When you learn to write children's books your in for a fun and exciting endeavor! It's also extremely rewarding-not only because you can see your book in print, but also when you watch the tiny faces of children light up as you read them your story aloud or they read your story for the first time. As anyone who knows and loves children will tell you, however, children notoriously have a very short attention span, so it's really important to start your children's story with a big bang and get them engaged in the story immediately! Sadly enough, if you want to sell your children's book, you'll soon learn that publishers and editors don't have a much longer attention span than children when they're reviewing submissions. So just as it is important to start your story out with a big bang to engage children, it is also critical to your ability to sell your story and get it published in the first place. Editors and publishers only look at the first few pages of your story before they reject the vast majority of submissions. But if you can capture their attention right away, you can keep them reading longer and improve your chances that they might publish your story! Most children's books really aren't that long. Fundamentally this means that you really need to grab their attention in the first few words. The first few sentences or paragraphs can make or break the success of your story. That's why when you learn to write children's books you really need to focuses on developing a strong start to your story. A great way to engage children's attention immediately is to start out with action and/or dialogue. And if your dialogue creates a sense of action or excitement, as well, your story will be even more engaging! With children's stories, you definitely want to jump right in without setting up the story with a lot of background information. Beginning writers often make the mistake of providing way too much explanation at the start of their stories. A good writing teacher, editor or mentor will often shock the writer when they redline the entire first few pages if not entire first chapter of the manuscript, crossing it out entirely and advising the writer to "start here" pages into the text. But this isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes new writers simply need to write all that background text out to work through their own story development process and be sure they have a clear understanding of the story they are creating. The thing is, that is a part of the writer's development process, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a part of the final story or manuscript. "Ouch! That hurt!" Melody cried. This is a great opening line for a children's story because it really packs a punch. It captures the child's interest, draws out the child's curiosity, and makes the child want to keep reading or hearing the story. The child wants to know what happened and what will happen next. The opening line should successfully introduce the stories main character and establish the problem. You want to do this in as few words as possible in a short children's story, as soon as possible. This is another reason this works so well as an opening line. This is what your opening line, paragraph, or page needs to do to be an opening "with a big bang!" This is one of the key factors of writing successful children's books. Of course, a great opening-even one with a really big bang-is only the beginning. You also need to craft a compelling middle and ending for the story to write successful, satisfying children's books. Learn to write great opening lines that have a powerful start and as your story progresses, you may need to provide additional information to fill in any gaps in the story or plot. You will need to ensure your story stays just as strong from beginning to end. Learning to write children's books can be challenging and it's an ongoing process as your writing skills develop. But it is also one of the most rewarding and fun things you may ever do!
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