TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 6
SECTION ONE: THE MAGIC FORMULA................................................................................. 8
Days 1 to 5........................................................................................................................ 8
M For Message: Day 1...................................................................................................... 9
Reasons For WriEng ................................................................................................... 10
It’s Not All Black & White ........................................................................................... 11
GeNng Your Message Across .................................................................................... 13
Top Ten Mistakes Made By Beginner Children’s Writers ............................................ 15
What’s Already Out There ......................................................................................... 16
Unraveling Your Message: Your Story Outline ........................................................... 23
A For Audience: Day 2.................................................................................................... 26
Knowing Your Age Group........................................................................................... 26
Requirements For Ages 8‐12...................................................................................... 30
WriEng For Your Age Group ....................................................................................... 30
What’s Lurking In Your Local Library.......................................................................... 32
Audience Fact Sheet................................................................................................... 35
G For Genre: Day 3......................................................................................................... 36
Types Of Book You Can Write .................................................................................... 36
Point Of View – Through A Child’s Eye ....................................................................... 46
Finding Your Voice ...................................................................................................... 50
Choosing Words That Suit ‐ Vocabulary..................................................................... 52
Building A Word Bank ................................................................................................ 57
Genre Selector........................................................................................................... 61
I For ImaginaEon: Day 4................................................................................................. 62
The 7 Character Types ............................................................................................... 62
Make Your Own Character Tree ................................................................................. 65
The Perfect SeNng..................................................................................................... 68
The 7 Basic Storylines ................................................................................................ 74
Twenty Basic Plots ..................................................................................................... 76

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 The Sequence Of A Strong Story................................................................................ 78
C For Chapters & Verses: Day 5...................................................................................... 83
Choosing A NarraEve Structure ................................................................................. 83
GeNng The Length Right............................................................................................ 85
WriEng In Chapters: Outlining In SecEons ................................................................. 86
Books & Pictures ........................................................................................................ 88
It Could Be Verse ....................................................................................................... 88
Your MAGIC Formula Summary.................................................................................. 91
SECTION TWO: BUILDING BLOCKS ..................................................................................... 93
Days 6 to 11.................................................................................................................... 93
B: Bang‐on Beginnings ‐ Day 6....................................................................................... 94
The Importance Of Strong Openings ......................................................................... 95
Ten Tips For WriEng Outstanding Openings .............................................................. 97
Every Chapter’s A New Beginning.............................................................................. 98
Outstanding Openings From Children’s Literature ................................................... 100
Titles That Tease, Tantalize, Taunt & Thrill ............................................................... 103
WriEng Openings Exercise ....................................................................................... 105
L: Larger Than Life – Day 7........................................................................................... 108
Make Your Characters Real ...................................................................................... 108
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly................................................................................ 109
Strong Characters In Published Children’s Books ..................................................... 111
Flesh Out Your Character Tree ................................................................................. 112
The LAST Word On Character Building..................................................................... 112
Create A Character Fact File ..................................................................................... 116
O: Oh, No, What’s Going To Happen Next? ‐ Day 8...................................................... 119
CreaEng & Holding Suspense ................................................................................... 120
Mysterious Titles ...................................................................................................... 121
More Techniques To Keep Readers Guessing........................................................... 122
The Power Of 3........................................................................................................ 124
C: ConversaEon, InformaEon, RevelaEon – Day 9........................................................ 126
The Right Way To Use Dialogue ............................................................................... 127

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 Put Words In Their Mouths ...................................................................................... 129
Show, Don’t Tell ....................................................................................................... 130
Secrets, Gossip & Hearsay........................................................................................ 131
Dialogue WriEng Exercise ........................................................................................ 133
K: Knock‐out Endings – Day 10..................................................................................... 135
Write Page Turners .................................................................................................. 135
Arouse Curiosity....................................................................................................... 136
Surprise!................................................................................................................... 137
Twist In The Tail ....................................................................................................... 138
Endings WriEng Exercise .......................................................................................... 139
S: Serials, Sequels & Spin‐offs – Day 11....................................................................... 140
Wrap It Up................................................................................................................ 140
The End?.................................................................................................................. 141
Keep A Story File ...................................................................................................... 142
Your Building Blocks Summary................................................................................. 145
SecEon Three: PuNng Your Book To Bed ......................................................................... 146
Days 12 to 14............................................................................................................... 146
Tidy Up Your Manuscript: Day 12................................................................................. 147
Proofread Your Story................................................................................................ 147
Read Out Loud ......................................................................................................... 147
Clean Up Your Dialogue: Day 13................................................................................... 148
Read Out Loud – Again! ........................................................................................... 148
Check For Inconsistencies ........................................................................................ 148
Read Your Book Backwards: Day 14............................................................................. 149
Avoid Pages Of Unwieldy DescripEon ...................................................................... 149
Check Chronology & Flow ........................................................................................ 150
SecEon Four: All Dolled Up & (Almost) Ready To Go ....................................................... 151
Tuck It Away For A While ............................................................................................. 151
Give It A Week!........................................................................................................ 151
Play Around With It...................................................................................................... 152
Read & Edit Once More ........................................................................................... 152

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 Take It For A Test Drive ................................................................................................. 153
Lobby Parents & Children ........................................................................................ 153
Distribute Feedback Forms ...................................................................................... 154
Use Feedback To Make Improvements .................................................................... 156
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................... 157
Appendix I ........................................................................................................................ 158

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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to How to Write a Children’s Book in 14 Days!

Before I talk about the course, I’m sure you’re wondering how on earth it’s possible to
write a complete children’s book in just two weeks…

Well, the secret lies in following the formula you’ll find inside these pages. If you have the
paEence, determinaEon and strength to sEck to the schedule, it can be done. Just follow
the course, taking one secEon at a Eme (M for Message on Day 1, A for Audience on Day
2). If you do that, you’ll have completed the course in 14 days and have your own
children’s book wrimen.

Some people think that wriEng for children is easier or less involved than wriEng for
adults. But that’s simply not true. In fact, children are much more demanding than adult
readers and they’re not afraid to say when they don’t like something. However, it makes
a refreshing change when somebody tells you the “truth” about what you’ve wrimen,
rather than simply trying to be nice or trying not to hurt your feelings.

Aper all, if you write something that’s bad, you SHOULD be told the truth!

I’ll be showing you how to use the age group(s) you write for to get feedback and make
amendments to your story later in the book. I’ll also take you through the steps you need
to complete to get your finished manuscript in your hands – in just 14 days. But you have
to sEck with me.

This course relies on your willingness to take part. If you really want to get your story
down on paper in two weeks, then you have to be persistent. That means following the
plan, doing the exercises and wriEng down everything that you’re asked to write down. If
you do that, your book is in the bag.
When I told a colleague that I was wriEng this book, he smiled and said it was impossible.
He added that trying to devise a formula for wriEng a children’s book would take away

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the creaEve element. He reminded me that some of the best children’s books have taken
their authors years to write.

And I agree with him, up to a point. But those other writers didn’t have the kind of help
you’re geNng in this book. And a formula simply gives you a recipe to follow to make
sure you include all the necessary ingredients in your story. As for being creaEve, you’ll
find out for yourself as you work through this book with me that there’s nothing more
creaEve than trying to do what this book will help you do –

Write a children’s story in just 14 days!

Then there’s the other side of the coin. I’m a children’s writer myself. I’ve had many
stories and poetry published over the past 20 years. I now write full‐Eme – and, most
recently, landed a deal for 4 children’s books with an American publisher at the end of
2007. The first of these, Flu=er Bunnies, came out in December 2008.

Unlike my colleague, I know that it’s possible to write stories and books quickly, because
I’ve done it. I wrote a one‐act play in an apernoon. My children’s story Stars On Strike
was wrimen over a weekend. I helped shape the concepts behind Novel in a Month
(www.novelinamonth.com). And it took me just 6 days to write the first drap for Flu=er
Bunnies.

So I’ve done it, and so can you. To help get you started on the right foot, I’m going to
reveal my MAGIC Formula, the 5 elements you need for a good story. Then we’ll use
those elements to turn your idea into a fully‐fledged children’s book.

Ready to get started?

Then let’s jump right into the acEon!

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SECTION ONE: THE MAGIC FORMULA

Days 1 to 5
During the first five days, you need to start geNng your ideas together and making sense
of exactly what you hope to achieve with your book.

When I started wriEng this course, I thought to myself: wouldn’t it be great if there was a
magic formula you could use to write a children’s book? And that’s how I came up with
the MAGIC acronym.

But it’s much more than just a plug‐and‐play kind of fill‐in‐the‐blanks formula. It tells you
everything you need to know to make your book a riveEng read, to make sure your story
fulfills all the requirements of a ripping yarn. Once you’ve read through the 5 parts of the
formula, you’ll understand exactly what you have to do to create a story that children will
love – and publishers will want to publish. And with each step I’ll be giving you pracEcal
exercises to help you piece together your book quicker and easier than you ever thought
possible.

You should work through each of the elements in the MAGIC formula one day at a Eme.
So M for Message should be done on Day 1, A for Audience on Day 2, and so on. When
you’ve completed the 5 parts of the MAGIC formula, you’ll have the bare bones of your
story in front of you, ready to turn it into a finished product.

Let’s get started, then, with the first part of the formula; M for Message.

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M For Message: Day 1
Every story has a message.

The message might be in the form of a moral, as in Aesop’s Fables or the Brothers Grimm
stories. Or it might take the form of an issue such as disability, global warming, divorce,
poverty, isolaEon, falling in love, or loneliness, to name a few.

But whatever form it takes, there’s always a message. Good versus evil, growing up
without a father, coping with bullying; almost anything you can think of can become the
impetus for a story. And geNng your message across is what storytelling is all about.

Think about the books you enjoyed reading when you were a child. Write down the Etles
of a few of them and see if you can work out the message they tried to convey. For
example, here are a few of my favorites:

• The BFG by Roald Dahl

• There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof EaKng Cake by Hazel Edwards & Deborah
Niland
• Sleeping Beauty, first published in a collecEon known as "Tales of Mother Goose"
in 1697 by Charles Perrault
• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
• The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde
• The Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales

SomeEmes the message is so well‐known that it seems obvious, as in Peter Pan. But it
may not have been as evident when it was first wrimen. That shouldn’t worry you,
anyway: as you’ll discover in the next secEon, the message is only the starEng point. It’s
what you DO with that message that makes your story interesEng or unusual.

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Reasons For Wri4ng
If you’ve got a story to tell, then you’ve got the only real reason you need to sit down and
start wriEng it. But there are many reasons why you might consider wriEng a children’s
story in the first place. Here are a few of those:

• You’ve got an idea that so brilliant it’s burning a hole in your head
• You remember some good (or not so good) childhood experiences vividly
• You open make up and tell stories to your own children or children of friends/
relaEves
• There’s a parEcular principle you feel strongly about

If you have just one bright nugget of an idea, hold fast to it. Follow the steps in this
course and it will unfold as a complete story. Aper all, if Mary Shelley could write a story
like Frankenstein at the age of 17, based on just the image of a stranger at the window,
then you should be able to turn your idea into something equally as good. And while
Frankenstein probably wasn’t conceived as a children’s story, it nevertheless contains
many of the ingredients for good storytelling.

Your story could be loosely based around a favorite poem, song or another book that
you’ve read. The books “Skellig” by David Almond and “The Outsiders” by S.E. Hinton are
both excellent examples of this. “Skellig” is based on the poetry of William Blake, while
“The Outsiders” draws its inspiraEon from the poem Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert
Frost.

WriEng about your childhood experiences has benefits and drawbacks. Keeping it real
shouldn’t be a problem, as these things actually happened to you. But you have to be
careful that your story doesn’t turn into a journal. If it’s too personal, then it won’t mean
anything to anyone but you. And that means no‐one else will likely want to read it in the
first place.

Stories that deal with moral struggles or big issues are certainly popular with children.
Moral struggles make great themes for children’s books. And there’s a really good reason
for this.

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Usually, the Eme when a child becomes an independent reader of chapter books
coincides with increased contact with the world beyond their family circle. The moral
codes insElled in early childhood (or not, as the case may be!) are being put to the test.
Stories that allow a child to idenEfy with a character’s moral struggle can help him or her
deal with problems more effecEvely.

It’s Not All Black & White

Unfortunately, nothing’s ever as cut and dried as we think. And children soon discover
that people don’t always fit nicely into categories of good and evil.

But that’s a good thing for a writer, because it means you can play around with the grey
areas that lie virtually unexplored in a child’s growing awareness. So the bad guy might
take care of his aging mother, or the good guy might be a gambler, an alcoholic, mean to
his own children, etc.

There’s no doubt about it; being a kid is tough. There are countless issues to deal with,
including among them:

1. Disability
2. Sexuality
3. War
4. Global warming
5. Bullying
6. Homelessness
7. Gangs
8. Racism
9. Divorce
10. Bereavement
11. Drugs

In fact, children have to deal with all the issues an adult might encounter. The difference
is that they don’t always have the tools they need to deal with them effecEvely. And

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that’s as good a reason as any to write a book, tell your story, and help children learn
how to cope with the incredible journey that is “growing up”.

And here’s another reason to write your book. Stories for children that deal with
contemporary issues or with strong moral messages open become classroom favorites,
part of the curriculum for not just one school, but for a whole naEon’s literacy program.
How cool would that be?

If you’ve ever told stories to your own children, to children you might work with, or
children of friends or relaEves, then you could be the next Ted Hughes. He made up and
told stories to his own children over a period of nights, and then decided to turn the
ideas into a book. The result was The Iron Man. The rest, as they say, is history.

You should remember, though, that telling a story is one thing and wriEng it down is
another. Words on a page don’t naturally contain any of the cadences or inflecEons that
are so easy to convey in speech, so you have to find a way to make it come alive on the
page. And that’s another thing this book will try to help you achieve.

By now you should be starEng to think about the kind of message you hope to convey in
your book. Got any ideas? Then write them down or type them up – even in very rough
form – so you don’t forget them. You don’t have to make a grand statement: just jot
down the first thing(s) that comes to mind. You can always edit it/them later.

Know what your message is going to be? Write it down now:

The message I want to convey in my book is: ____________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Once you know what your message is, then you have to think about how you’ll get that
message across. So let’s find out what you need to know in order to deliver your message
to all those children eager for the next J.K. Rowling or Roald Dahl to come along.

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Ge@ng Your Message Across
Earlier in this secEon I asked you to recall some of the books you enjoyed reading when
you were a child.

One thing you’ll noEce, no mamer what your favorite story or book was, is that in every
single case something happens.

Something happens!

That’s such an important point that I felt compelled to say it twice. I’m talking about an
ingredient that every story needs, whether it’s for children or adults, without which there
simply is no story. And that ingredient is:

Conflict.

The idea of conflict is one that a lot of new writers misunderstand. It doesn’t mean a
bamle between two arch enemies – although that’s certainly one interpretaEon. But the
conflict comes from the hero’s struggle with something, whether that’s an internal
struggle, a struggle with a villain, a struggle to be accepted, a struggle to fit in, and so on.

Without conflict your story will become nothing more than a series of events. Imagine
you want to sand down an old table and bring it back to its former glory. If you simply
move the sandpaper along the top of the table, without actually touching it, then nothing
happens. There’s no fricEon created between the paper and the wood, and no mamer
how many Emes you move your arm back and forth, the table remains unaltered.

Conflict is like that. It’s a bit like fricEon. Unless two forces (the sandpaper and the wood)
come together, no change takes place. And if no change takes place, then your story
ulEmately goes nowhere.

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If the analogy of sandpaper and wood is too coarse for you (pun intended), then here’s
one taken from the world of children’s literature:

A young girl is forced to live with her stepmother and two step‐sisters. Because
she’s not really “one of them” they make her do all the chores they don’t want to
do, including sweeping out the cinders in the fireplace. Cinderella is never
accepted and is conEnually put upon.

One day a great ball is announced. Everyone is excited. Cinderella is told she
cannot amend because she has nothing to wear. But her fairy godmother appears
and sorts it all out, providing Cinders with a gorgeous ball gown and
transportaEon to the event.

Because of the remarkable transformaEon, no‐one recognizes her. She gets to

dance with the Prince, who happens to be looking for a bride. He’s smimen with
Cinderella, but before he can do anything about it the clock strikes twelve and she
has to leave.

On it goes, unEl eventually the slipper that was lost finds its righvul owner in the lowly
Cinderella, and everyone (except the evil stepmother and her two horrible daughters)
lives happily ever aper.

There are many points of conflict in this story, such as the conflict between Cinderella
and her stepmother/step‐sisters; the conflict created when Cinders has nothing to wear;
the conflict created when the clock strikes twelve and she has to leave the ball, even
though she doesn’t want to; the conflict created when the Prince’s amaché hunts for the
owner of the slipper; and so on.

These points of conflict are the things that make the story interesEng, the reasons we
want to keep turning the pages. Without conflict, there’s no reason to wade through
pages of text to find out that nothing happens. It’s simply a disappointment to the reader
and a waste of Eme for the writer. And it’s one of the big mistakes all writers of ficEon
make, and not just children’s writers.

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But don’t worry. All beginners make mistakes; that’s what being a beginner means. If you
already knew what to do and how to do it, you wouldn’t be a beginner any more, would
you? So just what are some of the most common mistakes newbie writers of children’s
stories make?

Top Ten Mistakes Made By Beginner Children’s Writers

1. Nothing happens
2. The conflict (if there is any) is resolved by a grown‐up
3. Dialogue is unrealisEc
4. They tell the story instead of showing characters interacEng
5. They use too many words they don’t need, especially adjecEves and adverbs
6. There is no hook to lure readers into the story
7. Dialogue is punctuated incorrectly
8. There are too many points of view
9. The Emeframe and seNng are missing or too broad
10. It isn’t clear who’s telling the story

At first glance this seems like a long list, and a negaEve one. But you can take these
negaEves and turn them into posiEves, giving you a list of things you need to include to
make your story as compelling as possible:
1. There must be conflict
2. The hero must triumph (resolve the conflict)
3. Dialogue must be realisEc
4. You must show what happens
5. You must use only words that are essenEal
6. You must pull readers into the story straight away with a great hook
7. You must make sure your dialogue looks right on the page
8. You must decide on your point of view and sEck to it
9. You must keep your seNng and Emeframe as specific as possible
10. You must make it clear who’s telling the story

That’s bemer. Wrimen like this, it’s more of a “how‐to” than a “don’t do this” list. So all
you need to do is ensure each of these elements is present in your finished product.

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I know I’m making it sound easier than you think it is. However, you’ll find everything you
need in the following pages to get to grips with each of these aspects. And I’ll be giving
you even more help in the very next secEon, when I show you how famous authors have
managed to get their messages across in some fantasEc stories.

What’s Already Out There

There are a number of published children’s books that successfully deal with a wide
range of issues.

The reason they are so successful is that, although the message is obviously important to
the writer, the wriEng is of equal importance. A story based solely on an idea will always
be just that. But a message presented in a well‐wrimen story with great dialogue,
fantasEc characters and real conflict which is resolved saEsfactorily will become an
unforgemable tale.

Here are some examples of writers who have achieved that balance of message and
storytelling.

 FicUon Dealing With Disability

Welcome Home Jellybean, by Marlene Fanta Shyer, deals sympatheEcally with the effects
on the whole family when Geraldine returns home from a residenEal care facility. Neil,
the central narrator, is a believable character that the reader can easily idenEfy with.

Conflict is created through the chaos caused by Geraldine and how it affects other family
members. Neil must decide whether to move out and live with his father, who has
already bailed on the family, or to stay loyal to Geraldine and return the obvious love she
has for them.

What makes this story so successful is its uncompromising stance. There are no easy
soluEons here. Geraldine makes small improvements but she is never going to be
miraculously cured.

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Another successful story based on disability is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night‐Kme by Mark Haddon. Unlike Welcome Home Jellybean, Haddon’s central narrator
is the one with the disability. 15‐year‐old Christopher John Francis Boone is auEsEc, on
that part of the AuEsm Spectrum Disorder that is classified as Asperger’s Syndrome.

The book is a remarkable feat in maintaining point of view, given the limitaEons created
by the narrator’s condiEon. Again, you won’t find any easy soluEons to the situaEon. The
reader does eventually begin to idenEfy with the central character, which helps to bring
about a degree of understanding about this parEcular disorder. This story has all the
trademarks of a successful tale as listed in the previous secEon.

And when it comes to books about disability, there are as many Etles available as there
are condiEons. Go to TeacherVision.com by following the link below and you’ll see just
what I mean: www.teachervision.fen.com

 FicUon Dealing With War

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah tells the story of 14‐year old Alem. He is brought to
London on a ‘holiday’ to escape the horrors of war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. His
father leaves him at the B&B to be picked up by social services and placed temporarily in
foster care. The story highlights the lives of refugees, the loneliness and uncertainEes,
alongside the varying responses to Alem’s status by other characters. Zephaniah manages
to convey the horrors of war despite the obvious constraints of wriEng about such a
serious subject for children.

There are plenty of books dealing with war, evacuaEon and displacement. Amongst the
most thought‐provoking and well wrimen are Carrie’s War by Nina Bawden, Goodnight
Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian and The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier.
Nina Bawden bases Carrie’s War on her own experiences, being evacuated during WWII.
The story deals with the bullying nature of Mr. Evans (host to Carrie and her brother),
their friendship with a youngster with Downs Syndrome and the mystery of a family
curse. Bawden uses evacuaEon and the ongoing war as a catalyst for her story and not its

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main theme. The ability to explore the issue as a background to personal experience is
what gives this story its edge.

Author Michelle Magorian delivers a sensiEve story of love, trust and redempEon in
Goodnight Mr. Tom. The catalyst for the story is the evacuaEon of William during WWII.
However, the focus of the story is the abuse suffered by William at the hands of his
mother and his growing trust in the gentle man he is housed with.

Both characters change dramaEcally throughout the story. William gains in confidence
and health and Mr. Tom finally accepts the death of his wife in childbirth. Mr. Tom
eventually rescues William aper his disastrous return to his mother and gains legal
custody of the child. The story covers a range of issues, with war and evacuaEon used as
a vehicle for exploring child abuse, bereavement, love and trust.

The Silver Sword is more of an adventure story. Set in war‐torn Poland, it focuses on the
quest of three children to be reunited with their parents. They are helped by an orphan
boy, Jan. Aper many perilous incidents the children do indeed find their parents, who
eventually adopt Jan as well. Serraillier explores the importance of family and sets it
against the persecuEon and cruelty of war.

 FicUon Dealing With Religion

Religion can be a difficult subject in ficEon. It is nearly always contenEous and can lead to
calls for banning of certain books. However, if you have strong feelings about the subject
and a burning desire to do so, nothing should stop you. Just remember what you might
be up against.

Let’s look at a couple of authors who have successfully explored religion as a theme in
children’s literature.

C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series deals with religion, but the allegory is couched in such a way
that children can enjoy the novels without necessarily making any connecEon to religion

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at all. Aslan’s arrival in Narnia causes rebirth in the shape of spring. He does away with
the White Witch’s spell on Narnia, which makes it always winter but never Christmas. His
sacrifice and resurrecEon in saving Edmund has overtones of the life of Christ. Lewis does
not hammer this home, though: the story can be read as pure fantasy.

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials is more obviously a criEcism of organized religion and
as such has drawn the censure of the Catholic Church. Again, the storyline and characters
are so well wrimen that they can be enjoyed without the necessity for the discussion of
religion.

