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Join the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club and receive an email invitation to this week’s special teleclass.

Children’s author Margot Finke will present a 55-minute teleclass this Thursday at 4:00 central time.

The topic of the class will be - What Editors Look For On the First Page of Your Manuscript.

Both published and aspiring children’s book authors can benefit from Margot’s excellent teleclasses, which most always include handouts.

Join the club here today.

For only $27.00 per month you’ll have access to four 55-minute teleclasses every month.

Each teleclass covers some aspect of writing and publishing for children.

by Pat McCarthy

Have you thought about writing an article for a children’s magazine? Maybe you have an idea, but you’re not sure how to go about it. Here are some tips.

Step One. Choose a topic. It should be something that many children will be interested in. But it should also be something you know about or are interested in learning more about. Animals, sports, famous people, science and how-to articles are all popular choices.

Step Two. Narrow your topic. Concentrate on just one aspect of it. I wanted to write an article about birds. I’d just returned from Florida, so I decided to concentrate on the birds I saw in one place, Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. This was still too broad a topic, so I honed in on how different birds there eat. The article, “Dinner at Ding Darling,” was published by Children’s Digest.

Step Three. Research your article. Use both online resources and books and articles. Editors like a mix of print and Internet sources in a bibliography. Look for interesting little tidbits that will appeal to kids. Find facts with wow appeal and yuck appeal. Kids like the amazing as well as the gross.

Step Four. Organize your research. Jot down the main points you want to make, then go through your notes and plug them into your outline. It doesn’t have to be a formal outline. It just needs to get your thoughts in order. I love outlines. Once my outline is done, the article seems to almost write itself.

Step Five. Write the article. Decide what age you are writing for, then try to keep your writing on that level. Don’t talk down to kids but try to use words that age child would know and understand. Keep your sentences simple and fairly short. Use short paragraphs. Children are intimidated by large blocks of type.

Step Six. Revise and edit your article. To make sure it flows smoothly, read it aloud to yourself. That will enable you to notice the rhythm and to find repeated words. Be very sure there are no errors in spelling or grammar.

Step Seven. Research the markets. Get a copy of Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market or research children’s publishers online. Make sure your article is the right length, for the right age, and on a topic the magazine uses.

Step Eight. Submit your article. Then get busy writing another one.

Sound simple? Try it! With a little work and practice, you can be successful at writing articles for children.

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About the Author: Pat McCarthy is an instructor for the Institute of Children’s Literature and the author of over a dozen books for children.

Learn more about her books at her blog. If you have a question about writing for children, e-mail Pat at [email protected]. More resources for children’s writers will soon be up on her blog.

Tonight’s the night!

Children’s author Lila Guzman will present a special teleclass for members of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club called “Avoiding Red Flags”!

Learn how to avoid the most common mistakes in your manuscript that send up red flags to editors!

The teleclass starts at 7:00 central time and will last for 55 minutes.

Members are invited to attend this LIVE teleclass, but the teleclass will also be recorded and members will receive a link to the recording tomorrow.

Join the club here!

Come on. You know you want to!

by Suzanne Lieurance

Okay. So I’m not David Letterman. But I doubt if he’d know much about the top 10 mistakes made by new children’s writers anyway. I, on the other hand, read from 10 to 20 manuscripts for children every week (I’m not bragging - I’m just an instructor with the Institute of Children’s Literature). While many of the stories I read are destined for publication, I find that 10 common mistakes crop up again and again in the other manuscripts I edit each week.

I’ll start with number 10 (just like Letterman) and work my way up to the number one writing mistake made by new children’s writers (and, just so you know - I’ve been guilty of making some of these mistakes myself, so don’t beat yourself up if you realize you’re guilty of some of these, too):

10) No Clear POV Character – Children tend to relate to the POV character in a story. This is the person they will root for. Make it clear right from the start whose story is being told. Even if you have two main characters (twins, for example), you need to pick just one of these kids to be your POV character. And, it should go without saying, when writing for children, make sure your POV character IS a kid - even if Grandma has a big part in your story.

9) Multiple Points of View – Unlike stories for adults, stories for children are generally told from only one POV. It isn’t difficult to maintain a single point of view once you get the hang of it. Just remember - if you are “showing” everything from your main character’s point of view, then he or she has to be present for everything that happens. I see stories all the time where the POV character suddenly leaves the room. Yikes! If your POV character wasn’t there to see or hear what went on, then we can’t see or hear it either.

