Learning how to write for kids - brevity and word choice

Siren of Triton · Jun 1, 2012

Okay, so I know the most basic thing if you want to learn how to write children's literature is to read more of it. And I am doing that. But one thing that worries me - I would like to write kids' stories that could be submitted to magazines, but I have a real problem with brevity. I am used to writing longer-form work for adults, and the 500-1000 words that some of these places are looking for just seems so unbelievably short to me. How do I teach myself to write a full story in that amount of words?

It's strange, because when I was in middle school or high school, 1000 words seemed like a lot. I remember hearing in high school I would have to write a 4000-word essay by the time I graduated, and that seemed like such a burden! But now it's the opposite...I just graduated from college, and a few thousand words is nothing. It's expressing myself more briefly that is the problem. But I could learn to deal with longer word limits, how do I do the opposite?

I am also worried because I tend to be someone who uses a lot of big words, without even thinking. It's to the point that some people have told me it sounds like I'm trying to sound older and more mature than I am (I'm 22), but it isn't - that's just the way I talk! But sometimes I have trouble keeping out big words when I'm writing for a less appropriate audience. It's an issue even for the adult website I write for, which is a news site but one written in a more casual, conversational tone. I'm worried that I don't know how to write for kids because I don't know how to keep big words out of my writing.

So basically this is asking people who used to write stuff for teenagers and adults how they learned how to write for younger kids. Thanks!

Marzipan · Jun 1, 2012

My best advice is to put yourself in the mind of your characters. You mentioned that you sound more mature sometimes but that is just the way you talk, well you can use this as a valuable tool.

Obviously your characters are going to have different experiences from your own. For example, you may know perfectly well what a narwal looks like. You may even be able to tell me where I can find one too, but that doesn't mean your characters can or even know what a narwal is at all. This also falls into what sort of word choices your characters make. Obviously you choose 'big' words, but is it realistic for your characters? I don't know, you decide.

Imagine this. Little Jeffery Aldrich was raised in the hills of Mississippi. The biggest city he has ever been to is Natchez (we can barely call Natchez a city) and he has never been outside of his home state. His grand-mama raised him by herself, and she "Never needa none of that learnin'". Now pretend we are going to write a story in first-person with little Jeffery as the MC. Would it be realistic for Jeffery to use adjectives such as luminous, illustrious, or sublime when it is contrary to his upbringing and current experience?

Just be true to your characters dude.

Ferret · Jun 1, 2012

If it doesn't come naturally to you, why do you want to write for chidlren's magazines? Maybe you're better at writing stories for adults. Or you could write middle grade novels, which give you a lot more flexbility in terms of length and vocabulary.

But if you have your heart set on writing stories for children's magazines, I think reading a lot of stories is a good start. Maybe you could also get a critique parter who writes the same type of story. As with any type of writing, practice is essential. Your first attempts might not work, and that's okay.

Once you have 50 posts, you can post a story in share your work. Then people can give you more specific advice.

Smish · Jun 1, 2012

You already know the answer, I think: read a lot and write a lot.

With practice, you'll get better at trimming down your stories. We do have monthly prompts, which can be a great for practice. :Thumbs:

MsJudy · Jun 1, 2012

I'd love to give you some really helpful advice, but the truth is... I have no idea how people manage it. I can't do 500 words, either. And I should be able to. I teach kinder and first grade. I read picture books EVERY SINGLE DAY. Shouldn't I be able to figure out how to write one?

Nope. Every little story idea I get grows into something bigger.

So it may just be that your imagination won't be confined to small spaces. But you won't know until you try. Practice, practice, practice. At the very least, it will help you build up skills that will transfer to any form of writing. Saying more with fewer words is a good trick in any genre, IMHO.

Siren of Triton · Jun 1, 2012

Ferret said:
If it doesn't come naturally to you, why do you want to write for chidlren's magazines? Maybe you're better at writing stories for adults. Or you could write middle grade novels, which give you a lot more flexbility in terms of length and vocabulary.

Yeah, I was thinking that I could write novels for kids, because I really would like to write for children. I just feel like maybe I could build up my writing career better by starting small, rather than jumping right into writing novels?

Anyway, thanks for the advice, everyone!

Ferret · Jun 1, 2012

Siren of Triton said:
Yeah, I was thinking that I could write novels for kids, because I really would like to write for children. I just feel like maybe I could build up my writing career better by starting small, rather than jumping right into writing novels?

Short stories and novels are very different. You don't need to master one in order to do the other.

Jump in!

Siren of Triton · Jun 1, 2012

I know that, it's just that (and this probably sounds totally cliche but) I'd really like to get published and that's probably easier with short stories.