Joan Lingard’s Across the Barricades uses the troubles in Northern Ireland as the
backdrop to her story of forbidden love. Based loosely on Romeo and Juliet, the story
involves the growing relaEonship between a Catholic boy, Kevin, and Sadie, a Protestant.
Aper the death of their friend, Mr. Blake, both youngsters decide to leave Ireland. There
is no resoluEon to their problems and the novel suggests that religious prejudice cannot
be easily overcome.

Although the seNng of this novel means it might be in danger of becoming outdated, the
struggle to maintain friendships across the barriers caused by religious beliefs is,
unfortunately, an unending one.

 FicUon Dealing With Gangs

Gangs and peer pressure are hot topics in ficEon for young adults. Gang membership and
the ensuing violence is an ever‐present issue for far too many young people to be
ignored.

You couldn’t do bemer than to reread Romeo and Juliet to see how long this has been
going on. There are, however, two contemporary writers who have successfully tackled
the subject, namely S.E. Hinton and Evan Hunter.

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S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders when she was 16. It is a seminal work on gangs and the
issues that lead to criminal behavior. The rivalry between the two gangs, the greasers and
the socs, appears to be caused by social status or the lack of it. Hinton sympatheEcally
explores the moEvaEon of her characters and whilst not condoning the violence does
offer an explanaEon.

On the Sidewalk Bleeding by Evan Hunter is a short story which probably shouldn’t be
included here, but I’m going to anyway. It is worth looking at as a demonstraEon of how
to get real conflict into your story.

Andy, a member of The Royals, is amacked by a rival gang. The assault is revealed to be
impersonal: his amacker wasn’t amacking Andy as an individual but as a gang member. As
he bleeds to death we have a Good Samaritan scenario without the Good Samaritan. A
number of people pass by who could save Andy’s life ‐ but don’t.

The conflict here is between society and gang membership. No one wants to help Andy
because he’s the member of a gang. But there’s more conflict to come.

The final conflict is revealed as Andy dies. The police officers who find him dismiss him as
just another gang member, while Andy’s dying thoughts reveal him to be an individual
with hopes and dreams of escaping his neighborhood and the gangs. The reader is
invited to understand the tensions felt by a young man in Andy’s situaEon and mourn the
loss of so much potenEal.

 FicUon Dealing With Bullying

Bullying is another issue that children have to face on a daily basis. Here are some
unusual stories that take a slightly different approach to it.

The Wave, wrimen by Todd Stasser under the pen name Morton Rhue, gives an
interesEng take on mob rule. History teacher, Mr. Ross, cannot answer his students’
quesEons as to why Germans allowed the Nazi Party to rise to power. He devises a

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system called The Wave which has a clearly defined set of rules. The Wave becomes
popular amongst the less intellectual members of the school and soon it is dangerous for
anyone to quesEon the system. One student, Laura, decides to speak out using the
school newspaper as a medium for free speech.

What is most interesEng is that one character, a bully, finds comfort and esteem in the
rigidity of the system. When it is finally stopped he faces a loss of idenEty. This book
shows clearly what makes someone become a bully.

Another unusual take on bullying is Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War. In this tale the
bullies who rule the school are sancEoned by a weak deputy Head Teacher. One boy has
the guts to stand up to them, but not without suffering personal injury.
More tales of overcoming bullying include Blubber by Judy Blume, and Oliver Bu=on is a
Sissy, wrimen and illustrated by Tomie DePaola and based on his own childhood
experiences. DePaola’s book is wrimen from the vicEm’s point of view. By standing up for
who he really is, Oliver manages to win the bullies over.

In Blubber, Blume charts the way bullying is allowed to conEnue because bystanders are
afraid to stand up for the bullied. A girl finally does intervene when the harassment of
her overweight classmate goes too far. She then finds herself the subject of teasing. This
is an excellent portrayal of peer pressure and school cliques.

For more informaEon on children’s ficEon dealing with the issue of bullying visit:
www.schoollibraryjournal.com

 FicUon Dealing With Disadvantage & Poverty

Two remarkable books that deal with these issues are Robert Swindells’ Stone Cold and
Anne Fine’s The Tulip Touch.

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Swindells tackles the issue of homelessness in his novel. The central character becomes
homeless because he is having problems with mum’s new boyfriend. Link, the main
character, is befriended by Ginger, who helps him survive on the streets.

The main plot of the story involves Ginger’s disappearance, Link’s friendship with Gail and
their fear that Shelter, an ex‐sergeant, is clearing the streets of the homeless by killing
them. It is this conflict which makes the story so much more than a message about
homelessness. Swindells uses a dual narraEve split between Shelter’s log book and Link’s
story to create tension.

Tulip is a disadvantaged girl whose outrageous behavior leads her to be friendless. Anne
Fine says that The Tulip Touch was influenced by the Jamie Bulger murder. It is a finely‐
drawn exploraEon of what turns children into criminals.

There are as many stories for children as there are issues that concern them. For a more
exhausEve list than the one I have provided here go to: www.adl.org

The most important thing to remember is that geNng your message across effecEvely
requires you to be a storyteller. Something has to happen in your story and the situaEon
should be successfully resolved by your central character. So no mamer what message
you’re trying to put across, nothing beats really good storytelling.

With that in mind, it’s Eme to start puNng words to paper so you can start telling your
story.

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Unraveling Your Message: Your Story Outline
Now here’s your chance to bring together everything you’ve learned in this first secEon.

No mamer what you write, always remember this: the first drap doesn’t have to be
perfect. Just get your thoughts down on paper, in any form, and then you’ve got
something to work with. So even if you think what you’ve wrimen is terrible, don’t worry.
As your book evolves you’ll change things and rework the material. It’s a natural part of
the creaEve process.

Let’s get the basics down on paper right now, before you have a chance to overanalyze
what you’re doing;

My Story Outline (return to Openings Exercise)

My story is about…

The hero/heroine does this…

And this happens…

The message of the book is…

Conflict is created by…

In the end it all works out / goes wrong because…

And there you have it. If you can write even a few words for each of these points, then
your story will already be starEng to take shape. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect. No‐
one would expect their first drap or iniEal notes to be the finished product. Just write
down what comes to mind, and let your imaginaEon and your brain take care of the rest.

Here’s an example to show you what I mean.

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Eric Carle is the author of the highly successful and universally praised book The Very
Hungry Caterpillar. Let’s see how this classic children’s book fits into the story outline
above:

The story is about… a caterpillar who eats and eats, because it’s about to turn into a
bumerfly.

The hero/heroine does this… eats more and more on each successive day.

And this happens… which gives it the nourishment and strength to develop into the
caterpillar it was always meant to be.

The message of the book is… you have to be true to your own nature; you goma do what
you goma do; even if it seems that what you’re doing is unnatural or excessive; if it feels
right, it probably is right.

Conflict is created by… not knowing what’s going to happen when the caterpillar
conEnues to eat so much. Will it explode? Will it get sick? Why is all that food necessary?

In the end it all works out / goes wrong because… turning into a bumerfly is exactly what
was supposed to happen to the caterpillar, as nature intended.

This is a simple limle story, but one that fascinates young children who might not be
familiar with the stages of a bumerfly. It also incorporates the days of the week and
counEng skills, as well as some great drawings by the author.

If you take any successful children’s story, for any age group, you can break it down and
slot it into the story outline formula above. Spend some Eme wriEng out your story
outline to make sure you at least know where you’re heading with it. Don’t worry about
the structure or grammar of what you’re wriEng; just get something down!

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Once you’ve got your first outline on paper, you’re ready to start looking into the
requirements of your audience. This course is aimed primarily at the 8‐12 age range, one
of the largest groups of young readers and the Eme when many children start reading
independently. So we’ll concentrate our efforts on that group.

But be warned: there is a big difference between what an 8‐year‐old and a 12‐year‐old
enjoys reading. That’s good news for you, though, because it means that you won’t be
limited to wriEng only one type of book.

So let’s take a closer look at what the requirements are (and how you can discover them
for yourself) for this parEcular audience.

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A For Audience: Day 2
There is such a bewildering array of labels for children’s books that it can seem almost
impossible to know just who your audience is supposed to be.

In some ways it’s bemer to take Louis Sachar’s advice (the author of Holes); just write
your book and let its market find it. However, the length and format of children’s books
do differ for various age groups and types of readers. And you really do need to know
what these differences are, if only to make certain you don’t waste Eme wriEng one type
of book when you meant to write another.

There is a conEnuum, if you like, ranging from picture books with limle or no text where
the illustraEons tell the story, to young adult ficEon where the format is that of an adult
novel. In between these extremes, the text begins to take over the role of the
illustraEons in telling the story. Language becomes more complex and is used for
describing character, seNng the scene and delivering the acEon.

The following informaEon is a general guide to the types of children’s books idenEfied by
publishers. Bear in mind that trends do change from Eme to Eme, and although these
categories are general and correct at the Eme of wriEng, it’s always wise to do a bit of
your own research – just in case. The following represents a fairly loose categorizaEon
with regard to age, as reading age is far more important than a child’s chronological age.

Knowing Your Age Group

1. Baby Books
Length – Varied
Format – Varied
Content – Lullabies, Nursery Rhymes, Wordless Books

2. Toddler Books
Age – 1‐3
Length – Under 300 words. Average 12 pages

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Format – Board, pop‐ups, lip the flaps, novelty books, books that make sounds.
Content – Subject is familiar to the child’s everyday life or teaches concepts like color,
shape, numbers, etc.
E.g. – Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
Colors by Chuck Murphy

3. Picture Books
Age – 4‐8
Length – Up to 1500 words (average 1000), 32 pages
Format – IllustraEons on every page or every other page are as important as the text in
telling the story.
Content – Simple plots with no subplots or complicated twists. There is one main
character that embodies the child’s emoEons, concerns or viewpoint.
E.g. – The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Pomer

4. Early Picture Books

Age – Lower end of 4‐8
Length – Under 1000 words
Format – Many reprinted as board books to extend the age range.
Content – Very simple stories.
E.g. – The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof EaKng Cake by Hazel Edwards & Deborah
Niland
The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr

5. Easy Readers
Age – Early independent readers, 6‐8.
Length – 200‐1500 words, occasionally up to 2,000. 32 – 64 pages long.
Format – Color illustraEons on every page but a more ‘grown up’ look, smaller in size and
broken into chapters. An average of 2‐5 sentences a page.

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Content – Stories are told through acEon and dialogue. Simple sentences incorporate one
idea per sentence.
E.g. – Amelia Badelia books by Peggy Parish
I Can Read books published by Harper Trophy

6. TransiUon Books (Easy Chapter Books)

Age – 6‐9
Length – 30 pages split into 2‐3 page chapters
Format – Smaller size with black and white illustraEons
Content – Wrimen in easy reader style to bridge the gap between easy readers and
chapter books.
E.g. – The Kids of the Polk Street School by Patricia Reilly Griff
Stepping Stones books published by Random House

7. Chapter Books
Age – 7‐10
Length – 45‐60 pages long in 3‐4 page chapters
Format – Chapters end in mid‐scene to keep readers turning the page. Sentences are
slightly more complex but paragraphs are sEll fairly short, averaging 2‐4 sentences.
Content – More detailed and complex than transiEon books though the focus remains on
acEon.
E.g. – Herbie Jones books by Suzy Kline
Ramona books by Beverly Cleary

8. Middle Grade
Age – 8‐12
Length – 100‐150 pages
Format – Longer chapters with fewer illustraEons, if any
Content –Storylines are more complex with subplots involving secondary characters and
more sophisEcated themes.
E.g. – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnem

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9. Young Adult
Age – 12 and up
Length – 130‐200 pages
Format – As Middle Grade
Content – Complex plot with several major characters though one character will emerge
as the focus of the book. Themes are relevant to the problems and struggles of today’s
teenagers regardless of genre.
E.g. – The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

10. New “Age Group”

Age – 10‐14
Length – Slightly shorter than Young Adult
Content – Topics suitable for readers who have outgrown middle grade but are not quite
ready for the themes of High School readers.

Wow! There certainly are a lot of categories to choose from. Let’s take a look at how
these classificaEons affect our target age group, the 8‐ to 12‐year‐olds.

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Requirements For Ages 8‐12
We’re going to concentrate on Middle Grade readers in this course, the 8‐12 age range
which is considered to be the “Golden Age of Reading” for many children.

8‐ to 12‐year‐olds are independent readers who can be voracious in their consumpEon of

books. Obviously there is a huge selecEon of book types available to this age group, from
the upper end of Picture books, Easy Readers, TransiEon books, Chapter books, as well as
the Middle Grade secEon.

As with all things to do with children, reading development is highly individualized. Some
8‐year‐olds will have found their way into the lower end of Young Adult ficEon, whilst
some 12‐year‐olds are sEll content with TransiEon books.

Some of the most popular and prolific children’s writers cater for a wide range of reading
abiliEes. This has two benefits; first, it broadens the market for the writer; and second, it
allows children to select from a greater variety of Etles from a favorite author, to match
their reading skills.

Roald Dahl is a great example of this. A child can start with something like FantasKc Mr.
Fox or The BFG and progress through to complex plots with a greater array of characters
as in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl’s books also work well read aloud, so many
children are familiar with the stories before they are able to read them for themselves.
This helps to give them greater confidence as independent readers.

As you can see, there are a range of book types available for you to present your
message. But whichever type you choose, there are some basic rules you can follow that
will make your children’s story a sure‐fire success.

Wri4ng For Your Age Group

Middle Grade readers idenEfy strongly with the central character. Subject mamer should
relate to the child’s experiences regardless of the genre, seNng or plot. The central
character will deal with any moral themes or issues alongside the acEon.

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Children of this age get hooked on a parEcular character which makes a series of books
with the same character very popular. J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, Francesca Simon and Enid
Blyton are all successful largely due to their ability to create a character or set of
characters that can be sustained through a series of adventures.

A Middle Grade reader solidifies their own idenEty through idenEficaEon with a
character as they read. A character will share the same feelings about situaEons as the
reader but will overcome the problems in a way that the reader may feel is beyond them.
At this age children want to read about a child who successfully overcomes the problems
in the plot without adult intervenEon. In most cases the child character will outsmart the
adult characters in the book or protect adult characters that are meaningful to them.

8‐ to 12‐year‐olds are encountering the outside world on their own. How they fit into
that world is very important to them: having dependable friends; dealing with bullies;
dealing with adults like teachers, doctors, etc. are all a major concern. Feeling vulnerable
through difference is also a major factor. Learning to accept themselves as individual and
special ‐ while learning to accept others ‐ is an important step at this age. Many children’s
stories use this as an underlying theme.

The Harry Po=er series does this extremely well. Harry is different and his special ‘gips’
single him out for negaEve amenEon from Draco Malfoy and his henchmen; a classic case
of bullying. Hermione is singled out as not being a pure wizard; she has Muggle blood in
her veins. Likewise, Ron comes from such a large family that money is Eght. Rowling
incorporates the classic causes of bullying ‐ racism, snobbery and jealousy ‐ into the
magical world of Hogwarts. This allows her readers to strongly idenEfy with the main
character regardless of seNng.

The main difference between Middle Grade readers and Young Adult readers is the
posiEon of the central character at the end of the story. Middle Grade characters remain
children at the end of the plot. They have learnt about themselves and the outside world
through the acEon and choices made, but they’re sEll children. The central character in a
Young Adult reader encounters adult problems. Inner change is brought about through

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external influences. The character will have gained qualiEes and insight which he/she will
take forward into adult life.

In summary, then, here’s what your readers are looking for. They’ll want to:

• idenEfy strongly with the central character

• share the same feelings about situaEons as the central character
• see how the central character overcomes problems, without adult help
• watch as the central character deals with the outside world
• learn from the central character about being an individual, being different, and
accepEng others
• understand from the central character’s acEons how to deal with bullying, racism,
and similar issues

For the younger end of the spectrum, children will remain children at the end of the
story. For older readers, the lure of adulthood beckons. Only you can decide how this will
take shape in your story, although the age of your main character (9, say, instead of 12)
will have something to do with that.

This would be a good Eme for you to do a bit of legwork. Head down to your local library
and find out how other authors have targeted their age group. And while you’re there…

What’s Lurking In Your Local Library

In researching this book, I did what I’m going to ask you to do ‐ I visited my local library.

I knew exactly which books I wanted to look at, so I headed straight for the children’s
secEon. The first thing that struck me was the layout. Picture books were in a cozy area
with Eny chairs and with books stored in colorful boxes; very cute and appealing. It’s
quite difficult to locate specific books from the boxes, but that makes it a bit like
searching for buried treasure. Not many kids would object, I’m sure.

The Easy Readers, TransiEon and Chapter Books were in a secEon of their own on shelves
arranged by author. SerializaEons were organized on shelves in their own space, as were

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Middle Grade readers. It would seem that publishers aren’t the only ones who make the
disEncEon between book types for different ages.

The Young Adult and Teen books were in a corner, parEEoned off from the rest of the
library. Whether this was an amempt to make these readers feel special or in need of
segregaEon, I’m not sure. Some idealisEc librarian had placed a bean bag in the room,
probably to afford a young teen a bit of uninterrupted peace. Unfortunately, a much
older teen was using the bean bag as a resEng place, rather than amending college
classes. I found this a limle off‐puNng as I searched for books by Jacqueline Wilson and
Judy Blume, but I guess avid teen readers would be less judgmental.

Anyway, back to the reasons why you should visit your library as part of the ongoing
decision‐making process about the audience for your book.

A resourceful and energeEc reference librarian, Lisa R. Bartle, has created The Database
of Award‐Winning Children’s Literature. Log onto: www.dawcl.com

Browse the 7,000 records (at last count) from 79 major children’s book awards from over
6 English‐speaking countries.

Check out the names of books with similar themes, protagonists or seNngs as yours and
then mosey down to the library and literally check the books out. Read them closely to
discover what makes these books so successful, and use that info to hone your book to
perfecEon.

While you are there, take the Eme to befriend your local librarian. Ask direcEons to the
list of Caldecom Medal winners and the Newbery Medal winners. This will give you a
bemer idea of the types of books that are geNng amenEon.

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Librarians select books from a range of professional journals. It’s a good idea to get
acquainted with these as they are not all the same. Some only publish good reviews
while others offer both posiEve and negaEve comments on soon‐to‐be‐published or
recently published works for children. Ask the librarian for a peek at the following:
o Horn Book
o The BulleEn
o Booklist
o Publisher’s Weekly
o School Library Journal

These journals are not available anywhere else. Most librarians do their job because they
love books and are only too pleased to offer help and advice about reading and readers.
So slip in a few perEnent quesEons about current trends in children’s books and which
books kids are asking for and borrowing.

This informaEon should help you firm up your ideas about who will enjoy reading your
book and what they expect to find in a book. The next secEon shows you how to create
your own Audience Fact Sheet, which will enable you to zero in on exactly who you’re
wriEng for.

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Audience Fact Sheet
Type of book you’re wriEng: _________________________________
(i.e., Middle Grade, Easy Reader, Chapter Book)

Predicted age of your readers: ____________________

Length of your book: ___________ words and/or ___________ pages

Format of your book: _____________________________________________

(i.e., short chapters with illustraEons, longer chapters, etc.)

Chapter lengths will be:

2‐3 pages long  3‐5 pages long 

more than 5 pages long  no chapters at all 

Chapters will have: discreet endings / end with a hook (delete as appropriate).

The storyline will feature: one main character and plotline / mulEple characters and
plotlines (delete as appropriate).

Sentences will be: short and simple / longer and more complex (delete as appropriate).

Paragraphs will be: 2‐4 sentences long / longer and more complex (delete as
appropriate).

Other books on the market your book will be similar to:

1.
2.

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G For Genre: Day 3
You’ve worked out what you want to say and who you want to say it to. The next step is
to decide what type or category of story you will use as a vehicle for your message.

The genre you choose will in many ways answer a lot of other quesEons such as seNng,
types of characters, acEon and to some extent even the language you use. The following
is a list of genres (story types) available to you with a brief descripEon and a couple of
suggesEons on making your story child‐friendly.

Types Of Book You Can Write

Most children’s books fall into one of these story types or genres:
1. Adventure
2. Horror
3. Fantasy
4. Mystery
5. Sci‐Fi
6. Historical
7. Romance
8. Comedy

Let’s take a look at each of these genres in its own right:

Adventure
Adventure is a very popular genre amongst young readers. Adventure stories can be set
anywhere, in any Eme, with a wide choice of characters. The important aspect is to make
the central character believable. The reader will idenEfy with the struggles and ulEmate
success of the character if he/she exhibits the thoughts and feelings of the reader.
Adventure stories usually include an element of risk or physical danger as their main
theme. They can be hard to categorize because they open overlap with other genres such
as fantasy, mystery, science ficEon, romance and historical stories.

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A common theme in children’s adventure stories has youngsters overcoming their fears
through the resoluEon of a pracEcal problem. These can be played out in quite extreme
physical environments such as uninhabited islands, wilderness or jungles etc. The
protagonist must face his fears in order to survive or to save others. Although the surface
emphasis is on physical acEvity, the underlying qualiEes of bravery, loyalty,
resourcefulness and determinaEon are the real focus.

For examples of children’s adventure stories, visit the SCPL Kids Reading Lists at
www.stanlylib.org.

Horror
Horror is another very popular genre for children. The success of R.L. SEne’s Goosebumps
series is clear evidence that a well wrimen horror story will get a publisher’s amenEon.

Everyone enjoys the vicarious pleasures of feeling fear whilst curled up in their favorite
comfy chair, knowing that the terror can be safely confined between the covers of a
book. Children are no different. Obviously there are rules to follow when wriEng in this
genre for children. The horror cannot be so extreme that it creates fears that are carried
beyond the reading experience.

Youngsters live in a world of dimly felt anxieEes, whether it is fear of things lurking in the
closet or a more general fear of the dark. Reading about the fears of their peers and
being shown how to overcome them is a major amracEon in horror stories.
In general, then, these are the rules or convenEons of children’s horror story wriEng.

1. The main character winds up in a remote locaEon or isolated from society.

LocaEons can range from the everyday: home, small village life, suburban
dwelling, or school, to the more unusual and exoEc: boarding school, campsites,
visiEng distant relaEves or foreign countries.

2. Basically an ordinary kid gets involved in something scary. No‐one believes him or
her; this leads to isolaEon from all things ordinary. Things begin to get more

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 serious or threatening. The main character becomes so involved that acEon is
required. The child manages to resolve the situaEon on his/her own.

3. Chapters end in cli{angers. The end of the chapter comes before or just as
suspense peaks. The reader must read on to discover the fate of their hero.
Frequently, just as the main threat appears to have been overcome, another
threat will arrive.

4. There is an unexpected twist in the plot. The character may spend all of his Eme
fighEng one source of evil or terror only to be beset by another once the iniEal
threat has been removed.

This is a typical scenario that occurs in many of R.L. SEne’s Goosebumps books. In
Night of the Living Dummy, for instance, SEne’s hero spends most of the novel
fighEng a murderous dummy, only to be faced with a second creature at the end.
Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected also come under this category.

5. Most children’s horror stories have happy endings. The thrill of the story ends
with the story, and the child can feel safe again.

The Ghost of Thomas Kempe, the Carnegie medal winner by Penelope Lively, is a good
example of a young boy overcoming the problems caused by a ghost. James does
enlist the help of an adult, Bert the local handyman, but ends up trapping the ghost
of Thomas Kempe on his own.

There are excepEons to this. Some children’s horror stories have completely open
endings, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions. These types of stories are
bemer suited to slightly older children.

In R.L. SEne’s Welcome to Dead House the evil estate agent that we believe to be
dead is spomed from afar by the two main characters at the end of the novel.

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Fantasy
Fantasy novels are big in children’s literature. There are some classic examples like C.S.
Lewis’ Narnia Series; Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials; J.K. Rowling’s Harry Po=er
Series; J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit; to name just a few.

