Start With A Happening When Writing For Children

By Author: Ellie Dixon
Total Articles: 21
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When writing for children a common way of beginning is to begin with a scenario or situation. Any particular situation, whether you've been told about it, or maybe heard about it on the TV, or maybe a chance phrase or bumping into someone may create a sudden unshakeable belief that this is something which may one day be the beginning of a book. Writing for children is, contrary to what many people believe, just as hard and challenging as writing for adults, it's true to say that in a number of more so, so when you are writing for children, do choose your scenario or situation carefully as you need to gain, and keep a child's somewhat fickle attention.

In any case it may take years for you to start writing for children, but the idea remains firmly fixed in your mind, and so does its potential for a good storyline. Consider the story of the head of an orphanage who was aware that many of the youngsters in her institution had invented "real belonging mothers" belonging just to themselves. In some instances the mothers actually existed, but many of these absent moms were made up by the children themselves to fill an aching ...
... need, because they didn't know the identity of their real mothers, they just invented them.

When you are writing for children, you could may be consider this scenario - file it away in your mind and give it time to grow and develop. Possibly years later you may be able to use and develop it. Here's one possibility ....

Children in an orphanage create fantasy mothers for themselves. Some invent wonderful, cuddly moms who love them deeply and only left them at the orphanage because they had no other option in a cold, hard world. Maybe other children fantasise about heartless, uncaring women who just left them out of cruelty and spite - sounds a bit like a wicked stepmother - doesn't it? And we all know what wonderful stories have been woven around wicked stepmothers!

Of course not all ideas will develop well. You do need to consider carefully what might be worked into a good storyline and which scenarios should be left well alone when writing for children. After all, you don't want to make your stories too scary! Remember those fantasy moms - those kids needed fantasy mothers who would nuture rather than injure them, and any writing for children should always leave the reader feeling warm and reassured after the conclusion has been reached.