Writing for Children - start with a incident
When writing for children a common way of beginning is to commence with a scenario or situation. Any particular situation, whether you've read about it, or maybe heard about it on the TV, or maybe a chance sentence or bumping into someone may create a sudden unshakeable belief that this is a possibility for, one day the beginning of a book. Writing for children is, opposite to what many people believe, just as hard and challenging as writing for adults, indeed in many ways more so, so when you are writing for children, do choose your scenario or situation carefully as you need to gain, and keep a child's notoriously fickle attention.
Perhaps it may take years for you to begin writing for children, but the idea remains firmly fixed in your brain, and so does its potential for a good storyline. Here's an example for you to consider, it's the story of the head of an orphanage who was aware that many of the youngsters in her institution had invented "real belonging mothers" belonging just to themselves. In some cases the mothers really existed, but many of these absent moms were invented by the children themselves to fill an aching need, since they didn't know who their real mothers were, they just invented them.
When you are writing for children, you could perhaps consider this scenario - store it away in your memory and give it time to grow and develop. Possibly years later you may be able to use and develop it. Here's one possibility ....
Orphans in a convent create fantasy mothers for themselves. Some invent wonderful, caring moms who love them deeply and only left them at the orphanage because they had no other option in a cold, hard world. Maybe other kids fantasise about spiteful, evil women who just abandoned them out of cruelty and spite - sounds a bit like a wicked stepmother - doesn't it? And we all know what wonderful tales have been woven around wicked stepmothers!
Of course not all situations will develop well. You do need to consider carefully what might be worked into a good storyline and which scenarios should be left well alone when writing for children. After all, you don't want to make your stories too scary! Remember those fantasy moms - those children needed make-believe mothers who would nuture rather than hurt them, and any writing for children should always leave the reader feeling warm and reassured after the conclusion has been reached.
Ellie Dixon lives in deepest rural Devon, England with her husband and two very large Newfoundland dogs. She is passionate about vintage illustrated children's books and loves to restore and edit them for today's kids to rediscover. Visit Scruffy's Bookshop, Ellie's main website for some great books, and Ellie also recommends How to Write a Great Children's Book! for aspiring authors.