Many of these books are based on other genres such as legend, fairytale, or school
stories, but given a modern twist. The most common convenEons are alternaEve
realiEes, fabulous beasts, magic, Eme travel, and the bamle between good and evil.

The important thing to remember is that whilst you can be as wildly imaginaEve and
creaEve as you like with the seNng and the minor characters that populate it, the central
character has to be believable and realisEc. The reader must be able to recognize the
thoughts, feelings and acEons of the main protagonist for the story to have any
credibility.

In many ways fantasy ficEon relies heavily on the plot structures of fairy tales. There will
be a hero who sets out to overcome evil. Along the way he/she will be helped by some
characters, misled or entrapped by others. He/she will gain knowledge or tools which will
enable them to overcome evil. There will be moments when all appears lost unEl the
ulEmate victory of good over evil. Unless consciously wrimen as part of a series the
ending will be a definiEve defeat of evil by the child character.

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is a good example of this. The main
fight is between Aslan and the White Witch but it is the involvement of Susan, Peter,
Edmund and parEcularly Lucy that brings about the witch’s defeat. The land of Narnia can
only be entered through the wardrobe and Eme spent in Narnia does not take up any
Eme in England. Narnia is populated with talking animals, satyrs, nymphs, goblins and
giants. Edmund is entrapped by the witch and saving him requires the ulEmate sacrifice
from Aslan. Deep magic brings about Aslan’s resurrecEon.

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Narnia is a wonderful creaEon but it is Lucy’s character and determinaEon to rescue Mr.
Tumnus, Edmund’s sibling meanness to Lucy and Peter’s and Susan’s amempts at grown‐
up behavior which make the story ring true.

Fantasy stories can and open do include quests. Again these are based on fairy tale and
on Homer’s The Odyssey. The hero/heroine must embark on a hazardous journey in
search of answers; he/she will face tests and trials along the way. Many minor characters
will help or hinder the hero’s progress but ulEmately good triumphs. In quest stories for
children the central character must be a child of similar age to the readership of your
book. The reader will follow the trials of the protagonist, share his disappointments and
frustraEons, worry about how to overcome difficulEes and celebrate victories.

It is important that the child protagonist completes the quest without adult intervenEon.
Children open yearn to be successful on their own in dealing with their lives and arising
issues. Reading about a child who is brave, resourceful and independent enables the
reader to feel that they, too, can take control of situaEons.
Children also wish to be blessed with special gips or abiliEes. Quest/adventure stories
where the special gips turn out to be qualiEes that the reader already has or will develop
work really well.

The Neverending Story by Michael Ende is a great example of an adventure/quest.

BasEan fulfills the role of character and reader. He is a sensiEve child struggling to come
to terms with the death of his mother. His father is very pragmaEc and discourages
BasEan’s daydreams, which are fuelled by the boy’s ferEle imaginaEon. BasEan is also the
vicEm of a trio of bullies at school.

BasEan steals the book The Neverending Story, holes up in the school’s aNc and spends
the day idenEfying with Atreyu, the story’s hero. Atreyu’s quest is to discover the cause of
the princess’ illness and stop the ‘nothing’ which is destroying Fantasia.

The book plays on the way a child reads and on the importance of imaginaEon. Both of
these are important in wriEng children’s books. Ende not only is aware of these features

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but weaves them into his story. BasEan idenEfies with Atreyu in his struggles and
ulEmately gains the courage to step into the story and become the main character.

Another great example of adventure/quest genre is The Princess Bride by William

Goldman. Goldman takes the basics of fairy tales and adds a contemporary twist. As with
so many stories there is a lot of crossover between genres. The Princess Bride combines
comedy, adventure, romance and fairy tale.

Mystery
No‐one can resist a good mystery. It lends itself to a real page turner as the reader races
through the book to unravel the secrets and find out if his/her predicEon was right.

There are a few things you should consider when wriEng mysteries for younger readers,
though:

1. First, make sure that the events in the story are consistent with a child’s
experience. Rather than the villain tampering with the brakes on a car, get him to
meddle with a bike instead. The child will understand the meaning of this more
clearly.

2. Secondly, make sure that the clues are all in place and build slowly through the
plot. Ensure that the reader has all the informaEon to solve the mystery.

3. Finally, have the central character summarize events and clues at the end of the
story to clarify that the reader got it right.

Mystery stories can take place anywhere but seNng them in schools, holiday camps, etc.
means the reader can idenEfy with the locaEon and believe that the child protagonist
would be involved. There will sEll be one central character but frequently he/she will be
helped by a group of friends. In mystery wriEng for children the villains are almost always
portrayed as bungling rather than really sinister.

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Plot is delivered through dialogue and acEon. The neatest thing about wriEng mysteries
for children is that you can deliver informaEon in much the same way as a child learns
about anything. Children gather snippets of informaEon based on parEally heard and
understood conversaEons between adults who are unaware of being listened to. This is a
great trick for ensuring that the plot of your story is delivered through dialogue, and will
also help you build clues and suspense.

Chapters should be fairly short and deal with the revelaEon of one clue or incident. For
TransiEon Books each chapter should be self‐contained so that the mystery is broken up
into discreet blocks. This allows readers the opportunity to put the book down at the end
of the chapter and begin again easily the next Eme they pick it up.

Chapter books should end chapters mid‐scene to encourage the reader to conEnue onto
the next chapter; by this stage the reader can sustain reading for longer periods of Eme.
Middle Grade readers and above will appreciate a hook at the end of the chapter and a
slightly more complex set of clues. It is also possible with this age group to have subplots,
a greater array of minor characters and the odd twist or two to keep the reader involved
and guessing.

Great examples of mystery wriEng for children include the Nancy Drew Books by C. Keene
and The Famous Five Stories by Enid Blyton.

Science FicUon
Science FicEon is a fantasEc medium for delivering moral messages or working through
issues. The seNng can be on another planet showing how a different species deals with
the things we humans don’t handle well; on a space ship which allows for adventure and
technological creaEvity; or in the future, where the world has developed or suffered from
the issues regarding warfare and environment which engross us today.

You can populate your story with an array of extra‐terrestrials, robots and androids.
Create machinery that does homework or Edies bedrooms. Have lots of fun invenEng
android teachers in futurisEc schools. Basically your only limit is your own imaginaEon.

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With science ficEon, as with all genres discussed so far, the main protagonist should be of
a similar age to your target audience. He/she will be the one to save the world, defeat
the enemy, or resolve the problems caused by adults.

The best science ficEon stories sustain human qualiEes regardless of seNng or acEon.
Your main character will sEll be dealing with the issues of a child whether he/she is in the
year 2060, living on the planet Zircon or traveling on a space ship.

The Iron Man and its sequel The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes both deal with man’s
relaEonship with technology. In The Iron Man it is a young boy who resolves the
problems caused by the appearance of the Iron Man and allows him to live in peace with
mankind. Because of this, the Iron Man is sEll around to save the world from the threat
posed by the Star Spirit.

Hughes iniEally created these stories for his own children. They are amongst some of the
best examples of science ficEon for younger readers. Other examples for Middle Grade
and Young Adult readers include:

A Wrinkle in Time, the 1963 Newbery Medal winner by Madeleine L’Engle. This is
an adventure in space and Eme where a typical teenage girl overcomes her own
insecuriEes to find the courage and resourcefulness to solve problems.

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. This story is set in a post‐apocalypEc future
where resources are running low. Two 12‐year‐olds embark on a journey to the
earth’s surface to find the city of light.

What all these stories have in common is the age of their protagonists in relaEon to the
age of the projected readership, with young main characters stepping in and resolving
problems caused by adults.

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Historical
This is a popular genre with young readers. Showing central characters from the past
struggling with anxieEes, insecuriEes and overcoming the odds helps young readers
accept their feelings as a natural part of growing up.

Most of the advice given in the above genres applies equally well for historical stories.
One thing that you absolutely MUST ensure is that you do some careful research into
your chosen period. Children may not want to read about the poliEcal struggles of a
period, but they will certainly want to know what day‐to‐day life was like for a child in,
say, the year 1425.

As you might imagine, historical books should include lots of detail. But to bring the story
to life and make it credible, you need to weave those details into the story around your
central character(s). Family, friends, food and home life; what school was like; the kinds
of games they played; all these details will help bring your story alive.

Historical novels can help a child understand a period in history far bemer than any text
book on the subject. A well wrimen, well researched novel set in a period designated by
the curriculum for your target age group will be a winner with publishers. Just ask the
creators of the Horrible History series!

Here are a couple of examples of historical wriEng for children you might want to check
out:

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. This is a moving story which takes the reader through
the horrors of WWI through the eyes of Joey, a cavalry officer’s horse on the Western
Front.

The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliffe. The Roman army is preparing to leave for
home but Aquila decides to desert in order to protect his family.

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Romance
Romance wouldn’t normally be a stand‐alone genre for children’s books; it is more likely
to be featured within another genre. It’s a theme that crops up in the upper end of
Middle Grade and, more frequently, in Young Adult novels.

Many stories have a boy and a girl as central protagonists. They are usually good friends
despite teasing from other minor characters. The young male protagonist can have quite
strong feelings for the girl but they remain within the limits of a crush and are unspoken.
This is certainly true of Michael and Mina in Skellig by David Almond.

Stories wrimen in different genres that incorporate feelings of love tend to be wrimen for
an older audience who may well be experiencing such feelings. The two central
characters in the final book of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman declare
their love for each other, but they must sacrifice a future together to save the world.
Pullman incorporates the strength of feeling between the two but ensures that the
relaEonship remains in its early stages, precluding any physical demonstraEon of their
love for each other.

The general rule is that young protagonists in children’s literature have strong feelings for
each other which remain unspoken for younger children, and which are not acted upon
in older children.

Comedy
Remarkably, comedy is not very common as a standalone genre in children’s stories, Terry
Pratchem being one notable excepEon.

However, comic moments are very popular with writers and readers. The really great
children’s writers incorporate humor into the plot. Roald Dahl is a good example of this;
pick up any of his books and it won’t be difficult to spot the humor.

C.S. Lewis includes humor in The Magician’s Nephew, when the unsuspecEng animals of
Narnia plant Uncle Andrew as they mistake him for a sapling.

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Humor in children’s books is very visual and is greatly aided by illustraEon. Children’s
humor verges on slapsEck and invariably the bum of the joke or prank is an adult who has
unpleasant traits like the grandmother in George’s Marvelous Medicine.

And there you have it. A brief sketch of the types of stories you may wish to choose from
in order to deliver your message. It is not a definiEve list and it is important to remember
that aspects of a number of genres can be incorporated into one story.

There are a number of things that are HOT right now with publishers. If any of the
following types of books get you excited then you could well be onto a good thing:

1. MulEcultural Literature – Involving ethnic characters and/or stories from other

cultures.

2. Non‐FicEon (all ages) – If these are linked to the curriculum they will be snapped
up.

3. Easy Readers – Short books for children aged 6‐8 who are beginning to read on
their own.

4. Chapter Books – Short novels for 7‐10 year olds.

5. Horror Stories – Any spooky story for ages 8 and above.

These are the types of books publishers are keen to get their hands on at the moment.
Tastes change, however, so don’t worry too much about what publishers want. Aim
instead to write the best story you can and let the market forces do the rest of the work.

Point Of View – Through A Child’s Eye

It should be obvious by now that the central character of your story will be a child of
approximately the same age as your reader. This means that you will have to write as if
you were a child of that age.

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By that I don’t mean that your language choices and sentence construcEon will be the
same as a child of 8, but that your vision of the world and the events in your story will be
experienced by a child. This is quite a hard thing to do. Many writers fall into the trap of
wriEng from their own remembered experience of childhood; this means your story will
be about children and not for children.

The trick is to be that child right from the beginning of the book.

There are a number of methods for conveying point of view. Most of these depend on
the type of narrator telling the story.

 I ‐ First Person POV

1st person POV using the pronoun ‘I’ is one opEon. This allows you to be the child in the
story; it also aids the reader in idenEfying with the character. It is easy to relate the
thoughts and feelings of the main character.

There are a couple of stylisEc devices needed with this type of narraEon.

1. Firstly, your physical descripEon of your character will have to come from the
dialogue of other characters or from the thoughts of your character:

“Nice‐lookin’ bruise you got there, kid.”

The Outsiders, wrimen by S. E. Hinton at the age of 16, uses the dialogue of other
characters to reveal Ponyboy’s altered looks aper being jumped by a group of
youths. She also uses Ponyboy’s interior monologue to show the reader what
Ponyboy looks like:

“I have light‐brown, almost red hair and greenish‐gray eyes.”

2. Secondly, your central character must be around when events happen in your
story. He/she needs to be aware of everything that happens so that it can all be

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 narrated to the reader. One of the ways you can check this is to constantly ask
yourself: ‘How does my character know this? When and where was she or he
when this happened?’

It is possible to use 1st person POV with two central characters whereby alternate
chapters are narrated by the two protagonists. This is certainly becoming a popular
opEon but I would advise against it for very early independent readers. They will either
become confused or might idenEfy with just one of the characters, and may not want to
bother with the other chapters.

If you do decide on this opEon, it is important to make sure that the reader is fully aware
of the POV being expressed and that Eme, date, and place are made very clear at the
beginning of each chapter.

1st person narraEve can also be used to convey an unreliable narrator. The central
character may be lying or in some way unable to relate events as they happen. The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night‐Kme by Mark Haddon is narrated by a boy with
Asperger’s Syndrome, a condiEon on the auEsm spectrum. The story is a remarkable
achievement which on the whole works well. The reason it works so well is because of
the reader’s awareness of how the world operates in comparison to the world view
presented by the main character.

 You ‐ Second Person POV

2nd person POV using the pronoun ‘you’ places the reader in the center of the story. It is a
very unusual point of view to use, and one that is difficult to sustain. But that doesn’t
mean you shouldn’t give it a try. Just be aware that it is very difficult and might not lead
to anything fruivul or complete.

 He & She ‐ Third Person POV

3rd person POV uses the pronouns he or she, but limited to a parEcular character’s
viewpoint. Usually described as parEal omniscient (knows almost everything that’s going

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on), 3rd person is the most frequently used POV. It allows you to give an overview of the
story and also reveal the central character’s thoughts, feelings and moEvaEons.

The other version of the 3rd person POV, known as omniscient (all‐knowing), gives the
reader a total view of the story but lacks detailed informaEon from any parEcular
character’s point of view. Given the importance of character to young readers, this is
probably one to avoid. It is also harder to write from a child’s point of view using this
style as it’s easier to lose the thoughts and feelings of the character.

A really useful exercise is to take a chunk of text from a story and rewrite it in another
point of view. Look at the effect in delivering informaEon using this new point of view,
and ask yourself if the reader is distanced from the central character.

For example, here’s an excerpt from R.L. SEne’s book My Hairiest Adventure, another of
the Goosebumps series:
I had a premy good day unEl Miss Shindling handed back the history term papers.

It wasn’t the grade that upset me. She gave me a ninety‐four, which is really good.
I knew that Lily would probably brag that she got a ninety‐eight or a ninety‐nine.
But Lily was great at wriEng.

A ninety‐four was really excellent for me.

The story is related by the main character, Larry, told in the 1st person. You get involved in
the story easily when it’s wrimen in the 1st person: it reads like a diary or journal.

Here’s how it might read and look if the author had chosen the 3rd person POV instead:

Larry was having a premy good day unEl Miss Shindling handed back the history
term papers.

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 It wasn’t the grade that upset him. She gave him a ninety‐four, which was really
good. Larry knew that Lily would probably brag that she got a ninety‐eight or a
ninety‐nine. But Lily was great at wriEng.

A ninety‐four was really excellent for Larry.

Immediately you can see that very few words need to be changed to alter the view point.
But it does change the way you read it. The second version wrimen from the 3rd person
POV (parEal omniscient) sEll puts us inside the central character’s head, but we’re not
listening to the central character’s voice. It’s the voice of a third person, hence the name
of this parEcular point of view.

There is no law against using any point of view you wish, as long as you feel you’re able to
sustain it for the course of your story. Just ask yourself who’s telling the story. If it’s the
main character, use the 1st person. If it’s a narrator who doesn’t appear in the story, use
the 3rd person. And if you’re set on being a revoluEonary, give the 2nd person a try.

Of course, you might sEll be struggling to find your own unique way of wriEng, and once
you’ve found it, the POV you use should become more obvious to you. Check out the
next secEon to discover some simple techniques that will help you find your writer’s
voice quickly and easily.

Finding Your Voice

A writer’s voice is the thing that makes him or her unique amongst writers. It is very
difficult to define clearly but it relates to the way a story is presented: the details that are
given importance; the view of events in the story; and the aNtude towards them.

Your wriEng voice is like your signature; it is highly individualized. It is what takes a plot, a
set of characters and a seNng and turns them into a story. Your voice is your personality.
It is expressed in the choices you make about topics you think are important; the words
you use; the details you include and how they are presented; the strategies you employ
at the beginning and end of your story.

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The reader must feel that you genuinely care about the subject of your book. Strong
opinions about experiences you’ve lived through will emerge as realism in your wriEng.
The best way to achieve this is in the detail. If the details are authenEc and genuine then
your story will ring true to the reader. Strong feelings are markers of your personality, so
don’t be afraid to include them in your story.

Try to find a way to put your story across that is unique to you. This will help the reader
idenEfy with your wriEng ‐ and with you as a writer. If your story seems fabricated and
sElted, then you can be sure that a child reader will pick up on it. It might seem strange
to ask you to avoid fabricaEon in ficEon; but although the characters and plot will be
ficEonal, they must have a ring of truth and probability to be successful.

The voice you use must match the purpose of your wriEng. This is because your voice will
set the tone of the piece. You wouldn’t send a chamy lemer of complaint to the phone
company and neither would you send a really formal email to a friend. The tone of your
voice will set up your aNtude and opinions about the topic of your story. So be honest
with your feelings and let them shine through in your wriEng.

Many writers, and parEcularly new writers, make the mistake of smothering their voice
with what they believe to be ‘writerly’ prose. It’s the easiest trap in the world to fall into.
You know what you want to say but as soon as your fingers hover over the keyboard you
panic. You think that everything you write has to be beauEfully craped wriEng. But that
aNtude will ensure you never get anything wrimen.

Block it out before it blocks you; just write down what’s in your head. The trick to finding
and sustaining your unique voice is to write as much and as oeen as you can.

Here’s an exercise that will help you understand how to find your unique writer’s voice
more quickly.

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As soon as you’ve got something wrimen down, print it out and read it through. Take the
passage you are most proud of and cut it. Be ruthless! It may sound brutal, but chances
are that passage is probably the most contrived secEon of your wriEng. Take it out and
see if the story sEll reads well and makes sense.

Remember, a children’s story is predominantly dialogue and acEon. It shouldn’t be full of

long descripEve passages. As you’ll hear many Emes in this book (and many others) the
trick is to show ‐ not tell ‐ your reader about the experiences of your character. Let your
characters do the talking for you, and keep the flowery wriEng to an absolute minimum.

Choosing Words That Suit ‐ Vocabulary

Just as your individual voice is dependent on choices, so too are the words you use.

You should know by now that an English sentence makes sense because of the order of
the words we use. That order is almost always Subject‐Verb‐Object.

The subject of your sentence is the person or thing doing the acEon:

“Bob shook his head.”

Bob is the subject. The verb is the acEon – in this case “shook” ‐ and the object is the
thing or person affected by the acEon, Bob’s head. The only Eme this will change is when
you use a passive verb tense. In that case the object of the sentence will come first.

“The police arrested the murderer” is a classic example of Subject, Verb, and Object.

“The murderer was arrested by the police” makes this sentence passive. It’s weaker, too,
because the acEon is the wrong way round. And because a children’s story should be led
by its characters and their acEons, you should try to avoid using passive sentences
whenever possible.

So now let’s concentrate for a moment on word order.

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A sentence is a bit like a menu. There’s always a starter, a main course, and a dessert. This
is where the choice bit comes in. In the same way as you can choose soup, salad or
melon to start your meal, you have a range of choices for the subject of your sentence.
Think of all the nouns (thing words) available to you. You get to choose from all the
possible nouns and verbs in the whole world to construct sentences!

Let’s take nouns first. The most heinous, ridiculous, crazy rule ever taught by teachers of
English is the “rule of three”. This is the rule that children are taught when wriEng their
own stories. A teacher will insist that there are three adjecEves for each noun used. It is
meant to encourage children to develop their wriEng and make it more interesEng.

Three is a magic word in wriEng; plots have three climaxes and lists of three are excellent
in persuasive wriEng. But three adjecEves can become unwieldy, slow readers down and
seem totally unrealisEc when over‐used.

So what’s the soluEon? How can you portray a seNng or an acEon without using lots of
lovely adjecEves?

Simple. Let your characters do it for you.

Instead of using adjecEves to describe people, use their acEons and speech to convey the
informaEon. This is all part of showing not telling, and adds veracity to your wriEng. For
example, rather than wriEng “there was a disgusEng, gross, sickening smell” use the
noun “stench” instead.

It’s not as hard as it sounds. All nouns have a range of synonyms, or words with similar
meanings, that can be interchanged without losing the thrust of a sentence. It’s even
possible to arrange synonyms into a scale from weak to strong meanings, or posiEve to
negaEve connotaEons.

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Take the word smell, for example. There are many synonyms that you could choose
instead. A useful exercise you can try when wriEng is to list the synonyms for a parEcular
word and then arrange them in order. Then it should be easier to pick the one that will
work hardest for you in your story.

For instance, try arranging these “smell” words in order from strongest to weakest:
smell, odor, fragrance, perfume, scent, stench, sEnk, pong, aroma, whiff, bouquet and
reek.

Which is the strongest? Which is the weakest? Are there any you simply don’t like?

If you have a young male character in your story, here are some of the nouns you might
use to describe him, without the need for a bundle of adjecEves: youth, boy, yob, lout,
thug, choirboy, mummy’s boy, goodie two‐shoes, lad, schoolboy, buck, waif, stripling,
urchin, etc.

This list is not exhausEve by any means, but even so there are sEll plenty to choose from.
And don’t forget you can use the thesaurus on your PC’s word processor for suggesEons,
or find many more ideas online at sites such as www.thesauarus.com.

Here’s a great example from Dick King‐Smith’s Babe, The Gallant Pig.

“What’s that noise?” said Mrs. Hogget, sEcking her comfortable round red face
out of the kitchen window. “Listen, there ‘Es again, did you hear it, what a racket,
what a row, anybody’d think someone was being murdered, oh dearie me,
whatever it is, just listen to it, will you?”

Farmer Hogget listened.

I know, I know! There IS a list of three adjecEves to describe Mrs. Hogget, so why would I
choose this as an example? I’ll explain.

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The adjecEves King‐Smith uses do far more than simply describe Mrs. Hogget’s
appearance; they show us her character and personality. We immediately realize that she
is fat, of course, but we are also aware that she’s the kind of woman who engages in
domesEc acEviEes like baking. The fact that it’s the kitchen window she looks out from
upholds that impression.

The use of the present conEnuous verb form (sEcking) puts acEon into Mrs. Hogget’s
character. The author’s choice of the verb ‘sEcking’ leads us to believe she is quite nosey
‐ as in “sEcking her nose in where it doesn’t belong”. This is called connotaEon.

We bring a vast amount of knowledge of our world and our own experiences to reading.
A good writer will be aware of this, and will confidently use this knowledge and
experience to create a link between the reader and the story.

