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“You enter the extraordinary by way of the ordinary.” ~Frederick Buechner
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children
and Young Adults
FIRST: Read the guidelines
for each publisher/agent before you send. This week agent Karen Ball described
what happens to your manuscript otherwise. And she is not only being very
honest, but kind as well. I have heard many other editors and agents give the
same advice but with a great deal more frustration due to time waste and misconnections
for themselves and the writers. See her article at: http://www.stevelaube.com/i-just-deleted-your-proposal-without-reading-it/
Query Letters/Proposals/One
Sheets will all contain some common material but the focus and presentation
will be slightly different in each. Three purposes are common ground for both
you and the potential publisher. Remember you are looking for a business match.
1.
This is my product. 2. Are you interested? 3. May I send you the full manuscript?
Query Letters.
 Query
letters are a quick way to find out whether your particular article,
theme, story, genre, will or will not connect with this particular
publisher. And for query letters you can send out several at a time as long as
you have researched the intended market.
Suppose
you have written an excellent article on the very first bicycle and your
audience target is ages 10 to 14. You are thinking of a spring launch that
might interest new riders for summer fun.
However,
even though you have followed all the directions accurately, you may not know
that the publisher has already purchased two or three articles already and are
full up. A quick rejection comes through and you both move on. Or joy, they say
send it.
Query
letters need to be short and succinct. Opening: if you met the editor or
attended a presentation where they were say so. I enjoyed meeting you at…Thank you for your invitation to query… .
Or let them know you’ve done your homework. I
see in your guidelines you are interested in… I have been reading your
magazines over the past year and have not seen this aspect of your requested subject…
mentioned.
Next,
the body: My article is for ages…..
My subject is…. My focus point is…My qualifications are….(only if it needs
some authority) Give a brief bio
that connects you in some way to your topic if possible. Example I have been working at a camp for teens and
run the bicycle trips… Or I have written/published…Otherwise just say who
you are.
Close
with a thank you. Your contact information should be in the header but if there
is anything else pertinent to contact put it here. Don’t include your telephone
number unless you have a concrete reason. But be sure to have email, blog,
website contacts if available.
Set
up a simple tracking method for all your correspondence: title, sent to, date,
return, sent to next market, purchased, published, paid. Make it as easy as
possible to maintain. One-sheets and proposals next week.
Action Steps:
1.
Choose
five possible markets for your article in process.
2.
Re-read
their guidelines.
3.
Write
up a query letter for each of them.
Share: What main difference or similarity
did you see in the guidelines you checked?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children
and Young Adults
There are two ways to
approach studying the market as an overview. One is to look through relevant
publishing news and see what the publishers are looking for. Another is to know
your genre well and then search the markets that match.
Remember though that a
particular hot topic can become easily saturated, or a quick phase. By the time
you prepare to write and submit the interest has moved on to another. I suggest going deep in your particular
genre or age category or heart story. Follow industry blogs. Attend conferences,
especially one-day ones that organizations offer such as Society of Children’s
Book Writers and Illustrators, American Christian Writers, Romance Writers of
America, and many others. Most welcome guests so you can check out what is
available in your area without an immediate commitment. Most of them have resources to connect
you to critique groups as well.
Search the web for
publishing houses and follow their blogs and newsletters. Publisher’s Weekly
offers free weekly news updates in different categories. Check it out at PW
Children's Bookshelf <ChildrensBookshelf@email.publishersweekly.com>
Even if you are just
starting out choose one or two venues to begin to follow so that when you are
ready to market you already have an idea where to go. Keep lists of interesting
possibilities.
When you are ready to send
out queries and proposals you will already have some general publishers to
consider. Now get down to the details. Check their websites. Look at their
guidelines. LISTEN to what they don’t want.
For example one publisher
listed, “We publish pre-school
storybooks, concept book and middle grade and YA chapter books. No romance novels.” Another
non-fiction market listed, “No memoirs or personal stories.” Yet agents and editors are
continually sent projects that are directed towards the wrong publishers and
immediately returned. The publishers
know their audience and their market. It’s important to take the time to find
the right fit.
For the next few weeks
we’ll walk through the process for a non-fiction article as an example. If you
are writing fiction you are still doing research and you might find some
magazines or guest blogs that can help give you readers when your book
releases.
Here’s a sample of some
magazine non-fiction categories listed in Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s
Market: Animal, Arts/Crafts, Biography, Careers, Concept, Cooking, Fashion,
Geography, Health, History, Hobbies, How-To, Interview/Profile, Multicultural,
Nature/Environment, Religious, Science, Social Issues, Sports, and Travel
Action Steps:
1.
