Pitching Your Picture Book
Submissions in today’s market often involve new elements of pitching your picture books from social media to comp titles. Here’s how to make them work for you.
October 3, 2024
Writing Nonfiction for Very Young Readers
Writing nonfiction for very young children requires specific things but with a narrow focus, few words, and kid-friendly topics, you can break into this market.
September 26, 2024
The Big 3 of Nonfiction
The three essentials for any publishable children’s nonfiction are accuracy, clarity, and organization. Let’s look at these tips for success in nonfiction.
September 19, 2024
Sensing It: Bringing Show Don’t Tell to Your Nonfiction
What does show don’t tell mean when it comes to nonfiction? Jan Fields shares examples of using sensory details to bring true stories to life for the readers.
September 11, 2024
4 Steps to Improve Readability in Children’s Books
Part of writing children’s books that can be used in a school setting lies in meeting the needs of the reader. Here are 4 steps to improve readability.
September 5, 2024
Back to School: Writing for the Classroom
Schools are crammed full of reading material. Who is doing all that writing for the classroom? What’s different about the educational market? Let’s find out.
August 27, 2024
Back to School Plans for Writers
Are you feeling the back-to-school itch? Make this season work for you as a writer! Jan Fields shares ways to get reinvigorated in your writing this fall.
August 22, 2024
Evaluating Writing Programs
How do you evaluate a critique program or a writing program and decide if it’s worth your time and your money? The answer is research. Check out these tips!
August 15, 2024
Show or Tell: Writing Dialogue Tags and Beats
Speech tags and action tags or beats are essential when writing dialogue. These tiny but mighty words are the difference between reader confusion and enjoyment.
August 8, 2024
Dive into Writing Dialogue
Dialogue is a favorite for writers AND readers. Dialogue makes your character present and real in a scene. Let’s talk tips and techniques for great dialogue.
August 1, 2024
Your Voice or Theirs?
Voice, whether your natural writing voice or the voice of a character, comes from an emotional place. Jan Fields gives us exercises to develop these voices.
July 18, 2024
Discovering Your Author Voice
Voice is something publishers want, but it’s an elusive thing to understand. Today, we discover ways to develop our own voice and the voices of our characters.
July 11, 2024
Inside/Outside: More Tips on Writing Conflict
When writing conflict, inner and outer conflicts are not two separate things. Outer conflicts offer an opportunity to explore inner ones better. Find out how.
June 27, 2024
Defining Types of Conflict in Children’s Books
Conflict in children’s books isn’t necessarily fights or arguments, it’s about the roadblocks that keep the character from getting what they want in the story.
June 19, 2024
Conflict and Your Story Machine
Discover how the conflict the main character of your manuscript faces is the little piece of the story machine with the biggest impact on your reader.
June 13, 2024
Plot: What’s At Stake?
Plot moves forward as pressure is applied to characters to motivate them to act. Pressure in a story is all about the stakes. Are your stakes high enough?
June 6, 2024
Worldbuilding and the 3 Stages of Writing
Many writers think worldbuilding is only for fantasy and sci-fi, but it’s important for all stories. Consider worldbuilding in these 3 stages of writing.
May 30, 2024
4 Tips for Efficient Worldbuilding
Worldbuilding is the process of making decisions about setting and systems for a story. Check out these four tips for efficient and effective worldbuilding.
May 23, 2024
4 Ways Setting Acts with and As Character
Setting can seem like a character all on its own, but only if the writer allows the setting to do its job. And that requires both research and imagination.
May 16, 2024
Worldbuilding for Everyday Worlds
Worldbuilding is something every fiction writer needs to think about to create believable scenes rooted in a setting in such a way that readers feel it.
May 9, 2024
