Learn to write for children's magazines!
In September, I’ll be teaching a course through WOW! Women On Writing about writing children’s short stories, articles, and fillers. I am re-posting an interview below with Angela, WOW!’s executive editor, that appeared on their blog, The Muffin, at the beginning of this year. I hope that it helps any of you who have thought about writing for children’s magazines or websites. If you have book dreams, it helps to start out at the magazine level to work on your writing skills and get publication credits under your belt. Read on to find out more:
Angela: I’ve never tried writing for children’s publications, but I’ve always been intrigued by the idea. It must be so rewarding to reach out and entertain a child through your writing. I still remember all the articles and stories I read in magazines, such as Cricket, as a child. Maybe it’s because I was so young that the stories stuck with me or the fact that I was reading something I wanted to read for the first time.
So to gain a bit of insight into this market, I caught up with Margo L. Dill and asked her a few questions on the subject. Margo teaches the e-course Writing for Children. The course begins Wednesday, September 8. If this is a market you’ve been thinking about writing for, I urge you to visit the classroom page and sign up today.
Welcome, Margo! Like I mentioned above, I’m new to children’s writing. So tell me, what are the different types of manuscripts children’s magazines accept?
Margo: Children’s magazines accept short stories, poems, and articles. They also accept fillers, which are pieces like recipes, puzzles, quizzes, and arts and crafts.
Angela: That’s a wide variety, and it sounds like a lot of fun. If a writer wanted to craft a short story for a children’s magazine, what things should she keep in mind to better target her market?
Margo: I teach about the characteristics of a children’s short story during the fiction lessons because writing a short story for children is very different than writing for adults. The age of the main character is very important and should be the same age or older than the target age range. For example, if you are writing a short story for readers between 8 and 12 years old, the main character should be 11 or 12. As a rule, children don’t like to read about kids younger than them or adults as main characters. The other big mistake I see made in many children’s stories, and we cover this in the class, is that the child protagonist does not solve his own problem. An adult swoops in and saves the day. Children want to read about other children solving their own problems.
Angela: I never thought about it, but that makes complete sense. I think it’s a good lesson too for children to learn how to solve their own problems. In your class curriculum you recommend sending a cover letter with a short story submission. Are cover letters important? Shouldn’t the story stand on its own?
Blog: Margo Dill's Read These Books and Use Them! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: writing for children's magazines, WOW! Women On Writing, Maniac Mondays, maniac monday, on-line writing courses, Add a tag
by whiskymac www.flickr.com
A squirrel is certainly a maniac–especially when a boxer puppy is chasing it up a tree. Happens in my yard all the time!
On this Maniac Monday, I thought I would act a bit like a maniac myself and do some shameless plugging of an on-line writing course I am teaching for WOW! Women On Writing. I am going to put the very detailed description below (I am not sure if I need this much description; but as a maniac myself, I always want to know exactly what I am playing for when signing up for on-line writing courses.) So, here goes:
If you are a mom or a teacher or a homeschool parent, then you may have thought about writing for children in your spare time (or in the time that you are supposed to actually be sleeping). I mean, Madonna does it; so does your neighbor and your fifth grade teacher who retired eons ago, so why not you? This on-line writing course below is one of the first steps you can take in learning what it takes to get published if you want to write for children. It focuses on children’s magazines, which can give you much needed practice and publishing credits when it comes time to send your book manuscript to agents and editors.
WRITING FOR CHILDREN: Everything You Need to Know About Short Stories, Articles, and Fillers by Margo L. Dill
START DATE: Wednesday, September 30, 2009
DURATION: 7 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class will teach the basics of writing for children’s magazines, crafting short stories, nonfiction articles, poetry, and fillers. The student will come away with a short story and cover letter, nonfiction query letter, and a filler or poem. She will also have a list of potential markets, fitting her manuscripts. The instructor will also share an organizational tool for submissions and information on finding other children’s writers and networking.
WEEKS AT A GLANCE:
Week 1: Overview of writing for children’s magazines: We will discuss different types of manuscripts that magazines accept, how to read magazine guidelines, setting goals and expectations for the seven weeks, answering questions, and breaking myths about children’s writing.
Assignment: Find three markets (and their guidelines) that you would be interested in submitting to and sharing them with the other members of the class through the Google group.
Week 2: Crafting short stories: This week will focus on writing a short story for the children’s magazine market. You should have a market from week one’s assignment that will help you write a short story while having a market in mind. We will discuss creativity vs. marketing your story.
Assignment: Write a short story for a children’s magazine.
Week 3: Cover letters and submissions: Now you have a short story draft. You will learn this week how to write a cover letter for your short story; how to format your short story manuscript; and what to include in your submission package.
Assignments: 1. Upload your short story to the Google group. 2. Critique (using the critique form the instructor provides) your partner’s short story. 3. Create a cover letter for your short story. 4. Revise your short story to turn in next week.
Week 4: Nonfiction articles: This class will discuss writing nonfiction articles for children’s magazines, which are easier to sell to magazines. We will discuss possible topics, how to narrow and focus topics, ways to begin magazine articles, outlining, and researching topics.
