I've been blogging about how to write in a literary fashion. This entry is not necessarily about literary writing so much as writing chapter books or middle school fiction. Many of these tips can help with any age level. However, there are many methods of writing that work just fine for writing for older groups. However, if you're going to write for older elementary or middle school readers, there are certain things one must keep in mind. These are tidbits I've picked up over the course of my research on how it's done. Many writers have written exhaustively on these topics. If there's something you want to find more about, you can look it up.
1. Choose and research your age group. Step one when you're going to write for kids is to choose a target age group. The rule of thumb is that the characters in a book should be just older than the target reader. Therefore, if you're writing for young teens, your character can be about 16. If you're writing for the middle school or slightly younger age bracket, think in terms of 12- or 13-year-olds. If you're looking to write chapter books for those just out of picture books, think in terms of something like a ten-year-old protagonist. Whatever your age group, read what you want to write, so you get a sense of how to do it based on successful writers' work.
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2. Keep it moving. Everything should be kept shorter: shorter paragraphs, shorter sentences, and shorter chapters to keep the reader moving forward. If you can end each chapter on a cliffhanger, that would be better still. Action needs to start right away. You should show some indication of where the story is headed by the end of chapter one. It is helpful if you can even introduce an antagonist by the end of that first chapter. You can still think in terms of the hero's journey, but the time spent establishing the normal world should end as quickly as possible.
3. Keep it exciting. Plan to keep most events and actions external for the most part. Kids often get bored with long internal monologues or flashbacks, which a mainstay of writing for adults and even teens. I've read a lot of romance novels that hinge on what is going on inside the character's mind, as in Pride and Prejudice. So much of what happens to Lizzy, Bella, Katniss, and just about any protagonist for older audiences occurs inside. That often does not work for kids. There may be the occasional very brief flashback and some thoughts, but the vast majority of action should be represented outside the characters' heads. Show don't tell is particularly critical in kids' books. Say your character is angry. Show him clenching his fists and turning red. External action is often more fun than internal, and show is almost always better than tell.
4. Keep it clear:
a. Skip the fancy language. Adverbs will often make the action wordy and long. Stephen King's biggest complaint about the Harry Potter books when they first came out was that they, like many outings by novice writers, were choked with adverbs. Dialogue tags, especially, should stick to said, asked, shouted, or whispered simplicity and not include adverbs. Actions can be used instead of dialogue tags, as long as it's clear who said what. Keep adjective lists brief. Avoid passive language.
b. Don't use filtering language. Filtering language, language describing what characters experience rather than just showing the actions, can also bog down the story. Don't have the kid watch a fight. Just show the fight. Don't have the actor in a sentence see, hear, watch, feel, etc something. Just make the thing happen. Make the main actor in the sentence the person doing the thing. Don't: John watched a parade march by. Do: John stood at the door while a parade marched by.
c. Scene and sequel. Reactions should occur only after the action. This is called scene and sequel. Don't: She jumped to the side because a rat ran by. Do: A rat ran by. She jumped out of the way. This makes action clearer and crisper. The reader is reacting even as the character is.
d. Avoid head hopping. If you must switch back and forth between perspectives, do it between chapters. Hopping from head to head to head in the middle of a chapter, especially in kids' books, can get confusing.
5. Get help as you review. Writing groups can help you with your dialogue to make sure that it actually sounds like the way kids speak. You don't want a regular kid to talk like an adult. Programs like Autocrit can help you make sure your writing is appropriate for the target audience and can help you eliminate items above that get overwhelming.
If you have a piece for younger audiences, make sure to review the tips above with it. The most important part is to read what you want to write. If you haven't read kids' books, it's really hard to write them. If I missed anything, please post it in your reactions. Also, tell me how things are going with your kids' books.
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