Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

What You’re Not to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

How This Book Is Organized 3

Part I: The ABCs of Writing for Children 3

Part II: Immersing Yourself in the Writing Process 3

Part III: Creating a Spellbinding Story 3

Part IV: Making Your Story Sparkle 3

Part V: Getting Published and Promoting Your Book 4

Part VI: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part I: The ABCs of Writing for Children 5

Chapter 1: Exploring the Basics of Writing Children’s Books 7

Knowing Your Format and Audience 8

Getting into a Good Writing Zone 8

Transforming Yourself into a Storyteller 9

Polishing Your Gem and Getting It Ready to Send 9

Selling Your Story 10

Promoting Your Book 11

Chapter 2: Delving into Children’s Book Formats and Genres 13

Understanding Children’s Book Categories and Formats 13

Baby and Toddler Friendly: Books with Pictures 16

Board books 16

Picture books 18

Other books with pictures 21

Working through Books with Lots of Words 27

Early readers 27

First chapter books 29

Middle-grade books 30

Young adult books 32

Exploring the Genres 36

Science fiction 37

Fantasy 37

Horror and ghost stories 39

Action/adventure 39

True stories 39

Historical fiction 40

Biography 41

Learning/educational 42

Religion and diversity 43

Gender-oriented series books 43

Licensed character series books and books into brands 45

Chapter 3: Understanding the Children’s Book Market 49

Getting Insight into Book Buyers 52

For chain and big-box bookstores 52

For independent bookstores 53

Recognizing What Reviewers Offer 56

Discovering What Librarians Add to the Mix 56

Taking a Look at Teachers 60

Considering Parents’ Perspectives 62

Thinking Like a Kid 63

Going after what kids like — regardless of Mom and Dad 63

Knowing what kids don’t like 64

Part II: Immersing Yourself in the Writing Process 65

Chapter 4: Setting Up Your Workspace 67

Finding Time to Write 67

Figuring out when you’re most productive 67

Sticking to a writing schedule 68

Evaluating whether you’re a one-shot wonder or a committed writer 69

Optimizing Your Writing Environment 69

Locating your special writing spot 69

Getting organized 70

Preventing and dealing with interruptions 71

Chapter 5: Starting with a Great Idea 73

Once Upon a Time: Coming Up with an Idea 73

Relying on specific ideas rather than big ones 74

Tapping into your own experiences 75

Drawing from other children’s experiences 77

Pulling ideas from the world around you 78

Stumped? Break through with Brainstorming 78

Going it all by yourself 79

Giving free association a whirl 80

Taking up free-form or structured journaling 80

Buddying up to the buddy system 82

Asking the advice of a writing teacher or classmates 83

Seeking help from your audience 84

Heading back to school 86

Fighting Writer’s Block 86

Chapter 6: Researching Your Audience and Subject 89

Hanging Out with Kids 90

Go back to school 90

Become a storyteller 92

Borrow a friend’s child for a day 94

Dipping into Popular Culture 96

Watching kids’ TV shows and movies 96

Playing kid-focused digital games 97

Reading parenting and family magazines and blogs 98

Flipping through pop culture magazines 98

Surfing the Web 99

Browsing bookstores 100

Visiting children’s stores online or in person 101

Studying kids’ fashion trends 101

Researching Your Nonfiction Topic 102

Outlining the research process 102

Get around locally 103

Go far afield 104

Visit the Web — a lot 105

Have an expert look over your work 105

Part III: Creating a Spellbinding Story 107

Chapter 7: Creating Compelling Characters 109

The Secret Formula for an Exceptional Main Character 110

Defining your main character’s driving desire 110

Fleshing out your main character to show readers her driving desire 111

Getting to Know Your Characters through Dialogue 112

Making a Character Bible 114

Surveying a sample character bible 116

Creating consistency 118

Writing Stories with Two or More Main Characters 119

Choosing Supporting Characters 120

Calling All Character Arcs 122

Character Don’ts — and How to Avoid Them 124

Steer clear of stereotypes 124

Show your character in action 126

Toss out passivity and indefinites 127

Don’t rely on backstory or flashbacks 128

Developing Characters through Writing Exercises 129

Describe your first best friend 129

Borrow your favorite children’s book characters 130

Chapter 8: The Plot Thickens: Conflict, Climax, and Resolution 131

Remembering That It’s All about Action 132

Centering on the Story 133

Making Sure You Have a Beginning, Middle, and End 134

