How To Write A Children’s Book: 9 Simple Steps

Stuti Raha
23 Min Read

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Remember when you first read Harry Potter and eagerly waited for the Hogwarts letter to find its way to your letterbox? Or bought hundreds of chocolate bars, hoping to find the Golden Ticket in one after reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

Children’s books shape childhoods and contribute significantly to how they see the world. The main aim of children’s books is to provide young readers with joy and adventure and transport them to a fantastical world they wish not to return from. These books are full of magic and surprise.

Do you want to be an author who writes books for children? Do you want to know the secrets of how to write a children’s book? Then you are at the right place to get started. This article will expand on the most fundamental steps to follow while writing children’s books. So, let’s learn how to write a children’s book in 9 simple steps.

1. Get Acquainted with Children’s Books

Children's books
Photo by Omar Flores/ Unsplash, Copyright 2019

To write a children’s book, you must be thoroughly familiar with and love children’s books. The simplest way is to read lots of these books and study them. If you have a particular theme or genre in mind you want to write on; it would be ideal to read more books of the same category. This will also help develop your own children’s book ideas.

Read books by well-known children’s authors such as Dr. Seuss (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Green Eggs and Ham), Enid Blyton (The Famous Five series, Malory Towers series), Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda), C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia series), J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter series), Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series) and so many more.

Read books by upcoming authors as well to get an idea of the current themes being talked about and for market research. This will help you learn new techniques, form ideas, and improve upon your mistakes.

2. Establish the Target Age Group

Group of children
Photo by Piron Guillaume/ Unsplash, Copyright 2017

Determining the ages of the children reading the books is crucial to target the right audience. Children’s books are aimed at readers between a few months to 18 years. Knowing the different categories of growing readers to write suitable books for their ages is important.

2.1. Picture Books (Age Group 0-6 Years)

Books written for these children are more commonly known as ‘board books.’ A picture book has very few words and heavily relies on illustrations. Since children of these ages cannot read independently, adults usually narrate the tale while the children enjoy the pictures in the book. These books range between 12 to 32 pages and have a less than 500-word count. Authors writing picture books should keep them short and engaging enough for children to be immersed through audio narrations alone.

Examples: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems

2.2. Early Readers (Age Group 6-7 Years)

These children just start to grasp words and build a vocabulary but still need the aid of illustrations. They start building their reading skills and are encouraged to begin reading independently. Unlike picture books, early-read books can go up to about 50 to 80 pages with a word count of 5000. This is also the stage where series in books are introduced for children who have grown attached to a character and want to read more stories about them in particular.

Examples: Clifford the Big Red Dog series by Norman Bridwell, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, Big Snowman, Little Snowman by Tish Rabe

2.3. Chapter Books (Age Group 7-9 Years)

Chapter books, divided into chapters, have a comparatively higher vocabulary to hone the reading skills of budding young readers. These books have few illustrations, such as short doodles near the chapter titles or between texts, as seen in ‘The Diary of a Wimpy Kid.’ These books mostly come in series following the trend mentioned above. They range between 80 to 100 pages and have a word count of up to 10,000. Children’s imaginations are vigorously being developed at this age, so the stories must be exciting and adventurous.

Examples: Geronimo Stilton series by Elisabetta Dami, Dork Diaries by Rachel Renée Russell, The Enchanted Wood series by Enid Blyton

2.4. Middle-Grade Books (Age Group 9-12 Years)

Middle-grade books are written keeping in mind the emotional turmoils of a tween, a middle-grade student. They become avid readers at this age and constantly look for more complex storylines and vocabulary. They develop a taste for genres. These books are more than 100 pages long with a word count of about 60,000. They have very few to no illustrations. The most common examples of popular books among tweens are the first two Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

More examples: Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, The BFG by Roald Dahl, Wonder by R.J. Palacio

2.5. Young Adult Novels (Age Group 12-18 Years)

Young adult fiction is so popular that it is a genre in itself. Older children, such as teenagers and adults, read these books. They shed light on various issues faced by teenagers while growing up, aiming to be highly relatable. The themes of such books revolve around coming-of-age stories. These books are more than 150 pages long with a word count beyond 100,000 and tend not to have illustrations. Advanced genres such as fantasy, realistic fiction, and science fiction are widely read among these books.

Examples: The Fault in Our Stars, The Hunger Games series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

3. Settle upon the Writing Style

How to write a children's book
Photo by Tumisu/ Pixabay, Copyright 2019

So how do you start writing a children’s book? Beforbeginningng to write the story, the first thing to do is to plan it out and establish your unique writing style. Planning a children’s book involves settling upon several components, as explained below.

