There are some important guidelines that must be followed in its structure however that will impact on the layout of your story. Picture books are generally either 24 or 32 pages long, it is possible to go shorter or longer but the makeup of the book is always a multiple of eight.There are of course introductory or information pages, a title page and a blank page front and/or back if required that can be used to fill out the book.  For the standard 32 page book you will roughly have a word count of about 2000, but take into account also the nature of your illustrations and how they will flow with the story.

It’s important to consider how the story will fit into the pages and it often helps to make a mock up of you book so you can assess its pace. Publishers will have the final say but you must know that the work you’re presenting meets the requirements. There are a few basic picture book categories  and although not exclusive they make up a large majority of what is in the market. They include the story book, the concept book and the novelty book each require the same considerations in presentation.

Once you have gathered together a few ideas, you need to decide what you will do with them. Do you want to write a picture book or a novel, will you publish yourself or submit to a professional publisher? Publishers have certain criteria you must meet, make sure you’re aware of these before you start.

How will you tell the story? From whose point of view? This will also depend on the characters in your story, and the direction you want the story to take. Finding the narrator position in a story can sometimes be the most difficult part and can often let down an otherwise good plot if not done correctly.

Reading childrens books will help you get a feel for how this is done. Writing in the first person from the main characters point of view is often the most acceptable and can also be relatively easy. A close relationship can be developed with the reader as they experience the story through the main characters thoughts and feelings, but make sure you can stick with it throughout the story.

Take some time to work on the introduction to the story, it is here in the first few lines that you will capture or lose the reader. For young children introducing the character/s first is essential to get them interested. Raising a question they need answered and a clue to the environment is also important. Achieving all of this in the first few lines of the story can be tricky but worth the effort.

Go over your ideas, explore them, play with them and see where they take you.

Next Post: Choosing the Right Book to Write

Can you go back to your childhood and draw on, not the stories you read but your experiences, your adventures and what you thought about them, how you reacted to them? You must enter the mind of the child and not write from the perspective of the adult.

Children want adventure, mystery, obstacles to overcome, they want to be frightened and then reach a successful outcome. The childrens book must have its focus on the child. Children don’t want to read what an adult thinks or feels as much as they are interested in the childs adventure, challenges and resolutions.

Getting to know what children are reading involves research. Spend as much time as it takes to familiarise yourself with what is currently selling. Visit libraries, read children’s and parenting magazines, examine children’s television programming can you find a common theme running through the different mediums.

Don’t forget to take into account age appropriate material and whether what you are considering meets with your purpose. Are you wanting to write humourous, adventure or life experience stories? To determine what children are reading and how you can meet that demand requires you to do your research and keep up with what the current trends are in each age group.

Next Post: – Inspiration – Make it Work for You!

Have a Great Day

If you want to write for children you can but there are a few things to consider and a few questions to ask yourself.

Creativity doesn’t always come naturally and it doesn’t have to there are many things you can do to inspire yourself and gather ideas together. Don’t be fooled into thinking however that writing for children is easier than other types of writing. You will find it to be quite the other way around.

Ask yourself what your motivation is. Is it your love of children or maybe you’re just a big kid yourself. You will need to have passion not only for writing but for writing in a way that reaches out to children. Your story or stories will have to fill a need in their lives whether that need be for pure entertainment, silliness and laughter or reassurance, courage and love.

You will also need to have respect for children, they may not have a lot of life experience but you can’t fool them. Today they have so much more of the world right in front of them and even though they take so much of it in they really do still want to be kids.

If when you write you can draw on your childhood memories and imagination while at the same time consider what today’s kids are interested in you are off to a good start.

Tomorrow – What do children want to read?

Have a Great day

Moisturising Bath Salts

Ingredients

• 200g or 1 cup sodium carbonate (available in health food stores or supermarkets.
• 2 – 3 drops of lavender oil
• 2 – 3 drops of sandalwood oil
• 2 – 3 drops your choice of natural food colour
• 2 drops of vitamin E oil
• 2 drops of evening primrose oil

You need to mix all the ingredients together in a jar secure with lid and shake well. About one dessert spoon is plenty in the bath.

Use a decorative jar and add some ribbons to make a lovely gift.

