Writing a Children's Book- Advice for Newbies!!

I have some good news for those of you who are considering writing a children's book for the first time! If you believe you need a piece of paper or formal qualification to write for children, you can wipe the worry from you mind for good! This is the #1 misconception new writers of children's books face. The truth is you don't!

What publishers want to see in your writing is that you have an interest in and have passion for a good story. Formal qualifications can be expensive and time consuming and in the end they are not a guarantee for your success. Formal writing training can also be quite broad; covering all aspects of writing in general. This is not always a bad thing as you will need to develop a strong foundation for your writing career. But overall, formal training is not necessary. If you are interested in gaining formal qualifications the best thing to look for is a more in-depth focus on children's writing not all other genres of writing.

Writers of children's books will recommend attending short courses designed specifically for children's writing. You can sometimes find free short courses through the community, library, internet or there could be a small fee. Either way, it is beneficial to you to attend one or two of these. This will improve your knowledge and skills when writing for children. The more knowledge you seek in this area of writing will help you beyond belief. When you attend writing courses, you will have opportunities to ask questions, have discussions and get feedback from experienced writers and tutors. This advice will provide you with priceless information you will have for a lifetime. Take the opportunity when it is presented, this is the best way to gain knowledge for your writing career. You can get started writing your children's story straight away and seek help and support as you go along.

The best way to get the help and support you need is from successful authors who have been there and done that and made the mistakes. They will be willing to share these with you. Normally these writers will have produced well written books in more than one genre of children's writing and had experience with publishers. These are the folks you want to learn from. They will give you all the elements for writing a children's book and pointers for dealing with publishers. What publishers want to see and what they don't! Again this is priceless feedback that only those who have been there can give you.

If writing a children's book is where you think your talents lye, that's great! There is always a need for more well written children's books filled with passion and interest. Remember this is the #1 misconception of writing a children's book. You do not require formal qualifications, just the determination to learn how to write well for children, one way or another.