Podcast

 

Podcast script

If you’re listening to this, you must want to write for children. Children of all ages deserve great literature that relates to their lives. Do you know which age group you want to write for? If you already have a story written, do you know how many words it is?

The word count of your manuscript depends on your audience. Imagine the age of the child who will read your story. Books for children range from picture books up to teen novels and the estimated word count for each is different. Read a lot of books that were written for the age group that you want to write for to get a good grasp of the established pattern that already works. Go to the library and check out a pile of books that seem similar to what you want to write. To help you figure out where your story might fit in, take one of those books—or maybe just a chapter—and type it out on your computer. Get a word count. Were you surprised? Is it longer or shorter than you expected?

There are six general sub-genres of children’s literature: picture books, emergent readers, easy readers, chapter books, middle grade novels, and teen novels.

• In a picture book, authors need to rely on illustrations to help tell the story. Can your story be told in less than 1,000 words? How about 500? Then a picture book is for you.
• An emergent reader book is one the child may read alone so there are very few words—as little as 32. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin is an emergent reader book.
• An easy reader book is a chapter books at a simpler level, with five levels and a word count ranging from 200 to 1200 words. The more words in a book, the higher the level. The I Can Read series books, like Amelia Bedilia, fit in this category.
• Maybe you like to incorporate a lot of dialogue. Then you might have a chapter book in the making. Chapter books range from the 500 to 25,000 words. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White is a chapter book.
• A middle grade novel has a broad range of 30 to 40,000 words. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series books by Jeff Kinney are examples of middle grade novels.
• A teen novel, like The Hunger Games, might have about 45,000 words.

There you have it—six sub-genres for books for children and young adults. Where does your story fit in?

To see more titles within these categories go to daw42.wordpress.com. Look for future podcasts with details about writing for each of those sub-genres. Meanwhile, happy writing!