King‐Smith gets Mrs. Hogget to ask a series of rapid quesEons, mostly punctuated with
commas. This makes you want to read it faster than normal, showing that she talks very
quickly and doesn’t necessarily pause for an answer. She doesn’t expect her husband to
answer, doesn’t really care if he DOES answer, or is used to being ignored.

The introducEon of Mr. Hogget is achieved in a very short sentence without adjecEves.
The use of the past tense marks him as being quite staEonary in comparison to his wife.
The starkness of the sentence also implies that Mr. Hogget spends a great deal of Eme
listening to his wife. Again the author is showing us the two different characters by
comparing one to the other; she talks a lot and doesn’t listen, while he listens and says
very limle.

King‐Smith has created two characters, revealed their personaliEes and displayed the
nature of their relaEonship very quickly, without having to resort to a half‐dozen
adjecEves. He’s done what I said you should do: he’s let the characters do the work for
him. And he’s done that by choosing his words carefully.

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As with all wriEng, you need to try and make the words you choose work very hard. The
more you can get out of a word, the bemer your wriEng will be, and the quicker you’ll
start wriEng with your own “voice”.

It’s all about your characters’ speech and acEons. Use the way your characters speak and
move to show the reader who the characters are, how they relate to each other, and how
they react to events in the story. And there are plenty of verbs for speech and movement
that will provide extra informaEon and give authenEcity to your wriEng.

Here’s a neat limle exercise to help you get to grips with your characters’ speech and
movement. The idea is to make a list of all the words relaEng to speech from A to Z:

A – argued, answered, acknowledged

B – barked, bumed‐in, breathed

C – called, cried, croaked

D – demanded, drawled, droned

And so on. I’ve stopped at three words for each lemer of the alphabet, but you can keep
going for as long as you like. And the same exercise can be done for movement verbs,
too:

A – ambled, advanced, arched

B – bounded, belted, bounced

C – crawled, crept, circled

D – dawdled, danced, dodged

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Remember to keep going for all the lemers of the alphabet from A to Z.

This exercise is good fun and will provide you with the beginnings of a word bank, which
takes us, or propels us, or eases us, into the next secEon. See what I mean? They’re all
similar but they create a different scenario, giving extra informaEon without the need for
lots of explanaEon.

Building A Word Bank

Now that we’ve made a start with the word bank we need to consider the needs of a
young reader.

Some people feel that wriEng for children should be simple; short words, short sentences
and short paragraphs. Hemingway proposes that same style of wriEng in adult ficEon. If
he is to be believed (and why shouldn’t he be?) then we can assume that all great wriEng
should be trimmed of excess. The important thing to remember is, no mamer who you
write for, you must KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

A few simple rules will ensure that you capture your reader’s amenEon from the opening
of the first paragraph and keep them turning the pages unEl the final thrilling climax.

There is absolutely no reason to limit your wriEng to simple, monosyllabic words.

Children love language and are in the stage of building a vocabulary. They’re used to
coming across new words and assimilaEng them as part of their own verbal arsenal.
Young or early independent readers will have learned how to extract the meanings of
words through context, and also how to break words down into syllables. Introducing
more complex language is fine as long as the meaning is clear in the context of the
sentence; or you might even have a character ask the quesEon: “What does that mean?”

When I was at school, at least one English lesson a week was devoted to comprehension
exercises. I enjoyed these lessons tremendously. Reading the passages was fun, and as an
avid reader I always scored highly. Many years later, I can sEll remember three parEcular
passages that held words that were new and intriguing.

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The first was a passage about the ‘Aurora Borealis’, the next about ‘gargoyles’ and the
third about some youngsters in an animal exhibiEon following a sign to the ‘egress’. They
caught my amenEon because I’d never seen those words before; I had to find out their
meaning and work out how they made sense in the story.

I sEll do the same thing today. I’m sEll interested in new and unusual words, and I’ve
even wrimen a children’s story where I’ve invented lots of words. It’s called The Legend of
Lumpus & Ogols, about 2 orphaned children who have to defeat the monster that killed
their parents. Even their names are made up.

This is a longwinded way of saying: do not be afraid to use polysyllabic words. Children
love the sound of words, and you should use this knowledge to your advantage.

Get busy creaEng your own word bank of lovely, scrummy words to use in your story. I
remember taking Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson from my local library as a very
young reader. It was the Moomin bit of the Etle that first drew my amenEon, because it
was such a lovely sounding word.

I was entranced by the world Jansson had created, balancing the fantasEcal:

‘Half‐way up the hill on their way grew a clump of blue‐trees covered with big
yellow pears’

… with just the right amount of realism:

‘We’d bemer only take the wind‐falls,’ said Moomintroll, ‘because mamma makes
jam from these.’

Jansson’s world is populated by characters with names like Snork Maiden, Hemulen,
Snu}in and Sniff. They are helpfully represented through her charming illustraEons, but
they really come to life through their speech and acEons. Although much of the book
mysEfied me at first, I loved it partly because it was so strange and unusual.

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Many successful children’s authors have experimented with creaEng wonderful‐sounding
words. Children make up words all the Eme and enjoy reading new fantasEcal examples.
A quick flick through Roald Dahl or Dr. Seuss yields plenty of evidence:

“This is a sizzling‐hot muckfrumping country we is living in. Nothing grows in it

except snozzcumbers. I would love to go somewhere else and pick peachy fruits in
the early morning from the back of an elefunt.”

- from The BFG by Roald Dahl

“If you want to get eggs you can’t buy at a store,

You have to do things never thought of before.
Why, to get at the egg of one very small Dawf,
We had to pry all of one mountain top off!”

- from Scrambled Eggs Super! By Dr. Seuss

And then there are those LaEn‐like names for spells in the Harry Pomer books, such as:

• Expelliarmus
• Incarcerous
• Repello Muggletum
• Riddikulus

Far out!

I use that parEcular expression because now we’re going to talk about slang and its role
in children’s books ‐ and their lives.

Because children love to play with language, they make up new words or redefine the
meaning of exisEng words. That is, they come up with slang terms and expressions.

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If you’re a child, slang has two major uses. The first is to idenEfy you with your peer
group; the second is to exclude the adult world. But for a writer, slang can be a double‐
edged sword.

On the one hand, slang might make it slightly easier to write stories that seem to be told
from a child’s point of view. On the other hand, if you don’t quite manage it, your efforts
will show you up to be a fraud, using slang in an amempt to “work your way in” with your
readers. And in that case, that parEcular word or phrase will be dropped from a child’s
vocabulary like a hot potato.

And there’s another problem with slang, too. Slang dates very quickly. Words and phrases
like ‘groovy’, ‘far out, man’ and even ‘wicked’ highlight writers whose grasp on street‐talk
is seriously behind the Emes. Even contemporary slang (‘sick’ to describe something
good) won’t be around for long. There are some words like ‘cool’ which have transcended
the limited shelf‐ life of most slang words, and are probably okay to use.

If you must use slang – and there may be Emes when you’ll want to – it’s best to restrict
it to dialogue in order to help create character. Also remember that, the younger your
reader, the less aware he or she will be of slang words and expressions. Once you start
wriEng for young teens slang becomes an issue, as it is more frequently part of their
speech pamerns.

Take all this informaEon and use it to create your own word bank. Fill it with words that
you like, words that are unusual, and words that will work hard for you. Include long
words (polysyllabic), made‐up words, and slang words that you think are appropriate to
the age group you’re wriEng for. ConEnue to fill your word bank with new material, and
use this material to help construct strong characters, compelling dialogue and lots of
acEon.

I can’t stress this point open enough: a good children’s story needs great characters
whose words and acEons lead the readers through the plot. Get this right, and the rest
will fall into place.

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Genre Selector
As I menEoned above, all of this informaEon serves two purposes; it helps focus your
mind on your story, and it gives you ammuniEon to throw at potenEal publishers.

The Genre Selector will make sure you don’t start wriEng a historical romance and end
up creaEng a work of science ficEon. Its main aim is to keep you on track and help you
realize exactly what you want to write. Here’s how it works:

1. Write down the main category your book fits in, such as Mystery, Horror,
Adventure:

______________________________________

2. Write down any sub‐genre that applies, such as comedy or romance:

______________________________________

3. Because the genre is ______________________ (e.g., historical mystery) the story

will be set in __________________ (e.g., the past).

4. My characters will speak _____________________ (e.g. 18th century English,

modern English, some slang, etc.)

5. The story will be told by ______________________ using the _______ person

POV.

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I For Imagina4on: Day 4
Have you got a good imaginaEon?

You’re going to find out just how good it is today, as you amempt to get a handle on your
characters, seNng, plot and storyline. But don’t worry: it’s not as overwhelming as it first
appears.

You’re already well on your way. You have your burning message; you know who you
want to read it; you’ve chosen the type of story you are going to write and even have a
bank of words ready to spring into acEon. Now let’s put some meat on the bare bones.

You are going to decide on the characters, seNng and plot in this secEon. Once you’ve
completed this secEon you should have all the basic ingredients of your story before you,
ready to begin puNng it all together.

To get started, let’s look at the types of characters you need to think about including in
your story.

The 7 Character Types

A really helpful guy called Vladimir Propp culled paEently through more than a hundred
fairy stories. He came up with a list of seven common character types that crop up in
every story or narraEve. And although these characters look like they belong in a fairy
tale, they actually do surface in almost every story that’s ever been told.

I know this is true, because I’ve used these character types to help students analyze
adverts and lemers asking for charitable donaEons. It’s amazing how well these types fit
into any story. And it also means that you have a “set” of characters that you can begin to
work with straight away.

Propp defines each character’s role in the story – not the characters themselves ‐ which
leaves you free to turn them into unique individuals.

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Here they are then; welcome the group you are about to populate your story with:

1. The Villain. I’m not sure why the villain is number one, rather than the hero;
maybe it’s because villains are more interesEng to create and to read about. The
villain is not always human or a senEent being, of course. SomeEmes villains take
the form of a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, flood, or fire; or possibly the
impending threat of polluEon or war. On a more personal level the “enemy”
might be disability, disease, bullies, poverty or unpleasant relaEves.

2. The Donor. In fairy tales this is the character who gives the hero a magical object
to enable him or her to fulfill the task/quest and win the hand of the beauEful
princess. In narraEves that do not include magic the gip donated to the hero of
the story can be advice, an object of value, support, or might simply involve
encouraging the hero to use his or her innate qualiEes and self‐belief to succeed.

3. The (Magical) Helper. This character helps the hero with the quest or to
overcome the problem. For example, Hermione and Ron in the Harry Po=er
books.

4. The Princess & Her Father. This is slightly more complicated. The princess can be
any character that needs rescuing or saving. This character is likely to be the
vicEm of the villain. The father is the character who sets the task to the hero or
idenEfies the false hero. The two roles can be merged into one character, or the
hero may be the one who requires saving, with the task self‐originated by the
hero.

5. The Dispatcher. This character lets the hero know what needs to be done to
prevent the problem or spells out the situaEon to the hero. The dispatcher is the
character that sets the hero in moEon, such as Gandalf does to Frodo in Tolkien’s
Lord of the Rings.

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 6. The Hero or VicUm/Seeker Hero. This is the main protagonist in the story, the
hero of the piece. He or she will overcome the villain, but usually only aper many
frustraEons. Frequently the hero is also searching for either the vicEm or the
answers that will save the vicEm. The hero can, of course, also be a vicEm.

7. False Hero/AnU‐hero/Usurper. This character’s Etle makes his or her role clear in
the narraEve. He or she may impersonate the hero to gain acclaim and rewards,
or may mislead the hero so that he or she is discredited in some way.

These are the seven main character types you’ll find in any story. Some characters will
overlap so that they display the acEons and moEvaEons of more than one type. The
older your readership, the more likely this is.

Young readers require their villains to be bad, their princesses in need of rescue and their
heroes impeccable in thought, word and deed. It’s probably a good idea to simplify the
role of the false hero for youngsters, too, although they are all aware of the sneaky kid
who takes the credit for the acEons of another.

One great way to help readers quickly idenEfy with characters is by choosing their names
carefully. A character’s name can be an important clue to readers about his or her
personality and role in the plot. Some obvious examples – such as Horrid Henry who has
a brother called Perfect Peter, or the Mr. Men books – make it easy for us. And writers
frequently name their characters in order to give us a bit of extra informaEon about
them; Dickens is a good example of this.

You can scour one of those baby‐naming books to find out the meanings of names, and
then use that informaEon to help construct your character tree. You’ll find the same
informaEon online at sites such as www.behindthename.com, which also includes data
on names in German, Italian, French, and so on.

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Make Your Own Character Tree
It might sound obvious, but your main character can’t exist in isolaEon.

What I mean is this: everyone has family, friends, people they know, people they work
with or go to school with, people they don’t like, people they try to avoid, and so on. If
you want readers to take your story seriously, then you have to ensure that your hero or
heroine lives in a world surrounded by other people. (Naturally, if your story features
animals, then you’d do the same sort of thing.)

That doesn’t mean that you need a cast of thousands for your story to be believable. But
there should be a minimum number of actors to add depth and variety to the story. Get
your Character Tree started in the simplest possible fashion, by wriEng down the names
of the central character and those people that you know he or she will interact with.

• Central Character ‐

• Family members ‐

• Friends ‐

• Rival or enemy ‐

• Other friends ‐

Don’t try to be too detailed at this stage; just write down the name of each character. On
the next page you’ll find a basic Harry Pofer Character Tree that shows you how most of
the main characters relate to the central character. Then on the page following that one,
there’s a blank Character Tree where you can write informaEon about the characters in
your story.

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The Perfect Se@ng
Like a beauEfully cut diamond, your story needs an ideal seNng or seNngs.

Characters need to be situated in Eme and place or else they will merely become talking
heads. This makes it difficult for the reader to visualize what’s going on in the story. On
the other hand, I’ve repeatedly said that wriEng for young readers should avoid long
descripEve passages. So, I hear you ask, how am I supposed to describe the seNng for my
story without describing the seNng?

Worry not: it is possible. And I’ll give you a few basic pointers to get you going, straight
aper this quick history lesson…

Back in the late C19th, the argument against Naturalism and Realism in literature was
that it is not the writer’s role to describe every limle detail of clothing and seNng to give
a novel veracity. You could describe clothing right down to the number and size of the
bumons on an overcoat and sKll your readers would be crying out for more informaEon
about your character. The reason why? Indiscriminate detail does not create memorable
seNngs. If you describe the bumons on a coat or that a bumon is missing, it should relate
to the plot of your story in some way or reveal informaEon about a character. These
details should be used to show, not tell.

One of the ways in which you can reveal character is in their surroundings. This is
parEcularly true if that character is in control of those surroundings.

Where a character is cold and hard, then so will be their home; the White Witch in the
Narnia series is a good example. Her frigid, unbending character is apparent in the castle
of stone where she resides, and in the fact that she revels in turning others into stone
whenever she gets the chance.
Mr. Tumnus and Mr. & Mrs. Beaver, on the other hand, live in warm, cozy domesEc
seNngs. You can see, then, how each parEcular seNng adds informaEon to each of the
characters, while at the same Eme showing us which characters are ‘good’ and which are
‘bad’.

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The four Narnia children have been evacuated from their home and live temporarily in a
large house with a housekeeper who is less than welcoming. The details of food and
comfort provided by C. S. Lewis help the reader place not only the acEon of the story but
which characters are safe for the children.

Another way to use seNng to further develop character is to show how your characters
interact with their environment. Let’s go back to the opening of Babe: The Gallant Pig.
Mrs. Hogget is in the kitchen. She is comfortable and round suggesEng that she spends a
lot of Eme working in that room. She sEcks her head out of the kitchen window
suggesEng that:

a) she is in control of her environment, and;

b) her life revolves around the kitchen, with short but frequent forays into
the outside world, but sEll from within the safe confines of her preferred
environment.

If a character fiddles constantly with something – a pen, a door knob, drumming fingers
on everything and anything that’s near ‐ this will tell the reader that the character is
either very nervous, has something to hide, or might be hyperacEve. But you don’t have
to TELL readers he’s hyperacEve; simply SHOW them that he just can’t keep sEll.

Where the seNng of your story is concerned, it’s best to keep things simple. Try not to
indulge in complex similes, metaphors and analogies. C. S. Lewis uses a complex religious
analogy in his Narnia series, but it is possible to enjoy the books without ever being
aware of it. And the problem with similes and metaphors is that a child reader might
bring a limited experience of the world to reading your story.

Metaphors work best when the reader recognizes the shared qualiEes inherent in them.
The same could be said of similes, though they tend to be a limle more obvious in design
and execuEon. However, playing it safe with metaphors and similes could make your
wriEng seem dated and clichéd.

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It is a much bemer idea to use sensory descripEon to help create a realisEc seNng.
Evoking the smell, feel, sound, vision and taste of a place will bring your story to life. And
unless you can bring the story to life, your readers won’t want to read it.

Describing the scene from your child narrator’s point of view will allow you to reveal
much about his or her aNtudes. I recently read a book in which the central character
described everything unpleasant as ‘gross’. While this helps establish the age of the
character, it does become repeEEve and boring aper a bit. It also fails to paint a clear
picture for the reader.

An excellent example of descripEon that’s rich in sensory detail can be found in the
extract below, from the book Skellig by David Almond.

In this secEon, Michael, the 1st person narrator, is venturing into the derelict garage at
the bomom of the garden of his new home. It is quite a long descripEon, contrary to my
advice to keep it short. But because Almond is sEll establishing character at this point,
Michael’s reacEons serve the dual purpose of providing seNng and revealing his
personality. The garage reappears very soon in the book as a major factor in the plot, so
Almond is jusEfied in spending Eme on descripEon. What is important here is the use of
sensory informaEon to convey a sense of place.

First Almond concentrates on the look of the place:

‘There were old chests of drawers and broken washbasins and bags of cement,
ancient doors leaning against walls, deck chairs with the cloth seats romed away.
Great rolls of rope and cable hung from nails. Heaps of water pipes and great
boxes of rusty nails were scamered on the floor.’

There are a number of points worth menEoning here. Firstly, Almond uses two disEnct
methods for lisEng the objects in the garage. The first method is to mark off items using a
comma. We all remember our English teachers insisEng that we create lists in this way.
Using commas for lists will speed up the way the list is read, giving a sense of

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breathlessness to the amount of stuff.

The second method Almond uses is to conjoin items using the preposiEon ‘and’. This
achieves two objecEves: first, it gives the sense of a child describing a group of objects,
and second, it gives the impression of items being thrown together in a great mess.
Almond succeeds in creaEng a place filled to bursEng with objects which, seen through
the eyes of a child, appear to be piled on top of each other.

And the objects that limer the garage are important in their own right. This garage is filled
with items that have long since lost their usefulness to anyone; we feel a sense of decay
through words like ‘romed’ ‐ and in doors that lean against walls instead of hanging in
door frames.

It is important for Almond to set this up; on his next illicit visit to the garage, Michael will
discover Skellig, the angel, who factors hugely in the story. Skellig is as old and dusty as
the objects in the garage; people no longer believe in him, so he, too, has lost his
purpose. Almond sets the scene to prepare the reader for future events in the story and
to reveal Michael’s character.

Next, Almond moves from the sense of sight to that of smell:

‘The place stank of rot and dust.’

And then onto sound:

‘I heard something scratching in one of the corners, and something scumling

about’.

This sensory descripEon really brings the garage into sharp focus for the reader. The
author adds onomatopoeia and alliteraEon in his choice of the words ‘scumling’ and
‘scratching’ to make it even easier for the reader to envisage the seNng.

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This is the kind of scene seNng you should strive to achieve. Try using words that reflect
their meaning, words that start with the same sound and plenty of strong verbs, instead
of fancy metaphors and similes.

And you should constantly check your own work, too. Read through any of your
descripEve passages where you’re trying to set the scene. If these passages don’t reveal
informaEon about your characters or help to set up major themes or events, then get rid
of them. DescripEon is one place where it’s easy for flowery wriEng to creep into your
work. But if you sEck to sensory descripEon you can easily prevent it from happening.

A successful writer like J.K. Rowling paints a picture for the reader using surprisingly limle
detail. Her descripEon of the Great Hall at Hogwarts takes one paragraph but is so exact
that, when I went to see the film version of the book, the hall looked precisely as I had
visulaized it.

‘Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by
thousands and thousands of candles which were floaEng in mid‐air over four long
tables, where the rest of the students were siNng. These tables were laid with
glimering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table
where the teachers were siNng. Professor McGonagall led the first years up
there, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the
teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale
lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Domed here and there among the students,
the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked
upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling domed with stars. He heard Hermione
whisper, ‘It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts, a
History.’

This is a very brief descripEon, but there is an awful lot going on that makes this passage
successful. It starts with Harry’s feelings about the hall. Harry has just been plucked from
an awful life with Muggle relaEves where he has spent considerably more Eme in a
cupboard under the stairs than any child should. The comparison in space is not lost on
the reader.

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Rowling uses alliteraEon in her descripEon: ‘strange and splendid’ and ‘glimering gold…
goblets’ to create an aural experience for the reader. Use of the word ‘and’ and the
repeEEon of ‘thousands’ helps Rowling create a sense of Harry’s wonder, as well as giving
us an impression of the sheer number of candles.

Although Hogwarts is a magical place, Rowling injects aspects of school life that would be
familiar to any first‐year student. The other students arranged on the four tables, all
staring at the new kids, while the teachers sit on a top table, add informaEon that the
reader can idenEfy with. The reader will also idenEfy with Harry’s desire to avoid the
staring curiosity of the older students. The casual menEon of the ghosts in amongst the
familiarity of the first day at school serves the purpose of establishing the magical aspect
of Hogwarts and showing the reader that ghosts are a benign and accepted presence in
the school.

Hermione’s whispered comment tells us a few things about her character. She likes to be
prepared with informaEon that she can research in books and, more importantly, she is
conscious of Harry’s movements and feelings.

So let’s sum up everything in this secEon.

• Your story needs a seNng or seNngs

• Your story should not include huge chunks of descripEon
• You need to combine seNng informaEon with plot and character development
• You should avoid long or complicated comparisons and rely on sensory
descripEons and the sounds of words instead

These points will help make your story more interesEng to read and will also make it
easier for you to write in the first place. And speaking about that word ‘story’ it’s Eme to
look at what you have in mind for your storyline.

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The 7 Basic Storylines
How are you doing?

By now you should have an idea of the type of story you want to write; who is going to
read it; where it will be set; the characters that will populate it, and the message you
want to get across. The Eme has come to ‘talk of cabbages and kings’ – or, more usefully,
what will happen and when it will happen in your tale.

According to all the authoriEes on the subject, there are only seven basic storylines. Each
of the following is one of those seven. I have changed them slightly so as to incorporate
the noEon of a child as the central character. No mamer how detailed or convoluted your
plot becomes, the underlying structure of your story will be one of these:

o Child versus nature

o Child versus man
o Child versus the environment
o Child versus machines/technology
o Child versus the supernatural
o Child versus self
o Child versus god/religion

Each of these storylines is self‐explanatory to some extent, but it is worth having a closer
look at the implicaEons of each type of conflict with regard to wriEng for children. So let’s
take them one at a Eme.

1. Child versus nature places the main character against the forces of nature. This is
the basis for many disaster stories. It allows the central character the opportunity
to overcome impossible odds using ingenuity, determinaEon and courage. There
are many examples within the adventure genre as the central character bamles to
survive the condiEons or save others from peril.

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 2. Child versus man (or another child) sees the central character struggle physically
or psychologically with the main villain. This conflict is external; the threat or
problem is from the outside rather than the interior struggle found in child versus
self. The central character may grapple frequently with his or her adversary
throughout the story unEl a final resoluEon is achieved. Bullying is a good
example of this conflict in books wrimen for children.