3.1. Create a Book Dummy

It is very easy to create your book dummy. It is a mock of the actual book to be published. Take the desired amount of pages and fold them in half. Leave a few pages for the book cover, copyrights, index, and more as per requirement at the beginning and acknowledgments and author’s notes at the end. The remaining pages outline the story idea using the space for words and pictures. Write your story corresponding to the format of the book dummy.

3.2. Make it Fun for the Illustrators

Set the setting and characters so that it’s fun and interesting, not just for the children to read about but also for the illustrators to play with different ideas. A few tips are to base the stories outdoors instead of indoors, make the characters look unusual, and create a whole different world or planet if possible.

3.3. Keep the Sentences Brief but Descriptive

Children’s books should have straightforward stories. These should be easy to understand. The sentences should be concise and descriptive so that children can grasp them easily while staying steadily invested in the story.

3.4. Vocabulary

Imagine reading a book and reaching out for the dictionary every time the page turns. Now imagine early readers having to do that. They will most likely lose interest and never touch a book again. Hence while writing children’s books, authors should keep in mind the vocabulary range of their target age group.

Start with easy, commonly used words when writing a picture or middle-grade book. With chapter books and young adult books, it is possible to start using more challenging vocabulary for the development of the reading skills of young readers.

3.5. Rhyme

Rhyme in children’s books is difficult to master. If not done properly, they can go wrong. It may seem forced when the rhymes have been written just for the sake of it. So be careful while using them to write a children’s book.

For reference, books by Dr. Seuss and the famous Chicka Chika Boom Boom are good places to start.

3.6. Repetition

The most famous use of repetition can be found in the books written by Dr. Seuss. Children’s books that rely on repetition are mostly for kids reading picture books or early readers. Repetition sells so well because of its familiarity with young readers and the cadence it forms while reading them.

3.7. Tense

While writing children’s books, it is better to write in the present tense. That’s because children like to be present in the moment while reading as if they are experiencing the story in real life as it is moving forward. Having a story written in the past is most likely to disconnect them from the events in the story but can still be used for effective storytelling.

3.8. Point Of View

Children prefer stories with the first-person point of view. They like to imagine that they are the main characters going on fun adventures rather than passively reading a story being narrated in the third person. A third-person point of view can be easier to write but opt for the first-person point of view if given a choice.

4. Find a Theme

theme
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When learning how to write a children’s book, it is important to remember that every children’s book has an underlying theme. Even if it is just for entertainment and doesn’t come with a moral at the end. Themes for children’s books include friendship, courage, empathy, punctuality, and so much more. Pick a theme close to you or that you know kids would like to read about and expand on. Remember that even complicated themes, such as time travel, can be presented in a simplified manner.

Finding a theme also helps in setting the tone of the story. For example, if the theme of a story is a child dreaming of life underwater, the story’s tone becomes enthusiastic, adventurous, and fantasy-oriented.

5. Key Elements of a Children’s Story

elements of a story
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When learning how to write a children’s book, it is also important to note a few key elements to be paid extra attention to, such as the ones mentioned below.

5.1. Main Character

The main character of a children’s book is the most important element of any children’s story. A children’s picture book is full of unique characters, like characters with colorful features or strange-looking animals, so that they may have instant recall. An easy way to do this is by taking someone from real life and giving them atypical characteristics for your story.

These characters are molded to be role models for children. The protagonist is usually a few years older than the target age range of the books. For example, Harry Potter, eleven in the first book, will appeal to children of age 9.

The main character should have strengths that are inspiring for younger readers as well as flaws that make them relatable. Their core personality traits, such as if they are introverts or extroverts or how they express their feelings, should also be well described to make for memorable characters.

5.2. Setting

When the world of Harry Potter was created, there was not a single child who did not want to be a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is how attractive the setting of children’s books should be. It should be able to pull children away from the real world and transport them to a place like Neverland.

Try to think up interesting ideas in genres such as science fiction, historical fiction, and such that can have an outside-of-ordinary setting.

5.3. Storyline

The storyline of children’s books, like any other story, should contain the basic constituents of action, conflict, and resolution. There should be constant rising action to keep the young reader engaged. There should also be a conflict with an easy resolution to hold the attention of an early reader.

But as the target age group ages, it is important to show that characters can fail many times before achieving their goals.

5.4. Dialogue

Children, unlike adults, do not speak, forming fully structured sentences. It is important to get into children’s minds and write dialogues like they would talk aloud while writing children’s books.

