Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> What should I write? --> Overused Ideas
Articles Index: Site Index: Some ideas that seem great at the time might be so
overused that editors would rather polka over hot broken
glass than read your manuscript. Save yourself time,
money, and postage by steering clear of these slush-pile
fillers: Bad Rhyme Why is it that so many new writers who get an urge to
write for children believe that they must write in verse?
If you love poetry and have a real talent for verse,
that's fine. But slush piles are stacked with bad
examples of verse in Dr. Seuss rhythm, with forced rhymes
and lousy meter, all from writers who have the impression
that this is the way children's literature is supposed to
be. Yes, Dr. Seuss wrote in rhyme all the time, but he
had a genius for it, and his style is so characteristic
that anyone who writes in the same meter is going to be
seen as a Dr. Seuss wannabe. Using Dr. Seuss rhymes also
suggests that the writer doesn't really know the field
well -- that the only children's book author that the
writer is familiar with is Dr. Seuss. What do you do if you're a poet and love writing in
rhyme? If you have a real genius for poetic forms
and can create a compelling story, you may have a
publishable product in spite of the common wisdom that
verse doesn't sell. It's bad verse that doesn't
sell. Good verse can be hard to sell, but editors
recognize good verse when they see it and will give it a
fair appraisal. Ugly Duckling look-alikes The Ugly Duckling look-alike story takes a couple of
forms. The classic form is the original, in which an
animal (swan) that was raised with other animals (ducks)
and doesn't know what it really is, gets mocked for being
different, then finds out in the end that it's something
wonderful. The heavy-handed moral of the story is that
being different doesn't make you bad, that being
different may mean you have a hidden talent, etc. It
worked for Hans Christian Anderson, and it worked in
Stellaluna A variation form is the "little (something) with (some
unusual feature) who saves the day." This is another
story that is heavy on the morals, as some animal with
what appears to be a handicap uses that handicap to rid
its community of some threat. While it's meant to be a
feel-good story, the theme pops up over and over again in
the slush piles, and rarely done well. Again, it worked
in Stellaluna Pinocchio look-alikes Stories like these could be given the generic title,
"The little (something) that wanted to be (something
else)," just as Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy.
Editors have seen all the bizzarre variations, from
anthropomorphic animals hoping to be another animal, to
anthropomorphic appliances wanting to be human or a
different appliance. In the end, the little (something)
learns to like himself just the way he is, which drops a
heavy-handed, overused moral at the end. In the news Lance Armstrong wins his 7th Tour de France, and the
next day the publishing houses are overrun with books
about Lance Armstrong. That would have been fine if the
books had been submitted two years prior and could have
been accepted, edited, laid out, printed, and delivered
in time to bookstores so that the books could be on the
shelves the day of the great victory, but by the time
Lance made the news, it was too late. This doesn't mean that you have to magically develop
psychic powers so that you can write about news events
two years before they happen. Just don't expect editors
to welcome your new manuscript with a story that's old
news. Your kids/grandkids/pets Yes, they're adorable. Yes, Junior's first trip to the
zoo was one long day of cute anecdotes. But please,
resist the temptation to turn it into a picture book for
anyone outside of your family and circle of friends.
Everyone believes their own child or grandchild is the
most adorable, clever, and wonderful child in the world,
and of course they want to brag, but other children
aren't interested in hearing it. The same goes for pets. Your Boston terrier may be
your little snuggy-wuggums, but there are millions of
other dogs, cats, bunnies, hamsters, chameleons,
parakeets, ferrets, goldfish, tarantulas, and other pets
that other people adore, that do cute tricks, that barked
for help when a toddler got hurt, or that have won prizes
in a show. Unless Snuggy-wuggums rescued twenty orphans
from a burning building all by himself and then dialed
the fire department, he's probably not going to have a
story unique enough to merit publishing a book about
him. Fuzzy bunnies Don't. Just don't. Other highly-used characters Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy are
popular characters for beginning writers, but it's hard
to think of anything fresh to say about them. A few
writers have come up with interesting angles. Have a look
at Santa
Calls
by William Joyce, or
Olive
the Other Reindeer by J.
Otto Sielbold and Vivian Walsh, or The
Polar Express by Chris
van Allsburg, which was so fresh and wonderful that it
was made into a movie. Is your story that fresh and
wonderful? So wonderful that it will sell all year long?
That's another drawback to the holiday book -- it tends
to sell well during the holidays, but not at other times,
so editors are often reluctant to accept them. As for copyrighted and
trademarked characters, avoid them entirely. You may have
a wonderful idea for a book based on a cartoon character,
but getting permission to use that character is
time-consuming and terribly expensive. Unless the
publishing house already has a contract with the company
that owns the character, they aren't going to go to the
time and expense of obtaining the rights to publish your
book. The cartoon character books that you see in the
bookstore were put together by book packagers for the
company that owns the cartoon, and written by hired
authors under work-for-hire contracts. Cute Little Animal's Wonderful
Day Cute Little Animal almost always
has an alliterative name: Sammy Seal, Kathy Kangaroo,
Wally Warthog, Timmy Tapeworm (don't laugh -- editors
have seen that and worse). Using an alliterative name
almost always sets an editor's teeth on edge, so it's
already a bad start. Then the tale begins. Cute Little
Animal has a wonderful day. Maybe Cute Little Animal goes
to the beach with Momma and Poppa, hunts for sea shells,
has a picnic, and then -- oh, no! -- it rains. They all
run for the car and go home. The problem is that this
isn't a story. It's an anecdote. Even if Cute Little Animal saves
the day by suddenly remembering that there's a blanket in
the back of the car and quickly fashions a beach cabana
complete with a working heater and folding chairs from
the blanket, a piece of string, and some Duct Tape, Cute
Little Animal has already lost the editor's interest. The
character is too cute, the story is too cute, and off to
the rejection heap it goes. Anything with an obvious
moral Don't. Just don't. When you're as well established
as Stan
and Jan Berenstain, you
might get away with it, but not when you're first
starting out. Series books Kids love series books. But
before publishers are willing to publish a series, they
need to see if the first book sells well. So write a
great book that stands alone, and if it's accepted and
has good sales, suggest a sequel. Then another sequel.
And yet another. The really hot series books, the
ones with thirty or more titles in them, are usually
started in-house by publishers or, more often, by book
packagers. So don't start by writing a 30-book series
yourself and then try to sell it. No legitimate publisher
is going to want it. Your own
memoirs Not for the children's market,
unless you're already famous and kids are clamoring to
read all about you. Even if you think that your childhood
was remarkably interesting and kids could learn a lot
from it (which is a bad start to begin with), unless you
spent your childhood trekking across Antarctica or
single-handedly ridding the Barbary Coast of pirates,
kids won't be interested and editors may think you're
hopelessly self-centered. Recommended books Writer's
Guide to Crafting Stories for
Children How
to Write a Children's Book and Get it
Published
Nancy Lamb
Writer's Digest Books, 2001
An excellent introduction to structured
plotting.
Harold Underdown
F&W Publications, 2004
Written by a highly experienced children's book
editor.
Barbara Seuling
Wiley, 2004
An up-to-date reissue of a classic book often used by
writing instructors.
Glen and Karen Bledsoe --> articles --> What should I write? --> Overused Ideas