In case you missed you missed this week’s episode of the Serious Writer Podcast, here is a Cyle Young’s insight on Childrens Writing. As you read below and want to hear more on these topics and other topics, check out the Serious Writer Podcast (Available on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify or wherever podcasts are available).
There’s a common misconception that every story needs to have some sort of moral lesson, but this isn’t true. This traditional takeaway has been something writers struggle with in order for their work to be seen as “good” or worth reading. There are no concrete answers when it comes down to how they should endow these characters.
But of course, you have to. The character needs some kind of journey that they embark on and demonstrate change throughout it all.
But kids are allowed to read a story just for fun!
There’s this idea in our society today where if we write stories geared towards children then those books have morals or teaching lessons at their end. You don’t necessarily need such heavy-handedness when writing something meant for entertainment.
It’s no secret that kids are hungry for entertainment. They can’t be bored, and they want to stay engaged in something interesting all day long. As a result, books must now provide more than just informational text; instead, authors should strive towards creating immersive worlds where young readers become fully immersed up until the very end! You’re competing against video games/phones etc., so stories need “something different.”
As a children’s author, one of the most important things you can do to keep your audience engaged and interested in what they’re reading is by making every word matter.
Kids have limited attention spans so it’s vital that when writing for this age group; instead of flowing into long sentences or paragraphs with an extensive vocabulary. Use simple words which will be easier on their brains!
I think it’s no surprise we’re seeing so much popularity in middle grades with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. These books are great for kids who need constant stimulation and don’t have the attention span to sustain long novels, but still want something more than just cartoons or comics.
Timestamps:
1:26 10 Tips for children’s writing 1:42 Moral Dilemma 2:58 Entertainment 4:45 Hangout with kids (Know Your audience) 10:39 Short and Sweet
There are many tips and tricks that aspiring freelance writers need in order to build a rewarding career as authors. The following article contains Tips for Freelance Writers that are invaluable suggestions for anyone who wants exciting, successful future writing pieces all over the world!
What is a Freelancer in the writing world? Freelance writers are often employed to create content for a variety of clients, such as newspapers and magazines. They can also work with different types of topics—some freelance novelists sell their short stories in creative writing journals while others write copywriting material for companies like Coke Zero.
1. Don’t Quit Your Day Job
As we continue on about our Tips for Freelance Writers, one important tip is don’t go too big too fast, ease into the job by devoting 10% of your time. It may take some time before your first client and successful money as a writer for hire; however once that happens don’t forget about holding onto a day job if one exists! Once things are going smoothly with both personal projects or corporate gigs then consider shifting more time, making this career change full time instead of just supplementing other sources like income.
2. Blogging
Blogging is a great way to share your passions with the world. If you have any skill that interests or fascinates people, consider becoming an online blogger so they can see what it’s all about! You’ll learn new writing techniques in order to create interesting content and build up a clientele through search engine optimization (SEO).
3. Basic SEO skills
In today’s market, the need for content writing has skyrocketed. More and more companies are realizing the importance of content marketing. Content writers need to be able to write engaging blog posts that will keep readers coming back for seconds (and maybe even thirds). It’s also extremely helpful if these employees know a thing or two about SEO-they can optimize your site, so it ranks high in search engine results!
4. Improve time management skills
The ability to manage one’s time is a valuable skill in any profession, but it becomes even more crucial when you’re working on short assignments that require intense dedication. Learn how to set up daily routines for yourself where necessary tasks can take priority over other obligations so as not to miss deadlines or lose sleep doing boring work!
5. Seek Out Writing Jobs
As a freelance writer, you are solely responsible for finding new clients. Otherwise, there will be downtime between projects and no money coming in! One way of doing this is through networking with other writers who can help out when they’re booked up; offer them some work yourself if necessary (or just mention that yours needs an update). You should also keep looking around online job boards as well as reaching out by email introducing yourself firstly at whatever content director’s inbox happens into fall victim next time around.
6. Be Able to Market Yourself
When potential new clients reach out to you for freelance work, they’ll often want a sample of your previous writing in order to make an informed decision about hiring them. It’s also important that any testimonials from satisfied customers are easily accessible so these people can see what kind of person will be working on their project with integrity and care!
As a freelance writer, you’ll sometimes hit that perfect bullseye and other times miss your shot. Don’t take negative feedback personally; it’s part of the process that we all go through when writing for clients in order to match their brand identity with an appropriate tone/voice! Successful writers use these experiences as opportunities not only to improve themselves but also to offer better services moving forward so, please remember this about being successful—you have no choice but to accept any change made necessary by someone else unless they specifically request otherwise (and even then).
