Essential Tips to Nail Your First Children’s Book

As an aspiring writer, you might be wondering how to come up with a brilliant children’s book that will catch the attention of young readers.

Since you are new on the writing journey, you might fantasize about when you will be holding the final published copy of the book in your hands and reading it out loud to a bunch of eager young listeners.

Without further ado, let us jump into the list of essential tips that will help you write and publish your first children’s book.

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Brainstorm Ideas

Similar to writing any genre – you will want to brainstorm ideas – ideally, something that will hook the young reader’s interest and will make them relate to the characters in the story.  

You might already have a brilliant idea in mind that you will want to start working on – but – remember, your idea should appeal to you in a way that you will want to actively sit down and work on your book.

You will want to come up with a line or a paragraph to define your book idea. You will want to research using the phrase that best describes your children’s book idea. Find out how other books published under the same idea are different from your book idea.

Also, assess the similarities. At this point, you might be asking yourself why you need to assess your idea in this way – here is the thing – you will want to check out the things that are already out there before investing your tie and energy into a book.

It might be a children’s book, but you will be sitting and doing the work, so you will want to brainstorm ideas and choose the one you feel most passionate about.

Once you have singled out that one idea, you will want to do your research and see what is already out there and how you can come up with a book that might fall in the same subject category – but – has its unique touch.

Work On the Characters

As an aspiring children’s book author, you might have read tons of children’s books yourself. With that said, you might have noticed that the best children’s books are those that come with a set of unique characters.

What kind of unique characters can you portray in your book? Again, you will want to brainstorm ideas and even use mind maps as a way to map out the characteristics of your funny and unique characters. Think about what the ideal characters in a children’s book look like.

You might have noticed that they look strange, appear quirky, talk funny, and are different from everyone else. It is important to mention here that while drawing the main character, you will want it to be distinguishable for every child, making it feel real.

When it comes to mind mapping, you will want to assess the following aspects of the main character:

• What is the main character like? Are they introverts or extroverts?
• What are their best/worst habits?
• What does the main character wish for?
• How does the main character speak? Are they funny? Do they have a dialect? Do they repeat certain words?
• Does the main character own pets? You might want to run your imagination and allow your animal main character to have human pets.
• Does the main character have secrets?
• What makes the main character sad/ happy?

The more question you answer related to the characters of your book – the better understanding you will develop about the characters and where they stand in relation to the plot and in relation to the other characters in the story.

After completing the first draft, you will want to look for children’s book editors for hire the professional will go through your draft and suggest to you how and where to improve your writing style, form, and the flow of the story.

The professional editor will ensure that there are no plot homes in the book and that your manuscript is clear and effective before you hit the publication button.

Don’t Delay the Writing Process

As an aspiring author, you will want to discipline yourself, put in the hard work, write with dedication, and put in the time and effort to get it done. You don’t want to be one of those aspiring writers who fail to get the attention of the parents and children – only because they are so slow that they delay the main story.

For instance, if your children’s story is about the main character escaping to a castle on a dragon – they should embark on their journey on the first or second page. Your young readers won’t be interested in the backstory of the main character’s life – you don’t want to delay the main action unnecessarily.

All you need to do is get the reader’s attention – be it parents or children – and make the main character climb onto the back of the dragon and start flying over the roofs and mountains till things become so small that they disappear in the clouds.

Have the castle appear as soon as possible and draw the reader’s interest into the things that are about to unfold in the story.

Remember that you aren’t writing an adult novel – you will want to keep the pace short and get to the main storyline without wasting any extra time. Generally, the pacing of a children’s book is fast, which is why you will want to avoid going at a tortoise pace.

Usually, children’s books have illustrations, so you will want to keep the young readers engaged – not only visually but also by instantly getting into the main event and then revolving the entire story around that action.

Another thing that newbie children’s book writers tend to neglect is the incorporation of a problem. You cannot keep up the reader’s interest without weaving a touch of mystery or crisis. The problem is the focal point of the entire story, which is also what will make the characters struggle within the entire book.

Roger Griffith

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