What Makes a Good Children's Story?

Part Two

That is not an easy question to answer. Children, as we are sure you know, change their minds frequently. One minute it toys coming alive, the next it's aliens, then it's witches and wizards. So, as a writer of children's stories how do you know what will be popular and what will bore the little darlings to death? Well, there are a number of things you can do to make sure you are heading in the right direction. 

Know Your Reader

You also need to know your target audience really well. Any time you can spend with children - listening to them talk and watching how they interact with each other - will be invaluable for creating realistic interactions in your writing. Watching children's TV is another good way to get into the mind of your audience. And a rather more fun way of carrying out research is to get down on their level. Literally kneel down and view the world from a child's perspective - it'll give your writing realism.

Test Your Writing On An Audience

If you get the chance, you should always try your material out on a real audience. This way you can judge their reactions to what you've written - the faces of children don't hide very much and you'll soon see what they think of your story. You could, depending on the age of the children, ask for feedback and ideas for plot changes etc. After-all, who could be better critics than the audience you are writing for? 

Finally, Stick To What You Know

Being a novice writer - thinking about creating convincing characters, an interesting plot and realistic conflict - is difficult enough without having to check that any facts or figures you are using are also correct. How do you resolve this problem? Easy, simply stick to what you know! This may seem limiting, but think about things such as:

your work experience, especially if you are a teacher or work with children on a day-to-day basis

what appealed to your own children and any interests they had while they were growing up

your own hobbies and interests

We are sure you'll come up with a multitude of subjects you know a lot about and, more importantly, can write about. And, what do you do if you really don't know about something in enough detail to write about it? Don't worry, there's always the opportunity to learn something new. So, pick a subject you are interested in and get studying!

Reprinted with permission from  http://WritersBureau.com