Hi, everyone, it’s Jeff, and since we launched this site, I’ve gotten lots of questions like, “where do you get your ideas?” or “how did you start writing children’s books?”   I’ve spoken with many people who have always wanted to write and figure that a children’s book is a great place to start because they are so short.  I’ve also read countless blogs that say this logic just isn’t so.  I couldn’t disagree more.  Children’s books are a PERFECT place to start writing, but there are a few things I’ve found helpful to keep in mind.  Here are my TOP 5 TIPS for writing a great children’s book. 

1) Start!   Have a great idea about a flower who likes to wear plaid jackets?  Think it will delight and expand thousands of young minds?  Have you told friends at cocktail parties about this precious children’s book IDEA but it still only lives in your brain?  If you write it down, not only will you be surprised to discover that the flower has a a pet aphid that you think is even more interesting (for your next book), you’ll now be able to tell your friends at the next cocktail party that you have WRITTEN a children’s book.  You’ll be surprised to find out how many of your friends know a great illustrator or have an uncle in the publishing business when your idea becomes concrete.

2)  READ!    You wouldn’t begin to paint without ever looking at great works to find out what you like about them and what inspires you, so read a few children’s books.  You’ll probably be surprised at the variety of subjects that get tackled.  It’s not all “Berenstain Bears Go to a Picnic”.  There are plenty of children’s books that are saccharin sweet, but there are also many that are dark, funny, or informative. I even found one that taught Taoist philosophy!

3) PLAY!  One major problem with books for children is that they are written by adults.  How many motorcycle repair books are written by balloonists?  One surefire way to take all the fun out of writing a children’s book is to approach it clinically and analytically and, well, like an adult.  How many pages should it be?  What should the moral be?  Is this character or plotline to weird or strange?   Who cares!  Its fun!  Let it all out and see what happens.  Make a deal with yourself.  Allow yourself to write out everything you see in your fantasy world and only start to edit until AFTER you get to “THE END”. Very few young children are able to analyze and articulate WHY they like a book, but they can tell if the book is FUN.  If you had fun creating it, it’s likely that they will have fun reading it.

4) Trust    As I’ve mentioned, being a grown-up can mean having a well-meaning, critical eye toward your work.  We get a creative flash about a spitfire girl who takes her yellow umbrella absolutely everywhere, but we dismiss it because we started off wanted to write a story about a talking pair of rainboots.  For some reason, your subconscious isn’t very interested in talking rainboots, but your conscious mind thinks kids will like it and would make you a million in franchising rights.  The result, you never learn that it is the umbrella that talks, and you can’t get past page five of “Betsy’s Babbling Boots” because you know deep down that it’s phony.

5)  Edit   After you’ve started, read, played, and trusted, you’ve ended up with a 2000 word story about a dragon who rides a donkey because he is saving his frequent flier miles for a trip to Aruba.  Now it’s time to take those 2000 words and make them 1000.  I know, I know.  You’re thinking, “every one of my words was carefully chosen to convey the precise visual and emotional cues to the young reader.  Losing just one would be a tragic detriment to the whole.”    You’re wrong.  When we are talking and have trouble explaining something, what do we do?  We don’t pause to find the RIGHT words, we plow ahead and use MORE words.  

Antoine de Saint Exupéry, author of “The Little Prince,” once said, “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”  Given the limited allotted word count in children’s books, this should be your new mantra.