RKA Writing

Writing for Children

My first children's picture book
  Bathtime Rap
Bathtime Rap  is my first children's picture book published by Franklin Watts, 2008. It is part of their Leapfrog Rhyme Time series which is aimed at newly independent readers . Go to The Reading Shop to order your copy now.

Scholastic have chosen Bathtime Rap to feature as a poster in their Nursery Education PLUS Magazine September 2009 and they have turned Bathtime Rap into a fun rap style song which can be heard on their website.

My introduction to writing for children  

In 2000 I came in the final 20 of the Fidler Competition with The Kid from the Vans. Rereading it now I can see that it wasn't tight enough to make it in today's competitive world but it was my first taste of writing for children and I still love the characters. 

In 2003 I enrolled on a course called 'Writing for Children' organised by TrAce, which was part of Nottingham University. My tutor, Karen King, posted the first chapter of my children's novel The Last Ever Football Match onto the TrAce gallery as an example of excellent writing.

In 2004 A Day on Duck Park was shortlisted by Little Tiger Press in their Search for a Story Competition.

In 2008 Bathtime Rap was published by Franklin Watts.

Why I love writing for young children

When you write you can go anywhere and do anything. You're on an adventure where you can enter a different world with every tap of the keyboard and where the normal rules of life need not exist. Children willingly accept the magic of walking teddies, talking dogs, unicorns who want to rule the world... It's the way children view the world with awe and wonder that makes them so special and makes writing for them so special.

As a primary school teacher it always made me sad to watch the school file into morning assembly. The youngest children came in with happy, grinning faces but as they continued to shuffle into the hall the smiles became less convincing. The eldest children always grimaced. It was as if we, the teachers, had knocked the awe and wonder out of them.

Children's picture books

I love writing in children's picture book style. I grew up in the black and white days. TV, films and even my story books portrayed the world in shades of grey. I can remember the excitement of going to the cinema to see a film in glorious Technicolor. If only my childhood books had been in glorious Technicolor too. 

Some tips I've picked up for writing in picture book style

  • Look at the world through children's eyes. Use your memory as a resource.
  • Think visually as if a cartoon is playing inside your head.
  •  Leave the pictures to tell part of the story.
  • Tell the story in less than 1,000 words, 500 words if possible.
  • Avoid rhyming text as this is hard to translate. Picture books are expensive to produce and publishers rely on foreign markets to make a profit.
  • A successful picture book story will be read out loud by an adult over and over again so it helps for the writing to have an easy-to-read rhythm and for their to be a second level of story to provide the adult with some enjoyment.
I interviewed Pippa Goodhart and asked her for some tips on becoming such a successful children's author. Her response can be read on my blog posting called The Challenges of a Children's Writer. 

                               Rosalind Kathryn Adam

 

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