So You Want to Write A Children’s Book
So You Want To Write a Children’s Book: Resolution
March 9, 2014Resolution Check in: Reading: One of my students says “the library is becoming my second home.” It is there she discovered the work of William Steig admiring his gift for wordplay, wit and invented words. Steig, who never spoke read more »
So You Want To Write A Children’s Book: Conflict
February 24, 2014CONFLICT! Check-in: Reading One student shared a perception she had after reading Bob Shea’s Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great (Hyperion, ages 5-8), a book almost entirely written in dialogue about a goat who mocks a unicorn before finally coming read more »
So You Want to Write A Children’s Book: Motivation
February 14, 2014Checking In: Reading At the end of every class my writers borrow books and we begin by speaking about them. One writer voiced a negative reaction to a book because “It was just too long!” This raised an interesting point, read more »
So You Want To Write A Children’s Book: Reading Like a Writer: Characters
February 8, 2014An important part of my class, and my own process, is learning from current literature. There is a great difference between reading books to begin to understand the literary landscape (an important facet of your 10,000 hours), but a different read more »
So You Want to Write a Children’s Book–Searching for Characters
January 29, 2014There are all kinds of entry points for stories— image, situation, an idea that provokes wonder. I’ve begun with all of these, but have had the most success when I enter a story via character. A character you care about read more »
So you want to write a children’s book: Introduction
January 20, 2014Last Monday I started a new class about writing children’s books, “So You Want to Write a Children’s Book.” I teach two sessions–the first focuses on structuring stories and the second on viewing important elements of style. Six stalwart children’s read more »