3. Child versus environment (or society) tends to focus on conflict with the laws or
beliefs of a specific group, such as when a child quesEons the principles and
aNtudes of his immediate family or societal group. This may occur when the child
reaches out and becomes friends with a child from another group. It’s a popular
theme for stories wrimen with young adults as a target audience, as it coincides
with their own developmental stage of quesEoning who they are and what they
believe in.

4. Child versus technology places the central character in conflict with technology.
This is open in the shape of a roboEc force, although it can also refer to the
technology used in warfare. The Iron Woman by Ted Hughes is a good example of
this storyline.

5. Child versus the supernatural pits the main character against the forces of the
supernatural. This is commonly the case in horror or ghost stories, such as the
Goosebumps series by R. L. SEne.

6. Child versus self is a popular storyline in children’s literature. The bamle is played
out internally, although external influences can also precipitate the conflict. The
child must bamle with his or her own will, confusion or fears to determine who
he/she really is or to cause some kind of change. Judy Blume’s Deenie quesEons
almost everything about herself when she discovers that her medical condiEon
will prevent her becoming a model, and the brace she has to wear singles her out
as different. By the end of the story, Deenie has come to realize that judging

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 others by the way they look is superficial. She also discovers that she must accept
responsibility for her health.

7. Child versus god or religion can be a contenEous storyline. Usually the religion is
masked in some way so that it cannot be immediately idenEfied. The Magisterium
in His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman is obviously a reference to organized
religion. Lyra must bamle against this parEcular world view, the forces of the
supernatural and the men that serve the Magisterium. The storyline’s negaEve
aNtude to organized religion has drawn some criEcism from the Catholic Church.

These, then, are the seven basic storylines. In the next secEon we’ll flesh them out a limle
by examining themes that create the moEvaEon for a character’s acEons, leading
ulEmately to a plot line for your story.

Twenty Basic Plots

Knowing which of the storylines your story will follow is one thing; but you also have to
know why things happen in your story.

That’s what the twenty basic plots can give us. Really these are the causes for acEon in a
story; the reasons why the main character must act. Here they are in alphabeEcal order:
• Adventure
• Ascension
• Decision
• Discovery
• Escape
• Forbidden Love
• Love
• MaturaEon
• Metamorphosis
• Pursuit
• Quest
• Rescue

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 • Revenge
• Riddle
• Rivalry
• Sacrifice
• TemptaEon
• TransformaEon
• Underdog
• Wretched Excess

Again, most of these are self explanatory, and there can be a considerable amount of
overlap. A story as complex as the trilogy His Dark Materials, for instance, includes
almost all of the above in one form or another. The series can be described as an
adventure but also as a quest, where Lyra first travels to free the children from ‘The
Gobblers’ and then goes in search of her father. Both love and maturaEon are factored
into her relaEonship with Will and the realizaEon that they can never be together, as is
their sacrifice of a life together to ensure that a window of escape remains for the dead.

I could go on forever to show how almost all of these basic themes overlap in one great
story. Of course, not all books or stories include all of these plots, but a good book will
incorporate some kind of combinaEon.

Now let’s get down to the nimy‐grimy of ploNng your story ‐ the sequence of events that
lets your story flow and holds readers’ amenEon.

A riveEng story should contain three major climaxes, with the third providing some
resoluEon. As you lead your reader up to each climax you need to build and sustain
suspense to keep them turning the pages.

The next two secEons will show you exactly how to do that. First, I’ll break a story down
into twenty‐five basic steps, and then I’ll show you how those steps lead to each of the
climaxes on a suspense graph. Then you’ll be able to plot your own story along a
suspense graph, which will show you precisely what takes place and when. And who said
this wriEng business was hard work?

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The Sequence Of A Strong Story
Here, then, are the twenty‐five steps to a really gripping yarn. NoEce that they’ve been
numbered 1 to 25, but I’ve also indicated the points where each of the climaxes should
occur.

1. The Opening. This depicts a change, a problem or a transformaEon.

2. The hero is given a warning.
3. The hero ignores the warning. The villain is introduced.
4. The villain gets involved with the vicEm.
5. The vicEm unwiNngly gives informaEon to the villain.
6. The villain deceives the vicEm.
7. The vicEm is tricked into helping the villain.
8. The villain acts in a way that is harmful such as kidnapping, destroying,
killing, bewitching, or is able to provide a member of the hero’s circle with
something he/she lacks. (This is the first climax in the story.)
9. The hero has to act.
10. The hero leaves home or begins a journey.
11. The hero is tested.
12. The hero must overcome obstacles.
13. The hero acquires knowledge, power or support from others.
14. The hero reaches and accomplishes the first task of the journey.
15. The hero and the villain join in bamle. (This is the second climax of the
story.)
16. The hero is wounded, imprisoned or defeated.
17. A friend or helper (unexpected) assists the hero’s recovery, escape or
return. The villain is temporarily set back.
18. The hero learns informaEon about the villain’s plan.
19. The hero pursues the villain or the villain pursues the hero.
20. The hero is deceived by a false helper.
21. The hero faces a difficult trial or task.
22. There is a surprise turn of events such as help from an unexpected source
or the villain exhibits a flaw.

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 23. The hero’s task is completed successfully and the hero defeats the villain.
(This is the third and final climax of the story.)
24. The villain is punished.
25. The ending. The hero is rewarded.

Now let’s plot these steps on a suspense graph to show you how the story will pan out
over the length of your book. This suspense graph will show you at a glance how the
story is paced, where suspense needs to be built, and for how long.

[Please note that the suspense graph takes up a full page, and so you’ll find it on the page
following this one. On the very next page aper that you’ll also find a blank chart which
you can use to plot your story’s unique suspense graph.]

NoEce how I’ve plomed each of the 25 steps above along the graph. You can clearly see
where each of the climaxes occurs, how many points there are between climaxes, and so
on. So in a book with, say, 25 chapters, it would be relaEvely easy to work out the basic
content for each chapter. For a longer book chapters can be divided, or you might include
more chapters in certain places to heighten the tension.

Study the first suspense graph well, and use it to complete your own graph according to
what happens in your story. Then we’ll move on to the final secEon of the MAGIC
formula, which is all about – chapters!

Before trying to fill in your own suspense graph, you might find it helpful to plot your
story down on paper. Use the 25 steps menEoned above to sketch out the basics of your
story, and then use those steps to fill in the main points on your suspense graph.

1. My story starts like this…

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

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 7.
8. 1st climax…
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15. 2nd climax…
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23. 3rd & final climax…
24.
25. My story ends…

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www.write‐a‐childrens‐book.com 82
C For Chapters & Verses: Day 5
By now you should have your story blocked out in a linear, chronological manner on your
own suspense graph.

Next, you need to decide on the narraEve structure of your story, its length and the
number of chapters you hope to include. You also need to decide on the length of the
chapters and the type of hook, if any, you will use to keep the reader moving on to each
successive chapter.

The narraEve is the story itself, while the narraEve structure is the vehicle used to deliver
the story. NarraEve structure is the sequence of events that takes us from the beginning
to the end of a story, although that sequence of events can be presented in a number of
different ways.

Choosing A Narra4ve Structure

The most common narraEve structure is linear and chronological. In this case, the story
starts at the beginning and works its way through to the end in a sequence of Eme. That
could be hours, days, weeks, months or years. The characters grow older as the story
progresses and the reader is aware of the passage of Eme. This is a popular narraEve
structure with authors and readers alike. It is simple to follow and easier to connect the
cause and effect aspects of a plot.

Writers may also choose a first person narrator to add conEnuity to the structure of the
book, but as I said earlier it does require the central character to be present on every
page to be able to narrate all events to the reader.

Your narraEon can be linear and chronological but with a parEal or completely
omniscient narrator, i.e. a third person narrator. In this case there can be acEon taking
place without the need for the central character to be present.

A dual narraEve is becoming more popular in stories wrimen for slightly older children.
The narraEon is delivered by more than one character, and there is usually an alternaEng

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chapter structure to allow each narrator to take turns delivering the story. An example of
this is Daz 4 Zoe, a young adult novel by Robert Swindells in which the dual narraEve is
presented by Daz and Zoe alternately. Swindells uses phoneEc spelling and weak
grammar to show Daz’s lack of formal educaEon and to let the reader know which
narrator is speaking.

Your story doesn’t have to be chronological or linear, however. You can choose to start
your story in the middle, at the end, or any point you like. A story that begins at the end
forces readers to persevere, if only so they can find out how things got to such a state.
The trick is to make sure it makes sense for your story, and isn’t just a gimmick.

Louis Sachar’s Holes is an excellent example of a book with more than one narraEve
strand; and although each narraEve is linear, events do not appear chronologically. The
book opens with a descripEon of Camp Green Lake and Stanley Yelnats’ arrival. Only then
do we find out the reason he has been sent there. The narraEve jumps back in Eme to
begin the story of Elya Yelnats and Madame Zeroni, and then alternates between Elya’s
story and Stanley’s.

Sachar then introduces the third narraEve strand; the story of Kate Barlow and Sam, the
onion man. It is only towards the end of the story that the narraEves converge, filling in
the ‘holes’ in the story. Sachar’s narraEve style is complex but popular with young
readers, as they begin to see the connecEons between the three narraEves.

SomeEmes a story that starts in the middle may rely on ‘flashbacks’ to fill in the missing
parts. These can alternate with current events unEl the reader catches up. Careful
planning is required to ensure that each effect in the novel has a cause and that they are
delivered in the correct order.

It might be a good idea to sEck with a straighvorward chronological narraEve for younger
readers. But if you want to try a more complex structure, go back to your suspense graph
(see how useful it is?) and rework the sequence of events.

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Ge@ng The Length Right
You may have noEced that each subsequent Harry Po=er story was longer than the
previous tale. Maybe J.K. Rowling realized that she had produced what is described as a
crossover book, a book that is read and enjoyed equally by adult and child readers.

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy fulfills the same role. It’s as popular with adults
as it is with children. Pullman pulls no punches with chapter and book length or subject
mamer: the wriEng and plot structure is complex. However, the appealing central
character and the non‐stop acEon make the story compaEble with a wide range of
readers.

For our purposes, though, we’ll concentrate on stories wrimen first and foremost for
children, and parEcularly those of Roald Dahl.

FantasKc Mr. Fox is a much shorter book than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The first
of these is designed for early independent readers. It has approximately 90 pages,
including illustraEons, split into chapters that are 3‐5 pages long. The average age range
for this type of book, described as a Young Puffin Read Alone, would be 6‐9 year olds.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, on the other hand, is designed for middle grade
readers. It runs to approximately 175 pages and the chapters are longer, on average 5‐7
pages each. That makes it perfect for the 8‐12 age group.

One of the reasons that Dahl is the all‐Eme best‐selling author of children’s stories is that
he writes a range of stories of differing lengths and complexity. He captures the loyalty of
young early readers and then provides them with stories that meet their reading needs
as they develop.

What you need to do now in terms of your book is to make a final decision about your
readership. This will help you determine the correct length of your story.

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Wri4ng In Chapters: Outlining In Sec4ons
Do you know which age group you’re hoping to write for?

Your readership will determine the length of your book, as well as the length of the
chapters. Basically the older your readership is, the longer the chapters can be.

If you are wriEng for young independent readers, you may want your chapters to be
discreet units. This allows the reader to put down the book at the end of a chapter and
return to it without confusion.

Francesca Simon achieves this in the Horrid Henry series. In Horrid Henry’s Nits there are
four chapters, each depicEng an incident involving the main character. These chapters are
totally independent of each other, almost like 4 separate stories. This gives young readers
the opportunity to put the book to one side, return to it later and start again, without
necessarily having to remember what came before.

If this is the type of story or readership you have chosen, you can use your suspense
graph to help devise chapters. Look carefully at the sequence of events in your story, and
divide it up so that each chapter contains one completed event.

 Chapter Chopper

Obviously, the younger your readers, the fewer words in your book, and therefore the
fewer chapters you’ll need. It’s possible to take the sequence of events and condense it
so that each main secEon becomes the equivalent of a chapter, such as:

Chapter 1: opening and all events leading to the first climax

Chapter 2: all events from immediately aper the first climax to the second climax
Chapter 3: all events from immediately aper the second climax to the third climax
Chapter 4: all events following the third and final climax, leading to the story’s conclusion

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For older readers, chapters should end in a hook to encourage them to conEnue reading.
Roald Dahl’s FantasKc Mr. Fox, for instance, is for only slightly older readers than Horrid
Henry’s Nits, and yet it has discreet 4‐page chapters spread over some 90 pages in total.
There are illustraEons, too, but even so it’s quite a difference; especially when you
consider it’s aimed at almost the same age group.

If your book has 25 separate chapters, then it’s easy. Each chapter becomes one event in
your story sequence. Likewise, a story with 12 chapters would combine two events for a
single chapter. And a story with 30 chapters would amempt to spread several events over
a number of chapters.

The way you chop your chapters up depends on who you’re wriEng for. Younger readers
might need fewer chapters and fewer pages, while older readers can handle longer
chapters and more of them.
Horror, mystery and adventure stories all require chapter endings that leave the reader
on the edge of his seat, wanEng to know what happens next. If this is the kind of story
you’re wriEng, then you should return to your suspense graph and mark off chapter
endings at a point which would make a terrific hook.

Used correctly, your story sequence and suspense graph can help you sort out all of the
following issues:
• how many chapters you need
• how long the chapters should be
• what main events should happen in each chapter
• where and when chapters should begin and end

You have to agree, that’s premy amazing. It’s also part of the reason why it IS possible to
write a children’s story in 2 weeks, if you’re determined. But will that story be told in
narraEve prose, or will you opt for something more unusual?

If you’re a fan of Dr. Seuss, we’ll be discussing the use of rhymes and verse when wriEng
for children in the very next secEon. Before that, though, here’s a quick note about
illustraEons.

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Books & Pictures
Easy readers and early chapter books open feature illustraEons on every page or every
other page. There’s a good reason for this. IllustraEon is vitally important to beginning
readers; it helps bridge the gap between the text and their imaginaEon. And let’s face it,
what would a Roald Dahl book be without the illustraEons of QuenEn Blake?

If you are wriEng a book that requires illustraEons there are a number of opEons:

1. You could, if you were confident in the visual arts, undertake your own
illustraEon. Certainly Tove Jansson was extremely successful in illustraEng the
Moomin Tales.

2. You can ask someone you know to do the illustraEons, which means that you
would perhaps retain some kind of aestheEc input.

3. You can let your publisher choose an illustrator for you. This has the advantage of
leaving you free to concentrate on the text but the disadvantage of losing control
of the images.

If you are wriEng text for a picture book that you are not providing images for, you need
to tailor your story so that each secEon of text refers to an event that can be easily
illustrated. Thinking along those lines will help you break your story up into secEons, and
will make it easier for the illustrator to complement your work successfully.

It Could Be Verse
Ever heard of The Cat in the Hat? Or Green Eggs and Ham?

Or a chap named Dr. Seuss?

I’m sure you have. These days his books are being turned into major moEon pictures,
thanks partly to technological advances and partly to his conEnuing popularity. And if
you’ve got a knack for wriEng in rhyme, you could do worse than to follow his example.

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If you’re considering wriEng your story in rhyme, you’ll need to break it up into secEons.
These secEons will become verses or stanzas, which need to work independently on the
page while remaining integral to the overall story.
Nothing can be worse
Than wriKng awful verse
A publisher’s lips will purse
As she sighs a silent curse

Most people would advise you to avoid wriEng in verse for children, as publishers tend to
shy away from accepEng it. However, this is only true of poorly wrimen verse, of which
the above is a very good example! It is possible to be successfully published in verse; the
books of Dr. Seuss bear that out magnificently.

Take Green Eggs and Ham, for example. Wrimen in 1960, it remains the fourth best‐
selling hardcover children’s book of all Eme. In an online survey conducted by the
NaEonal EducaEon AssociaEon in 1999, Green Eggs and Ham was voted third favorite
among students AND teachers – just above The Cat in the Hat!

So verse can be cool, if you do it right. But there are some drawbacks you need to be
aware of.

One of the disadvantages of verse is the regular rhythm created by the rhyme. It’s
amracEve to read but means that everything is delivered at the same pace. That makes it
difficult to alter the tone of voice used to deliver informaEon, and tricky to change the
pace in order to create suspense. And regular rhythm open has an overall effect of
sounding humorous. But it worked for Shakespeare, right?

An advantage, as Dr. Seuss discovered, is that you can make up words and rhyme
creaEvely. As I menEoned earlier, young readers are used to coming across new words.
They will happily break them down into syllables to be able to read them. Most books
wrimen in verse are also illustrated, giving readers addiEonal clues about the subject
mamer.

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The Dr. Seuss books are a good starEng point if you are seriously thinking that verse is the
format for you. Something like Scrambled Eggs Super! is almost completely founded on
weird and wonderful words to supply the rhyme:

‘And while I was lugging them back to the house

I happened to noEce a Tizzle‐Topped Grouse
In a tree down the street. And I knew from her looks
That her egg and the egg of the Sala‐ma‐goox
Ought to mix mighty well; ought to taste simply super
When scrambled together by Peter T. Hooper.’

Scrambled Eggs Super! is a tale about the lengths to which the main character will go for
the perfect scrambled egg. Seuss populates his rhyme with a selecEon of fantasEcal birds
and their environs. The story Horton Hears a Who! relies less heavily on made‐up words:
it is also told in rhyme, but the words are more ordinary:

‘So Horton stopped splashing. He looked toward the sound.

“That’s funny,” thought Horton. “There’s no one around.”
Then he heard it again! Just a very faint yelp
As if some Eny person were calling for help.
“I’ll help you,” said Horton. “But who are you? Where?”
He looked and he looked. He could see nothing there
But a small speck of dust blowing past through the air.’

Although both stories are wrimen in verse, they are very different in style. The first is full
of weird and wonderful creatures whose names assist the rhyming process, whereas
Horton Hears a Who? reads almost like prose that just happens to rhyme at the end of
each line. Of course, I am not suggesEng that Seuss has accidentally wrimen in rhyme; it’s
just that the guy is so good at what he does that the rhyme fits comfortably with the tale.
And that is the secret of wriEng really good verse: the rhyme must fit the text rather than
being contorted into a rhyme scheme.

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Seuss doesn’t merely rely on rhyme to write in verse. He uses a range of figuraEve
language such as repeEEon, alliteraEon and assonance to enhance his work. Look at the
following examples, plucked from the two extracts referenced above:

• Regular repeEEon: ‘He looked and he looked’

• A lot of alliteraEon: ‘small speck’, ‘mix mighty’ and ‘simply super’
• Masses of assonance: ‘thought Horton’

The secret to wriEng good verse is to spend Eme choosing words that sound natural
together. As Yeats said of wriEng poetry in Adam’s Curse:

‘…..A line will take us hours maybe;

Yet if it does not seem a moment’s thought,
Our sEtching and unsEtching has been naught.’

That completes the MAGIC secEon of this book. Before moving on, though, let’s take a
look at how your story should be shaping up.

Your MAGIC Formula Summary

If you’re working through the course diligently, you should already have a lot of
informaEon collected about your story. Here’s what we’ve done so far:

√ Decided on your message – and wrimen it into your Story Outline on page 21

√ Worked out who your audience will be – and filled in your Audience Fact Sheet
on page 33

√ Started building a Word Bank and chosen your Point of View – and completed

your Genre Selector on page 60

√ Sketched in your Character Tree on pages 64 and 66

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 √ Penciled in your own Sequence of Events and Suspense Graph, on pages 81 & 82
respecEvely

√ Decided on the number of chapters and their lengths using the Chapter Chopper
on page 86, in hand with your Sequence of Events and Suspense Graph

If you’ve missed any of these acEviEes, go back and complete them now. Once you’ve
done that, you should have all the raw materials you need to turn your ideas into the
perfect children’s story. And the next secEon will give you the Building Blocks to do just
that.

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SECTION TWO: BUILDING BLOCKS
Days 6 to 11
Once you make it through the 5 steps in the MAGIC formula, you’re ready to start
compiling your book.

By now you should know what your story is about, who the main characters are, how the
plot unfolds, where the suspense comes in, how conflict will be created, and so on. Next,
you need to take all that informaEon and use it to write your story down in a rough drap.

To help you do this, I’ve devised a series of Building Blocks complete with wriEng
exercises to simplify the process. If you spend days 1 to 5 working through the MAGIC
formula, then you should spend days 6 to 11 creaEng your book’s own set of building
blocks. SEck to the schedule and your book will unfold quickly and naturally before your
very eyes!

As you might expect, we’re going to start at the beginning. I’ll show you why openings are
so important and why they need to be as strong as you can make them. I’ll also give you
some Eps on how to guarantee that your openings pull readers in.

We’ll look at some classic openings in children’s literature so you can see how it works for
yourself. And finally, you’ll be asked to write down your ideas for the openings in your
own story.

Ready to get started?

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B: Bang‐on Beginnings ‐ Day 6
I’m sure you’ve heard it before: Every good story has a beginning, middle and an end.

But if you’ve ever sat down and actually tried to write the beginning, the middle, and the
end of your book – off the top of your head – you’ll know it’s not that easy. And that’s
because the scope of what you’re trying to do is too large.

It makes more sense, then, to break it all down into limle pieces that are more
comfortable to work with and less ponderous to juggle in your head. In fact, the idea of
the beginning‐middle‐end structure applies equally well to anything you write, whether
that’s just a 200‐word arEcle, a chapter, a secEon or a whole book.

This parEcular Building Block deals with beginnings, though, so we’ll start there (always a
good place). InformaEon on middles and endings will be coming your way very shortly.

When I talk about beginnings I’m referring to the opening of your book, the opening of
each chapter, the opening of each secEon of your book, and so on. These are crucially
important in terms of geNng and holding your readers’ amenEon. You might be forgiven
for one bad opening that slipped through your editorial fingers, but a succession of them
will turn readers off and lose you your audience.

But that doesn’t have to happen. With a bit of planning you can make sure that your
openings are as sharp and irresisEble as they need to be. But before we get down to the
wriEng, let’s find out exactly why your opening segments have to be so powerful.

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The Importance Of Strong Openings
Go to see almost any concert or stage show and you’ll noEce the same thing: they always
open with something spectacular, unusual or unexpected.

Why? See if you can select the right answer from the choices below:

a. To get your amenEon

b. To make you want to see the rest of the show
c. To keep you interested in what’s going on
d. To provide a bemer experience
e. To show you something new and exciEng
f. All of the above

Figured it out yet? I’m sure you have. The correct answer is f, all of the above. And a
really great opening – on stage or in a book – will achieve all of these things.

Here are some excepEonally strong openings from a selecEon of children’s books:

1. They were not railway children to begin with.

- from The Railway Children by E. Nesbit

2. Sophie couldn’t sleep.

A brilliant moonbeam was slanEng through a gap in the curtains. It was shining
right on to her pillow.

The other children in the dormitory had been asleep for hours.
- from The BFG by Roald Dahl
3. The villagers of Limle Hangleton sEll called it “the Riddle House,” even though it
had been many years since the Riddle family had lived there.
- from Harry Po=er and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

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Each of these openings achieves the same result: they pull us into the story, making us
want to find out more. They arouse our curiosity, making it almost impossible not to
conEnue reading. And they get the story going right away without the need for long,
boring descripEons.

As I said earlier, children are fearless criEcs. If they don’t like what they’re reading they’ll
stop reading. Unlike adults, they won’t read on to find out if the book gets any bemer.
And because they also have shorter amenEon spans (in some cases) it’s important to
keep them on their toes.