Morrell · Jun 2, 2012

You've had some good advice already. If you're reading a lot of kid lit of the sort you want to write, you're definitely doing the right thing. I second the suggestion to get 50 posts and post something on SYW for feedback. As far as using big words, don't worry about it in your first draft. Just get your ideas down. Revision is where you will go back and examine your word choice to make sure it's appropriate for the age range. With practice, this will become easier.

MsJudy · Jun 2, 2012

Siren of Triton said:
I know that, it's just that (and this probably sounds totally cliche but) I'd really like to get published and that's probably easier with short stories.

That's not really true; not for kidlit. Definitely true for some of the adult genres, where there are more magazines/journals/anthologies, both online and in print. But for kidlit, the short story market is pretty small and very specific. More MG novels are published each year than short stories.

And even if you do publish a story or two, it won't really help you get in the door with an agent who reps novels. Because the two skill sets are very different, and because kids don't go out and look for books by their favorite short story writer like adults would, having published a story doesn't really give you much of a headstart on getting a novel published.

So, the old advice still holds. Write what you know/love. Learn how to do it well.

playground · Jun 2, 2012

The biggest advice I can give is respect the reader even though they are younger. I think a lot of people that don't write kid novels thinks that all you have to do is think of an idea, write it, then just dumb it down. That's not how it works. Obviously you can't use words such as nebulous but kids can figure out what specific words mean if the words around it are just as strong.

Smish · Jun 2, 2012

Siren of Triton said:
I know that, it's just that (and this probably sounds totally cliche but) I'd really like to get published and that's probably easier with short stories.

Unfortunately, that's not true when it comes to children's literature. There aren't many children's magazines out there, and most of them that do exist only publish one or two short stories in each issue. It's very competetive. It's much easier (but still difficult) to break into professional children's magazines with nonfiction.

Siren of Triton · Jun 2, 2012

Smish said:
Unfortunately, that's not true when it comes to children's literature. There aren't many children's magazines out there, and most of them that do exist only publish one or two short stories in each issue. It's very competetive. It's much easier (but still difficult) to break into professional children's magazines with nonfiction.

Okay. That's good to know. So there's actually more of a market out there for children's fiction novels?

Maybe I was just thinking short stories because I remember reading a lot of kids' fiction magazines when I was little like Cricket and I just assumed there was more out there than there actually was. But I do remember now that a lot of the ones I read that weren't oriented around stories (like American Girl or New Moon) usually only published one or two per issue, if that.

Debbie V · Jun 4, 2012

To answer the original post. Make each and every word work really hard for you - one word can show so much. He dashed to the mailbox - not he ran - dashed. Dashed shows how he ran. Also, cut any subplots.

Post in SYW and we'll help you cut words. You'd be surprised how easy it gets once you are used to it.

melanieconklin · Jun 4, 2012

Flash fiction with short deadlines are a great way to exercise writing short pieces that get the job done.

kkbe · Jun 4, 2012

This might be a little off-topic. . .

I taught Kindergarten, so. . .four-, five-, six-year-olds. Do you know what their all-time favorite books were? No particular order:

Cookie's Week
Stone Fox
Charlotte's Web
Ten True Animal Rescues
Stone Girl, Bone Girl
In a Dark, Dark Room (especially, The Green Ribbon)

Of course, I had a lot of EZ readers for the kids to read. I'd read Cookie's Week once or twice and then the kids ran with it. Other books I read aloud to the kids, sometimes it took us a week or more. Charlotte's Web. . .gosh, I warned them in advance that I was probably going to cry (when Charlotte died) and four kids jumped up to get me a box of Kleenex. A couple of chapters in, five or six of my little students had borrowed Charlotte's Web from the school library. We'd sit down to read it and they'd find the page and "read along," a bunch of kids gathered 'round them, no matter that they couldn't yet read. . .

In my experience, if a book is well-written and compelling in some way--if a story gets a kid to laugh hysterically, or cry, or question or ponder, or shriek in mock fright, or borrow a book from the library, or shut her eyes and listen--then that's a good children's book. You needn't limit your writing to sight words (think Dr. Seuss' 50 words). Just write a compelling book, an interesting book. You do that, you've done okay, whether you're writing for a five-year-old, or a fifty-year-old.

Learning how to write for kids - brevity and word choice

Siren of Triton

Marzipan

Ferret

Dook!

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

MsJudy

Siren of Triton

Ferret

Dook!

Siren of Triton

Morrell

MsJudy

playground

Smish

Reads more than she writes.

Siren of Triton

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others

melanieconklin

kkbe

Huh.