Writing for Children

Do you have a children's story that you would like to see published? Breaking into the children's writing market can be a hard climb. In fact, it's much harder than it looks.

Fictional themes tend to rehash the same insights over and over. To make your story stand out, it has to offer something that isn't already detailed in books filling miles of shelves, stories that may be cute or that teach lessons but that have been done to death.

When writing for children, remember that kids are emotional creatures and like to feel something when they read. What emotions can you evoke that they can relate to? Kids like stories that speak to them, that are funny, scary, or portray the world at their level.

One only has to look at The Cat in the Hat and how kids (and "big kids") loved it. They related. Children want a world that's silly, exciting, one that pushes boundaries.

You, as the author, have to write a story that justifies the cost a publisher will spend in the process of taking it from manuscript to bookstore.