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In this video, we share 7 things you can start doing right now to improve your chances of success as a children’s writer!
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!
Writing picture book fiction is quite possibly the hardest type of writing there is, and yet editors receive more picture book manuscripts than any other genre. To make your work stand out from the crowd, you need to do more than study how to devise a winning plot and create believable, unique characters. You need to polish your prose until it sparkles. Here’s a video checklist to help with the editing process:
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Interested in learning how to write a picture 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!
A survey of more than three million American children has identified the most-read books at each age level. Conducted by the Renaissance Learning Web site, the survey has some fascinating revelations.
Grade by grade, here are the most-read books:
1st Grade - Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
2nd Grade - If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff
3rd Grade - Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
4th Grade - Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
5th Grade - Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
6th Grade - Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
7th & 8th Grade - The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
9th - 12th Grades - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
You can download the full report with detailed charts and analysis at http://www.renlearn.com/whatkidsarereading/ReadingHabits.pdf
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!
Editors are sometimes too polite to tell writers what they need to hear. So we’ll do the job for them!
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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!
Here are two writing exercises we really like. They’re both excerpted from our acclaimed guide for beginning children’s writers, Career Starter:
IMPROVE YOUR USE OF POINT OF VIEW & VOICE:
This is a really fun one: Take a famous story you know well, and rewrite it in first person from the point of view of one of the lesser known characters. What would the story of Cinderella be like if told through the eyes of an evil stepsister? Or try re-telling the story of Snow White using each of the Seven Dwarves as the narrator. Would Dopey and Grumpy see things the same way? Match the narrator’s sensibility — angry, jealous, scared, joyful, indifferent — with the tone you use.
IMPROVE YOUR CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:
Describe a child through the objects in his or her bedroom. You can do this two ways: either by showing the child in the room (and told in first or third person), or by having another character look through the room while the child isn’t there. Try to give a sense of the child’s physical characteristics from his or her possessions. It’s tempting when creating characters to fall back on stereotypes (the jock, the cheerleader, the brain). To break this trap, try starting with a stereotype, and adding a few objects in the room the reader won’t expect — perhaps the jock still has his favorite childhood stuffed animals, the cheerleader displays a set of philosophy books and the brain owns a bag full of ice hockey gear.
For more information about the Career Starter beginner’s guide, go to http://write4kids.com/starter.html
For much more great information about writing children’s books, stop by the CBI Clubhouse, our new community for writers that’s packed with audio, video, articles, inside writing tips and much more. We’re at http://cbiclubhouse.com.
Happy Monday! We start your week off with a cool selection of posts from the Kidlitosphere.
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Some mid-week goodness for you, and a very eclectic bunch of blog posts indeed.
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Happy December!
Back with more great posts from around the blogosphere. If you’re enjoying these videos, please spread the word. Click here and tell some folks. Also, sign up to follow us on Twitter and you’ll get instant notice when each new video is posted. Our twitter address is http://twitter.com/jonbard
It’s Wednesday and time for more great blog posts!
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Now, here’s the video (if you have any trouble playing it, go directly to the Youtube page).
It’s Tuesday, and time for another great batch of blog posts from the world of children’s books!
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Now, here’s the video (if you have any trouble playing it, go directly to the Youtube page).
Kidlit Central News: Meet and Greet Monday: Laura Manivong
I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I read? What Do You Do When You Don’t See Things The Way Your Parents Do?
Bookie Woogie: Review #3: “Little Hoot” and “Little Pea”
Chasing Ray: Winter Blog Blast Tour Schedule
A Fuse #8 Production: WBBT Interview - Louis Sachar!
