We’ve come to the part where we actually get to start writing our story. Yay! Okay, page one, once upon a time. Page thirty-four, and they lived happily ever after.
I’m sure many writers wish it were that easy. It’s not. Keep in mind, as I write these articles, I am also writing this story. This is not something that was entirely written that I am showing you a behind the scenes view of.
When I write, I usually place a summary of the story, locations, goals and characters that are important at the top of the page. As I enhance these aspect, I then alter the information.
Summary : A penguin wishes he was a bird. He loves watching birds fly through the air. Nearby a baby pigeon falls from it’s nest into a lake. The mother frantically calls for help, but no ones comes to her aid. Our penguin hears her cries and dives into the water, flapping his flippers like bird wings, and saves the baby pigeon.
Location : Central Park
Goal : Teach about being yourself and embrace who you are.
Characters :
- Slappy – our protagonist, he is a small penguin who wishes he could fly.
- Mama pigeon –
- Baby pigeon –
- Sam the ice cream man –
Right off the bat, I’m going to make one change. I know we spoke about using Central Park as the park for the story. Here is why I’d like to change it. My using a known location, people will expect more factual information in the story. I can hear the people now, “There are no trees like that in Central Park.”, “Pigeons don’t have nests in the area by the water because of the … blah blah blah.” Let’s silence those nay sayers before they get the chance to write. Let’s just call it, “Sunshine Park”.
Location : Central Park Sunshine Park.
Now that’s out of the way, let’s start writing. Read more »
How are we going to name our lead character? We could go out and get a big book of names and go through it one by one. I think we can come up with one ourselves. Let’s think more about the character itself. Physical characteristics can often help us name a character, like a dog named spot, or a dinosaur named Rex. Visualize our penguin. Is he tall or short? Thin or stout? Does he speak? Does he have spots or a distinguishing mark? the list could go on, but I think you get the idea.
Now we need to establish what makes him realized this. Some event must happen for him to step up and show his true skill, and how it compares, or contrasts his love of flying. What if something happens so that he becomes the only one who can solve a problem primarily because of his swimming ability.
I am often asked the question, “How do you write a children’s book?” I honestly never knew how to answer that. I’ve only published one children’s book, and I have one set to be published later this year. In all truthfulness, I never really considered myself a children’s book writer. But, hey … I’ve written two books. People who have read my second book really think its great, and I know my first book is good just based on sales. So I guess I am qualified to answer that question. But how do you answer a question that has so many steps to it. There is no one answer. It’s not like people ask, what’s your favorite color? (Hunter green by the way).