There are lots of published books that DON’T have great openings. I could name quite a
few, but I don’t want to cast aspersions at some very famous names – just in case they
decide to sue me for libel. However, that doesn’t mean you can afford to be lazy with
YOUR openings.

Remember that the best writers and the best books have a magic about them that makes
children turn to them again and again. Part of that magic is encapsulated in the fact that
the authors throw the children straight into the story with interesEng, puzzling, curious
or bizarre beginnings. And you should try to do the same.

Want to know if your openings are as strong as they can be? Then give them to someone
else to read. If the reacEons are “Wow, I can’t wait to see what happens next!” then
you’re laughing. But if you get lots of “I don’t really know what it’s about” or “Seems
premy dull/boring” then there’s more work to do.

Here are ten top Eps for wriEng openings that will grip your readers and keep their eyes
firmly on the page:

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Ten Tips For Wri4ng Outstanding Openings
1. Start With A Bang
2. Keep Things Moving
3. AcEon!
4. Hook Readers & Reel Them In
5. Show Some Conflict
6. Arouse Curiosity
7. Introduce The Hero
8. Keep Things Simple – 2 characters max
9. Let Characters Talk
10. Start With Shorts

Naturally you wouldn’t expect to do all of this in the first sentence. Instead, your aim
should be to achieve as much of this as possible on the very first page.

A great example of a terrific opening can be seen in the excerpt above from The BFG by
Roald Dahl. With just three words, Dahl introduces the character, throws us straight into
the story, reveals the problem, arouses curiosity, and creates conflict:

Sophie couldn’t sleep.

As openings go, it doesn’t get much simpler (or bemer) than that. You’ll also noEce how
Dahl sEcks to the rules for short sentences and short paragraphs in the beginning. It’s a
good tacEc for geNng the story going quickly in a way that’s not too taxing for the reader.

Of course, the opening of the book is one thing. But a good writer has to be able to
deliver strong openings over and over again, as the next secEon shows.

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Every Chapter’s A New Beginning
As with the opening of your book, so with the opening of your chapters…

Every opening has to be the best you can come up with. Of course you can’t write the
openings of your chapters unEl you know what your chapters are about. So make a list of,
say, 20 chapter headings (they don’t have to be perfect!) with what you know is going to
be in each chapter.

Here’s how to do it.

Start with the easy stuff. Write down how you think your book will start and how you
think it will finish.

Chapter one: how your book opens

Chapter twenty: how your book ends

Next, use your Suspense Graph to decide what the three peaks or climaxes in your story
will contain. Will there be a fight scene? An abducEon? Will something get lost or
misplaced? Will someone turn up unexpectedly?

Take the basic informaEon and turn it into a chapter heading. For instance, if your first
climax is where the evil baddy steals the treasure, then simply write that down:

Chapter X: First climax: The bad guy steals the treasure.

Nothing has to be set in stone at this stage. Chapter headings can all be changed and
spiced up when you know how the story progresses and what precisely is in each chapter.

Now do the same for the next two climaxes or suspense peaks. Decide roughly which
chapters these will be. That should give you the following informaEon:

Chapter One: Opening

Chapter X: First climax

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Chapter Y: Second climax
Chapter Z: Third climax
Chapter Twenty: Ending

Not a bad start, right? Now all you have to do is fill in the blanks.

Remember, in a good story, something happens. Something happens at the first climax
point, so how does the story get from the opening (Chapter One) to the first climax?
Write down the things that need to happen to make the story flow and progress naturally
to that point.

Now do the same thing working from the end of the first climax to the second climax and
from the end of the second to the third climax. Again try to make the story flow smoothly
from one point to another. Write down the events that need to occur in order to get from
one point to the other.

You don’t have to try and write down the final chapter headings. Simply write down what
happens, any way you like. Later you can refine the informaEon and turn it into chapter
headings if you want to.

Just a quick point about chapter headings, while we’re talking about them…

It’s not always necessary to give your chapters headings. Generally speaking, the younger
your audience, the more you need headings. But that’s not a rule, by any means. There
are plenty of books for adults that have chapter headings, too, so if you want to use
them, use them. If you’d rather not use them, that’s fine. But you’ll need the informaEon
you’ve wrimen down above to make sure you know how your story unfolds.

And don’t forget your target audience!

The length of your story and the number of chapters will be determined by who you
think will be likely to read it. It’s not always possible to judge this in advance, but usually
you can take an educated guess. For example, a book about a very hungry caterpillar will

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likely be aimed at a younger age group, while a story featuring war and famine will
appeal to older children.

You’ll recall that Roald Dahl’s book FantasKc Mr. Fox is about 90 pages long, split into
chapters that are an average of 4 pages each, marketed at 6‐ to 9‐year‐olds. Harry Po=er
and the Goblet of Fire, on the other hand, runs to 37 chapters of between 20‐30 pages
each. That’s a big difference, and an obvious pointer that these books were not wrimen
for the same audience.

You shouldn’t worry too much about fiNng your book into an exisEng reader age group.
On the contrary, you should simply write your story and let market forces do the rest. But
it helps if you have a general idea about where your story will ulEmately sit. And
publishers will also want to know that YOU know who your market is.

It’s all about being prepared, so that you don’t end up wriEng one thing when you really
meant to write something else. The more informaEon you have about what you’re trying
to do, the easier it should be for you to do it.

So now let’s find out how some famous (and published!) children’s authors managed to
“do it” and get their stories off and running with some fabulous openings.

Outstanding Openings From Children’s Literature

Here are the openings from some classic children’s books across a broad age range.

You’ll noEce that in each excerpt a bit of informaEon is given away, but not too much.
One or two characters are introduced, and things get moving straight away. Or else
there’s so much curiosity aroused by the opening sentence that it’s almost impossible not
to read on.

I’ve lep these excerpts alone on purpose, so you can read from one to the other in an
uninterrupted fashion. Once you’ve read them through, then I’ll elaborate.

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Enjoy!

All children, except one, grow up.

- Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.
This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away
from London during the war because of the air raids.
- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

When my sister turned thirteen the school where she lived got her toilet‐trained
and my mother decided she ought to come home to live, once and for all.
- Welcome Home, Jellybean by Marlene Fanta Shyer

Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to
one side, out of sight of the kitchen.
- The Golden Compass (the first book in the His Dark Materials trilogy) by
Philip Pullman

Down in the valley there were three farms. The owners of these farms had done
well. They were rich men. They were also nasty men.
- FantasKc Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

“What’s that noise?” said Mrs. Hogget, sEcking her comfortable round red face
out of the kitchen window. “Listen, there’ Es again, did you hear it, what a racket,
what a row, anybody’d think someone was being murdered, oh dearie me,
whatever it is, just listen to it, will you?”

Farmer Hogget listened.

- Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King‐Smith

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 “Where’s Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were seNng
the table for breakfast.

“Out to the hoghouse,” replied Mrs. Arable. “Some pigs were born last night.”
- Charlo=e’s Web by E.B. White

I won’t bore you by poinEng out the obvious. But one or two of these openings deserves
to be menEoned further.
The excerpt from Dick King‐Smith’s Babe: The Gallant Pig is a case in point. It opens with
acEon (noise) and a descripEon of Mrs. Hogget, who we imagine to be plump
(comfortable round) and hot (red face), perhaps from working hard in the kitchen. We
also know that she talks a lot, shown to us by the use of one long sentence where there
should be several. And then there’s the comparison with Farmer Hogget, her husband,
who simply listens.

In Welcome Home, Jellybean the author gives us all the informaEon we need to be
propelled straight into the acEon. The narrator reveals that his sister is thirteen, used to
live in a school, has been successfully toilet‐trained, and is now ready to come back and
live with the rest of her family.

So you have to ask yourself, why is a 13‐year‐old girl living in a school? Isn’t it a bit late to
be geNng toilet‐trained? Why isn’t she living at home?

Jellybean (real name Geraldine) is disabled. SEll on the first page, we discover that the
family is preparing for her return with a cake decorated to say “Welcome Home” –

Which my sister of course cannot read.

It’s a great opening page, full of things to make us curious and pique our interest in
Jellybean, her condiEon, and her brother’s rather mamer‐of‐fact way of revealing
informaEon.

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Want to do your own research on great openings in children’s literature? It couldn’t be
easier. Just pop down to your local library, pick up a dozen books, and read the first page.
Anything that bores you is bad. Anything that makes you laugh, cry, curious, angry, or
compels you to read on is good. Make a list, if you like. Try to figure out why the good
ones work and the bad ones fail. Chances are the bemer ones will include many of the
elements from the top ten Eps for great openings menEoned above.

Titles That Tease, Tantalize, Taunt & Thrill

Speaking of openings, don’t forget the very first thing that anybody sees when they pick
up or look at your book: the Etle.

How important is the Etle of your book?

Well, it could be the very reason why a child wants to read it in the first place. Children
won’t be trying to decide whether or not you’re a good children’s writer. They just want
something to read, something that entertains them, thrills them, educates them, or helps
them understand the world around them. They want a good story, and they might well
judge your book’s potenEal by the Etle you choose.

For example, who could resist a book with a Etle like this?

There’s a Hippopotamus on Our Roof EaKng Cake

- by Hazel Edwards and Deborah Niland

Here are some more superb story Etles:

Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night‐Kme by Mark Haddon
Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
The Iron Man by Ted Hughes

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The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Charlo=e’s Web by E.B. White
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
The Little Engine That Could by Wamy Piper
My Father's Dragon by Ruth SEles Gannem
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Each one of these Etles achieves a very important objecEve: it makes you want to read
the book!

You don’t have to write the final Etle for your book right now, though. Just mull it over in
your mind for a few days. Write down ideas as they come to you and don’t be afraid to
experiment, even if your ideas seem bizarre. There are a lot of good children’s writers out
there, so you want your book to stand out from the crowd. A great Etle can help you do
that, probably easier than anything else.

Jot down words, phrases or whole sentences that describe your book as soon as you
think of them. Keep them together in a separate word processing file, a notebook, or
whatever you prefer. Make a list so you can see how each one compares to the other,
something like this:

Title 1: ____________________________________________________________

Title 2: ____________________________________________________________

Title 3: ____________________________________________________________

Title 4: ____________________________________________________________

Title 5: ____________________________________________________________

Title 6: ____________________________________________________________

Title 7: ____________________________________________________________

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Title 8: ____________________________________________________________

Title 9: ____________________________________________________________

Title 10: ___________________________________________________________

Wri4ng Openings Exercise

Okay, now it’s Eme to turn theory into pracEce. Go back to your outline and write down
three openings. Just write words, and then try to formulate them using the list
menEoned earlier:

1. Start With A Bang

2. Keep Things Moving
3. AcEon!
4. Hook Readers & Reel Them In
5. Show Some Conflict
6. Arouse Curiosity
7. Introduce The Hero
8. Keep Things Simple – 2 characters max
9. Let Characters Talk
10. Start With Shorts

Opening 1:

Opening 2:

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Opening 3:

Now do the same with the other main chapters, which you’ll recall will look something
like this:

Chapter X: First climax

Chapter Y: Second climax
Chapter Z: Third climax
Chapter Twenty

This might seem like a lot of work, but if you can force yourself to do it, you’ll be glad you
did. Anyone can TALK about wriEng a book, but it’s only people who actually sit down
and WRITE that will get one wrimen.

If you find it hard to come up with three different openings for each secEon, don’t panic.
Start with one, and see how it goes. Or maybe you might find it easier to use one opening
and make slight changes to it. For instance, you might try using a different character to
get things moving. Or start the chapter in the middle of the acEon and then backtrack.
The possibiliEes are endless, so don’t be afraid to experiment.

And here’s another trick you can try. Once you know what a chapter is about, take three
main words and use them to write the opening secEon. For example, if you know that
your hero finds a golden key in a dark alley that opens every lock in the world, take those
three main words ‐ key, alley, lock – and use them to create your opening paragraph, such
as:

The alley was pitch black and smelled of romen apples. Oscar wouldn’t normally
have ventured to walk down there, but something shiny caught his eye. It seemed
to lure him in, to pull him along despite himself.

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And so on. You can see how just the image of those three items has given me plenty of
ammuniEon to get going, and I haven’t even menEoned two of them yet (although the
“something shiny” refers to the key). Try it yourself if you’re struggling with any of your
own openings.

That concludes the first part of the Building Blocks. If you’ve been working through
conscienEously, you should have some solid openings and a decent skeleton of a story to
work from.

The next secEon deals with the concept of character and gives you some ideas about
how you can make the characters in your story believable and real. I’ve given you some
examples from children’s books, and I’ve also included a few Eps on easy ways to create
strong and memorable characters.

Ready for some character‐building? Then proceed to Building Block L.

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L: Larger Than Life – Day 7
Maybe that Etle is a bit too vague for some people.

It’s an expression you hear a lot regarding characters, and yet it’s also something of a
cop‐out. For not all of your characters have to be larger than life; they just have to be life‐
like, or, in other words, realisEc.

So if one of your characters is a 10‐year‐old boy, he’s unlikely to drive a forklip truck. Or if
another is a shy young girl who spends a lot of Eme in the library, then it’s doubvul she’ll
be the school bully. Your characters have to make sense within their own skins and be
consistent in how they think and behave. And that’s what making them life‐like means.

Another way of saying this is: once a Muggle, always a Muggle. Or a leopard never
changes its spots. Unless you want it to, and if there’s a good reason for it; if there is,
then do it.

Make Your Characters Real

Of course, not all characters are people. But the same rules should apply. If one of your
main characters is a spider, for instance, then it has to behave like a spider. That means
doing the things a spider would normally do, right down to catching flies in its web,
spinning them up in a cocoon of proteinaceous silk and storing them away for a future
snack.

On the other hand, you might decide to give your book a new twist by wriEng about
someone (or some thing) that DOESN’T behave the way we expect them to. So a spider
who’s a vegetarian, for example, could prove to be an interesEng approach. Or a cow that
won’t eat grass. Or a teacher that lets her students do whatever they want.

And did you know that some spiders don’t catch flies in their webs? Or that some spiders
don’t even spin webs in the first place? It’s amazing what you can learn when you start
thinking about wriEng stories for children.

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Turning the whole character upside down like this is also a great way to come up with
new and unusual story ideas. But even if you do, your characters sEll have to be
consistent. So if Schneider the Spider won’t eat flies at the beginning of the story, then he
shouldn’t eat flies halfway through, either. Not unEl some kind of change or
transformaEon occurs (more about that later).

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

In order for your story to hold the amenEon of your readers, your characters have to be a
mixture of what you might call types.

Why is this important? Well, just look around when you go shopping next Eme, or when
you pick your children up from school, dance lessons or sports events. There are all kinds
of people in this world, and that’s what makes it so interesEng.

There are tall people, short people, skinny people, fat people; people with long legs, big
noses, large feet, strange hair that sEcks up no mamer what, eyes that don’t quite look
straight ahead; people that can’t seem to shut up, people that won’t say boo to a goose;
people who are so kind they make you feel guilty, people that are meaner than a
ramlesnake; trouble makers, leaders, followers, thinkers, clever dicks, slobs, lazy people,
busy bodies, show offs; and the list goes on and on and on.

I’m not suggesEng that you need one each of these character types in every book that
you write. But you should keep in mind that all of your characters should be different in
some way from one another. They should be unique, with their own ways of doing things,
their own ways of speaking, and their own strengths and weaknesses.

Naturally your story needs to be about someone, the character we think of as the hero.
But is your hero a strong and decisive character, or a weak one? And what about the
villain of the piece? Is that character weak, or is he/she just the opposite? Is it his/her
strength that causes so much trouble for the hero? Only you can decide.

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And don’t forget; real people are a mixture of good and bad traits. It’s possible for your
hero to be inwardly strong, but outwardly to seem afraid and a bit weedy. Then
something will happen to bring out the courage and bravura. Or perhaps he/she is a limle
bit selfish, only to prove the opposite by giving up something of real value for a friend/
accomplice.

If this all seems a bit confusing, don’t worry. Start with a rough sketch, and then you can
add more details later. All you need to get going iniEally is some idea about the number
of characters you want and their most important traits. Once you’ve got that, you can
begin to put the flesh on their bones.

I’ll be showing you how to flesh out your characters a limle later. But first, let’s take a look
at some of the more memorable characters from published children’s literature.

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Strong Characters In Published Children’s Books
Children’s books are limered with strong characters that are easily recognizable and
memorable.

Here are some examples from the thousands of books available in good libraries and
book stores across the globe:

• Harry Po=er by J.K. Rowling

• The Mr. Men books by Roger Hargreaves – Mr. Tickle, Mr. Impossible, Mr. Messy,
Mr. Chamerbox, etc.
• Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Heidi from the book by the same name by Swiss author Johanna Spyri
• Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
• Pinocchio by the Italian author Carlo Collodi
• The Grinch in How The Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
• MaKlda by Roald Dahl
• Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

No doubt you’ve read many of these books yourself, but this list is by no means
exhausEve. Examples of great characters abound, and you only have to visit a book store
or library to find as many examples as you need. But it’s not the number of strong
characters that interests us; it’s the techniques used by the authors to make them so
memorable.

For example, Harry Pomer is an unlikely hero. He wears glasses, a sign of physical
weakness. And yet he’s one of the most giped apprenEce wizards, and a dab hand at
Quidditch. He’s a small, skinny kid with unEdy, messy hair, quite vulnerable (hence the
glasses) and capable of making mistakes. He knows the difference between right and
wrong, and follows his conscience. On one level he’s just a normal boy, while on the
other he has tremendous powers that any boy would like to have.

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Harry is a complex character, like most real people. The Mr. Men, on the other hand, are
far easier for younger children to understand. But that doesn’t mean the characters
aren’t strong (especially Mr. Strong). It just shows that the author knows exactly the age
group he’s aiming for.

But you don’t have to look far for examples of strong characters. Just think about the
story of The Three Limle Pigs. Or Chicken Limle. Or Pinocchio. Or Limle Red Riding Hood.
Or Willie Wonka. Or Harry Pomer. Or Cinderella. Or Dumbo. Or The Ugly Duckling. Or…

No doubt you can add your own favorites to this list. Think about what it is that makes
these characters so memorable. Then move on to the next secEon where I’ll be showing
you how to turn your own sketches and notes into full‐blown, idenEfiable characters.

Flesh Out Your Character Tree

Strong characters have to be three‐dimensional.

In other words, they should have an idenEfiable outward appearance, their own set of
beliefs and aNtudes, and their own way of expressing themselves in words and acEons. I
call this the LAST word on character building, and it’s a great way to build characters out
of your iniEal ideas.

The LAST Word On Character Building

As you can imagine, this method has four disEnct elements. The LAST acronym stands
for: Look, Act, Speak and Think. To flesh out your characters and make them believable,
follow these simple steps:

1. Describe your character’s outward appearance (the way he/she looks)

2. Show your character through acEons (the way he/she acts)
3. Make your character come alive and communicate (the way he/she speaks)
4. Give your character some aNtude (the way he/she thinks)

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Here’s a simple but clear example of how you might do this.

o Look

In my children’s story Flu=er Bunnies, one of the characters is called Bumper. He’s fat
(“his big round stomach”), as you might expect with a name like that.

o Act

Because he’s so fat, Bumper’s always bumping into things. On a trip to collect
mushrooms, he doesn’t manage to do very well, because he eats twice as many as he
picks.

o Speak

Every Eme Bumper speaks, it’s with reference to his next meal. Food features strongly in
his vocabulary, and whenever he opens his mouth it’s to ask if something’s edible or to
comment on a smell.

o Think

Bumper likes to eat, and his thoughts usually turn to food. He’s convinced the magic
poEon made from the mushrooms is really a big pot of mushroom soup.

And there you have it. Even though Bumper is a minor character, his “character” is
obvious for all to see. It’s made plain to us in the way he looks, the things he does, his
speech and what he’s thinking about. And you can do the same thing for any strong
character in any good story.

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For instance, let’s go back to the character of Harry Pomer menEoned in the previous
secEon. Is it possible to define the young wizard following these same criteria?

o What Does Harry Pofer Look Like?

He wears round glasses over bright green eyes. He’s skinny, small for his age, thin‐faced
with knobby knees and unEdy black hair. He has a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his
forehead, a mark of his true wizardly power and a sign that he’s already been through a
lot.

o How Does He Act?

Harry is a normal boy who’s been blessed with a special gip. He’s compeEEve and fights
for what he believes in. He gets angry and can be arrogant, but that’s possibly due to
frustraEon since he doesn’t yet have full control over his powers.

o What Does He Say? (Excerpts from Harry Po=er and the Sorcerer’s Stone)

I can't be a wizard. I'm just Harry, just Harry.

Give it here, Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!

Draco Malfoy: You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are bemer
than others, Pomer. You don't want to go making friends
with the wrong sort. I can help you there.
[he holds out his hand, which Harry doesn't take]

Harry: I think I can choose the wrong sort for myself, thanks.

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 o What Does He Think?

You can reveal what your character thinks through his feelings and emoEons. For
example, at the beginning of the first book, Harry Pomer is scared and alone. He’s teased
and bullied by Dudley Dursley, miserable, hopeless, and has no friends. He lacks
confidence and is unsure about who he really is.

Aper a year at Hogwarts, however, Harry has found his feet. He’s self‐confident, more
aware of his own talents, and unlikely to let the Dursleys push him around quite so much.

The LAST method will help you quickly and easily turn your characters into real people
that your readers can believe in and idenEfy with.

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Create A Character Fact File
Now you’re ready to make your characters real and believable.

Simply take the LAST formula and slot your characters in, adding as much detail as you
can. Then, to make your characters truly three‐dimensional, include as much of the
following informaEon as you can:

• What are his/her good points? Bad points?

• What are his/her strengths/weaknesses?
• What are his/her flaws?
• What are they afraid of?
• Have they got any quirks or habits, good or bad?
• Do they know a secret?

Again, we’ll try to make this as easy as possible for you to accomplish. Let’s put it all
together on one sheet of paper in a comprehensive Character Fact File. That way you’ll
always be able to find the informaEon when you need it, and can add to it when
something comes to mind.

And that’s an important point to remember. You don’t have to fill in your Character Fact
File all at once; instead, add bits of informaEon as they come to you. Before you know it,
all the details you need will be right there on the page before your eyes.

Of course, some characters (such as your hero) will need to have more detail than others.
Feel free to make a larger Fact File on a piece of paper or on your computer. Or you might
choose to use two or more blocks for each character. It’s up to you; there’s no right or
wrong way, as long as it works. And naturally you can print out this page as many Emes as
you need to.

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 Printable Character Fact File

Name: Looks: Acts: Speaks: Thinks:

Good points: Bad points: Strengths: Weaknesses:

Flaws: Fears: Quirks/habits: Secret:

Name: Looks: Acts: Speaks: Thinks:

Good points: Bad points: Strengths: Weaknesses:

Flaws: Fears: Quirks/habits: Secret:

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Name: Looks: Acts: Speaks: Thinks:

Good points: Bad points: Strengths: Weaknesses:

Flaws: Fears: Quirks/habits: Secret:

Name: Looks: Acts: Speaks: Thinks:

Good points: Bad points: Strengths: Weaknesses:

Flaws: Fears: Quirks/habits: Secret:

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O: Oh, No, What’s Going To Happen Next? ‐ Day 8
They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front
door.

“Everyone here? You there, sEll got yer toad?”

Hagrid raised a giganEc fist and knocked three Emes on the castle door.

‐ excerpt from Harry Po=er and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

Before you can talk about suspense, you need to be very clear what suspense is.

In simple terms, suspense is what makes readers want to know what is going to happen
in your story. It’s not about what IS happening, but about what’s GOING to happen.