Telling instead of Showing – Read a good story and chances are there is a lot of action and dialogue (showing) with minimal stretches of straight narrative (telling). Too much narrative and the story sounds like a summary. Readers don’t want a summary. They want scenes with action and dialogue that make them feel they are actually experiencing what is going on. So “show” as much as possible of your story through action and dialogue.

7) Overuse of Adjectives, Adverbs, and Other Unnecessary Words – Do you really need to say someone “whispered quietly” Or “shouted loudly” Or, my favorite - she “nodded her head”? What else could she nod? Or, she “shrugged her shoulders” - she certainly wouldn’t shrug her foot!

6) Dialogue That is Not Punctuated Properly – Get a grammar book to learn how to punctuate dialogue properly. But, most importantly, remember to change paragraphs each time the speaker changes. I read manuscripts all the time where three or four characters are speaking, yet the paragraph never changes. Just imagine how confusing that is to the reader!

5) Long Timeframes – I know Harry Potter takes place over several years. But, the story also takes place through several books. Most children’s writers start out writing stories for children’s magazines or they want to write picture books for very young children. Either way, the timeframe in these stories should be rather short - a couple of hours or a day or two. If your story takes place over a couple of weeks or (gulp!) a couple of years, then you need to shorten the timeframe.

4) No Narrative “Hook” for the Reader – I know what you’re asking - “What is a narrative hook?” Well, that’s simple. It’s just an opening sentence or two that “hooks” the reader and makes him or her want to continue reading to find out what happens.

3) Dialogue That Doesn’t Sound Real – Listen to any child or teenager and you’ll find out that much of what kids and teens say (at least to each other) tends to sound like a series of grunts. So don’t have the child or teen in your story use words like “shall,” or never use contractions. If you do, the dialogue will sound too formal and your work will not have a child’s or teen’s voice.

2) Adults Who Step In to Save the Day for the Child – I know what you’re thinking. Parents and other well-meaning adults DO step in all the time to save the day for kids. So why can’t they do it in stories for children? The answer to that is - because children don’t want to read stories like that. Stories for children have strong children (or children who eventually become strong throughout the course of the story) as characters. This empowers the children who read these stories. They figure, if the POV character can solve his own problems then maybe they can too.

Now. Drum roll here.

The number one mistake new writers make in their stories for children is

1) No real conflict - There’s no story problem. Your POV character needs to face some big problem right at the start of the story. Then, he or she needs to struggle and struggle with this problem as he/she tries to solve it. That is, things need to keep getting worse and worse until finally the POV character is able to solve the problem (or at least resolve it) and change or grow somehow in the process. Without a story problem you have what editors like to call “an incident,” and editors don’t publish incidents. They publish stories.

So that’s my list of top 10 mistakes new children’s writers make. Use this article as a checklist when you’re writing for children. Avoid these mistakes and you’ll be well on your way to publication.

See you in print!

Every summer handfuls of students from the CNMI head to the mainland to compete in various activities. The students who participate in Little League have gotten press, both locally and nationally, with televised games and some commentary. But there are students who get less recognition and yet who succeed each summer in improving the image of the CNMI among their peers and the adults who spend long hours involved in the activities.

Forensics and Thespian students head out with their lines memorized, their songs humming in their ears. They have worked on their sense of timing, the dramatic pause. They speak their parts in clear, unaccented English, setting aside their island-style patter for after their performances.

The thespians start their work Monday, June 25th, in Lincoln, Nebraska, perfoming their monologues, mimes, solo musical pieces and other performances for their individual evaluations, and then working together as a group to perform a one-act play that other thespians from around the country can watch and enjoy.

And the forensics students just finished their hard work in Wichita, Kansas. I don't know all of the results, but I heard that several students finished in the top 100. Ryan Ortizo of MCS finished in the top 40. And the star CNMI student this year was MHS student Rachel Reyes, who finished 9th in storytelling among all of the students from around the U.S.

Imagine a CNMI student finishing in the top 10 of any academic competition open to all U.S. students! That's what Rachel did. Congratulations to her and to all who helped make her success possible (like Harold Easton, MHS drama teacher).

And thanks to Rachel and the other students for the positive image you help share about the CNMI as unofficial summer ambassadors.