So, you have an idea for a children’s story. You’ve been mulling it over for a long while, and now it’s time to do something about it.
But what do you do?
How can you take an idea, or even a spark of an idea, and create a children’s story?
To start, writing a full-fledged story from an idea involves a combination of creativity, structure, at least some skill, and dedication.
Below are 10 tips that should help you achieve your goal.
1. Define Your Theme
Think about what you want to convey to children. What’s the central theme or message you want children to take away from the story.
The theme is the ‘aboutness’ of your story. It’s what holds the elements of your story together, motivating the reader to turn the pages.
In an article, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Theme,” in the Writer’s Chronicle, May 2010, Eileen Pollack notes, “Theme is the writer’s answer to the reader’s rude, So what?”
Themes for children’s stories include friendship, family dynamics, loss, identity, changes (moving to a new neighborhood or school), bullying, inclusion, and diversity.
Whichever theme is used, it needs to be from a child’s point of view.
2. Establish a Setting
The setting of a story involves the period and location.
Locations and time-periods give the story a certain feel. For instance, the chapter book, Walking Through Walls, is set in 16th century China.
Knowing this about the story immediately conjures up images, possibly of rice fields, maybe of an ancient dynasty. It puts you in the story zone.
Setting also influences the type of story elements and conflict that can be used.
Using the 16th-century as an example, the protagonist has more leeway. He can leave his family at 12 years old to seek his fortune.
However, if the setting is contemporary, you would need to consider safe behavior for the target audience of 8–12-year-olds. You wouldn’t want to instill the idea that a 12-year-old can run off.
The setting also defines the speech, clothing, foods, attitudes, society, and so much more.
Setting adds richness and depth to the narrative.
3. Create Compelling Characters
Once you have your theme, it’s on to the characters.
Develop interesting and multidimensional characters with unique personalities, motivations, and flaws.
Your characters should be relatable to children. They should have similar emotions, challenges, hobbies, and interests.
It’s helpful to create character sheets for each character, listing their physical and emotional characteristics. You should also include their friends and family dynamics, as well as likes, dislikes, failings, accomplishments, and other relevant things.
Keep in mind that the protagonist should grow and change over the course of the story. This is the character arc.
4. Build a Solid Plot Structure
Outline key events of your story, ensuring a logical progression from beginning to middle to end. This is the narrative or story arc.
Looking at the Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin:
The story: The protagonist believes her husband died in a train crash. The protagonist drops dead.
The plot: The protagonist believes her husband died in a train crash. She’s stunned and can’t believe her good fortune. To all around her, though, she appears to be fraught with grief at the loss of her husband.
But her husband didn’t die. He had missed the train. Her husband comes home, and she drops dead. All believe it was from the shock of overwhelming joy at seeing her husband alive. Her death was, in fact, caused by the overwhelming sorrow of him being alive.
E.M. Forster explains story and plot as, “’The king died and then the queen died’ is a series of events and can be considered a story. ‘The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot.’”
5. Craft a Strong Opening
The opening needs to hook the reader. It should introduce the protagonist and main conflict.
The opening you craft will depend on the genre you’re writing in. The more words you have to work with will determine if you need to jump into your opening or have the luxury of easing into it.
Picture book word counts are 600 or less. This means you need to GRAB the reader at the get-go.
Chapter books allow you to ease into the beginning. You can establish the theme and setting, along with introducing the protagonist and stakes.
The middle-grade opening can be crafted as a novel. It might introduce the theme, set the scene, establish the tone of the story, and so on.
Keep in mind that for all children’s stories, the opening needs to introduce the protagonist and the stakes.
6. Introduce Conflict
Every story must have conflict. It’s what gives your story its thrust. It’s the obstacle stopping the protagonist from reaching his goal.
You’ll need to identify the main obstacle or challenge your protagonist must overcome.
A good way to create and build conflict is to use the “how” and “what if.”
Here are a couple of examples:
-Raj is in the school band. What if he loses his instrument? How will he find it? What if he can’t find it?
-Julia wants to make friends. How will she go about making friends? What if her efforts aren’t working?
7. Develop Tension and Suspense
Keep readers invested by maintaining a sense of anticipation and uncertainty throughout the story.
The level of tension and suspense will depend on the genre of the story.
If you’re writing a picture book for 4–8-year-olds or a chapter book for 7–11-year-olds, you wouldn’t have the protagonist hanging out a third-floor window by her fingertips. This is a little drastic, but it gets the point across.
An essential key to writing for children is for everything to be age appropriate.
8. Create Obstacles
Add challenges and setbacks to keep the narrative engaging and prevent it from becoming too predictable.
In young children’s stories, there are usually three hiccups in the protagonist’s road to success. She tries and fails. She tries again and fails. Maybe she has a setback. Then, she finally succeeds.
9. Balance Dialogue and Narration
Use dialogue to reveal character traits, develop character relationships, and advance the plot.
Descriptive narration can be used to balance it all. But the genre word count will determine how much detail can be included.
10. Showing vs Telling
This is a must in fiction writing.
Showing lets the reader feel the protagonist’s joy, excitement, sadness, and fear. It conveys through action and dialogue which creates a connection and prompts the reader to continue reading.
Sometimes, it helps to draw from experiences to get the feeling and words you’re looking for. You can also take advantage of TV and movies. Watch and study scenes that depict the experience (emotions, actions, and visuals) you need to convey. Then, write what you’ve seen.
For a more in-depth look at this topic, you might read:
https://karencioffiwritingforchildren.com/2017/05/14/writing-showing-vs-telling/
11. Create a Memorable Ending
Craft a satisfying resolution that ties up loose ends and provides closure to the main conflict.
Happy endings are a must for picture books, chapter books, and simple middle-grade books. And the protagonist must have grown in some way through his journey.
12. Other Elements
You can include other elements in your story, such as developing a unique voice, pacing, clarity, consistency, repetition and predictability when writing for young children, and foreshadowing.
You should also refine your story through revisions, focusing on pacing, clarity, and consistency. And don’t forget to edit.
Summing It Up
Watching your idea turn into an engaging story for children is amazing. But it’s essential to take the time to do it right, especially when writing for children. Follow industry guidelines.
Have fun creating something from nothing!
I’m a working children’s ghostwriter, rewriter, editor, and coach. I can help turn your story into a book you’ll be proud to be the author of, one that’s publishable and marketable.
OTHER HELP I OFFER:
HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN'S FICTION BOOK
A DIY book to help you write your own children’s book.
PICTURE BOOK, CHAPTER BOOK, MIDDLE GRADE COACHING
Four to twelve-week coaching programs.
WRITERS ON THE MOVE SELF-PUBLISHING HELP
Self-publishing help for children’s authors.
You can contact me at: kcioffiventrice@gmail.com. Or give me a call at 347—834—6700. (Please leave a message- I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.)
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