Using Drama and Pacing to Propel Your Story Forward 134

Drama: A reason to turn the page 135

Pacing: How you keep the pages turning 135

Outlining Tools to Structure Your Plot 136

Creating a step sheet 137

Fleshing out your outline 138

Knowing when to circumvent an outline 141

Preventing Plot Problems 141

Writing Your First Draft 142

Chapter 9: Can We Talk? Writing Dialogue 143

The Fundamentals of Good Dialogue 144

Dialogue has a function 144

Dialogue has drama 146

Listening to Real-World Dialogue 147

How kids talk 147

How grown-ups talk 149

Adding a Speech Section to Your Character Bible 149

Reading It Out Loud 150

Divulging Common Dialogue Mistakes 151

Failing to have conflict or tension 151

Repeating information 152

Describing dialogue 152

Using too many speaker references and attributions 153

Creating heavy-handed and unrealistic dialogue 154

Filling space with unnecessary dialogue 154

Improving Dialogue by Using Writing Exercises 155

Talking on paper 155

Introducing your first best friend to the love of your life 156

Chapter 10: Setting the Scene 157

Giving Context to Your Story and Its Characters with Scenery 157

Creating a Context Bible 158

Knowing When to Include Scenery and Context 159

When place figures prominently 160

When the place isn’t just incidental 161

When description of place doesn’t interrupt flow of action 162

When description of context adds something measurable 162

When you must mention an exotic locale 163

When beginning a novel and a specific place is mentioned 163

In a new scene where place is used to transition 164

Providing the Right Amount of Setting 164

Engaging Your Readers’ Senses 165

Knowing When Not to Make a Scene 166

Exercising Your Nose with a Smellography 167

Chapter 11: Finding Your Voice: Point of View and Tone 169

Building a Solid Point of View 170

Reviewing POV options 170

Picking your POV 171

Matching tense with POV 173

Having Fun with Words through Wordplay, Rhyming, and Rhythm 174

Engaging in wordplay 174

Taking different approaches to rhyming 176

Keeping your story moving with rhythm 177

Using Humor to Your Advantage 178

Figuring out what kids consider funny 179

Turning to the outrageous and the gross 182

The Mojo of Good Writing: Voice, Style, and Tone 182

Finding your story’s voice 184

Writing with style 185

Taking the right tone 185

You Know You Need a Voice Makeover When 186

 you have more than one POV in a scene 186

 you experience the anxiety of influence 186

 you find your omniscient narrator battling one (or more) star 187

 your story sounds monotonal 187

Helping Your Voice Emerge by Playing Pretend 187

Pretending to be someone else 188

Pretending you swallowed a magic potion that makes you only three feet tall 188

Chapter 12: Writing Creative Nonfiction Books 189

The Nonfiction Children’s Book World at a Glance 189

Writing a Nonfiction Masterpiece 191

Choosing a Great Topic 193

Looking at topics that get kids’ attention 193

Finding topics that interest you 194

Branching out into the real world 195

Testing your topic 196

Outlining Your Creative Nonfiction 197

Starting simple 198

Fleshing out your ideas 199

Enhancing your outline with visual aids 200

Presenting Common Creative Nonfiction Mistakes (And Fixes) 201

Writing Exercises for Creative Nonfiction 201

Pretend you’re a newspaper reporter 201

Create a funny five-step procedure to wash a dog 202

Part IV: Making Your Story Sparkle 205

Chapter 13: Editing and Formatting Your Way to a Happy Ending 207

Your Revising Checklist 208

Theme 208

Characters 209

Plot 209

Pacing and drama 210

Setting and context 211

Point of view 211

Recognizing the Power of a Good Edit 212

Editing Out Common Writing Traps 213

Strengthening your opening 214

Keeping your dialogue tight and on target 214

Transitioning effectively 215

Trimming wordiness 216

Keeping your chronologies in order 217

Removing assumptions 217

Formatting: First Impressions Matter 218

Including the proper information on the first page 218

Following children’s book formatting conventions 220

Presenting Your Pre-Submission Basic Grammar and Style Primer 221

Punctuation 222

Style 223

Miscellaneous 224

Hiring an Editor or Editorial Service 226

Finding a good editor or editorial service 227

Asking the right questions 229

Digital versus hardcopy edit 230

Chapter 14: Creating Pictures from Your Words: The World of Illustrations 233

To Illustrate or Not to Illustrate 233

Recognizing Why You Should NOT Hire an Illustrator 234

Walking through the Illustration Process 236

Starting with black-and-white pencil sketches 236

Moving on to finished pencils 237