Sign
up for the free PW weekly email.
2.
Choose
a publisher you think you might be interested in and read their guidelines.
3.
Check
if the publisher offers sample articles to read online.
4.
Look
through the list above and see how many topics might apply to your fictional
character, or are of interest to you as a non-fiction writer.
Share: Which subject category listed above
looks the most enticing to you? Which topic did you most want to read growing up and/or still do?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
 Now that you’ve researched and studied this
category, where to go next? This recent article in PW by Shannon Maughan, which
I just discovered, shows there is a growing demand across a broad range of
publishers and interests.
Action Steps:
1.
Read
the linked article and make a list of the publishers named who are actively seeking
content, or publishing new early readers.
2.
Go
to their websites and check their submission requirements.
3.
Prepare
two or three cover letters presenting your book or series idea that you think
would fit their list. Or if you don’t feel ready to do that prepare a draft
one-sheet for yourself.
4.
Write
down that outline for yourself. :)
Next month’s overview will discuss markets
and submissions in more detail.
Share: What in this PW article do you
find most hopeful for your own writing goals?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
For this age group in particular the subject
matter is timeless in that it always connects to the child’s heart, mind, soul,
and experience. As you can see from the examples from last week, the situations
can be presented in fantasy, historical, or contemporary, but each story needs
to reach the heart.
Curiosity, adventure, and relationships, are
key ingredients to this age. And for non-fiction authors their presentation may
be the very first time a child has even heard of an animal or musical instrument
or geography. Writers for this age category have both the ability and the
responsibility to nugget truth to new readers without overwhelming them.
The subject matter is also timeless in that
despite eras and technology, there is a growing season common to all children.
When authors can tap into that stream their books are timeless. Below I’ve
listed a few that children today are still attached to. Adults have been known
to choke up at the Little Bear series
as it touches all generations. Note how many years some have been in print.
They last and meet each new generation because they connect. Note again the
broad variety of subjects.
Early
Readers Samples
Coerr,
Eleanor. Chang’s Paper Pony, 1988.
Evans, Eva
Knox. Sleepy Time. 1962.
Laurence,
Daniel. Captain and Matey Set Sail. New York: HarperCollins, 2001.
Levinson,
Nancy Smiler. Snowshoe Thompson. New York: HarperCollins, 1992.
Lobel,
Arnold. Mouse Tales. 1977.
Minarik, Else
Holmelund. Little Bear. 1957.
Osborne,
Mary Pope. Day of the Dragon King. New York: Random House, 1998.
Osborne,
Mary Pope. Vacation Under the Volcano. New York: Random House, 1998
Rylant,
Cynthia. Mr. Putter and Tabby Pour the Tea. 1994.
Sandin,
Joan. The Long Way. 1989.
Action Steps:
1.
Time
for another library visit, as you did for picture books, and pick out a random
number of early readers. What do you notice about the titles and first lines
that draw attention to potential readers?
 2.
Read
at least two or three in each category of fiction and non-fiction. What
differences do you notice in presentation both verbally and visually?
3.
Be
sure to include Little Bear if you
are not familiar with it. Note the difference in language with the contemporary
readers and yet the timeless heart connection to every reader.
4.
Again,
choose one category that interests you the most and find five or six books to
take home for study over the next few weeks. Make a mini chart and note the similarities and differences
among them.
Share: What stories in this category have
you shared, or will share, with your own children in your life because of the heart
content?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
Sometimes the guidelines for this reading
level seem restrictive to story and sometimes they present a challenge, like
building a puzzle from scratch. The key to quality is still the story itself,
the voice, and the connection to the reader.
 First write the story you desire to share.
Then examine the structure, much as in a picture book, and lay out, or adapt,
your story to fit the category that is most relevant.
Here are some samples to help assess the
differences. Also consider accessing spelling words for the earlier grades and
incorporating a few for each story you tell. Some educational requests have
been for an 8 line story or a 16 line story. Or for a story to only include
specific sound words such as all ‘at’ words: bat, mat, cat, hat, sat, rat. Or
perhaps ‘ap’ words: cap, map, tap, rap, gap, nap.
However, like any good writing the opening
has to connect to the reader. Here are some opening lines as they are set up in
different reading levels with different publishers. Also note that sentence and
book lengths differ.
Biscuit Wants To Play by Alyssa
Capucilli. Listed as a ‘My First’ or Pre-reader. 24 pages. 120 words.
“Woof, woof!
What’s in the basket,
Biscuit?”
All Aboard by Sonia Sander. Lego City Adventures. Level One. 31
pages. 170 words.
“It is time for the train
to get to work.”
Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd
Hoff. Level 1. 64 pages. (Didn’t count words)
“One day Danny went
to the museum.
He wanted to see what was inside.”
The following books are set in chapters.
Dragon’s Fat Cat by Dave Pilkey.
48 pages. 4 Chapters
“One snowy day in January,
Dragon heard a funny noise.
“Meow!”
“That sounds like a cat,” said Dragon.
The Josefina Story Quilt, by Eleanor
Coerr. Level 3. 62 pages. 6 Chapters
“It was May 1850.
Faith was excited.
They were going to California
In a covered wagon.
‘Please,’ Faith asked Ma,
‘can I bring Josefina?’”
Iris and Walter by Elissa
Haden Guest. 43 pages. 4 Chapters.
“When Iris and Iris’s family moved
from the big city to the country,
Iris was sad.”
Action Steps:
1.
Take a story you’ve been working
on and divide up the sentences according to two or three of the excerpts above.
2.
Note how your version compares.
3.
Download a spelling page for a
grade that you are interested in and from that word page write first an 8 line
and then a 16 line sentence story.
4.
Have fun experimenting!
Share: What has surprised you in this age
category so far?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
 “I don’t bother with reading levels when I’m writing. I just try
to write a good, entertaining story.” Doug Cushman
Easy Readers, Early Readers, Beginning
Readers, I Can Read, and Chapter Books are categories often used to describe
books for grades kindergarten to fourth grade. Or sometimes they are under the
description emergent, early, transitional, and fluent.
These same level categories overlap the same
age categories so it sometimes becomes quite confusing. To add to the confusion
some publishers group the reading ability into three levels and some into five.
Often the levels are geared to correspond to grades, but they too will overlap.
One common ground, says Tracey E. Dils, is
that “Their vocabulary and readability
are controlled so that they offer the appropriate challenge for children who
are learning to read.” Like the quote above she recommends story first and
then see where the literacy levels land.
Some overview characteristics include:
Easy Readers: ages 7-9,
1,000-1,500 words.
Pre-school-1st
grade: repetition and simple concepts.
2nd
–3rd grades: develop plots, more complex sentences
Chapter Books: ages 7-10,
40-80 pages, 1,500-10,000 words, usually 8-10 short chapters.
They begin with simple concepts, simple
plots, simple words, and consistently expand more in complication as readers
become more and more fluent.
Action Steps:
1.
Choose
an educational publisher for libraries and schools and take a look at their
category levels and subjects.
2.
Pick
a subject that interests you and trace the levels for that one concept or plot.
3.
Choose
the level that interests you the most and using their guidelines write a few
pages on a similar topic that you are already familiar with.
Some Sample Publishers
ABDO,
Scholastic, Lerner Publishing Group, Albert Whitman & Company, Zonderkids,
DK Publishing, Penguin Young Readers, Capstone, Lee & Low Books, Boyds Mill
Press.
Share: Did you find it easy or difficult?
Boring or challenging?
Read deep, marcy
Workshop: An
Introduction to Writing for Children and Young Adults
“Furthermore,
the words don’t repeat what is in the picture and vice versa; their
relationship is contrapuntal, they complement and complete each other.” Uri
Shulevitz
Drafts-Revision-Layouts
Whether
or not you are an illustrator, or perhaps especially if you are not an
illustrator, it’s a good idea to do a preliminary layout of your story in order to examine
the focus of each scene. The best time is after your first/second drafts before
you prepare to do the final polish.
Stick
figures are the only level of art skill needed, and/or write the word down that
answers the questions.
Scene-by-scene
draw the picture.
Answer
questions box by box.
1.
What happens
first? 2. What happens next? 3. Then what happens? 4. What happens? Repeated 5
throughout until, The End.
Questions
each box needs to answer.
1.
What is the dominant emotion in each scene?
2.
Who’s in the picture?
3.
Are there transitions?
4. Does each
square change emotion?
Reasons
1 No matter
how solid the plot is if emotions don’t change then the story remains flat.
2 Depending on
who shows up in each square may indicate the need to change the main character.
And who exactly is telling the story? Also note that if an adult is included it
should be the child who solves the problem.
3 The
transitions will show the movement of the action.
1. What happens? 2.
What happens next? 3.Then
what happens?
Emotion Emotion Emotion
And next… What
happens now? The
End
Emotion Emotion Emotion
Action Steps:
1. Type up one
published picture book to see how long the text is.
2. Put squares
on a sheet of paper.
3. Practice
laying out six to eight squares on the practice grid working only from your
typed version and not looking at the book illustrations.
Share: What did you notice? Did emotions or
actions change square to square?
Read deep, marcy
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