Suspense isn’t created by throwing gimmicks into your story; it comes from the story
itself. It comes from those two essenEal criteria that every story must have; namely,
characters and conflict. Put your characters into situaEons of conflict, and you create
suspense.

The policeman took hold of my arm and liped me onto my feet.

I didn’t like him touching me like this.

And this is when I hit him.

- excerpt from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night‐Kme by Mark
Haddon

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Crea4ng & Holding Suspense
The secret to keeping readers turning the pages is to create a sense of anEcipaEon.

There are a number of ways you can do this. One method is by hinEng at what’s about to
come, without spilling the beans completely. For example, in The Book Thief by Markus
Zusak, about halfway through the book there’s a chapter Etled “The Gamblers” which
starts as follows:

Of course, I’m being rude. I’m spoiling the ending, not only of the enEre book, but
of this parEcular piece of it. I have given you two events in advance, because I
don’t have much interest in building mystery.

And further in the same passage:

There is much story. Certainly, there’s a book called The Whistler which we really
need to discuss, along with exactly how it came to be floaEng down the Amper
River in the Eme leading up to Christmas 1941.

This excerpt is relayed to us by the narrator of the book, Death. And though Death admits
to having no interest in creaEng mystery, the suspense is being built by reference to
another book and a related event we’ll be given details about later.

And just as it can be done at the beginning of chapters, it can also be done at the end.
Take this example from The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, Book 3 in the His Dark
Materials trilogy:

UnnoEced by the townspeople, who were busy sweeping up glass and haggling
over the price of the fuel, Will followed the bear‐king up the gangway and aboard
the ship.
I dare you not to read on. Personally I want to find out what the ship looks like, who else
is on board, what adventures Will might find himself in, and so on.

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Both of these excerpts look forward to what’s going to happen, hinEng at what’s sEll to
come. And the only way the reader can find out what the narrator is hinEng at is by
reading further.

Mysterious Titles
Another technique you can use for creaEng suspense is in the Etles you choose for your
chapters. As menEoned earlier, a good Etle can help pull the reader into the story quickly.
For instance, here are just a few chapter headings from The BFG by Roald Dahl:

• The Marvellous Ears

• Snozzcumbers
• The Bloodbomler
• Who?
• Frobscomle and Whizzpoppers
• A Trogglehumper for the Fleshlumpeaters
• Dream‐Catching

The first Eme you come across these chapter headings, your curiosity is aroused. You
want to read the chapter to find out what the author is referring to, so there’s a feeling of
suspense built in. And that goes for chapters where there aren’t ANY made‐up words,
such as Dream‐Catching and Who?

In his book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night‐Kme, Mark Haddon’s chapters are
all prime numbers. That’s because the central character, Christopher Boone, who is also
relaEng the story, is auEsEc and has a parEcular inclinaEon towards mathemaEcs. And
because they’re prime numbers, they’re not in the usual sequence. In fact, the first
chapter of the book is numbered Chapter 2.

This is perfectly in keeping with the tone and narraEve of the book, and it works. But
there are other techniques you can use as well that will help to build suspense.

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More Techniques To Keep Readers Guessing
Suspense is an element you can use to draw readers into your story and keep them
interested in what they’re reading.

Here are 8 further suggesEons to help pull readers along and keep them riveted to the
page:

1. Show The Conflict

At their most basic level, good stories have a hero and a villain. Show these two
characters set against each other to add suspense to the plot.

2. Make Trouble

PuNng your hero in trouble is perhaps the easiest way to create conflict, which in
turn can add suspense to your story.

If your 12‐year‐old central character misses a math test because he’s helping Mrs.
Splinket with her groceries, he should sEll get into trouble when he finally reaches
school. AcEons have consequences, even in books.

3. Illustrate The Consequences

What will happen if the hero fails to rescue the town? Or is unable to defeat the bad
guy? It should be serious enough to make readers will the hero on to succeed.

And remember, it might be ficEon, but things happen for a reason. In a lemer to A. S.
Gruzinsky in 1989, the Russian short story writer and playwright Anton Chekhov
stated:

"One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it."

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 4. Leak InformaUon

As menEoned earlier, hinEng at what’s to come is one way to keep readers interested.
Another method is to trickle out informaEon, possibly from other sources (besides
the hero or villain), and perhaps in the form of secrets. Secrets make people want to
read on.

5. Raise The Stakes

The higher the stakes, the greater the suspense.

If Billy doesn’t get to the bridge before noon, the planted dynamite will blow it to
smithereens. If he manages to get there just in the nick of Eme, however, aper
overcoming several serious obstacles, then suspense is guaranteed.

6. Hold Something Back

This might be another way of saying “Leak out informaEon” ‐ but in this case I’m
thinking more about the end of the story. It isn’t necessary to give away ALL the
pointers about how your story’s going to finish; save something to wrap things up
nicely and/or provide a big, saEsfying finish.

7. Add A Time Limit

Don’t forget that your story happens in Eme. Whether that’s a day, a week, a month
or a year, the element of Eme can increase tension on its own, as your hero struggles
to get the job done before Eme runs out and the “bad things” happen.

8. Surprise Them

Finally, don’t forget about the element of surprise.

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 The American author of the Philip Marlowe crime stories, Raymond Chandler, once
wrote:
“When in doubt, have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand.”

Sadly, this device has been overused in plenty of stories, so it’s not always as effecEve
as it might be. Used correctly, however, a surprise can add a great deal to your story’s
suspense and excitement. Just remember not to cheat by introducing a character on
the last page that no‐one’s ever heard of.

There are many different ways to introduce suspense into your story and keep your
readers interested in what’s going on. Let’s have a look at one more technique before we
move on to the next Building Block.

The Power Of 3
I’ve spoken briefly about the significance of the number 3 earlier in this book. But it’s so
important it deserves a secEon on its own.

Just think of the importance of the number 3 throughout the history of literature. The 3
Musketeers. 3 wishes granted by the genie in Aladdin. Sets of 3 brothers or sisters. 3
obstacles your hero has to overcome. 3 climax points in your story.

Then there are lists of 3, employed by lots of children’s writers and a great way to build
excitement into any story, such as:

The long, thin Bean walked away. The Eny Bunce tromed aper him. The fat Boggis
stayed where he was with his gun poinEng at the fox‐hole.

- from FantasKc Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

It’s no coincidence that you can repeat a musical idea 3 Emes before you have to change
it. The number 3 seems to make sense to us as a limit, and aper that we crave variety.

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And you may also have noEced how Dahl emphasizes his list of 3 by starEng each
sentence with the word The.

Goldilocks tries 3 bowls of porridge, 3 different chairs, 3 beds, and then gets interrupted
by 3 bears. Think that’s a coincidence? It’s not. It’s just good storytelling, told by
someone who knows the power of 3 and isn’t afraid to use it.

Give your story a chance to become a classic like some of those menEoned above.
Employ the Power of 3 to make sure your tale has enough depth and variety to pull
readers along and keep them interested.

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C: Conversa4on, Informa4on, Revela4on – Day 9
To be believable, characters need to act and talk like real people.

That’s true even if your characters are animals or imaginary beings. We need to know
what they think and what they feel so we can idenEfy with them (or not, in the case of
the bad guys). And one of the best, easiest and most saEsfying ways to find out about
characters is through the things they say:

“I always get drunk before a hanging.”

“A hanging? Who –”

“It’s against the law for a Negro to kiss a white woman.”

“Well, then, you’ll have to hang me, too,” said Katherine. “Because I kissed him
back.”

“It ain’t against the law for you to kiss him,” the sheriff explained. “Just for him to
kiss you.”

“We’re all equal under the eyes of God,” she declared.

The sheriff laughed. “Then if Sam and I are equal, why won’t you kiss me?” He
laughed again. “I’ll make you a deal. One sweet kiss, and I won’t hang your
boyfriend. I’ll just run him out of town.”

- from Holes by Louis Sachar

It’s easy to see what kind of people Katherine and the sheriff are in this excerpt. Their
characters are revealed by the things they say and the words they use. You get the feeling
that the sheriff open uses his posiEon of authority to get his own way. He’s a bully who

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knows the law and knows how to use it to his own advantage. The word ain’t marks him
out as either a lazy man or one whose educaEon is minimal.

Katherine, on the other hand, believes in the ideal of jusEce, that goodness mamers and
that all people are equal in the eyes of God. But the sheriff doesn’t share those views and
his soluEon to the problem is to beg favors from the girl. No one believes he’ll hold up his
end of the bargain, i.e. to let Sam go, if Katherine does kiss him.

Dialogue gives you the perfect opportunity to let your characters reveal themselves to
the reader. Having said that, you have to make sure there’s a reason for dialogue. There’s
no point making your characters speak if they have nothing to contribute to the story. But
when they do speak, you need to ensure that you’re doing it correctly.

The Right Way To Use Dialogue

Before we discover the right way to handle dialogue, let’s look at an example that’s about
as bad as it gets:

“Hi, John.”

“Hi, Sammy.”

“How are you?”

“I’m OK.”

“That’s good. Going to the dance tonight?”

“Maybe. Mum said I can go, but my dad’s gonna be away, so I don’t know if I will.”

“I was going to go, but I have to baby sit.”

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Premy awful, I think you’ll agree. This is the kind of dialogue a lot of new writers start out
wriEng. It’s just a back and forth of words between two characters, with nothing much
happening.

This kind of “quesEon and answer” dialogue should be avoided at all costs. It simply
bounces from one character to another like the warm‐up session before a tennis match.
But no one’s hiNng any winners. No informaEon’s being revealed. It’s boring and
unrealisEc. And there’s absolutely no acEon or amempt to move the story forward.

By the Eme we get to the end of this conversaEon we’re not even sure who’s speaking
which lines. It’s just talk for the sake of it, and you should try NOT to do it – ever.

“Hi, John.”

It was Sammy. John decided he didn’t like Sammy, mostly because of the way she
always wanted to hang around and ask stupid quesEons.

“Going to the dance tonight?” Sammy asked.

“Don’t know.” John picked up his books and started walking toward the bus. The
older boys were already on board, and one of them, Calvin, rolled down the
window and yelled:
“Got a new girlfriend, Johnny boy?” Everybody on the bus looked, and most of
the kids started laughing.

John’s face flushed. He turned his head back and said “get lost!” under his breath,
just loud enough for Sammy to hear. Then he ran down the street and all the way
home as fast as he could without looking back.

This version is by far superior. The characters say very limle, and yet we get to know more
about them. Sammy obviously has a crush on John, who’s unsure of his feelings at this
point. He feels that Sammy is a bit of a pest and keeps his words clipped. He probably
likes the amenEon, but he’s not sure how to deal with it, especially in front of his peers.

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So in the end he does what young boys do who can’t handle their feelings; he gets angry
and runs away.

Put Words In Their Mouths

Dialogue isn’t just “dialogue” – it’s conversaEon.

People talk to each other, whether they meet on the street, at school, at work, in a shop,
or over the telephone. We use words to express ourselves, to let other people know how
we’re feeling, to request help, goods or services, to ask someone out on a date, to
explain things, to gossip, to boast about our achievements, to tell jokes, to make
appointments, and so on.

Imagine watching an hour‐long TV drama where nobody spoke for the whole 60 minutes
‐ or even worse, a full‐length feature film. It’s not likely to happen, except possibly in
some film noir biopic about an arEst where the canvases are lep to “speak” for
themselves. But even then you’d have to be very paEent and a great admirer of a
parEcular arEst’s work to sit through it.
On the other hand, a film about Picasso that featured bits of conversaEon from the arEst
would make the whole thing more interesEng and fascinaEng. The best person to tell us
about Picasso’s work is Picasso himself. He’s the “main character” of the piece, so geNng
his perspecEve and hearing his ideas would bring the film alive.

We speak to communicate. Our voices are unique, just like our fingerprints. To make your
characters seem realisEc and life‐like, you have to let them speak to each other. And
when they speak to each other, we find out more about each of their personaliEes.

For instance, take this excerpt by J.K. Rowling from Harry Po=er and the Philosopher’s
Stone:
His aunt was back outside the door.

“Are you up yet?” she demanded.

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 “Nearly,” said Harry.

“Well, get a move on, I want you to look aper the bacon. And don’t you dare let it
burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy’s birthday.”

Mrs. Dursley’s bossy character is obvious here. She’s only interested in her son, Dudley,
whose birthday it is. She’s trying to get Harry up as quickly as possible to help with the
preparaEons. She shows no concern for Harry, who appears to be just another burden
she has to bear.

There isn’t a bemer way to show us Mrs. Dursely’s character. By leNng her speak, we find
out what kind of person she is and how she feels about Harry. It would take a lot of
explanaEon to get the same informaEon across to the reader, which in this case is done
in just a few sentences

Show, Don’t Tell

Another reason for dialogue is to give readers informaEon in a way that moves the plot
forward.

This serves two purposes. It stops you from wriEng lengthy pages of descripEve narraEve
that will slow the story down; and it gives you another means of revealing what’s going
on in your story.

SomeEmes you’ll WANT to slow the story down, especially aper a big climax. That’s when
descripEve narraEve is useful and even necessary. But even then you don’t want to
overdo it.

In general, though, most of your story will be moving towards a final point, when the
universe gets saved (or not) and the damsel in distress gets rescued. Your job is to keep
the acEon going and keep your readers reading. And you do that by showing them what’s
happening, and not telling them.

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Here’s an example to illustrate the point:

“I’ve got it! Come on! There’s not a moment to lose! Why didn’t I think of it
before!”

“Think of what, Dad?”

“A fox can dig quicker than a man!” shouted Mr. Fox, beginning to dig. “Nobody in
the world can dig as quick as a fox!”

The soil began to fly out furiously behind Mr. Fox as he started to dig for dear life
with his front feet. Mrs. Fox ran forward to help him. So did the four children.

“Go downwards!” ordered Mr. Fox. “We’ve got to go deep! As deep as we possibly
can!”
- from FantasKc Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

See what I mean? The acEon is propelled forward through the words of Mr. Fox, and not
through paragraphs of descripEon. The characters in the story are SHOWING us what’s
going on through their words and acEons, and that helps move the story forward
smoothly and efficiently.

But dialogue can do even more for your story. As well as helping to move things forward,
it can also be used as a method of passing on informaEon.

Secrets, Gossip & Hearsay

Another great way to use dialogue is as a revelaEon device.

What I mean is that words are the things we use to tell each other secrets, to gossip, or
to spread rumors and hearsay. So dialogue can be used in this fashion to reveal facts and
details, and usually this informaEon is revealed by someone other than the central
character.

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Here are a few examples to illustrate the point:

“That’s quite enough!” snapped Grandma Josephine. “I can’t bear to listen to it!”

“Nor me,” said Grandma Georgina. “Do all children behave like this nowadays –
like these brats we’ve been hearing about?”

“Of course not,” said Mr. Bucket, smiling at the old lady in the bed. “Some do, of
course. In fact, quite a lot of them do. But not all.”

“And now there’s only one Kcket lea!” said Grandpa George.

“Quite so,” sniffed Grandma Georgina. “And just as sure as I’ll be having cabbage
soup for supper tomorrow, that Ecket’ll go to some nasty limle beast who doesn’t
deserve it!”
- from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

“I tell you, this boy of yours will be a king, and soon.” The lama had his eyes
closed now and was speaking in a whisper. “He will be a king of the cloud forests.
He will rule among the clouds.” He opened his eyes. “That is all I can tell. Ask me
no more.”
- from King of the Cloud Forests by Michael Morpurgo

There were no telephones, but word spread quickly through the small town. By
the end of the day, everyone in Green Lake had heard that the schoolteacher had
kissed the onion picker.

Not one child showed up for school the next morning.

- from Holes by Louis Sachar

And here’s an excerpt from the book Deenie by Judy Blume:

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 “I wasn’t the one who asked the quesEon but I’ve heard that boys who touch
themselves too much can go blind or get very bad pimples or their bodies can
even grow deformed.”

Secrets, gossip and hearsay are part of everyday life, so naturally they feel right in a story.
They help pass on informaEon or might even give a character the upper hand. They can
be part of the narraEve, as in the excerpt from Holes above. But when used in dialogue
they achieve the same objecEve – revealing informaEon – but with the bonus of showing
us more about the characters and the way they interact with each other.

Dialogue Wri4ng Exercise

Here’s an exercise you should be able to have a lot of fun with.

To see how dialogue can bring your story to life, try turning a paragraph of descripEve
text into dialogue. Dialogue is more interesEng to read, tells us more about the
characters than pages of descripEon, and injects pace and acEon into the story.

Just think about when stories are read aloud. The voices and intonaEon you use when
trying to portray each of the characters adds to the storytelling. It’s more interesEng and
exciEng to listen to. It gives the characters life, so to speak.

For instance, imagine how you might read these lines aloud:

Red Riding Hood: “Oh, Grandma, what big ears you have.”
The Big Bad Wolf: “The bemer to hear you with, my dear.”

You’d have lots of fun reading this and using the different voices. And readers get the
same thrill from simply reading it and imagining the voices. But it wouldn’t be the same if
it read:
The wolf’s ears were so big, Red Riding Hood was startled. She guessed her
grandma’s ears had kept growing while the rest of her stopped.

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See what I mean? It’s just descripEon. You don’t get any of the naiveté that’s part of Red
Riding Hood’s character, or the undertones of danger inherent in the wolf’s words.

Try it yourself and you’ll see what a difference dialogue can make. Take this next excerpt
and turn it into dialogue. It’s a scene between 2 friends, Tony and Lila, in a classroom full
of kids, and their teacher, Mrs. Penzilcass.

Tony and Lila opened their books as they’d been told. They didn’t want Mrs.
Penzilcass to pick on them, so they made it look like they were busy. But neither
one of them was on the right page.

The other kids were making a bit of noise, and twice Mrs. Penzilcass had to tell
them to hush up and get on with their reading. Tony laid the small tuning fork
inside the book so it rested neatly in the middle. No‐one could see it unless they
were looking for it. Lila saw it, and immediately began to imagine the haunEng
sound it made – and the strange things that happened.

This excerpt should give you lots of ideas. There are plenty of characters, potenEal for
acEon, a secret, and the possibility of whispering or something similar between the two
main actors, Tony and Lila.

You should also remember that if you write your story down quickly, in the form of
descripEve text, you can always rework it later into dialogue. The important thing is to
get the story down first, then worry about polishing it up later. Don’t be tempted to try
and write your story so it’s perfect the first Eme: that just doesn’t happen.

This exercise will help you understand the importance of dialogue in bringing the story to
life. To see one way you might achieve this objecEve, take a look at Appendix I, where
I’ve had a crack at it myself. But try NOT to look ahead unEl you’ve had a go at it on your
own.

The next Building Block will show you how to write endings that’ll guarantee your readers
keep on reading… right to the very end!

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K: Knock‐out Endings – Day 10
As you might expect by now, I use the term “endings” to refer to the end of chapters, the
end of major secEons, and the end of your story.

I’ve talked about using endings to create suspense in an earlier part of this book. And
that’s one way to create an ending that will propel readers into the next chapter or
secEon of your book. But it’s not the only way.

It’s become a feature in recent DVDs to give viewers the opEon of alternate endings. I
wouldn’t recommend this idea for use in your children’s story (although there’s no reason
why you couldn’t try it) but it does make for a great wriEng exercise.

If your story is firmly embedded in your brain, you’ve probably got an idea how you want
your book to end. That’s terrific: write that ending down if you haven’t done so already.
Then, try to write a couple of alternate endings using the following informaEon.

Write Page Turners

Spy on a teacher? No one had to tell me what was going to happen next. I was
going to get suspended!

- from The SubsKtute Teacher from Mars by Elaine Moore

Does Larry get suspended? There’s only one way to find out; you have to move on to the
next chapter. It might not be subtle, but it works.

The knack with good endings is that they shouldn’t rely on too many tricks. In other
words, try to make your story flow naturally from one event to another, without filling
your manuscript with unexpected or unusual occurrences. These things will only mark
you out as an amateur.

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Arouse Curiosity
Reading is an adventure. We’re transported to new worlds, meet new characters and
discover new ways of looking at things. And naturally when we come across anything
new, we’re curious to know what it is.

Is the sky really falling on Chicken Limle? We won’t know unEl the end of the book. But
we really want to find out, so we keep reading. How long can the Emperor – and all the
adults around him ‐ pretend that he has the most beauEful set of clothes in the world?
There’s only one way to learn the answer: read on. Once curiosity is aroused, the reader
is hooked:

“Go slower!” panted Mrs. Salt.

“Impossible,” said Mr. Wonka. “We should never get there in Eme if I did.”

“Get where?” asked Veruca Salt.

“Never you mind,” said Mr. Wonka. “You just wait and see.”

- from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Again, the only way the reader can discover what Mr. Wonka is talking about is to keep
reading. You want to read on to learn where they’re going and what they’ll find when
they get there. Your curiosity gets the bemer of you, and you’re forced to conEnue.

Children are curious by nature. If you can sEmulate that curiosity and ignite their natural
inquisiEveness, it will be easy to maintain their interest and keep them turning those
pages. And one way to do that is to hint at informaEon that will be revealed in the next
chapter or two.

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Surprise!
Like most people, children love surprises; as long as they really ARE surprises and not so
contrived as to seem completely implausible.

For instance, it would be a surprise in a thriller if the good guy turned out to be the bad
guy all along. Or if your hero’s feeling that someone was watching him was correct, and it
turned out to be an alien from another planet. Or if everything started happening
backwards. Or if words suddenly had completely different meanings to what they should
have. Or…

You get the idea. A train crashing into a house is a surprise, and so is snow falling in
August, or in the middle of a desert. It doesn’t take much to think of something
surprising. Just remember that the surprise has to be an integral part of the story, and
not placed there simply as a ruse to keep readers reading.

The children in R.L. SEne’s Goosebumps book My Hairiest Adventure are surprised to
discover that they are, in fact, all dogs, and that the local doctor has been experimenEng
on them to turn them into children. In Judy Bloom’s Deenie, Deenie is surprised to learn
that she has curvature of the spine, especially since her mother has been grooming her
for a career as a model. In Harry Po=er and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling, we
learn that it’s Professor Quirrell who’s the baddie and not Professor Snape as had been
assumed.

In The Railway Children by E. Nesbit, Bobby is surprised to read in the paper that her
father is actually in jail, and not assisEng the government as she thought. And the biggest
surprise of all comes at the end of the story, when Bobby’s father appears out of the
steam on the staEon plavorm.

Surprises do work and can add an extra dimension to a good story. You just need to make
sure it’s a real surprise, one that’s not ridiculously contrived, and one that fits in with
your story.

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Twist In The Tail
These kinds of endings – with a twist in the tail – are hard to pull off.

The most famous example is probably the “It was all a dream” scenario. Unfortunately
that kind of thing won’t wash any more. It’s seen as a cop‐out and has no real value for
the reader.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t spice things up in the end. It simply means you have to
be clever and possibly hold something back unEl the final moment.

You’ll recall that in R.L. SEne’s My Hairiest Adventure the children are not really children
at all, but are dogs. That’s a bit of a twist in itself. But the central character Larry finds out
something even more bizarre.

His parents tell him the truth about the doctor and his experiment, but they also tell him
that the doctor won’t be running that experiment any longer. So imagine Larry’s shock
when his parents return home with a new baby whose eyes look remarkably like those of
the family cat.

And if the twist in the tail appeals to you, you can use it in any place in your story, and
not only at the end. It’s a device that might help build suspense towards one of your
main climax points, or perhaps it might even serve as a climax point in itself. Whatever
you decide, try to make sure it’s a real twist and not something totally unconnected with
the rest of the story.