Freelance writers who want to make an impression on others can find these tips quite useful. If you are working alone, try writing prompts that will help get your ideas out there and keep readers engaged with what they read! Keep it simple while still making sure everything has meaning so people understand all aspects of the passage.
What is a character? A person, or rather something that’s made up of words and scenes. But why do we care about these imaginary people in the first place?! It can be difficult to put into words yourself but luckily I’m here with 5 tips on how your Fictional Character could become more immersive for you!
Think about giving your main characters flaws. Your characters may be the heroes of their story, but nobody is truly perfect. Adding a flaw or two will make them more believable and sympathetic – just like you want your readers to feel when they’re reading about what happens next (and probably why this happened).
Backstory
When you create a character, it’s important that their past lives up to what they do in the present. Think about how every story has an origin and can be written as such–a beginning middle end with motivations behind each decision made along the way so we know why our main characters act like themselves now.
What’s the Motivation?
The best action is character-driven. You should try to base the plot of your story around the motivations and actions of characters, asking yourself “What is it that they trying to accomplish?” What do these people stand to lose or gain from this action/event? How might their goals change over time as well–throughout representing different challenges that arise along with new opportunities for growth along those paths.
Withhold information from your readers. When writing fiction, only give them what they need to know at the moment and anything else can wait until later on in a much more engaging way than just telling it all upfront! The supporting details—like backstory–should remain unseen; just like how most people don’t actually see an iceberg’s mass underwater because of its size.
Mannerisms
The perfect character is one that you can’t help but love. To make your characters stand out from the crowd, try mixing in a few small details to give them an endearing quality or add some charm – this will create more memorable people! But don’t overdo it though; otherwise, they might come off as too unstable and unpredictable which would take away everything that makes them great characters for novels
So, you want to be a writer? It takes talent and lots of hard work but the satisfaction is well worth the investment. Here are some common mistakes that every writer makes:
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Using Passive voice
Passive voice is a common technique used in speech and writing. It can sometimes make your content incredibly wordy or vague, but when the action of describing something belongs more to what someone else does than where they are doing it at any given time.
Spelling
One of the top common writing errors is spelling. You might think it’s silly, but that’s just proof of how important spellingreallyis! Sometimes even your spell check can miss spotting homonyms- which means you need an expert eye for this kind of work to get things right on paper (or screen).
Wrong word usage
Using the wrong word can have serious consequences. If you don’t know your vocabulary, then these mistakes will often follow suit and mean something else entirely! For example “compose” means both make up a musical composition as well as form by gathering parts into groups or sections that are related in some way.” A small change such as this could result in an entirely different meaning being conveyed altogether depending on how it is used.
Parallelism
Parallelism is a critical element of good writing, and it’s easy to fall short when using bullet points. You should always start every point with similar words because your readers won’t understand what you’re trying to say if there isn’t symmetry between the sentences or phrases within them; this also helps make sure that they’ll be able to follow along without getting lost!
Apostrophe errors
The most common use for an apostrophe is to show contraction, as in don’t or could’ve. This can be confused with possession and takes away from the meaning of your sentence if it’s used incorrectly; though sometimes this misuse might make sense.
Even the best writers have made mistakes before. But it’s important to learn from them, correct your errors and make sure they don’t happen again in the future. AI tools can help with this as well, check out online tools that can help any writer.
Just like a new year’s resolution, some stories can be dead before it begins. So, here are 5 ways to kill your story before it begins:
Exposition Overload
Instead of using a lot of colorful and creative words to describe your feelings, make stronger verbs the focus. This will help you move the reader from sentence to sentence quickly so that it’s more engaging for readers who may be bored easily with flowery language.
You are charged with making your readers love or hate the protagonist. It is important that they want something, and this desire motivates them to act in some way as well- either positively towards our main character (and thus find oneself rooting for their success) negative against their foes without any sympathy whatsoever! Either way, you only have a short amount of time to sway the reader (generally about 250 words) so do so quickly.
Slow hook
You don’t want to start your novel right as the main character wakes up in the morning and starts their normal routine. This is a common introduction that likely won’t draw readers into this story at all and they may be tempted off by another chapter or two before you’ve even gotten them hooked!
Dumping backstories is a great way to make your story more engaging for readers, but it’s not always necessary. A lot of people can understand what happened without knowing every tiny detail that happened before the beginning! So, give the reader just enough to keep wondering about more.
Unbalanced action
The perfect balance of action and dialogue is key to keeping your readers on their toes. Too much can be overwhelming, while too little can leave them feeling bored or obese with nowhere important-ish (or both!) in particular that you need to be addressed at any given time!
A story should have just enough detail so as not to seem sluggish when reading it carefully – but no more than necessary; otherwise, we’ll end up giving up halfway through because everything was happening. To help you get started with your next riveting tale check out our 5 tips for developing fictional characters.
