“I think that’s true of any talented artist. The mark of their talent is that they make something look easy.”
Fictional storytelling is such a gift. It allows our minds to run wild and transports us away to another world where absolutely anything could be possible. It also helps us digest complex topics in a more palatable and easy to comprehend way. Perhaps for this reason, while the number of adults that reads falls, the number of adults reading to their children, and children reading in general, holds steady. While we may feel too busy to read, we know how valuable it is for a small child to have a fun conduit to learn, grow, and explore. Today’s guest is mother, and a writer of children’s books and teen fiction. We’ll discuss why writing a children’s book isn’t as easy as it looks, and what writing with a teen voice is like.
“I see how it can be a common misconception and I see how a picture book can look easy from the outside.”
“I almost feel like my characters are my alter ego...in real life I’m sort of quiet and mild. I feel like it’s my outlet to be the person that I’m not in my day to day life.”
Interview Contents
1:50 – What came first, being an author or being a children’s author?
3:20 – Children’s books vs. teen fiction.
4:05 – The difficulty of writing children’s books.
5:20 – Does writing children’s books help you write teen fiction?
5:50 – Getting an illustrator.
9:25 – Is it frustrating that people think writing kid’s books is easy?
10:25 – Getting a children’s book published.
14:20 – Getting a second book published after you have already had success.
17:00 – Having people find things in your book, and trying to find the right formula for a children’s book.
19:40 – The teen fiction novel writing process.
21:30 – Character creation.
23:30 – Does getting older make it more difficult to write teen fiction?
24:40 – Do you have a teen proofread your books to make sure the voice is correct?
25:45 – Identifying with your childhood.
27:00 – Having younger people read your teen books.
29:40 – Stigma in the writing community.
30:10 – Advice.
