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Writing Creative Fiction for Children | |||||||||||||||||||
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A lot of people believe that you have to stick to very strict guidelines when writing for kids, this is only true when writing for the educational market (schools).Above all the main criteria for a child's story is interest, excitement,good plots/characters. The younger the child, a story is aimed at, the less complex the words and sentence structure should be. Although saying that the odd difficult word is okay. Younger children need stories with exciting plots and characters. Sentences and chapters (if any) should be short and simply constructed. A good exercise to do is to have a look at current books in libraries and shops to get a feel for the structure and length, etc. For the older age bracket, the words and sentence structure can be more complex and more descriptive. Bear in mind that children bore very easily and need pacey stories which will keep them turning the pages. | ||||||||||||||||||
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I find a good thing to do is to read my stories to my children. There is no one more critical than a child. Watch them while you read. If their mind is wandering then maybe that bit needs looking at. Of course not everyone has a child to read to. But just read it aloud to yourself. Does the text flow smoothly? Do some bits sound a bit boring? Dialogue is very important. You should aim to strike a balance between dialogue and narrative. Again, dialogue should be kept short, as well. The child will begin to struggle if the dialogue sentences or narrative sentences are too long. For younger children, the more dialogue the better. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Show rather than tell. By that I mean that stories are more exciting if they are not just being told but actually happening. eg- The new boy looked mean. John was really scared. That sounds a bit boring and doesn't really tell us anything. How about changing it a bit? eg - The new boy glared at John. His fists were clenched and his breathing heavy. John trembled. Should he run or stand his ground? Lastly, although the story should not be overly complex, don't go the other way and talk down to children. And bare in mind that us parents have to read these stories to our children, if they cannot read themselves yet. And so we need to be able to enjoy the story too. Especially when your child (like mine) usually get you to read the same one, over and over again, every night. Back to Home Page | ||||||||||||||||||
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