The Need for Conflict!
Are you a beginning writer or have you been working on your craft for a bit? Are you trying to develop a story, but it seems to be falling flat and you can’t figure out why? Maybe you need conflict. Here’s why.
7 Steps Toward Not Over-Loving Your Character
Characters Are Like Children As writers, we tend to fall in love with our characters. And we should. They are our word children. Just like parents, we treasure our children. We love them. We want the absolute best for them. All the time. Nothing should ever happen to them. And… this is unhealthy and boring. […]
What Writers Can Learn from Charles Schulz
By now, you’ve probably seen Linus tell Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about, seen Snoopy reunite with his brother Spike, and felt empathy for poor Rerun who is probably still stuck on that bike. For many, it’s tradition to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Specials every year. And for many, it is the only […]
Creating Characters Who Have Hearts and Souls
Each year 5th graders in the school where I teach become buddies with a kindergartner. They sit with them in chapel, listen to them read, and also write and illustrate a picture book for their kindergarten buddy. The 5th graders created characters and wrote their stories. Their teacher then asked me to help them with […]
On ‘Story Genius’ or . . . How to Avoid Wasting a Decade of Your Life
Ever feel as if your writing is a waste of time? That the entire universe is laughing at your paltry literary efforts? That’s one of my biggest fears, and it’s founded on reality. I wrote three unsuccessful children’s book series for David C. Cook in the 1990s. And by “unsuccessful” I mean the amount of […]
The First Page of Your Picture Book
A picture book is all about your Main Character (MC) and the problem he or she is trying to solve. As in all manuscripts, the first page of your picture book plays an important role. We’re going to talk about the text that will eventually become the first page of the published book. Because the […]
Choosing Your Mentor Text
As any brave explorer would do before embarking on a journey, it’s important for us as children’s writers to choose a reliable flashlight to help us find our way.For writers, our flashlight is a mentor text. What exactly is a mentor text, you may ask? In a nutshell, it’s a children’s book that you want […]
5 Tips for Using Literal and Metaphorical Language, Part V (conclusion): Always Remember Context by Deborah DeCiantis
TIP #5 Use context to recognize, understand, and interpret literal and metaphorical language. Historical, social, cultural, and biblical contexts are essential for understanding literal and metaphorical elements in speech and writing. Accurate understanding should come before interpretation! A cropped photo automatically demands interpretation, zeroing in on details the user wants to emphasize while excluding others. In […]
DRIVE: A Book Review by Kathryn Dover (and a Giveaway!)
When I first heard about the Baker Mountain series by Joyce Moyer Hostetter, Drive, the fourth book in the series, sounded the most interesting. Drive occurs several years after the previous novel, Comfort, and follows the story of Ida and Ellie Honeycutt, Ann Fay’s younger twin sisters. REVIEW The cover of Drive is stunning; the […]
9 Tips for Writing Unforgettable Characters by Deborah DeCiantis
According to Elaine Marie Alphin (Creating Characters Kids Will Love p. 2) “Kids read because a magical closeness springs up between them and the characters in books and stories—the same magical closeness I felt as a child. They read because a writer has brought a character to life on the page for them.” Every great […]