Now it’s Eme to take a look back at the “beginnings” you wrote earlier and try to come
up with suitable endings to go with them. You can do this by following my Endings
WriUng Exercise in the very next secEon.

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Endings Wri4ng Exercise
Here’s a trick for wriEng endings that will help to hold your story together.

Rather than trying to write endings in isolaEon, you can tailor your endings so they fit
exactly in with the rest of your story. Here’s how to do it:

1. Read the opening paragraph of any chapter.

2. Work out what needs to happen immediately before that.
3. Write the ending for the previous chapter.

Simple, right? It all depends on the age group you’re wriEng for, though. For early
chapter books, chapters should end decisively. For middle grade readers, you might need
a hook to pull readers into the next chapter. And, of course, you can use any of the
techniques discussed in this secEon to add a bit of extra oomph to your endings.

Try it yourself. Take one of the openings for any chapter except Chapter One, read it
through carefully, work out what needs to happen immediately before it, and write the
ending of the previous chapter. Do the same for every opening you’ve got wrimen.
Don’t worry if the endings you write aren’t completely perfect: you can always make
alteraEons as you read through the story while you’re wriEng, and again while you’re
ediEng. But it’s always going to be easier to make alteraEons or edits when you’ve got
something down on paper.

This technique works well enough for ends of chapters or secEons, but when it comes to
the end of the book you need to consider a few other points as well. Read on to find out
what I mean.

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S: Serials, Sequels & Spin‐offs – Day 11
How carefully do you need to consider the ending of your story?

Some people might argue that you don’t need to consider it at all. If you know how it
ends, just end it. And, of course, some stories are over when they’re over. But that’s not
always the case.

In my story Flu=er Bunnies, for instance, I’ve created a series of characters AND a story.
The characters can (and will!) easily be able to be slomed into another story, and
therefore the first story comes to a decisive end. But the characters are strong enough, I
hope, to exist separately from a single story, and maybe even become a series.

If that’s what you want, that’s fine. It depends on you and your goals for your stories. In
this case, I simply wrote the story and THEN realized the potenEal for a series. I didn’t set
out to write a series. But once the story was finished, the potenEal was obvious.

Any story in which the characters are strong enough – such as the Harry Po=er series, The
Chronicles of Narnia, and so on ‐ can become the springboard for a sequel or spin‐off. The
trick is in knowing what you’ve got and being able to keep it going.

But it’s not always necessary. And open you’ll finish a story just as another completely
new idea comes to mind. So, instead of wriEng that sequel, you start working on your
new project. Or maybe your head is bursEng with so many ideas that you haven’t got
Eme to concentrate so much of your efforts on one set of characters.

Perhaps that’s what happened to Roald Dahl.

Wrap It Up
SomeEmes stories need to be wrapped up and put away. When that’s the case, you need
to make sure they come to a definite end:

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 They sat there by the hole, waiEng for the fox to come out.

And so far as I know, they are sEll waiEng.

- from FantasKc Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Even though this is a great ending, you can see that it is rather open‐ended. Did Dahl do
this on purpose, just in case he decided to make Mr. Fox the subject of another
adventure? Or did he simply take pleasure in leaving the three farmers waiEng, giving Mr.
Fox the last laugh?

Either way, the story is done. It’s been well and truly wrapped up, leaving us with a
terrific image and a sense that the hero has triumphed. And if you’ve got Dahl’s gip for
telling a good story, you simply move on to the next one.

SomeEmes, though, the story might be over, but it’s obvious that there’s more to come,
as you’ll discover in the next secEon.

The End?
“Hope you have – er – a good holiday,” said Hermione, looking uncertainly aper
Uncle Vernon, shocked that anyone could be so unpleasant.

“Oh, I will,” said Harry, and they were surprised at the grin that was spreading
over his face. “They don’t know we’re not allowed to use magic at home. I’m
going to have a lot of fun with Dudley this summer…”

- from Harry Po=er and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

This excerpt wraps up one story and hints at what’s to come. It’s obviously NOT the end
of Harry Pomer and his exploits, but it is the end of this parEcular adventure. Rowling
knows there’s another story to follow, so this way she’s closing the door on one journey
while wheNng our appeEtes for the next one at the same Eme.

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Here’s a different way to do it altogether. The first paragraph reads like the end of the
story, and then Morpurgo launches into pages of follow‐up informaEon, all in italics,
which is how the story really ends:

Just now I touched the wriEng on the wall before I turned off the lamp. I’m going
to do that every night to bring him luck over in France. And I’m going to pray for
him too, then maybe he’ll come back like Tips has, like Adolphus Tips has.

And now over sixty years later, here’s the beginning of the end of the story.

- from The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips by Michael Morpurgo

Every story is different, and every ending should be, too. And, naturally, there’s more
than one way to do it. But that’s a good thing, because it allows writers to be creaEve
and imaginaEve.

Keep A Story File

And speaking of being creaEve and imaginaEve, don’t forget to keep track of all your
good ideas.

If you’re like me, you will have had ideas for tons of stories enter your head at one Eme
or another. Some I bothered to write down, while others I didn’t. The ones I wrote down
have all been worked up and completed: and I think that speaks for itself.

All it takes is a dedicated notebook – which needn’t be fancy – or a word processing file
that you use ONLY for story ideas. Write down everything that comes to mind, whether
it’s a character, a plot, a scene, an ending, or anything else you think you could turn into a
children’s story. You’ll be surprised how useful it will prove to you over the years.

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Many Emes I revisit my notes and find an idea that I hadn’t fully developed. These open
become the springboard for stories themselves, or else will give me another idea I can
use to create a new tale. But if I’d thrown them away I’d never be able to remember them
all.

Some people will argue that pen and paper is an old fashioned way of doing things. With
so much technology available these days, it’s a fair point. But there are Emes when it’s
easier to scribble an idea down quickly on whatever’s at hand, even if that’s a paper
napkin in a café. I know, because I’ve done it myself!

If you’ve got a cell phone with Internet access that you always carry with you, or an
electronic personal organizer, then it might be easier to input the data directly. Whatever
works for you, do it. There are no rules, except the rule that you should keep your ideas
somewhere for future use.

And if you run out of story ideas, here are some great places to look for new ones:

• A headline in a newspaper or magazine

• A TV show or advert
• Other books that you’ve read or are reading
• Book Etles in your library or book store
• ArEcles in newspapers or magazines
• The Internet and/or Google
• An overheard snippet of conversaEon
• Photographs
• Your own childhood memories
• Your family and friends
• Song lyrics

Good ideas are all around you. All you have to do is stay alert to the possibiliEes and take
notes. Then, when you need inspiraEon, you’ll be able to find new and exciEng material
whenever you need it.

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For instance, the other day I was siNng in the kitchen drinking coffee, staring out the
window at the field behind the house. The grass was a couple of feet tall, blowing gently
in the wind. It seemed to be waving. That gave me an idea for a children’s horror story. I
wrote it down straight away and am working on it right now.

It doesn’t mamer where you get your ideas from, as long as you get them. Any idea can
be turned into a story: if you can also incorporate strong characters whose words and
acEons create and resolve conflict in one way or another, then it can be a great story.

And don’t forget to write down/type up any ideas for turning the story you’re working on
NOW into a series, or adding a sequel. Just make notes and then leave it unEl this story is
done.

Now we’ll turn our amenEon to your manuscript and geNng it ready for editors and
publishers to see. Before you move on, though, make sure you’ve done all the exercises
and completed all the worksheets in the previous chapters. If you have, there should be
the bare bones of a children’s book before your eyes. If there’s something you’ve
neglected, go back and work on it now so you have a solid drap to edit.

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Your Building Blocks Summary
How are you coping?

You’re nearly there. If you’ve been following closely and working through all the
exercises, you should have a drap of your children’s story in front of you. Here’s a
reminder of what we talked about in the Building Blocks secEon, just in case you skipped
anything:

√ How to write strong openings – including 10 Eps to make your openings the best
they can be.
√ The LAST word on character building – with printouts to help you grow your own

Character Fact File.

√ More than eight different techniques for creaEng and holding suspense.
√ Tips and tricks for wriEng dialogue that reveals informaEon or moves the story
forward. And don’t forget to do the Dialogue WriUng Exercise!
√ A clever way to write endings that will help to hold your story together.
√ OpEons for wriEng a sequel or making a serial from your story.
√ Tips on creaEng your own Story File to help with this story and the next.

You’ll recall that the MAGIC formula helped you work out your story’s message, potenEal
audience, genre, narraEve structure (including chapter lengths), sequence of events,
suspense graph, and to sketch in a basic character tree. In the Building Blocks secEon you
took this informaEon and used it to write openings and endings, add depth to characters,
turn descripEon into dialogue, and pull those chapters together.

The next step in the process involves ediEng your work, checking for mistakes and
turning that rough drap into a finished product.

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SecUon Three: Pukng Your Book To Bed
Days 12 to 14
Wow! It’s been a busy 11 days, hasn’t it? I hope you’ve managed to sEck to the schedule,
follow the plan and do all of the exercises. If so, you should have your very own children’s
story siNng on the desk or screen in front of you.

The next two secEons will help you take what you’ve wrimen and add the finishing
touches. You’ve already done a lot of work (you have, haven’t you?), so these secEons
will avoid unnecessary explanaEon and simply show you how to put the spit and polish
on your efforts.

None of these ideas will tax your brain; they’re just techniques for trimming excess and
ediEng out errors and inconsistencies. But don’t let your guard down. Your story NEEDS
to be edited, no mamer how good you think it is. And once it’s edited and you’ve gomen
some feedback, you’ll be able to send it off to agents and publishers knowing it’s as good
as it can be.

Is there someone you know and trust who can help you? If so, enlist their services. It’s
not easy to be objecEve about your own work, and a fresh pair of eyes can someEmes
spot mistakes that you might skim over. I do it myself, partly because I think I know what
I’ve wrimen, and partly because I can’t wait to get the project finished. But I’m always
grateful when someone points out a typo, misspelled word or flaw in the logic.

EdiEng is what can turn a good story into a great one. All writers have to edit their work,
whether that’s a 500 word arEcle or a 70,000 word manuscript. You’re in good company!
So let’s get right down to the first part of the ediEng process.

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Tidy Up Your Manuscript: Day 12
Proofread Your Story
Your first task is simple enough; you need to proofread your work and check for obvious
mistakes. This is when it helps if you have a second pair of eyes who can go through it
with you.

Don’t just read the story through from beginning to end, however. If you do that you’ll
get caught up in the acEon and forget that you’re supposed to be ediEng. One way round
this problem is to print out secEons in isolaEon and go through them as if they were
completely independent pieces of wriEng.

For instance, you might start with Chapter 12. Copy and paste it into a new word
processing document. Run your spellchecker and then print it off. Read it slowly, trying to
spot any typos, repeEEon, words that have been lep out, and so on. If it helps, you can
start with the last page and work backwards, which will keep you from geNng tangled up
in the story.

Read Out Loud

Once you’ve done the first phase of proofreading, make any necessary correcEons and
print off the chapter once more. Read the story out loud to check for any blips or
problems you may have overlooked. And remember to make changes and save your work
before moving on to the next secEon.

If possible, try to get someone else to read the story out loud to you. That way you can
listen more objecEvely, without having to read anything or juggle bits of paper about.

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Clean Up Your Dialogue: Day 13
Read Out Loud – Again!
Dialogue is speech, so it makes sense to check it by speaking it out loud.

As menEoned earlier, don’t try to read through the dialogue from beginning to end. Take
one secEon of your book and concentrate on that. Keep doing so unEl you’ve worked
through all of the secEons, but not necessarily in the right order. Tick them off on a piece
of paper when you’ve finished so you know which secEons have been completed.

Read through your dialogue and check for missing words, punctuaEon, and so on. Make
sure the person who is speaking is the right person. You might find it useful to change
your voice for each character, or you might be able to get some friends to help you read
the different characters.

Don’t feel bad asking for help. People will jump at the chance to be part of your creaEon,
to help bring your book one step closer to publicaEon. It isn’t a sign of weakness to ask
for assistance, it’s a sign of intelligence.

Check For Inconsistencies

Does your dialogue read realisEcally? Does one character always use the same words or
phrases? Does one character use slang? Is it obvious who’s speaking at all Emes? Have
you used ‘he said’ or ‘she said’ too open? Is more dialogue needed?

Make any necessary changes and save your work.

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Read Your Book Backwards: Day 14
An arEst friend of mine told me once that the best way to draw from a photograph is to
turn it upside down.

The logic behind it is simple; when the image is right‐side up, your brain sees it for what it
is; an orange, a tree, a landscape, etc. But when you turn it upside down, it becomes
shapes and colors. Your brain is free to deal with these elements independently, as it
were, without merely trying to recreate a tree or an orange.

And the same is true with words. Rather than trying to read your book through from the
beginning, start at the end. Read the last page of the final chapter first, and work
backwards. If there’s anything on the page that shouldn’t be there, chances are you’ll
spot it.

Avoid Pages Of Unwieldy Descrip4on

This bit is easy. Flip through your story and see if there are any pages of solid text.

Remember that you’re supposed to be wriEng for children. It’s all about your characters.
The story needs to be revealed through what the characters say and how they act. Too
much descripEon will turn it into an essay.

Skim through your manuscript and look out for blocks of text. If you find any, consider
rewriEng them so they’re interspersed with dialogue. Break them up into smaller chunks
of descripEon and let your characters do the rest of the work for you.

Children want to read about the characters in your story. Without characters, there is no
story. Make sure your tale is character‐led, and not simply a list of events.

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Check Chronology & Flow
Finally, go through your story to check its chronology and flow.

You can use you suspense graph to check how things are meant to progress. If anything is
out of place, consider rewriEng or even omiNng unEl everything makes sense.

And the same goes for your characters. Is there a character that appears on page 21 and
nowhere else in the book? Or does a long‐lost cousin pop up in the penulEmate
paragraph? Be ruthless and edit out all of these inconsistencies to make your story as
Eght and controlled as you can.

Right; that’s the iniEal ediEng out of the way. Now you’ve got to be brave and give your
masterpiece one last going over. Move on to SecEon Four to find out how to do it.

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SecUon Four: All Dolled Up & (Almost) Ready To
Go
You’re nearly there!

All that Eme you spent wriEng and ediEng your work is about to pay off. In this secEon I’ll
show you how to fine‐tune your story so that it matches your expectaEons and achieves
everything you set out to achieve.

The first part of the process is the easiest…

Tuck It Away For A While

In order to get some objecEvity, you need to get away from your story. And the best way
to do that is simply to hide it in your desk drawer for a whole week.

Give It A Week!
Leave your manuscript alone for a full 7 days. Then, when you come back to it, you’ll be
able to evaluate your work again with a fresh pair of eyes.

Do something completely different during that week to take your mind off your work. Go
for a walk, a drive, a holiday; anything that has nothing to do with your story. Don’t be
tempted even to think about it, if you can avoid it.

You might find this hard to do, but it’s worth it. You’ll noEce aper the week is up that
you’ll have renewed enthusiasm and will be dying to get back to your book. And the
break will also enable you to approach your story in a more objecEve manner.

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Play Around With It
When the week is up, read through the story and make notes. Is there something you
want to change? Is the ending convincing? Are the climaxes exciEng enough?

Don’t be afraid to make changes. If something strikes you as odd, or if you think a chapter
needs more oomph, get in there and make the necessary alteraEons. You can always save
the original file, just in case you change your mind.

Read & Edit Once More

At last! It’s the final hurdle, your last chance to improve what you’ve wrimen.

Go through your manuscript and edit it one more Eme. This is doubly important if you’ve
made changes aper your “week off”. Check any new material carefully to make sure there
are no obvious mistakes, and to ensure that it all fits together nicely with what you’d
wrimen previously.

Then, when you think you’ve done all you can, print off your story and get ready to take it
to the streets!

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Take It For A Test Drive
Hold on Eght; this is the fun bit, but it can also be a bit nerve‐wracking.

WriEng a story in isolaEon is one thing; but it’s quite another handing that story over to
someone else to read. That is your ulEmate goal, though; you want EVERYBODY to read
your book, to line up outside the book store waiEng for your next release. So you have to
be brave, swallow hard and just go for it.

The good news is that this kind of market research will serve you well on two fronts. First,
it will tell YOU exactly how good (or bad!) your story is. Second, it will give PUBLISHERS
(or agents or editors) an idea of the potenEal for your story.

And make no mistake: these days it’s harder than ever to get published if you’re a
complete novice. The more you can bring to the table in terms of convincing a publisher
or agent to take you on, the bemer. It could make the difference between success and
failure.

So take a deep breath and get out there!

Lobby Parents & Children

As soon as you’re ready, make copies of your book and hand it out to anyone you can
think of.

Give it to adults to read to their children, children to read on their own, teachers to read
to their classes, and so on. The more people who read it, the bemer. As they say in the
world of adverEsing, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. You need as much feedback
as you can get, and you need to use that feedback to make any final tweaks in the story.

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Distribute Feedback Forms
You’ll need a feedback form for every person who reads your book. These forms will help
you keep track of who’s read your book, what they thought of it, and will help you thrash
out any weaknesses or problem areas in your story.

You might not think it’s essenEal if you give your book to just a single person to read.
Aper all, you can always sit and talk to that person about the story.

But what if your story gets read during a mother‐and‐child day at the local library? Or to a
classroom full of children? Then you’re going to need some way to collect and digest the
informaEon so you can use it to improve your story.

That’s exactly what the Feedback Form is for. It allows you to take reacEons from children
who’ve read your book more or less on the spot. And that informaEon is worth its weight
in gold.

How you distribute and/or collect the forms depends on the situaEon. If it’s in a school or
library and you’re able to get permission, you might drop in and read your story yourself.
If that’s not possible, then perhaps you can convince a teacher to do it for you. Or a
teaching assistant or helper, if the teachers are too busy.

You’ll find the feedback form on the very next page, ready to be printed. Try this
experiment at least once and you’ll see why it’s such a good idea, and what a big
difference it can make to your story’s final look and feel.

And don’t worry if the people who read your book are unable to write the answers down.
Even a general consensus – as in ‘Who’s your favorite character?’ or similar – can be
obtained from a teacher who knows her students well enough, no mamer how old they
are.

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 PRINTABLE FEEDBACK FORM

Story Etle: ____________________________________________________________

Wrimen by: ____________________________________________________________

I think this story is:

Brilliant Good Okay Bad

My favorite character is
______________________________________________________

The best bit of the story is

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

The worst bit of the story is

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

I would like the story bemer if

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

I think the story is:

Too long Too short Just the right length

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Use Feedback To Make Improvements
Once you’ve collected all the forms, it’s Eme to get to work.

Go through the forms carefully and find out if there are any points that keep recurring.
For example, maybe the general consensus is that the story is too short. Or perhaps most
people thought the bad guy wasn’t evil enough. Or there’s a twist in the tail that just
doesn’t ring true.

Don’t be afraid to consider other people’s opinions. Even if you don’t agree with all of
them, if the same things keep popping up, that should tell you there’s more work to be
done. It’s your story in the end, but aper all this work you’ll want it to be the best it can
be. If no one wants to read it, then what’s the point?

So be objecEve and make changes where you think you can. Then, when you’re ready,
print out a final drap and get a few people to read it through one more Eme. If
everybody’s happy, then you’re ready to send your work out into the big wide world –
and hopefully get it published!

One of the bonus files that accompany this book is called A Pockelul of Publishing. As
the name implies, it’s packed with informaEon on how to find the right agent to
represent your work, or the right publisher to print your story. It’s not easy to get
published, but it’s a lot easier when your story is a good one that loads of people already
appreciate.

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CONCLUSION
CongratulaEons!

If you’re reading this, it means that you’ve made it through the whole course. Well done!

It really IS possible to write a children’s story in 14 days. And even if it takes you slightly
longer than that, the important thing is that you WILL get it wrimen. All you have to do is
sEck to the plan, be determined, and never give up.

And I should know. It took me a long Eme to get my first children’s book published, as
you’ll discover when you read the accompanying bonus file, An Interview with the
Author. I came so close on two different occasions, only to have my hopes dashed
against the rocks at the last minute. But I didn’t give up, and my determinaEon paid off in
the end.

There’s something else you should remember, too. Your first story might be fantasEc, or it
might be just okay. But the next one you write could be simply amazing. It’s no
coincidence that the best writers have wrimen more than one story. Every story is unique
and holds the potenEal for you to write a winner. So don’t semle for just one book: use
this course to write a second, a third, or even a whole series.

Finally, I want to thank you for taking the Eme to go through this course with me. It’s
been a hell of a ride, and I hope it’s been worth it. Don’t forget that my amempt at the
Dialogue WriUng Exercise follows in Appendix I.

And good luck with all your wriEng ventures in the future!

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Appendix I
Here’s the descripEve text featuring the two characters Tony and Lila from the Dialogue
WriEng Exercise in the secEon enEtled ConversaUon, InformaUon, RevelaUon.

Tony and Lila opened their books as they’d been told. They didn’t want Mrs.
Penzilcass to pick on them, so they made it look like they were busy. But neither
one of them was on the right page.

The other kids were making a bit of noise, and twice Mrs. Penzilcass had to tell
them to hush up and get on with their reading. Tony laid the small tuning fork
inside the book so it rested neatly in the middle. No‐one could see it unless they
were looking for it. Lila saw it, and immediately began to imagine the haunEng
sound it made – and the strange things that happened.

And here’s the same excerpt rewrimen using mostly dialogue:

“Okay, children, now open your books to chapter twenty‐one and read the first
three pages to yourself.”

Mrs. Penzilcass put her glasses on and opened a book of her own. Tony and Lila
did as their teacher ordered.

“Lila,” whispered Tony. “Look in my book.”

He flamened the spine so she could see the small tuning fork resEng in the middle
of the open book.

“What if it starts humming?” Lila whispered back, looking worried.

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 “Semle down, please,” Mrs. Penzilcass barked without looking up from her own
book. “I said read to yourselves, not to each other.”

Hmmmm‐mmmmm.

It started soply. At first it sounded like that background noise made by lights and
computers and stuff. Then it got a bit louder.

Hmmmm‐mmmmm.

“Tony; be careful!” Lila mouthed the words at him.

Tony fixed his gaze on Mrs. Penzilcass. She kept her eyes on her book, but waved
her hand about as if she were swaNng a fly.

Tony’s heart beat faster. He put his hands over the tuning fork to try and deaden
the sound, but the heat from his palms only made things worse. This Eme the
humming didn’t stop.

Hmmmm‐mmmmm‐mmmmm‐mmmmm…

“Who’s talking? Tony, is that you?”

“No, Mrs. Penzilcass,” Tony sang out. He hadn’t meant to sing, but the tuning
fork had taken control. Lila watched open‐mouthed as her best friend conEnued
his ‘performance’.

“I can’t help myself”, sang Tony.

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 The other children laughed at first, then started covering their ears and moaning
as the humming fork grew even louder.

“Quiet, children!” Mrs. Penzilcass ordered. “Who’s making that dreadful noise?”

And so on. I hope you can see the difference it makes when dialogue and acEon replace
descripEon. Not only is the segment longer, but it’s full of life. It’s not telling you what’s
happening, it’s showing you. Suspense builds up as the tuning fork becomes more acEve;
you’re not sure what’s going to happen next, how it will affect Tony and Lila, how Mrs.
Penzilcass will respond, etc.

Of course, this is only one way the scene could unfold. Maybe your amempts to turn this
text into dialogue will be even bemer. But the important thing to remember is that you
can turn ANY paragraph into dialogue and acEon if you try hard enough. And dialogue
and acEon will always make for a bemer read.

Good luck!

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