Show and Tell

The most important thing I have to tell anybody who wants to write for kids is this: write a story from your own feelings.  The big emotions of childhood – happiness, anger, jealousy, embarrassment etc. – don’t change that much when you’re a grownup. The only thing that’s different is your frame of reference and hopefully some control over your wilder emotions.  Beware of writing a message for kids. They can smell this-is-something-you-need-to-learn a mile away. Yes, there can be subtext, an understanding of what they feel and maybe a nudge in a positive direction, but no lessons in neon. First and foremost kids need a story to entertain them. They want to laugh, they want to read about behavior as crazy as their own, and emotions as deep and wide as the ones they feel.

Next Tuesday is the official publication date of The Show-And-Tell-Lion, my new children’s book (the wonderful illustrations are by Lynne Avril Cravath).  I wrote about my advance author copies arriving a few months ago on this site (how weird it was to see this craziness become an actual book, respectable with it’s own ISBN number) but next week is the first time the book is on sale.  The idea for this story came from my most embarrassing childhood memory – a lie I told at show-and-tell in the first grade. In my book Matthew announces in show-and-tell that he has a pet lion at home.  My lie was that I had a grown up brother and sister who were movie stars in Hollywood.

I was six years old and to this day I remember how absolutely awful it was when my lie spread all over the school and I had to keep making up more lies. The energy in the story comes from that awful embarrassment I felt and can still remember in the pit of my stomach.

To Do:  Make a list of all the emotions you remember from childhood. One by one, see if you can remember the details – what caused the emotion, what did you do about it, how did your body feel.  Whether you want to write for kids or not, this can be a helpful exercise for writing memoir, or for your characters in fiction.

To Do: Write about a lie you told.  Why you told it, how you felt, what happened because of it.

Comments

[Mary M.]

Congratulations, Barbara. I can't wait to get a copy for my granddaughters.

[Elizabeth A]

I've had this on my Amazon list for what seems like months and am so excited to get it for my children -- and myself! I also ordered a book you wrote about baseball(?) and should be getting that soon as well. Congrats, Barbara!

[Barbara]

Mary and Elizabeth - Thank you!

[Wendy]

Barbara, Congratulations! This book would be perfect for my kindergarten class; except next year I'll be teaching the "big kids" - 4th graders! Yikes! But I will definitely pass along the information to the other kinder teachers. All the best! Wendy

[mernitman]

So wait, wait -- you DON'T have a brother and sister who are movie stars? Then why have I been trying to sleep with you, and leaving copies of my spec scripts lying around your house?

[Sissy B.]

Congratulations! Although my daughter is starting middle school in August (aaargghhh!!)I know just the perfect little one to buy a copy for! I am happy for you!

[Barbara]

Mernit - lies, lies, lies

Wendy - good luck with the 4th graders - new material for your essays.

Sissy - Thank you! (a kid in middle school? I know what you mean.)

[Melissa S.]

Barbara,
I can't wait to check out the book. Also thank you for the copy you left me of Courage & Craft. I have loved writing and reading since I was little and used to write stories when visiting my dad in the summers while I was bored. Anyhow, I have been toying with the idea of writing a children's book for a while now and when you gave me a copy of Courage & Craft I decided what the heck am I waiting for. So, thank you for hiring me to take care of your muses and inspiring me. I have 7 muses of my own to help me write. Four wonderful dogs and three hairy but loveable cats.

Sturart & Charolett's best friend,
Melissa

P.S.
I love checking out all the books you leave around your office when I come to visit. I make lists of my favorite ones and to anyone wanting a new read try The Color of Water by James McBride. I saw this on your list of recomended reading list and had read it years ago and just consumed it in two days. It's just wonderful... What more can I say.

[A Kassner]

Barbara: Seems awile since anyone read the good information offered about writing for kids. Your lesson is very timely for me. I am in the midst of writing a preadolescent's book of adventures with her buddy. Many tell me it's quite funny. Again, thank youfor the advice.

[North Face Fleece Sale]

responsible for the quality of the product.

[Gofi]

Tony - I quite agree - ever since I started doing weelky flashes, my writing has improved. I've attempted a greater variety of subjects, too. And you're right - the more you practice new things, the more you can use it on your "main" work.Sam - I know some writing "coaches" will say that thinking about writing is not the same as writing, but it depends on what thinking you're doing. If you're thinking about a project, then that's writing. If you're thinking about how you'd like to write, then that's wishful thinking. Keep at it!Magaly - I keep getting distracted by new projects - I've had to force myself to have a To Do list and new things go at the bottom, not the top!Laurita - I figured that there's no point beating yourself up over quirks of your personality. Use them to your advantage!

[nooann]

I know my limitations, at least some of them, and they won't let me dvtoee an entire month to writing. I did get some publishing-related stuff done, which I wrote about in a blog post this morning, and that was successful by the metrics I set for it.Being a member of the Half-Century Club, I seem to be doing well at resisting the temptation to rush things. That helps, most likely.

[Fisher]

Naoko gosh that sounds fianscating the workshop, the power of the words, what happens when you read together out loud. I agree, the experience has the potential to convey a huge amount of emotional power. I love your comment at the end about it being too addictive though! Paul I'm definitely in poetry exploration mode at the moment funny how at odd moments in our life that is precisely what we need to turn to. Very intrigued by your last comment and glad you're getting used to the sound of your own voice.Conor yes, I gained a huge amount from the experience, even if not all of it what I was expecting. Perhaps all the better because of that And like you say, it proved a great way to open our minds up to new possibilities for thinking, writing, creating JD I love the way you can analyse what lies behind some of the things I'm talking about here!wilson yes, learning to work together, and get into each other's rhythms was a very important dimension. I hope you to get to try some group writing too sometime soon

[Sureka]

So, I have a twitter and a faoebcok, but I rarely use them, and they have no connection to my LJ. I understand, though, that many people have interconnected their social media platforms and view the conversation on all three to be a sort of joined conversation.I saw your comment here about "all of these guesses" and was confused, since responses to this blog post don't seem to concentrate on your character, but on the content of cleolinda's thoughts on reviews. But then it occurred to me that perhaps you were addressing the conversation happening cross platform, and not just this post. Is that the case?This is an honest question by someone who is intrigued at the growing interconnection of social media platforms, not a snarky one.