Bubble Bath

Ingredients

• 1 cup of pure soap -  flakes finely grated sunlight soap is fine.
• 1 litre of boiling water
• 50ml grape seed oil
• 100ml rosewater

Mix soap flakes and boiling water in a bowl until flakes have dissolved.Pour grape seed oil and rosewater into a jar, secure lid and shake well.

Adding witch hazel a little at a time will thin the mixture down if needed. Pour into plastic bottles for children if desired.

Of course I couldn’t have been more wrong scrapbooking is just as popular as ever. The hands on creativity and very personal touch will keep it popular for many years to come. So I’m back on track, a year later than planned but, ready to go again.

My plan is to start at the beginning of her life with a couple of baby photos, moving through childhood onto teenage years, her wedding and children. I want to leave room for her to add her own touches if she wants to, as well as some pages at the back so she can continue with it in the years to come.

So my first page begins in her baby years, she was born in the late 60′s so I might look for a theme that would be from that time, something retro for example or rock and roll. A card with her name stamped and maybe her date of birth, labels that describe her at that time in her life and some decoration like bows, lace or ribbons.

Now I’m going to go and finally get going, I’ll keep you posted.

Happy Days

Contents for you card making kit:-

Scissors, felt pens, glitter or/and gel pens, ccraft glue, stickers, glitter in a variety of colours, sheets of coloured cardboard ( I also keep any suitable card that might be in the packaging of purchases eg. sheets, shirts etc.), sheets of decorative or coloured paper, doilies, sequins, old cards, scraps, ribbons, paint, alphabet templates.

These items can also be packaged together in a presentation box and given as a gift. Presentation gifts packaged in boxes or baskets can solve the dilemma of what present to give when your never sure what to give.

A fairy basket for a little girls birthday makes a delightful present. Spray a basket pink or silver. Decorate the handle with flowers or/and ribbons and pack the basket with little girl gifts. A dainty necklace, ring or bracelet wrapped sweets in pink organza or satin and tied with a ribbon, flowered headbands all make perfect additions.

A pirate basket for a little boy can contain pirate goodies including a treasure map, gold chocolate coins, a pirate head scarf and eye patch. Many other present packs can be made themed to colours, letters, books and art.

You’ll never be stuck again.

Happy Parties

What You Need:- Strong glue or tape for big items, scissors, paint, crayons, felt pens, scrap paper, ribbons, straws, feathers etc;

What To Do:- If you have a spare shelf, cupboard or box you can start collecting bottle tops, buttons, cartons, cards, corks, wool, straws, lids, paper plates, cardboard cylinders and go ahead add anything else you can think of.

There is an endless amount of things to make and children will come up with their own ideas but here are a couple of fun ones.

Drums

What You Need:- Boxes, tins or plastic containers, sticks or wooden spoons, scissors or hole punch, string or ribbon.

What To Do:- Choose a container to be your drum, make two holes, opposite each other, near the top of the drum. Cut string or ribbon, long enough to go around the neck and thread through the holes and secure.

Tooters

What You Need:- Cardboard cylinders various lengths, paper, glue, elastic bands.

What To Do:- Glue around outside of one end of cylinder, glue paper to the cylinder end, secure with elastic band and put small hole in paper. Different lengths will make different sounds when children blow through.

Have Fun

People Painting

You will need:- Long rolls of paper or some really large sheets of paper, (plain, old bed sheets are good too), crayons or paint, brushes.

What to do:- Place child size sheet of paper (or bed sheet) on ground. Have one child (the model) lay down on the paper (or sheet) while another child (the drawer) or adult draws an outline around the model. If  more than one child, then, do the same again but swap the drawer with the model. Each child will now have a life size picture to paint.

When finished, hang the painting to dry. Once dry the painting can be hung or cut out and used for other activities or decoration. If you have painted on fabric sheets you can sew a hem at the top and bottom, place some timber dowel into each end and you have a wonderful wall hanging. The paintings could also be decorated with fabric, buttons, wool etc; for clothes, eyes, hair and so on.

Mural Painting

What you need:- Same as above, if you can’t get sheets large enough you can join two or more pieces together.

What to do:- Make with a group of children as for the people painting above but you will want to make sure these are as tall as the children. When painting is finished cut out a hole for the faces and hang from a clothes lines or similar so the children can stand behind their paintings with their faces peeping through. The children can make up games etc. around these murals and have a lot of fun swaping over.

The possibilities are endless…..Have Fun:)