I did a talk recently for Irish Pen on writing for children – and I thought I’d pass on some of the notes from the event.

The most useful things I can tell you writer to writer:

1/ Read children’s books – especially in the age group/area you are interested in writing for – library/bookshop recommendations, award winners etc.
There are a lot of good guides out there to help you pick fab books – esp the ultimate book guide/teen book guide

It will also help you be aware of what modern children like reading – and what works in a book. And also – it’s fun – some of the best books out there are children’s books. I read very few adult books these days. If a young reader does not like the first few pages of a book, they won’t read on. So books for young people have to catch the imagination from the very first lines, making them darn good reads.

It will also make you aware of the different age groups – picture books, early readers (age 4/5 to 7/8 depending on the child), confident readers age 9+, readers 11+, YA/Teen readers. You must know what age you are writing for – every publisher will expect you to know – if you don’t know, how are they supposed to know? Be very clear about what age group you are writing for. This is often the first mistake people make when writing for children. No book is for 5 to 16 year olds – think about it. OK, maybe Harry Potter, I’ll give you that one. But unless you are JK Rowling you give yourself more chance of getting published if you do the leg work – starting with reading in the age group you would like to write for.

More to come (12 points in total in fact) . . .

SarahXXX

I’m so nice to you all out there – that instead of writing Amy Green 3 – which is actually at a really fun part – a boat trip in Paris – I’m writing this blog on:
1/ the personality you need to be a published writer
And 2/ how I wrong my very first book for early readers (age 5+) and got it placed with O’Brien Press.

So first to number 1: It takes a particular kind of stubbornness to be a published writer. A sense of self belief, of it being your right to have a book on the shelves. Not in a cocky He-Man, Master of the Universe way, but in a ‘Hey, I can do this, I’ve worked hard and I deserve it,’ way.

The people I see getting published (sometimes after years and many, many books) are those who have clung on to this self belief.

Of course you’ll have wobbles along the way, jeepers we all have them. But in general you have to keep the writing faith and believe that in the end, you will get published.

OK, number 2: Mrs Noah and the Penguin

I’ve just had an early reader accepted by O’Brien Press (thank you Michael, Ivan et al!)

I’d never written for this age group before so this is how I went about it.

a/ I had a general idea – sparked by a girl in a writing workshop. I was ‘teaching’ her creative writing – they taught me far moe than I taught them, let me tell you – anyway she told me how she went to school one day dressed as a carrot as she thought it was a fancy dress day and it wasn’t. We were talking about embarrassing moments and how to use these in your work!

Long and funny story, but basically the poor mite had to spend the whole day in orange tights, orange top and a pair of old gym shorts the teacher found in lost property (as her cardboard carrot costume wasn’t great for sitting in as you can imagine).

So I got to thinking about this – and that was the basis of my own story, about a little girl who dresses up as a penguin for her Noah play in school – but is the only one in a costume.

I added the extra dimension of a feminist Noah’s Ark play – hence Mrs Noah – as I’d written one for my daughter’s school at the start of this year – and very proud of it I am too!

So I had my idea, my plot. And my character – a 9 year old girl called Emma (after my youngest sister).

B/ I took a whole load of Panda books (the early reader series it will be part of) out of the library and I read them to my daughter. Then I picked the ones she liked the best and I re-read them and noted why they worked, the language, dialogue used, and word count.

c/ Then I started making notes for my own book, scene by scene.

- Emma hears about the play
- Gets picked as a penguin – disgusted by this – but there is a reason- she’s a natural comic and great at making people laugh
- Sick – misses school
- Dresses up as a penguin for dress rehearsal – but this has been cancelled due to leaking school hall roof
- Goes into school in costume
- Everyone laughs at her
- She decides to do a silly dance and make them laugh with her and not at her
- She gets a starring role in the play as Mrs Noah’s Penguin

Ta da! I know it’s hardly Booker stuff, but it works.

d/ I wrote up the story and reworked it many times until I was happy with it.

e/ I submitted it to O’Brien Press and they said yes! Hurrah!

The moral of the story – when it comes to writing for children, do your homework! Read books for that age group, think of a strong idea, pack it with great characters and rewrite until as perfect as you can make it.

Good luck!

SarahX

Today I’ve been dipping into a big bundle of children’s books, deciding which ones to review for the Irish Independent in the next few weeks. Mainly August and September publications, but some July and Oct ones too. And to be frank, some of them aren’t great.

These are books from all kinds of publishers: big UK publishers, smaller UK publishers, Irish publishers (and I must say the O’Brien Press early readers for July/Aug are good). There are picture books, early readers, 9 to 11 novels, teen novels. A lot of them held my attention for a few pages, and then I got bored/fed up/annoyed with them and stopped reading.

The ones that are good :
1/ In general the team at Puffin seem to be selecting good teen novels to publish at the moment – meaty, interesting, clearly intended for particular markets and jacketed this way – ie the new Charlie Higson is a horror title for teens, and the cover is black with skulls on it. It’s called The Enemy.
Great opening line: Small Sam was playing in the car park behind Waitrose when the grown ups took him.
See!

The Bride’s Farewell by Meg Rosoff has a fab cover – atmospheric pic of a girl on a horse, with lots of swirls of gold. Fitting for this 19th century set, Hardy-esque novel.
Some thoughtful publishing from Puffin.

2/ Walker – OK, OK, I’m published by Walker so I’m slightly biased. But Life Swap by Abby McDonald does exactly what it says on the cover – 2 girls, 2 different lives, laughter and tears – funny, sweet, Meg Cabot stuff.

And their Kate DiCamillo cover for the Magician’s Elephant is perfect – glowing, subtle, magical. Nice typeface inside too – different. Great book (so far).
So, again, some thoughtful publishing here.

Now, do I name and shame the ones I didn’t enjoy and put down after a few pages?

No, I wouldn’t like to hurt or upset any fellow writers – so I won’t. But suffice to say some of the writing is just plain bad, some of the covers are terrible, terrible, terrible (shame on you, publishers), and even some of the ‘names’ don’t always produce the goods – and this includes the picture book writers too.
There’s not enough heart and soul writing out there – very few of the books are making me laugh out loud, cry, gasp, people! I haven’t had a gasper for quite some time.

So, to get to the point, if you hope to, or are writing for children, take heart. The children’s book world needs you; the publishers need you; us poor reviewers need you; and damn it, most of all, the readers need you!

Original ideas, genuinely funny writing, a truly wonderful, from the heart writing voice. Fresh blood! A strong premise or hook would be an added bonus. And gets-me-in-the-belly humour – unfortunately the hardest thing of all to write. And picture book writers, please, please, please – a story for goodness sake, not just some linked images, or yet another a to z book, even if the illustrations are quite sweet.

Right, got that off my chest! More on writing for children next time . . .
SarahX