Children's book writing Archives - Saltwater Taffy by Eric DelaBarre

7 SECRETS FOR CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITING

While there are potentially 1000 tips for children’s book writing, here are my 7 Secrets for Children’s Book Writing. I used these secrets to write my award winning children’s book, Saltwater Taffy. And remember when taking advice from other writers about writing…find what works for you and apply it to your writing, but never lose sight of YOUR writing. More and more, people are writing to satisfy either the marketplace or their agents. What does that leave? A bland and boring piece of writing.

1. MAKE IT FUN – Kids want adventure. Kids want action. I once heard a kid say: “If it’s not fun, I don’t want to read it.” With fractured attention spans and our culture of ADD and ADHD, you have to grab your reader on page 1 with an awesome opening!

2. CHARACTERS AGE – Once you determine your target audience, tack on a few years to your main characters. Kids like to read what it’s like to ‘be older.’

3. PACE IS EVERYTHING – On Law & Order, we had one rule; if the scene doesn’t move the story, cut it. This speaks to TIP #1. Kids want the story to read stories that are fun and cook! Read more

CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITING

Children’s Book Writing can be a difficult task, but from the minute we sit down to write something without an assignment from a teacher, we are officially writers.

The minute we have a desire to create something out of nothing, we are writers. The minute we answer a story call from the deepest parts of our souls, we are writers and we are at our very best.

After 7 seasons of Law & Order, 2 seasons on The Big Easy for USA Networks, writing and directing a nightmare job for Lions Gate Films (Venice Underground), adapting a NY Times best seller for 2oth Century Fox Read more