asks:

What's Behind the Curtain anyway. What is it about Ty that's so irresistible?

My answer:

Behind the Curtain is a very well-written younger YA mystery by Peter Abrahams. Check it out.

Now that I’m over Ty (fickle, fickle teenage girls) I can tell you why I liked him without being all fan-girly.

Ty was awesome because he was a normal badass. Like, he didn’t carry around a switchblade and he couldn’t fly. He was also pretty detached and had his own life, but he was super sweet and/or protective (NOT in a creepy Edward stalker way) to girls. Also, he was the only freshman on varsity football and I found that cool, because, I don’t know, athletic guys are usually pretty cool.

But he did have his issues. He was on steroids for a lil bit there, but he got it all sorted out.

And also somewhere it said that he looked like an Abercrombie model, and that’s always a plus.

So, yeah. That’s why I liked Ty Levin-Hill.

Nancy asks:

From your last post: “A lot of times, the language in YA books seems really dated and not authentic…." Not to split hairs, but a sincere question: Do you mean to refer to YA manuscripts? Or do you actually find recent, published YA books to be dated/not authentic?

My answer:

Both. I remember reading a book a few weeks ago aloud to my mom, and laughing about how out-of-touch it was. And it was published in February. One of the many examples is, “'Oh, nuts,' she sputtered, looking down at her once perfectly creased tan slacks that matched the stripe in her violet sweater vest.”

Actually, I’ve researched, and turns out it’s an entire series of books (I only read the first one). So yeah, books with awfully outdated slang have been published.

Also, I read another book (published last year), and the only sort of slang it had was an abundance of swearing. And trust me, swearing isn’t slang.

Amber-Dawn asks:

You mentioned that you hate it when young people in books have dialogue that sounds like they’re from another time period. Do you feel the same way if a book is written in a fantasy world that is supposed to be from, well, you know, a long time ago? And also, I’ve never tried to do accents before, but you mentioned it’s a pet peeve of yours for writers to sound out the words like an accent would sound. So is it ever cool to try and write a character’s dialogue in the accent where they’re from?

My answer:

I meant that I don’t like it when books that take place in modern times have characters who speak like they’re from another time period. If you are writing a book that takes place in a fictional world or is set in 1853 or whatever, you should definitely have the characters talk like they’re from the past.

I don’t know what you mean by accent. If you’re writing about a character from the South, you should definitely have the stereotypical Southern-isms in it, such as “y’all”. But please don’t write the character’s normal speech like “can yah pah-lease tell me the tahme?” That would be really annoying, like, trust me, as annoying as reading a The Clique book. Because that’s how they talk in those books (for example, “'Uh’v koursse!' said Ah-nna.”)

Tobi asks:

What’s your take on the incursion of “dark” young adult novels?

My answer:

I hate vampires. Sorry. They’re lame. Like, Edward Cullen is the most stalkerish, creepy, epic fail at badass-ness character ever. So he basically killed all curiosity in vampires that I could potentially have. And all my friends feel the same way. Also, Stefan, from the Vampire Diaries, really annoys me because he’s all sensitive but tries way too hard to be a tough guy. And I don’t particularly like werewolves either, but everybody knows they’re dead by now.

Also, the Ellen Hopkins novels (Fallout, Glass, and others) are something that I have absolutely no interest in. People with serious and creepy mental problems don’t interest me. Same with Wintergirls. I don’t particularly like books about mentally disordered people (such as cutters or anorexics), but I do enjoy the books by Mary Downing Hahn, which are interestingly scary.

Don’t follow trends, because trends will be dead and gone by the time your novel is out on the market. So, if you’re writing a book about vampires (dead last year) or werewolves (dead last summer), stop now, hit the Control-f keys to find and replace the word “vampire” or “werewolf” with “guido” and the word “pale” or “furry” with “orange”.

Any other questions? Comment or email!

Audrey

The folks at OnlineCollege.org alerted me to their newest post, 10 Biggest Predictions for the Future of Book Publishing. I'm listing their predictions below with my take on how they apply to children's books (click on the link to read the whole article with additional links):

1. Vanity presses and self-publishing will swell in popularity. As it gets easier (and cheaper) to self-publish, more authors are choosing that route. With children's books, authors who enjoy marketing (especially visiting schools and communicating with their readership via blogs and web sites) find they prefer to cut out the middle man of the traditional publisher. But before you self-publish, do your homework. Know exactly what you'll need to do to promote yourself, and figure out some creative ways to reach your market.

2. More writers and artists will experiment with motion comics. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read this. Motion comics are a natural evolution of the whole comic book and graphic novel craze.

3. There will be little need for gargantuan publishers. The big houses are becoming less relevant as authors and illustrators find new ways of directly reaching the consumer. In children's books, I believe this opens the doors to innovative new formats, subjects, and a redefining of what a "book" is. Kids are more open than adults to trying new things, and they'll embrace whatever clever artists and entrepreneurs create next.

4. More people will be authors. See numbers 1 and 3 above. In the children's/YA field, more teens will be authors in the coming years.

5. eBooks will only get more popular. The genie's out of the bottle on this one. And when you're talking about illustrated books for kids, the eBook format opens up all sorts of possibilities for multimedia and interactive experiences. Now that eBooks have been around a few years, the data should comfort those who predicted the print book was dead: eBook sales have been found to actually increase sales of the print version of the same book.

