You have an idea for a children’s story, but aren’t sure how to get it started. What’s the first step? Is there a first step? Is there a step-by-step procedure? What’s involved? There are lots of questions that may come up for new writers, but there’s really no ‘for every writer’ answer. What will work…
Tag: Karen Cioffi
5 Things You Cannot Recover
5 Things You Can’t Recover The stone … after the throw A word … after it’s said An occasion … after it’s missed Time … after it’s gone Trust … after it’s lost I love this quote and wish I knew who originally wrote it. It was originally four things, I added the fifth. While…
10 Hot Tips for Writing a Good Children’s Story
View Post A while ago, I received a query from a potential client who wanted a children’s picture book series. She had seven ideas for storylines. Numbers 2 through 7 were sound ideas. They focused on a child protagonist and lent themselves to conflict, but the first one wasn’t kid-oriented. The story idea for book…
5 Top Tips to Boost Your Writing Skills
There are a number of strategies you can use to create and build your writing skills, but I’ve found there are five top strategies. 1. READ! If you don’t read, you won’t know what good reading is. Along with this, it will help you fine tune your own writing, by broadening your vocabulary. Another thing…
How Much Are You Worth?
“If you put a small value on yourself, rest assured that the world will not raise your price.” I love this quote and wish I knew who wrote this – I’d love to give him or her credit. This quote is so appropriate for all writers. You have to value your writing skills and your…
Want to Become a Writer? Read!
I read Suzanne Lieurance’s Morning Nudge this week and one of the tips was about the one thing most important for aspiring writers. Reading. So what exactly does that mean, to read? Read in the Genre You Want to Write I’ve written about this a number of times. If you want to write, especially for…
Are You Determined to Be a Writer?
“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you!” ~ Zig Ziglar Cambridge Dictionary defines determination as, “the ability to continue trying to do something, although it’s very difficult. Cambridge Macmillian Dictionary defines it as, “the refusal to let anything prevent…
Your Children’s Fiction Manuscript and a Ghostwriter
Coming up with a fiction story idea is an amazing thing. Getting notes down or a basic outline takes it to the next level. Then some authors realize they need professional help to bring their ideas, notes, or outlines to life. This is when it’s time to hand it over. With this scenario, the ghostwriter…
5 Basic Functions of Dialogue
In an article over at Writer’s Digest, the author explained that ‘real’ dialogue doesn’t spell everything out. So, what does this mean? Well, people communicate with more than just words and often there’s a lot left unsaid in a conversation. Narration or the protagonist’s thoughts can fill in the blanks. Here’s an example from “Crispin…
Happiness
The image above may not be everyone’s picture of happiness, but it is mine. I recently read a Twitter post that was titled, Things You Can Control. Reading through the list of 11 items I noted that a couple really weren’t things that were completely within our control. But the one that struck me was…