Writing Do’s and Don’ts
Writing Do’s
DO read recent picture books over and over again.
DO make friends with a bookseller or librarian or storyteller: their advice and guidance can be enormously helpful.
DO be original: try not to copy the ideas or structures of recent well-known books.
DO become familiar with the nature of rhythm. Understanding brevity, rhythm, and cadence in prose will keep rejections at bay.
DO ensure your story makes an emotional impact: the reading should change the reader.
DO ensure that the content of the story will interest both children and adults, not just adults—a common fault which might well lead to publication but will never lead to best-selling status.
DO write with narrative tension: solve a problem.
DO ’show’ and do not ‘tell’: try to reveal action and character through what the characters say and do.
DO keep the text under 500 words if possible. Minimise description. The fewer words the better, since the pictures will provide many of the visual details.
DO remember that the secret of good writing is re-writing.
DO constantly re-read drafts aloud during the drafting process: hearing is one way of perceiving what’s wrong in the text.
DO send the text to agents or publishers without any accompanying artwork unless you are both the author and the illustrator.
DO ensure the text is written grammatically, and the spelling and punctuation are correct.
DO remain confident and up-beat after rejections. Re-write, re-think and send the story off to another publisher.
DO stay out of the illustrator’s way. Interference by an overbearing author is rarely appreciated.
DO retain humility, even after a best-seller. Success may not last, and you may need the comfort of friends. Those who boast have no friends.
DO find a literary agent before you rush off on your own to try to find a publisher.
Writing Do Not’s
DO NOT write down to children. Write for clever, well-adjusted, lively children. Young readers appreciate the compliment.
DO NOT write about inanimate objects such as shoes, a coin, a kite, an ice-cube, a piece of sausage or similar. Stick to people, toys, animals, birds, engines, etc.
DO NOT use alliterative names or titles, such as Izzie the Ice Cube, Kenny the Koala or Tommy the Tired Teddy. Use names, which reveal something of the character.
DO NOT write your story in rhyme. Most editors detest rhyming stories and will reject them.
DO NOT assume that plot is the most important element in a story: character comes first. Then trouble. Next comes the precise choice of words and their correct rhythmic placement.
DO NOT find an illustrator yourself. That’s the editor’s job.
DO NOT forget that the rhythm of the text is the element that will or will not bring the reader back to the story again and again.
DO NOT write things like: he gasped, she spluttered, etc. Use the word ‘said’. The gasping and spluttering, etc., should be obvious from the situation, if the writing is effective.
DO NOT forget that if the writer couldn’t care less about the fate of the characters the readers couldn’t care less either and the book will fail.
DO NOT write stories that end: ‘…and then they all woke up.’ Dreams as stories are frustrating and are rejected.
DO NOT write to teach. Children and publishers detest heavy morals.
DO NOT attempt to bring up other people’s children through your writing.
DO NOT get the name of the children’s editor wrong (if you send a manuscript to a publisher yourself, without getting an agent first).
DO NOT forget that a literary agent will ensure you earn you far more than you can earn by yourself, even though you will pay them 10-20% of your royalties.
DO NOT forget to send a brief covering letter (that is, if you don’t have an agent to do it for you) and do not be ‘cute’ in this letter.
DO NOT be surprised not to hear from a publisher for two or three months.
DO NOT be surprised to find yourself working on a picture book text for a couple of years
DO NOT lose heart after rejections—be resilient and tenacious.
DO NOT self-publish. You will find yourself out of pocket and without a wide audience.
DO NOT expect to be accorded real respect as a writer of children’s books. It will take forever, if it happens at all.