10 tips to write your first children’s book

If you are working on a children's book, you might encounter some words you have never heard before, such as when your art director asks your opinion on the trim size of the illustration. There are several things you need to know, especially those that belong to a children's book anatomy. 

The following tips will help you write your first book for children.

Discover important tips on how you can write your first children’s book. Photo by Xavi Cabrera.

Choose your age range

To write a children’s story, you need to select an age range first. Children develop very quickly, which is why you have to make sure to choose a specific age group. Of course, you might be able to write a children's book on multiple levels that the parents and the younger ones alike can equally enjoy. 

Alice in Wonderland is the perfect children’s book for both children and their parents. 

Draw compelling characters 

If you have never tried your hand at illustrating and drawing before, you might need to hire illustrators and get professional help to do the needful. However, when it comes to the story, you must ensure that you select a compelling main character and make it equally appealing to the younger minds so they can relate to the character’s quest. 

Children’s stories, such as Peter Pan and Harry Potter, are classic examples of stories with appealing main characters and amazing quests that young readers eagerly follow from one page to another. 

Personify animals

When it comes to writing a children’s book, you cannot forget to personify animals, as the personification of animals can be a great character technique. Animal personification refers to the aspect where an animal is given human features, such as a voice and clothes to wear. A perfect example of this would be Winnie the Pooh.

If you have read this all-time classic, you already know that animal personification is an excellent way to make your book appear magical and unique. This aspect is particularly popular in books that are exclusively aimed at younger minds, such as Stuart Little.

Follow a simple plot

If you are writing a book for teens, you might have more freedom with the plot line. However, when it comes to writing for younger minds, you need to stick to a very simple plot line as your book is for a young audience who aren’t familiar with the complexities of the world. 

So, if you are writing for the younger minds, you might want to follow a plot line that follows a certain process:

• Introduction

• Problem

• Solve the problems

• Resolved situation

By following this simple process, you will keep the story basic and easy to understand. Not to mention the joy that the younger minds will get from reading your story. 

Select a compelling main character and make it equally appealing to the younger minds. Photo by Omar Flores

Keep the description to a minimum 

Before you write the children’s book, you will want to understand the amount of description in comparison to speech. This ratio is important when it comes to writing a children’s book. The underlying reason is that children have a short attention span, which is why you should aim at keeping the description to a minimum.

However, make sure to integrate regular speech intervals as a way to keep the story moving and to hold the young reader’s attention. 

Incorporate a moral lesson

Another great feature to include in your book would be morals. You will want to integrate some sort of moral lesson that the young readers can take from your story – even if it is as simple as promoting the importance of friendship. 

By promoting the importance of kindness, you can send a subtle message to children and help them grow into nice adults rather than evil and self-centered adults. 

Maintain an idea length

Another aspect to keep in mind when writing a short story is maintaining an ideal length. The length of the story is completely up to the author; however, you must ensure that the children don’t feel bored and don’t lose their interest while tagging along with the primary character’s journey and participating in their quest. 

Some of the classic children’s books, such as Harry Potter and Peter Pan, are a great deal longer than what you would usually expect from children’s books. However, as a novice writer who is working on their first children’s story, we suggest keeping your story short. 

Use simple sentences

Now, the length of the sentences depends a great deal on the age range that you are writing for. For example, if you are writing for teens, you can incorporate complex sentences in your book. However, if you are exclusively writing for younger minds, you should try to only stick to simple and compound sentences. 

This way, you will make the book easier to read, as simple sentences are sweet, short, and easy to understand. Compound sentences are essentially two simple sentences joined by either a comma or a connective.

Speaking of sentences, you might as well want to use active sentences, which is the sentence that follows the structure of subject, verb, and object. An example of an active sentence would be “The Robot is broken.”

Use appropriate vocabulary

Now, this is an area where some novice writers might struggle. Basically, the words in your children’s book should be basic. The underlying reason is that it is believed that the more complex the vocabulary is, you might be able to leverage complex vocabulary to teach your children new words. 

If you struggle with this area and are confused about what vocabulary to include in your book, you might want to read some children’s books in the same age range as the one you intend to write for.

By reading a few books that fall in the same age range, you will get a better idea of what is expected of you and what your ideal readers would like to read about. 

Happy endings are essential. Photo by Josh Felise.

Have happy endings

Since you are writing for a younger audience, you must follow the golden rule of incorporating happy endings. It might sound a bit too Disney to you, but happy endings are essential, so always make sure that your characters live happily ever after.