Three Steps to Help You Write a Good Children’s Book

If you dream of writing a children’s book or becoming a successful children’s book writer, you are here at the right place.

Like any good book – a good children’s book involves a lot of steps, including understanding your target market, the language you will be using, finding the perfect illustrator, etc.

You will also want to understand how to publish a children’s book after you have completed your draft and when it is time to send it out for publication.

Without further ado, let us explore some of the essential steps that will help you write a good children’s book.

Keep reading!

Decide Your Age Range

Before you start to make an outline or jot down the main idea of your story, you will want to decide on the age range that your book will be for. Suppose you are self-publishing – in this case – you might opt for Amazon.

Amazon will ask you to choose the age range. You get the point – you will want to look at the different age ranges and choose the one that will represent your book the most accurately. You might as well look at the books that are listed within your chosen age range.

It is always a great idea to do a bit of research and see what other writers have written for your chosen age range. You will want to assess the vocabulary used in the sentences. Also, assess the style and decide on the right fit for your book.

Your book must fit the age range, grammatical structure, storyline, overall style, and other components.

So, before you start to jot down the storyline, you will want to choose the age range, research books that fall in that age range, and ensure that your writing style fits the age range.

Maintain the Writing Style

Once you have chosen your writing style, you will want to stick to it throughout the book. For instance, you might have chosen one of the following writing styles:

Whatever writing style you have chosen, you will want to ensure to follow the writing style throughout the entire book.

If you are looking to write for the younger ages, you might want to opt for rhyming, as rhyming can simplify your story and make it catchier. On the other side, if you choose to narrate your story in the present tense – this is an efficient way to keep your young readers actively engaged in the story.

By using the present tense, you will have the readers experience the story as if they are an essential part of everything that is happening inside the story instead of removing them from the story.

Furthermore, if you decide to narrate a story that is based on a true event, you will want to stick to the past tense because you will be narrating a finite event.

When it comes to writing in the first or third person, you will have your younger audience relate directly to the book’s main character. Nonetheless, when choosing a writing style, you shouldn’t have to worry about picking the right or wrong approach.

There is no wrong or right approach to picking your preferred writing style. Once you have decided upon a style, you will want to make sure that you stick with it throughout the entire children’s book. It all comes down to the fact that you fully understand the decision you made when choosing the writing style and how it affects your readers.

Integrate Crucial Elements of the Genre

Once you have decided on the age range and your writing style, you will want to consider the extra steps to improve your book. And much of this aspect is derived from understanding what the children in your chosen age group are generally drawn to.

Create Amazing Characters

For instance, you will want to focus on creating amazing and essentially unforgettable characters that would mesmerize the minds of young readers. Some common characteristics of unforgettable characters include the following:

You will want to draw characters that will make children fall in love with them and aspire to be like them.

Integrate Suspense

Another crucial element to make your children’s book good is to integrate suspenseful action – which is mandatory for many other genres too. We all know the importance of writing a great hook to captivate the interest of your ideal reader and make them want to read the entire book.

By using suspense from the very beginning, you will reel the young readers into the story, and they will want to know more about it.

Weave in Consistent Action

You will want to keep your young readers interested in the book by maintaining consistent action throughout the story. Besides action, you will also want to focus on realistic dialogue. Use dialogue to basically represent the age range for your book.

For instance, you will want to write in simplified words for your younger readers to help them stay engaged.

Use Appropriate Storyline Elements

Even while writing for kids, you will want to ensure that your book has a storyline that is consistent throughout the book. Your storyline should also make sense to the readers. A good idea would be to throw in some obstacles and challenges for the main characters to solve.

It is crucial to mention here that young children like to have happy endings. You will want to ensure that the solution is given to the problem the characters face in the book.

Depending on the age range for your children’s book, you will want to ensure that your storyline suits your chosen age category so that your young readers truly enjoy reading your book. You will want to aim at having your main character remain in the mind of the young readers even long after they have read the book.

If you achieve this, then you can consider your book a massive success.