Writer Wednesday: Kid Lit Advice!

Time for another "Writer Wednesday" blog!

Welcome to another WRITER WEDNESDAY blog! Today’s blog is devoted to all you aspiring kid lit writers. I know many people who check out my website are aspiring children’s book writers (picture books to YA novels). I also teach a course called WRITING FOR CHILDREN at UCLA Extension Writers’ Program every now and then, too. So I decided this week’s blog would be a list of how to get started in writing for children!

This list is for absolute newbies. For those of you who already belong to organizations like SCBWI or are familiar with this information, hopefully this will provide you with some good reminders, too!

(Keep reading after the jump for some basic pointers on how to get started in writing for children/teens!)

10 Tips for Getting Started on Writing for Children & Young Adults

1. Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (www.scbwi.org): A great and famous organization of Newbery/Caldecott-winning authors and novices and all writers.  Valuable resource.  Serious writers who want a career in writing for kids and teens should join this organization immediately.  Just go to the website and now and find out why.  There are regional and international chapters where you can find a great community of beginner to veteran authors who can help you on your writing journey.  I myself am a member and very grateful for how this organization helped me. Go here to find out more: http://www.scbwi.org/default.aspx

2. Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market: Go to any local bookstore and pick up the latest edition of this valuable book.  It’s filled with all the information you need to know about how to write for kids/teens, where to submit your stuff when it’s ready, and what conferences and writing contests are out there. For more info, start here: http://cwim.blogspot.com/

3. The Writers Guide to Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb: A great all-encompassing nuts-n-bolts guide to writing for children’s picture books to YA novels from the Writers Digest book series.  You can order this easily on Amazon or find it at your local bookstore. I use this book to teach my UCLA Writers Program class, too. You can also follow Nancy on Twitter here: @nancy_lamb and her website is here: http://nancylamb.com/

4. Writing With Pictures by Uri Shulevitz: A classic book on how to write and illustrate children’s picture books.  It’s more for the illustrator, but I still got a lot of great advice from it as a writer.  This is for those of you interested in writing picture books for kids. You can order it on Amazon or at your local bookstore.

5. Poem-Making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston: A great book on poetry basics, especially for children.  Again, another great book that can easily be found in bookstores or on Amazon.

6. American Librarians Association (http://www.ala.org/): They are the ones who nominate the winners for the most prestigious awards in children’s literature – from the Newbery to the Caldecott.  They always list the nominees and winners, a great reading list resource for you to start reading!

7. Writing programs: There are also many MFA programs and extension writers programs across the country focusing on the craft of writing for children and teens. Just google away – there are tons of programs across the country, including low residency ones like the MFA Program in Children’s Writing at Vermont College (website: http://www.vermontcollege.edu/low-residency-mfa/writing-children-young-adults) and the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program where I teach (website: http://www2.uclaextension.edu/writers/)

8. Agents & Submitting Your Work: Get the latest edition of The Guide to Literary Agents and the CWIM (mentioned above). I promise a FUTURE blog on this with more details, so please stay tuned!

9. Writing Contests: I promise a more detailed blog on this later, but here’s one writing contest to get you started. Check out this link for aspiring novelists…

http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/writingcontests/

10. Final thoughts: Hang out at children’s bookstores (or the children’s section) and eavesdrop on what kids read.  Buy teen magazines.  Become a mentor to a teen or child if you’re not a parent so you can observe and understand how these young people talk and live.  We were all children and teens once, but it’s always vital to keep updated on how teens today think and act and feel.

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So those are just some BASIC tips off the top of my head. I’ll continue to blog about other ways to get into children’s book writing. I look forward to your comments and questions. I’ll answer any writing/industry questions about the children’s book world in future WRITER WEDNESDAY blogs!

Until the next blog, Happy Writing! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT!