How do you write a children's story?

[Quiet Stranger]

Alright so I've decided I'm going to write a children's story about depression. I'm going to write it as if it took place inside a child's mind and all the characters are the motions and depression is a horrible monster. Now my only problem is, how do you write a children's story, does anyone have any tips?

 

[A Satanic Panda]

Throw in some catchy names, a little bit of a personal crisis for the antagonist, and a dash of a plot twist and you're golden.

And before you write any story, you have to know how it's going to end. So create an outline of what happens and why before you actually write it. Make every plot point have a purpose and meaning.

And most importantly in writing: Show, don't tell.

 

[JoJo]

What age range are you aiming for? A book for 2 year olds is very different to a book for 6 year olds, which again is very different to a book for 12 year olds.

Generally though, children like happy faces, bright colours and repetition. Evidently you're going to want to stick to fairly simple words they would know too. If they're pre or early reading make sure you go heavy on the pictures as well.

 

[Quaxar]

I suppose reading stories for children would be a good starting point.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Simple words, simple structure, simple ideas, basically simple everything. Also it would probably be a good idea to find a child and ask them about their feelings of depression (or just hurt and stuff) and see how they describe it, how they feel about it etc.

Also pictures are hugely important. Your story needs pictures, usually one big picture per page, and the number of sentences per page depends on the agegroup you are going for. This will probably be something that won't really be necessary until you've finalised the story, but you have to consider if you are willing to pay an illustrator, or who is going to draw them and for how much.

I suppose reading stories for children would be a good starting point.

Oh yeah, this is crucial, but don't just stop at reading them, take a pen and paper and write them out word for word as you read, this should give you a better understanding of how the author has structured their sentences and story, what words they use, how often they repeat important points, how difficult or easy the subject matter is, etc.
Finally, run it by a child when you've finished, or even several times during the process. That sort of input will be invaluable.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Rhyming.

Throw in some rhymes as consistently as you can, will make your writing more catchy and invoke a sort of sing song quality which children will love.

Also as others have said, keep it simple and have a plan before you write it.

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

Alright so I've decided I'm going to write a children's story about depression. I'm going to write it as if it took place inside a child's mind and all the characters are the motions and depression is a horrible monster. Now my only problem is, how do you write a children's story, does anyone have any tips?

The same way you would write an adult version, except here you keep things simple. Characters must still be three dimensional but there drives and flaws must be presented simply and with subtlety. Structure must also be kept simple. I would suggest looking at other children's stories and fairy-tales.

I wish you luck, as fate would have it I'm working on a similar project. Would be more than willing to beta read for you once you're done.

 

[Bigbomb94]

Well, I would've said to keep the moral of the story evident throughout the entire book if it was a picture. But since you want to write about depression, that's probably not going to go well with the parents. So make the true meaning of the story hidden throughout the story so that it can only be found by people who analyse the hell out of it.

If you're doing a introductory chapter book, don't go into detail into everything.

If you think that all of my ideas are stupid, just watch this:
http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail84.html