Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> getting started --> Can I write for children?
Articles Index: Site Index: It's common for people who are
first starting out to wonder if they really have the
talent to make it as authors. Some go so far as to pay
freelance editors to critique their work just to find
out. (Critiques by good freelance editors can be useful,
but later in the game.) Beginning writers worry that they
may be wasting their time. Well, get that destructive notion
out of your head right now. Nothing constructive that
gives you pleasure is ever a waste of your time. (There
are many destructive things which give dubious pleasure
that ARE a waste of your time, but we'll assume you're
smart enough to avoid them.) Try this simple test to find
out if you have what it takes to make it as a children's
book author: Can you: Are you willing to: If you answered "yes" to the
majority of these questions, you may have what it takes
to make it. If you answered "no" to any of them, you'd
better work on those. Notice what's not in there. You
don't have to have kids. You don't even have to like
kids. You don't have to be a teacher or a day care
provider or a camp counselor to write for kids. You do
have to enjoy reading and writing the stuff that kids
read. You have to have a kid inside of you who still
wants to play. But you'd better understand what
makes kids tick these days and what they like to read.
Remembering your own childhood is not enough. Your
experience was unique. What you enjoyed, thought, dreamed
of, read, laughed at, scorned, loved, all belong to you.
You can't say, "I liked this as a kid, therefore all kids
will like it." Study what's being published today. Watch
kids at the mall, in school, on the playground. Turn the
TV on and see how the networks are shaping kids today.
Then speak to today's kids through your own unique
voice. Now, suppose you're saying, "But
I'm not in it for the money. I just want to publish a few
stories that I've written. I don't want to be a
professional." All that is fine, but you must
remember that writing for children is a profession as
well as a craft. Most authors either earn their living at
it or dream of doing so one day. To make it, authors
learn to polish their work, research their markets,
submit their best material, and keep persevering in the
face of rejection. They learn when to give in gracefully
if editors want revisions, or want their brilliant
descriptive passages cut (and, nine times out of ten, the
passages aren't so brilliant and really do need cutting).
Even at that, very, very few get rich as authors.
In short, even if you don't
intend to be a professional, you must behave as one if
you want to be published and have your book sold in
stores. Authors who claim not to be in it
for the money at all may insist they are writing for the
sake of art alone. That's nice, and we wish them plenty
of luck, for their market is painfully narrow. Most
readers enjoy strong story lines and good characters. If
the writing glows, so much the better. But glowing
writing alone, no matter how artistic, won't sell without
a good story to hold it up. then please take your manuscripts
directly to the nearest print shop and have them printed
and bound. Give copies to your understanding friends. Do
readings at hip coffee houses and sell copies there. But
don't clutter up the slush piles with inappropriate
submissions. Recommended books: A great
inspirational book for those who love to write, this is a
classic that has been in print since 1959. If you commute to
work, try the audio version in the car to help keep you on a
writer's track. If
You Want to Write
Do you:
If you are the sort of
author who...
Brenda Ueland
Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> getting started --> Can I write for children?
