Section I: Getting Started
Introduction: There’s always room for more good Children’s stories.
Lesson 1: Let’s go!
A. Finding time
a. Everybody’s busy
b. Strategies for making time
c. The secret: Often lack of time is a cover story for fear of failure
B. Silencing your inner critic
a. Self-doubt as misguided survival instinct
b. “Sing like you don’t need the money”
c. Don’t worry. Be writing
C. Finding ideas
a. Read, read, read!
b. Think on paper
c. Carrying an inspiration notebook
d. Know your audience: Interacting with children
e. Developing “writer’s ear”
f. Ask “what if”
Lesson 2: Just do it
A. Exercising your writing muscles
a. Character sketches
b. Scene sketches
c. Journaling your own childhood
d. Write letters
B. Commit yourself
a. “A professional is an amateur who didn’t quit”
b. It takes a million words
Section II: Story Craft
Introduction: What makes a story great?
--Lying to tell a truth
--Taking readers where they would like to go
--Helping us learn about ourselves
Lesson 3: Creating characters kids will love
A. Age
a. Character slightly older than average reader
b. Which issues are important to this age
group? Which are taboo?
B. Likeability
a. Characters kids can admire
b. Characters kids would hang with
C. identification
a. Does the character face a problem the reader would face?
b. Are the stakes high enough to make the reader care?
D. emotion
a. Thought as dramatic action
b. Showing characters’ feelings
E. Point of View
a. First person vs. Third
b. Third person variations
c. Consistency is the key
Lesson 4: And then What Happened? Plot and the Children’s story
A. conflict
a. Character + problem = dramatic idea
b. Child-appropriate problems
c. Adventure
B. action
a. “Show, don’t tell”
a. Have your character attack the problem
b. Don’t make things too easy
C. dialog: A valuable plot tool
D. resolution
a. Who wins?
b. Let your main character learn something about himself/herself
E. Other narrative tools
a. Past or present tense
b. Foreshadowing – often worked in on
revision
Lesson 5: Setting and the art of description
A. Appeal to all the senses
B. Always be specific
C. Looking through a child’s eyes
C. When less is more
Lesson: 6. He said, she said. Dialog in the Children’s story
A. Developing your ear
a. Listen to children you know
b. Listen to children you don’t know
B. Um, ah, y’know? The differences between conversation and dialog
Section III: Process: Getting from blank page to story
Lesson 7: Modeling
A. “Typeovers” – Running good stories through your fingers
B. Imitation
a. “riffing:” Taking an existing story and throwing some variations at it
C. Avoiding plagiarism
a. When in doubt, throw it out
b. Let others help you judge
Lesson 8: The first draft
A. To outline or not to outline
a. Try different approaches
b. Keep varying your routine to keep things fresh
B. Silence that critic!
a. Give yourself permission to stumble
b. The only failure is a blank page
c. The awesome power of commitment
i. Commit to sitting at your writing space even if no words will come
C. Finish what you start
a. Complete the draft, even if you never take it further
b. To abandon work in progress is to let the critic win
Lesson 9: Writing is rewriting
A. Let it sit
B. Techniques
a. Cutting
i. “Second draft = first draft minus 10%”
ii. Be mindful of word counts in the submission guidelines of your target publication
b. Adding detail – find opportunities to be more specific
i. What kind of tree was it?
ii. What did the kitchen smell like?
iii. Stop short of sounding like a commercial: “He picked up a stick of Parkay Margerine.”
c. Break it up
i. No one element – narration, dialog, action, should dominate a story. Strive for balanced variation of elements
d. Work the lead
i. Hooking your reader with the opening
1. intrigue
2. suspense
3. curiosity
4. lead with action
5. foreshadowing
e. Increasing drama
i. What is at stake for your character?
ii. Can you up the ante?
f. Read your work out loud
i. Important to remember that children’s stories are often read to children, not by them
C. Don’t despair, share!
a. Showing your work to others
i. Finding a “first reader”
b. Writer’s workshops, and other slippery slopes
i. Critiques: Valuable advice or confidence killer?
ii. Connecting with other writers
c. Showing work to friends and family
i. Reading to kids (yours and someone else’s)
d. The value of moving on
i. Don’t spend your life perfecting one story
1. Let your best story always be the next one you will write
2. When you’re sick of something, start something new
Section IV: To Market to Market
Lesson 10: Target Practice. Studying the markets
A. Short Stories: Read as many stories in your target market as you can
a. Subject matter
b. Word count
c. Style
B. Children’s books
d. How many pages?
e. Words per page
f. Picture books – thinking visually
g. Chapter books
i. How many characters?
ii. How many chapters?
Locating and studying submission guidelines
C. Manuscript preparation
h. Word counts
i. Reading level
j. Standard format
D. Submitting
k. E-mail or snail?
l. Cover letters
m. What’s a SASE?
n. Keeping track of submissions
o. The waiting game
Lesson 11: Don’t Give up
A. Rejection is a fact of life
a. Reasons editors reject
b. “Thank you sir, may I have another?”
i. The art of the thank you note
c. The rejection-proof writer
i. Seek safety in numbers: the more you submit, the better your chances
ii. You are not your writing
B. Be a pro (even if you aren’t)
a. Working with editors
i. Be open-minded
ii. Show respect
iii. Pick your battles
iv. Rights and other hang-ups
b. Answering “The Question:” What to say when people ask “Have you been published?”
c. Shameless self-promotion
i. Setting up a website
ii. Become a storyteller at your local school or library
iii. Become known in your community
1. offer your stories through your church or school newsletter
C. Do it for the love
a. When you enjoy your work, you have already succeeded
