5 Questions to Consider When Writing for Children

5 Questions to Consider When Writing for Children 5 Questions to Consider When Writing for Children 5 Questions to Consider When Writing for Children By Mark Nichol â€Å"I want to write a book for children† gets you about as far as saying, â€Å"I want to write fiction† or â€Å"I want to write nonfiction.† It’s a start, but only that. There are many forms and genres and age groups to consider, and though you can certainly move fluidly among them, what you’re going to write right now needs more focus. As you develop your ideas for a children’s book, be sure to answer these questions: 1. What do you want to write about? Is your book going to be autobiographical or semiautobiographical? Is it about a natural phenomenon, or a historical event, or a social issue? It is about a cultural or artistic topic? Write a sentence no longer than any of the ones in this paragraph that summarizes what the book is about. Or step back even further and try a tagline like the snappy phrase on a movie poster or a book’s back cover that encapsulates the theme. (The tagline for one story I’ve been working on is simply â€Å"Believe.† Another theme is â€Å"Friends don’t hesitate.†) 2. What form will the story take? Is the book nonfiction, explaining a scientific concept or exploring an issue from the past or present? Or is it going to be a fictional account of a scientific discovery or a story that takes place during a significant historical event or cultural movement? Either form may serve the subject matter well, but you must decide which one this project will take before you develop the narrative. 3. What’s the target demographic? â€Å"Children’s books† is a huge category. Are you writing for beginning readers, elementary school students, preteens, or adolescents? Will children of one gender or another be more likely to read your book? Is it directed toward a certain ethnic group (but written in such a way that others don’t feel excluded)? Research reading levels and match your book’s vocabulary to the intended age range. Decide who the ideal reader is, and check your work frequently to make sure you’re focusing on that child. If you repeatedly veer off, don’t try to force yourself to get back on target when it’s obviously not the right fit. Change the target. 4. What’s my word count? For very young children, picture books (generally 28 pages in a 32-page book with up to a few sentences on each page) are the norm. You should be able to tell your story or account in as little as a few dozen words for preschoolers to up to several hundred for seven- or eight-year-olds. Chapter books novels for readers this age or slightly older, might have up to a thousand words or so. Preteens can handle up to 40,000 words or so, and young teenagers about twice that; books for older adolescents, like those for adults, are often 100,000 words or more. 5. How do I want readers to feel? Basically, comfort young readers, and challenge older ones. For preadolescents of any age, nonfiction should not frighten children with stark facts about environmental crisis, for example, and fiction should not expose them to unhappy or uncomfortable circumstances. The violence and turmoil of the kind found in fairy tales and myths is acceptable, but real-life mayhem is off limits. Teenagers, on the other hand, are coming to grips with reality and can more or less handle more adult-themed materials as long as it’s not explicit or bleak. Psychological issues, familial and societal friction, and other mature themes are appropriate when handled evenhandedly. Even books for adolescents, however, should have upbeat conclusions. (Comeuppance for villains or reprobates is fine, but sympathetic characters, while they should be given obstacles and ordeals to overcome and can experience physical and psychological pain, should emerge from the story intact.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Homograph ExamplesAwoken or Awakened?Adverbs and Hyphens

Life Is Beautiful (1997) - Movie Review

Life Is Beautiful (1997) - Movie Review When I first heard about the Italian movie Life Is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella), I was shocked to discover that it was a comedy about the Holocaust. The articles that appeared in the papers bespoke of many that found even the concept of the Holocaust portrayed as a comedy to be offensive. Others believed that it belittled the experiences of the Holocaust by inferring that the horrors could be ignored by a simple game. I, too, thought, how could a comedy about the Holocaust possibly be done well? What a fine line the director (Roberto Benigni) was walking when portraying such a horrendous subject as a comedy. Yet I also remembered my feelings to the two volumes of Maus by Art Spiegelman - a story of the Holocaust portrayed in comic-strip format. It was months before I dared read it, and only then because it was assigned reading in one of my college classes. Once I started reading, I couldnt put them down. I thought they were wonderful. I felt the format, surprisingly, added to the books power, rather than distracting from it. So, remembering this experience, I went to see Life Is Beautiful. Act 1: Love Although I had been wary of its format before the movie began, and I even fidgeted in my seat, wondering if I was too far from the screen to read the sub-titles, it took only minutes from the films beginning for me to be smiling as we met Guido (played by Roberto Benigni - also the writer and director). With a brilliant mixture of comedy and romance, Guido used flirtatious random encounters (with a few not so random ones) to meet and woo the school teacher Dora (played by Nicoletta Braschi - Benignis real-life wife), whom he calls Princess (Principessa in Italian). My favorite part of the movie is a masterful, yet hilarious, sequence of events involving a key, time, and a hat - youll understand what I mean when you see the film (I dont want to give too much away before you see it). Guido successfully charms Dora, even though she had been engaged to a fascist official, and gallantly retrieves her while riding on a green painted horse (the green paint on his uncles horse was the first act of anti-Semitism that is shown in the film and really the first time you learn that Guido is Jewish). During Act I, the movie-goer almost forgets he came to see a movie about the Holocaust. All that changes in Act 2. Act 2: The Holocaust The first act successfully creates the characters of Guido and Dora; the second act delves us into the problems of the times. Now Guido and Dora have a young son, Joshua (played by Giorgio Cantarini) who is bright, loved, and doesnt like to take baths. Even when Joshua points out a sign in a window that says Jews are not allowed, Guido makes up a story to protect his son from such discrimination. Soon the life of this warm and funny family is interrupted by deportation. While Dora is away, Guido and Joshua are taken and placed in cattle cars - even here, Guido tries to hide the truth from Joshua. But the truth is plain to the audience - you cry because you know what is really happening and yet smile through your tears at the obvious effort Guido is making to hide his own fears and calm his young son. Dora, who had not been picked up for deportation, chooses to board the train anyway in order to be with her family. When the train unloads at a camp, Guido and Joshua are separated from Dora. It is at this camp that Guido convinces Joshua they are to play a game. The game consists of 1,000 points and the winner gets a real military tank. The rules are made up as time goes on. The only one that is fooled is Joshua, not the audience, nor Guido. The effort and love that emanated from Guido are the messages relayed by the movie - not that the game would save your life. The conditions were real, and though the brutality was not shown as directly as in Schindlers List, it was still very much there. My Opinion In conclusion, I must say that I think Roberto Benigni (the writer, director, and actor) created a masterpiece that touches your heart - not only do your cheeks hurt from smiling/laughing, but your eyes burn from the tears. As Benigni himself stated, ...I am a comedian and my way is not to show directly. Just to evoke. This to me was wonderful, the balance to comedy with the tragedy.* Academy Awards On March 21, 1999, Life Is Beautiful won Academy Awards for . . . Best Actor (Roberto Benigni)Best Foreign Language FilmOriginal Dramatic Score (Nicola Piovani) * Roberto Benigni as quoted in Michael Okwu, Life Is Beautiful Through Roberto Benignis Eyes, CNN 23 Oct. 1998 (http://cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9810/23/life.is.beautiful/index.html).