6. Authors will grow even more media-savvy. Authors don't have a choice, especially when your audience is kids and teens who have grown up on computers. They don't think twice about Googling an author, checking out a new book's web site, or blogging about their favorite reads or recommending titles to their friends on Facebook. Authors who aren't comfortable on these platforms will be left out of the loop.

7. Memoirs expand as a genre. This has always been a more adult-centered genre, but it makes sense that memoirs geared to middle grade and young adult readers will catch on. Kids are more aware of the world and different cultures than in past generations, and accounts of interesting lives by all types of people should be welcomed in schools and libraries.

8. Books will no longer have a minimum length. Word count and page length in children's books are more important than adult books, because we're dealing with shorter attention spans and different reading abilities. However, I do believe that the strict page lengths of picture books will be changing as it becomes easier to print books more cheaply, and as more picture books are produced in electronic formats. This should be good news for authors and illustrators who feel confined by the traditional 32 pages.

9. eBook readers will move further away from E Ink. In other words, eBook readers no longer have to closely mimic the printed page. This is good news for illustrated and interactive children's books, and even novels that can include links, animation and audio within the text to enhance the storytelling experience.

10. More young adult books will hit the shelves. The proliferation of YA titles in the last few years, along with the arrival of new young adult imprints at the big publishers, speaks to the market share teen readers command. This is a generation that loves to read and talk about their favorite books, along with a generation of parents who read what their kids are reading. Who knows when this bubble will burst, but it's sure to be here for a while.

Thanks, OnlineCollege.org, for another thought-provoking article!

Do you enjoy writing poetry?  Are you captivated by lyrical phrases, fresh imagery, and the challenge of telling a story in a few lines?  Children find poetry appealing, and there are several magazines where you can market your verse.  Writing poetry might be your best chance to earn a byline; an editor can respond more quickly to a four line verse than to a 2,000 word article. Why not give it a try?

Many people think poetry has to rhyme. But some of the most memorable poems in literature do not have a strict rhyming sequence. For a helpful overview of poetry and its appeal to children, read A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll. Within Driscoll’s book, you will find an overview of famous poets who have appealed to young readers – from Lewis Carroll to e.e. cummings.

You don't need an MFA to tackle a nursery rhyme. It's important to remember that you do not need to use alliteration or other complex poetic techniques when you write for children. And you don't have to be an expert on poetry; you just have to be willing to study the craft and try your hand at it. But never forget that writing poetry for children is a complex and challenging task.

Here are a few tips for turning your rhyme into a publication.

1. Read children's poetry.  Read poems by Karla Kuskin, e.e. cummings, Mary Ann Hoberman, Jack Prelutsky, and Shel Silverstein. It’s important to understand the landscape of children's poetry, so studying a modern anthology is helpful. You’ll soon realize there is a wide variation in this format, and that the topics range from humorous stories to sensitive observations of humanity.

2. Read magazines that publish children's poetry.  Realistically, you can't expect to be the next Shel Silverstein right off the bat. But you can start by honing your craft and understanding the reading taste of children’s editors at magazines like Highlights, Cricket, and Ladybug.  Do these magazines suit your poetic style?

3. Read a specific magazine regularly. Get a sense of the general readership and the poems that have been published in this context during the past year.  But don’t write just for publication.  Write from the heart, and allow your muse to take you to a creative place.

4. Start with a single line.  Think about where this line can go.  Let the poem develop organically. Sometimes it is most effective to start with a topic that young readers can relate to — something to do with school, nature, home, family, fairy tales, or friendship.

5. Write a few rhymes.  See if your poetic style is better suited to a rhyming format.  And consider whether your content is appropriate for young readers.  If a magazine has a particular seasonal theme, consider writing to that topic.  Allow yourself to create verses that might be imperfect. Gradually hone your writing skills to a more professional level.

6. Read your poem aloud.  How does it sound?  Sometimes funny poems are particularly captivating to young readers, but you might also try a serious approach.  Eventually you’ll get a sense of your poetic voice and bring your best lines to the page.

7. Share your poem with a young reader.  How does it sound to her? 

8. Edit your poem.  Be realistic; don't expect to write publishable quality on your first try.  But at the same time, it is important to pursue excellence in your work.  Read your poem aloud again and again, omitting unnecessary words and phrases until it is the best poem you can write at this moment in time. Cut, cut, cut!

9. Study the guidelines of the magazine where you plan on submitting your poem.  Write a cover letter and make sure your work appears professional.  Proofread one more time.  Then submit your work with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, or whatever requirements the magazine requests of writers.

10. Don't play the waiting game.  Writing is an apprenticeship, not a one-time experience.  Continue to read and write poetry, and enjoy the experience.  Writing poetry is about a journey through the imagination, and the satisfaction that comes with bringing a fresh image to the page. Keep living a poetical and observant life!

Dr. Suzanna E. Henshon teaches full-time at Florida Gulf Coast University.  She is the author of several books for young adults, including Mildew on the Wall (2004) and Spiders on the Ceiling (2006).

Just in time to start off 2011 on a positive note, author Rob Sanders (a CBI Fightin' Bookworm and former attendee of Children's Authors' Bootcamp) has launched a new blog called Picture This! A Daily Guide to Picture Book Writing. Rob's first picture book, Cowboy Christmas, will be published by Golden Books/Random House in Fall 2012 (go Rob!), and his blog aims to share his journey of learning and growing in his craft with other picture book writers. Each week he'll focus on a different writing tip, principle or discipline, and occasionally include input from published authors and creative writing challenges. This week's theme: Dream It! Plan It! Live It!

Check it out, and pick up some inspiration for your own work.