Creating color art 239

Recognizing the importance of the right cover 239

Getting Your Art Seen by the Right Folks 241

Handling Art When You’re Self-Publishing 244

Chapter 15: Finding Feedback and Encouragement 249

Recognizing When to Seek Feedback 250

Getting Help from Friends and Relatives (or Not) 252

Delving into the pros and cons of friendly advice 253

Having a friend in the business 253

Attending Conferences or Retreats 254

Exploring the conference scene 254

Getting away with retreats 256

Participating in a Workshop 257

Working with a Writing (or Illustrating) Group 258

Finding the right group 259

Starting your own group 260

Sifting through the feedback you receive 261

Part V: Getting Published and Promoting Your Book 265

Chapter 16: Getting an Agent to Represent You 267

Defining the Perfect Agent — and His Not-So-Perfect Counterpart 267

Recognizing what good agents can do 268

Watching out for bad agents 269

Finding an Agent 270

Obtaining referrals 270

Researching your heart out 271

Attending conferences 272

Submitting Your Ideas to an Agency 272

Following submission guidelines 273

Standing out from the pack 274

Perfecting the query letter 274

Managing multiple submissions 277

Asking the Right Questions before Signing an Agency Contract 277

Understanding Typical Agency Agreements 278

Sizing up the standard terms and conditions 278

Distinguishing between exclusive and by-project services 280

Negotiating like a pro 281

Terminating Your Agency Relationship 282

Chapter 17: Finding the Perfect Publisher and Signing a Contract 283

Identifying the Right Publisher 283

Gathering information from the marketplace 285

Perusing writer’s guides and directories 285

Drafting Query Letters and Proposals 286

Copyright: Protecting Your Work Before You Send Anything 289

Success! Reviewing Your Publishing Contract 291

Surveying the two types of publishing agreements 291

Getting what you want in the contract 292

Dealing with Rejection 296

Chapter 18: So You Want to Self-Publish? 299

The Good and Bad News about Self-Publishing 300

Exploring Your Self-Publishing Options 302

The print route 303

The digital route 306

Setting a Price for Your Work 308

Distributing Your Book 309

Working with distributors 309

Getting in the door at traditional bookstores 310

Persuading online booksellers 311

Considering other places to sell your book 312

Chapter 19: Donning Your Publicity Cap 313

Understanding What Your Publisher Will Do to Promote Your Book 313

Publicizing Your Own Book 314

Focusing on the digital components 314

Touching on the traditional components 318

Promoting Your Work in Person 319

Planning a publicity tour 321

Joining the signing and reading circuit 322

Hiring a Publicist 322

Discovering what a publicist can do 322

Finding the right publicist 323

Getting the most for your money 325

Chapter 20: Getting Savvy with Social Media 327

Influencing the Influencers 327

The basics of influencing others 328

Understanding the different kinds of online influencers 329

Figuring out where online your influencers live 330

Knowing Where to Create a Social Media Presence 330

Blogs 330

Facebook 331

Twitter 331

YouTube 332

Pinterest 332

JacketFlap 333

Launching a Social Media Campaign 333

Reviewing the ABCs of a social media campaign 333

Surveying the unwritten rules of social media marketing 334

Applying search engine optimization 336

Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Campaign 336

Part VI: The Part of Tens 341

Chapter 21: More Than Ten Great Sources for Storylines 343

Tales of Yore 344

Fairy tales 344

Fables 345

Folk tales 345

Mythology and Mythological Heroes 346

Nursery Rhymes 346

Bible Stories 346

Sibling Issues 347

Family Changes 347

First Experiences 347

Common Childhood Fantasies 348

Friendship and Social Issues 348

Growing Pains (Emotional and Behavioral) 348

Bodies: Their Functions and Changes 349

History Makers and History in the Making 349

Nature, Science, Technology 349

Chapter 22: Ten Recognitions Children’s Authors Dream of Receiving 351

Newbery Medal 351

Caldecott Medal 351

Coretta Scott King Book Award 351

Printz Award 351

Belpré Medal 352

Geisel Award 352

Stonewall Book Award 352

Sibert Medal 352

ALA Quick Pick 352

Texas Bluebonnet Award 352

Index 353

About the Author

Lisa Rojany Buccieri has written and ghostwritten more than 100 children's and grown-up's books, both fiction and nonfiction, including board books, picture books, and young adult series. Peter Economy is a bestselling author, coauthor, and ghostwriter of more than 55 books, including several For Dummies titles.