Children's Book Writing Advice?

[aaMartin2]

Hi all! A few months ago I came up with the fun name Baby Backpockets. Ever since my sister has pushed me to write a children's book with that title. The only thing is that I have never thought about writing children's books before. Does anyone have any useful advice on dos and don'ts or such? Also, I know that most children's books are short, but is there a maximum length that they can be? Or is it more important to focus on not putting too many words on each page?

[Neyra]

Try to remember what things you liked when you were a child and go with that!!

[WinterCandyMints]

Colors. All the colors. Children loves colors. Keep it colorful to catch their attention and use age appropriate vocabulary. Don't get too crazy; remember they are children. Think of the adventures a child could have. Like, exploring the house and how everything might look to them and so on and so forth.

[Amheiser]

There are certain 'rules' on writing for children that publishers look for. For example, depending on the age you are going to write for, there are limits on how much vocabulary to use on each page and how many syllables your words can have. I also am writing books for children so I looked up on-line courses about writing for children and I'm taking one on line. It's been very helpful. If you research on-line how to write for children you may be able to find a course that will work for you and the types of stories you want to write for the age group you want to write for.

[KS Crooks]

I might want to create a few different paths for the story to take and then ask people of your target age which path they like the best. Try to remember the stories you liked to read as a child. Depending on how young your target audience is you should also consider what the parents will want to read to their children. An author I like for my kids is Paulette Dantzer, who has recently published a new book geared to kids age 8 to 12. Good luck and have fun with story and writing.