Relive Your Own Childhood
You can't write fiction for children unless and until you can remember what is was like to be a child. What would have captivated you when you were small? Simple stories with vibrant characters are best, but never underestimate a child. You weren't an idiot when you were 7-11 years old. Assume your audience will be equally quick and intelligent.
To get yourself in the right mindset, go to your local bookstore and purchase a few books from the children's fiction section and start reading. Enjoy the books for what they are — simple stories designed to entertain younger readers. Think like a child and let yourself laugh and truly experience the story.
But also think like an adult. Read the book aloud and see if you could enjoy reading it to a child. If you can, that book is a winner. And while you certainly shouldn't use a book written by someone else as a template for your own, this little bit of research will give you an idea of what works. You can use this information when working on your own bit of fiction for children.
Writing Children's Fiction
Like most forms of fiction, the rules for writing children's fiction have changed in recent years. Fiction written for children now contains strong and vibrant characters with their own minds and own ways of doing things. However, it is important that these characters are appropriate for the age group, usually 5-12 years of age. The characters should be clean and your book should be free of material that is simply too mature for children. This means you should avoid characters that engage in things such as sex, drugs, and even smoking. Parents are still the ones purchasing the books for their children, and parents don't appreciate characters that might have a negative impact on their children.
Even though the typical age range for children's fiction is 5-12, you should narrow the age range for your book. You don't write the same things for a 5 year old as you would a preteen. So think about the age of the children you're writing for and write something appropriate and entertaining for that age group.
Avoid the use of slang and certainly don't curse or swear in your book. Again, parents don't like it and young children really shouldn't be exposed to it. And don't preach. Kids don't need someone to preach to them when they're simply reading a book. You also might want to avoid the darker themes often found in literature for teenagers. Most children are not ready for heavy themes.
One of the problems with writing for children is that children today have short attention spans and they're used to instant gratification because that's what they get from TV and video games. So engage children by using all five senses when writing your book. Make sure your characters experience their environment by sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. If something smells terrible, describe it. Kids get a kick of it and it will make the experience more real.
But all of these little rules pale in comparision to this one — let your characters solve their own problems. We're talking about children's fiction, so your characters will probably include young people. Adults shouldn't come in and solve all the problems at the end of the book. Kids like books where people just like them solve the problems. So give them what they like and your books are more likely to be well received.
Writing fiction for children can be tricky, but if you can pull it off, its vastly rewarding. Remember to think like a child and definately find a few kids to try out your story on. They are the best judges of what children's fiction should be, after all.
