Writing for Children

NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 1 - PREPARE

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is about to start. Every November, writers from around the world set out with the goal of writing a novel, about 50,000 words, in one month. We thought, how cool it would be to help our listeners get through NaNoWriMo with support, encouragement, and some great tips and ideas from someone who has successfully completed it. Join Jamie K. Schmidt and me for a little inspiration and a lot of motivation in this 5-part series.

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TIPS FOR YOUR MYSTERY OPENING CHAPTERS

The first page of your mystery needs to intrigue your reader. It has to pull them in and make them wonder what's going on or who did it. Today we bring you tips for your first pages from author Chaunie Bruise.

Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and on to the page. Get started here!

PLANTING CLUES

You're in a race with your readers. The readers are trying to guess what will happen. You're trying to spring that 'whodunnit' on the readers before they guess. Who will win? Those readers really don't want to guess…they want to be surprised. But they want that sporting chance to beat you and get there ahead of you. Ideally, you have planted just enough clues, you have sneaked in just enough hints, that when you unveil that 'whodunnit', your readers sigh, "Oh, I should have guessed!" THAT gives you a satisfied reader! Join us as we talk about how to outfox your readers.

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INTERVIEW WITH KATE MILFORD

Kate Milford is the New York Times bestselling author of The Thief Knot, as well as Greenglass House (winner of the Edgar award for juvenile literature, long-listed for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, and a nominee for the Andre Norton Award and the Agatha Award for Children's/YA).

We talk about: • What makes a good mystery? • Do you write a mystery differently than any other kind of novel? • What are 3 things every mystery should have? • What are 3 things every mystery writer should avoid? • Self-aware ironmongery • Here's a mystery: 9 books and two kids - how?

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PLANNING YOUR NOVEL

At any time you speak to a writer, they may easily be either planning a novel, writing a novel, or revising a novel. Always. And sometimes a writer could be doing more than one of those at a time. As a result, a fairly streamlined process for novel creation can develop––for that writer, anyway––and Jan Fields' process is a good one to share here.

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FOR THE LOVE OF GENRE

Anyone who has been writing for children for any length of time knows that folks have a tendency to see writers for children as dabblers and writers for adults as real writers. In fact, many children's writers have flatly been asked when they're going to do a real book. And within children's writing, book authors are definitely given more respect than magazine writers. And if you write books, well, writing the more action oriented, plot driven genre are definitely seen as less valuable than the character-driven, deeply emotional novels. But like any class system, this one is unfair, and just because other people have bought into it, doesn't mean we have to. Let's look more closely at our love of genre in this week's episode.

Join the Institute of Children's Literature Community! Get our weekly newsletter with articles on the craft of writing, hot markets looking for your work, and cool resources for your writer toolbox: www.instituteforwriters.com/icl-news

REAL SPEECH FOR REAL PEOPLE

Today's episode is adapted from one of our lessons in the Shape, Write, Sell Your Novel course. This course will work with middle grade and YA novels as well as adult novels. You can check out more details at:

https://www.instituteforwriters.com/novel-writing-course-online/

Dialogue is an essential component of creating distinct character voice, but of all aspects of writing, dialogue gives novice writers the biggest challenges. Once you understand what good dialogue is and train yourself to listen for it, you'll find it's one of the most enjoyable things to write.

INTERVIEW WITH JAMIE K. SCHMIDT

Today's guest expert is USA Today Bestselling romance novelist Jamie K. Schmidt, who also blogs for us on occasion. Jamie writes contemporary love stories and paranormal romances including the bestselling romantic comedy Life's a Beach and her 2018 RITA award finalist Stud.​

We talk about: • Writer burnout • Hybrid authors explained • Difference between YA romance novels and adult. • Recommendations for someone who is interested in writing romance

Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and onto the page. Get started here!

8 STEPS TO PERFECT DIALOGUE FORMAT

Formatting dialogue in any manuscript can be perplexing. This rebroadcast of a popular episode has 8 guidelines to make your dialogue the best it can be.

Let a one-on-one mentor help you get that book out of your head and onto the page. Get started here!

HOW STRUCTURED IS YOUR PICTURE BOOK?

One of the major problems editors encounter when reading picture book submissions is the lack of plot, or even purposeful organization. Today's podcast is inspired by something Jan Fields did for us: a primer on picture book structure and how choosing a structure can help you make plot decisions.

Ready to write for children? Our Signature Course, Writing for Children and Teens, is open now! Get started here!