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| My best selling children's book Out and About at the Zoo |
Writing a
children's book may, at first, seem like an easy task but it's not. The skill
of being able to tell a captivating story in such a limited number of words,
the ability to combine the written story with the visual story, creating a
simple text that flows smoothly... There's a lot more to children's writing
than a lot of people think.
Here's a
few tips:
1. Book format. A standard children's book
is 32 pages long. As the actual text usually begins at around page 5 (after title page, copyright page, etc...) this leaves you 27 pages to
tell your story.
2. Balance. There needs to be a balance
between text and illustrations. The text needs to be divided up evenly with
fairly equal amounts of text on each page. The text must also match the
illustrations.
3. Planning. Draw up a plan of the 32
pages so you can see how the layout of your book will be. This will help you
divide the text and give you ideas the placing of illustrations.
4. Word choice. The text of a children's
book is limited so every word counts. There is little room for visual
description but most of that is done with the illustrations anyway.
5. Read it aloud. Children's books are
meant to be read aloud. Read to an audience or record yourself reading the text
so you can check for flow.
What tips would you add to this list?