Writing dialogues for young adult books, though, is a little different. Since the readers are mostly teenagers, they can grasp more complex story structures and dialogues. Try adding abbreviations and slang in these dialogues, as it coincides with how young adults speak. It will help them connect with a character more freely.

6. Write an Appropriate Length

length of story
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Decide how long you want your story to be at the very beginning. An early reader has a very short attention span. The story needs to get into action from the first or second page. This is especially true while writing picture books. For example, if the story is about a dog flying an airplane, the dog should be seated in the cockpit from the very first page.

Children’s books, especially picture books, should start and end swiftly while also being entertaining. Too many words can make the story feel draggy and uninteresting.

The length of the story or the book should be per the age range. A child reader may only grasp less than 50 pages of text, whereas older readers, such as those reading young adult novels, can read more than 200 pages.

7. Choose the Title Wisely

Books
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Some writers may settle upon a title before writing the story and revise it later, or some may choose a title at the end after completing it, knowing exactly what it is about. It is up to you to decide when you want to write the title, but below mentioned are a few tips for the same.

7.1. The Title shouldn’t be Descriptive

The title of the books, especially picture books and middle-grade books, should not be descriptive. They should be short and easy to understand for an early reader.

7.2. Alliterate

Picture books are also known to have alliterations in their titles. For example, Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book and Fox in Socks, Many Marvelous Monsters by Ed Heck, and many more. Alliterations are a form of repetition, which, as mentioned before, appeals to child readers.

7.3. Be Mysterious

Adding a little mystery about what the story will be about is also a great tactic while coming up with the title of your story. The book is more likely to be picked up just out of curiosity and read by young readers.

7.4. Use Action as a Device

Using action phrases in the title can add to the excitement of a story. With such stories, there is no need for unnecessary buildup, adding extra words, and making it longer than it needs to be to move a story forward, as the title already suggests what is taking or is about to take place.

7.5. Google

Lastly, Google your title to check if your chosen title has already been used. While it is not a violation to use the same title as others, it does lower the unique factor. If two or more books have the same name, it is also more difficult for children to find the books they are looking for.

8. Draft and Edit

How To Write A Children's Book: 9 Simple Steps 1
Photo by Vanessa Loring/ Pexels, Copyright 2021

After you finish writing the children’s book, be it a picture book, middle-grade book, chapter book, or a young adult novel, let it be the first draft.

Go through your story again and again, and be harsh while editing. Cut out the parts that feel like fillers instead of adding value to the entire story. Make sure the story structure is chronological and makes sense.

Regarding children’s books, it is better to meet the minimum word limit instead of the maximum. But remember that the story should not be boring after making all the cuts and arriving at the final stage.

Show the book to your own child or a child you know and take their opinion. Ask about their likes or dislikes of the story. Take their input on what they want to see changed or if they have any other ideas to add. They can serve as a representation of the intended target audience.

9. Find an Illustrator and a Publisher

How To Write A Children's Book: 9 Simple Steps 2
Photo by pixmike/ Pexels, Copyright 2007

Now that you know how to write a children’s book, the final step before basking in the joy of holding your own children’s book, printed, in your hands is to find a children’s book illustrator and a publisher. You don’t necessarily need to find one if you want to get it done yourself. You can either self-publish or stick to traditional publishing.

You can make the illustrations yourself or hire someone. Tell the illustrator all the details you want, such as the orientation of the pictures, the size, and, most importantly, what the art should convey.

Taking the self-publishing route is more on-trend than looking for a traditional publisher. But with traditional publishers, you’ll have a bigger audience to market your book.

How to write children's books
Photo by Mysticsartdesign/ Pixabay, Copyright 2014

Writing children’s books is no easy feat. But it can feel extremely rewarding to write and watch their faces light up as they transform into different characters and go on adventures exploring foreign lands.

Young adult novels teach young audiences important life lessons while not being preachy but making them feel seen, heard, and represented. Knowing that you have helped contribute to their happiness is a great feeling.

Don’t get discouraged if your books don’t sell well initially. Keep writing and having fun. After all, even J.K. Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers before she became the world’s bestselling children’s book author.

 

Last Updated on by Sathi

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I've been reading books for as long as I can remember. With the love of reading came the love of writing. I love art, be it a painting, a book, a song, or a dance form. Nothing excites me more than creativity and its different forms. During my leisure time, I can be found playing the ukulele or watching Netflix. I am an introvert and may seem unapproachable. But if you do, I promise we'll have the best conversations.
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