Writing Pitfalls in Children’s Writing

Carolyn Howard-Johnson shares writers’ resources on her award-winning blog Sharing with Writers

 Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children’s Writer

Is it a chapter book or a middle grade? And why does it matter that you pick the right genre:

Well, it’s the difference between an editor giving your story a second glance or not.

It’s so essential that publishers will ask what grade level your book is geared toward. You had better make sure the vocabulary of your story and the intended audience are a match.

What exactly do I mean? Let’s use an example:

The boy performed an amazing illusion. Was it an illusion or real magic?

If you were writing this for a 6th grader, the word illusion would be fine, but say you are writing for a 2nd or 3rd grader … then you’ll need to change that word.

According to “Children’s Writer’s Word Book,” ‘illusion’ is in the vocabulary of 6th graders. To make it age appropriate for a 3rd grader, you would need to change it to a word such as trick or fake.

The use of words goes far beyond that of choosing age-appropriate words; they can be revised to say the same thing in a different way.

Words are amazing; just make sure yours are appropriate for the age group you’re writing for.

Taking this a little further, even if you’re writing a young adult novel, choose words carefully.

I’m working with a client who has words in his draft that most teens and even many adult readers won’t understand. You don’t want a reader to have to stop and look up a word while reading. This is never a good thing.

Don’t use high-end words when writing for children, teens, and young adults. Use words that everyone will be able to quickly recognize and understand.

To emphasize this, here are some quotes on the topic by famous authors:

“Use familiar words—words that your readers will understand, and not words they will have to look up. No advice is more elementary, and no advice is more difficult to accept. When we feel an impulse to use a marvelously exotic word, let us lie down until the impulse goes away.”

~James J. Kilpatrick

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

~Thomas Jefferson

“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

~William Strunk and E.B. White

“Use the smallest word that does the job.”

~E.B. White

“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.” ~William Butler Yeats

“The finest words in the world are only vain sounds if you can’t understand them. ~Anatole France

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is … the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”

~Mark Twain

The finest language is mostly made up of simple, unimposing words.” ~George Eliot

“Whenever we can make 25 words do the work of 50, we halve the area in which looseness and disorganisation can flourish.”

~Wilson Follett

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise, you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”

~C. S. Lewis

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author, ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach. If you need help with your story, visit Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi.

Karen also offers authors:

HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN’S FICTION BOOK
A DIY book to help you write your own children’s book.

WRITERS ON THE MOVE PRESS
Self-publishing help for children’s authors.

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MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning #HowToDoItFrugally Series (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTXQL27T/ ) of books for writers including “The Frugal Book Promoter” (https://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII), and “The Frugal Editor” both offered in their third editions by Modern History Press. Others in that series are “How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically,” and two booklets, both in their second editions also from Modern History Press. The booklets, “Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers” (https://bit.ly/LastMinuteEditsII) and “Great First Impression Book Proposals” (https://bit.ly/BookProposalsII) are career boosters in mini doses and both make ideal thank you gifts for authors. The one on writing book proposals is also available as an Audio Book. “The Frugal Editor “(https://tinyurl.com/TheFrugalEditor), was recently released in its third edition. It is the winningest book in this series for writers. Carolyn also has three frugal books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it helps them understand what is needed to convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is “A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques” (https://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, Carolyn helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at https://TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs all things editing–grammar, formatting and more–at “The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor” (https://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com). Learn more and follow it to get news on her new releases directly from Amazon at https://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.