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Writing for Children

Do you want to learn how to write a children's book? Make money writing for children's magazines? Since 1969, The Institute of Children's Literature has taught over 470,205 aspiring writers. Listen to the director of both The Institute for Writers and The Institute of Children's Literature and bestselling children's author Katie Davis host the show as she focuses on the craft of writing for children. She talks about how to write a children’s book, how to write for children’s magazines, how to get paid for your writing, and how to get published in the world of kidlit. There are hard-to-find resources, tips, and links included in every week's show notes. And, don't forget to check out the Institute of Children's Literature where you can be paired with a one-on-one mentor and learned to create polished and engaging projects that publishers are looking for in today's children's market.
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Now displaying: May, 2018
May 26, 2018

ANSWERS TO YOUR BURNING QUESTIONS

It's a whole episode of your listener questions! Editor and Publisher Eileen Robinson is back answering your questions and giving it to you straight. We discuss:

  • How many and what kinds of errors are okay in a submitted manuscript?
  • Does punctuation really matter?
  • How long should an ending be?
  • What makes for an interesting/well-developed character?
  • What makes a character unlikable?
  • How do you create an unreliable narrator?
  • How does dialogue shape character?
  • In picture books, how do you shape a character in just 32 pages?

START WRITING YOUR BOOK. Learn how to write publishable manuscripts with your own one-on-one mentor, an experienced professional author. Get started here!

May 18, 2018

WE CELEBRATE WITH OUR MOST POPULAR EPISODES

To celebrate our 100th episode, we’ve edited together
some of our most popular episodes, all in one easy-to-listen to package:

002-Three Keys to Writing Nonfiction for Children
004-Don't Tell Us a Story
005-Picture-Books-101
032-How Submissions Work

START WRITING YOUR BOOK. Learn how to write publishable manuscripts with your own one-on-one mentor, an experienced professional author. Get started here!

May 12, 2018

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

In this episode, Katie interviews Editor and Publisher Eileen Robinson. Editor/Publisher Eileen Robinson loves the power of stories and helping authors revise.  She feels once the draft is done, the revision process is where an author’s skill, inventiveness, and individuality begins to shine through. She has worked in children’s publishing as an editor for over 20 years, in-house and independently at both Scholastic and Harcourt — in educational publishing, school and library, with has trade, magazines, book fairs and clubs. She now owns  f1rstpages.com, partners with Harold Underdown in Kid’s Book Revisions, and publishes book through Move Books Children’s Publishing.

 

START WRITING YOUR BOOK. Learn how to write publishable manuscripts with your own one-on-one mentor, an experienced professional author. Get started here!

May 4, 2018

4 TIPS TO TAKE YOU TO THE WINNERS' CIRCLE

If you want to know how to win a writing contest, take it from someone who has judged a lot of writing contests. Here are four things that will almost automatically get you past the first few rounds of judging. They seem like simple things, but it is amazing how many folks don't do them.

1. DON'T ENTER SOMETHING THAT DOESN'T FIT THE CONTEST

Honestly. You just cannot win if it doesn't fit the contest parameters.

If it's a picture book contest and you send the first chapter of your novel, you simply cannot win.

If it is a contest for children's mysteries and you send a mystery with an all-adult cast, you're not going to win.

If it is a children's poetry contest and your poem is about the frustrations of retirement or the pain of your divorce, winning is not going to happen.

Even if your work is brilliant, can you imagine the firestorm of protest if the winner of their contest didn't match the theme of the contest? So, save your time (and the judge's) for contests where your entry fits.

For three more tips, listen to the full episode!

 

What's your question?

Tell us and we'll answer your writing questions on the podcast. Go to this link and leave your question: http://www.writingforchildren.com/speak.

 

START WRITING YOUR BOOK.

Learn how to write publishable manuscripts with your own one-on-one mentor, an experienced professional author. To see if you qualify, go to writingforchildren.com/iamready

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