Assignments: 1. Upload your cover letter and short story to the Google group. 2. Come up with a topic or two for a nonfiction article that targets one of the markets from week one. Include your angle, beginning of article, and any sources you will use. Create a brief outline.
Week 5: Query letters and submissions: Once you have your topic for a nonfiction article and a rough outline, you are ready to query a magazine to see if editors would be interested in the article. We will look at sample query letters and talk about the different parts of a query letter. We will also talk about what to include in your submission packages for a nonfiction query proposal.
Assignment: Write a query letter to a children’s magazine.
Week 6: Fillers and Poetry: Children’s magazines use a lot of recipes, activities, crafts, quizzes, puzzles, jokes, and poems. These are often called fillers, and they pay and provide clips! We will discuss these, some tricks to the trade, and how to submit them to magazines.
Assignments: 1. Upload query letter to Google group. 2. Critique partner’s query letter. 3. Write a filler or a poem for your target magazine.
Week 7: Tracking Submissions, Organization, Support and Networking for Children’s Writers: When you write for magazines, it is important to keep track of submissions, wait times, and rights. We will discuss different organizational systems. We will talk about what to do if you do not hear back from an editor after an acceptable amount of wait time. We will also discuss how to find support and networking opportunities for children’s writers from SCBWI to local groups to social networking.
Assignment: Fill out the evaluation
Materials needed: Most materials will be provided by the instructor. You will need: a computer with Internet service, e-mail address, and ability to sign-up for free Google Account and Word Hustler account (optional).
**Writer’s Market or Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market is helpful, but it is not necessary for the class. You can find similar information with a free Word Hustler account or with Internet search engines. Some libraries may have older editions that you can use for a reference.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: Margo Dill has written for children since she completed a course from the Institute of Children’s Literature nine years ago. Her children’s writing has won awards, including honorable mention in the annual Writer’s Digest contest. She has had articles, short stories, poetry, activities, and recipes accepted and published in various publications such as Fun for Kidz, Pockets, Cuivre River Anthology III, Characters, Highlights for Children, and Calliope: A Writer’s Workshop. She has taught children’s writing at the University YMCA in Champaign, IL. She has spoken to writing groups on subjects such as writing articles, networking, and short stories, and she is the children’s writing coordinator for Saturday Writers in St. Peters, MO.
COST: $200, which includes access to a Google group, ability to upload work to Google group for discussion with instructor and other class members, a free first-page critique from the instructor and a free query or cover letter critique from instructor, private email discussions with instructor as needed.
If you want to sign up for this on-line writing course, it’s easy through PayPal (scroll to the bottom of my class description for the button), or you can contact me with questions or registration information at margodll [at] aol [dot] com.
WOW! offers a ton of on-line courses if a path to publishing children’s books is not what you are after. They offer on-line writing classes for very cheap rates on screenwriting (see you at the Oscars!), poetry, and short stories. Check out the classes WOW! offers here.
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By: Jenny,
on 5/20/2008
Blog: SCBWI Gauteng (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Writing Children's Books, Illustrating Children's Books, SCBWI Retreat, Agents, Publishing, Magona.Sindiwe, Clark. Christine, Koppe. Susanne, Writing for Children's Magazines, Carnell. Suzanne, Add a tag
For coverage of the SCBWI Retreat, click on the title above. It'll take you to brief reports on:From story board to published book: How to find your own way in the world of publishing - a talk by international literary agent Susanne Koppe. Blank page to under a child's pillow: the creative process - a talk by Editorial Director, Picture/Gift Books, Macmillan Children's Books, UK, Suzanne
By: Kate Messner,
on 12/1/2007
Blog: Kate's Book Blog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: emma jean lazarus fell out of a tree, millicent min girl genius, lauren tarshis, cybils, middle grade fiction, lisa yee, Add a tag
This story begins Emma Jean Lazarus opens a door. Literally, it's the door to the girls' bathroom at school, where she finds Colleen Pomerantz (a kind, sensitive girl and not one of the usual 7th grade criers) sobbing over a problem with a friend. Figuratively, it's the door we all open when we make the sometimes scary decision to reach out to another human being. This is a big deal for all of us, but especially for Emma Jean, who's one of those brilliant, wise-beyond-her-years kids who seems to watch everything from the sidelines. She reminds me a lot of Lisa Yee's Millicent Min, Girl Genius. Because Emma Jean is brilliant at math and logic, just like her father who died two years ago, she uses logic to find solutions to her classmates' problems, with results that are hilarious and heartwarming.
There's a lot to love about this book. If you're a writer, you should read it because it's a fantastic example of how to pull off changing points of view in third person narrative. If you spend any time in a middle school, you'll love it because the characters are so real. As a middle school English teacher, I recognized these kids. I've seen Emma Jean watching the other kids at lunch. I've comforted Colleen when one of her friends was mad at her. And I've seen them all in their specially picked outfits at that first middle school dance. Author Lauren Tarshis has nailed middle school to a tee; she even understands one of the great secrets of school hallways: that the custodians are the real heroes.
Emma Jean Lazarus goes out on a limb in this middle grade novel (and yes, she really does fall out of a tree). Her journey is one that manages to be funny and sad and uplifting and true, all at once. You'll love this book.