Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 3 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: the Abcs of Writing for Children 5 Chapter 1: Exploring the Basics of Writing Children''s Books 7 Knowing Your Format, Genre, and Audience 8 Getting into a Good Writing Zone 8 Transforming Yourself into a Storyteller 9 Polishing Your Gem and Getting It Ready to Send 10 Selling Your Story 11 Promoting Your Book 11 Improving Your Chances of Getting Published 12 Chapter 2: Delving into Children''s Book Formats 15 Dissecting the Anatomy of a Book 16 Grouping Types of Children''s Books 17 Illustrated Books for All Ages 18 Baby-friendly board books 19 Picture books for toddlers 20 Other books that have pictures 24 Working through Wordy Books 30 Early readers 30 First chapter books 32 Middle-grade books 34 Young adult books 36 Chapter 3: Exploring the Genres 39 Going Out of This World 40 Science fiction 40 Fantasy 40 Graphic novels and manga 42 Horror and ghost stories 42 Getting in on the Action (and History) 43 Action/adventure 43 True stories 44 Historical fiction 45 Mysteries 46 Writing About Real People 48 Biography/memoir 48 Lgbtqia 49 Gender-oriented series books 51 Friendship 53 School issues 54 Developmental milestones and first experiences 55 Prose poetry 56 Romance 57 Giving Stories a Message 57 Learning/educational 57 Religion 60 Aspirational and inspirational 60 Diversity 61 Family issues 62 Pets and animals 63 Cultural issues 64 Addiction, abuse, and mental illness 65 Keeping Them Laughing with Humor 67 Quirky characters 67 Parody, satire, and jokes 67 Slapstick and gross 68 Dark humor 68 Wordplay 68 Chapter 4: Understanding the Children''s Book Market 71 Getting Insight into Book Buyers'' Needs 74 For chain and big-box bookstores 74 For independent bookstores 76 Recognizing What Reviewers Offer 78 Discovering What Librarians Add to the Mix 79 Taking a Look at How Teachers Use Books in Their Classrooms 84 Considering Parents'' Perspectives 86 Thinking Like a Kid 86 Going after what kids like -- regardless of Mom and Dad 87 Knowing what kids don''t like 88 Part 2: Immersing Yourself in The Writing Process 89 Chapter 5: Setting Up for Success: Finding the Time and Space to Write 91 Finding Time to Write 92 Figuring out when you''re most productive 92 Sticking to a writing schedule 93 Evaluating your commitment 93 Optimizing Your Writing Environment 94 Locating your special writing spot 94 Keeping helpful references handy 95 Cutting down on clutter and getting organized 96 Preventing and dealing with interruptions 98 Chapter 6: Starting with a Great Idea 101 Once Upon a Time: Coming Up with an Idea 101 Relying on specific ideas rather than big ones 102 Tapping into your own experiences 103 Digging through childhood mementos 105 Drawing from other children''s experiences 106 Pulling ideas from the world around you 106 Stumped? Break through with Brainstorming 107 Doing it all by yourself 108 Giving free association a whirl 109 Taking up journaling 109 Buddying up to the buddy system 111 Asking the advice of classmates and writing professionals 112 Seeking help from your audience 113 Going to the source 115 Checking the "best of" book lists 116 Fighting Writer''s Block 117 Chapter 7: Researching Your Audience and Subject 119 Hanging Out with Kids 120 Going back to school 120 Becoming a storyteller 122 Borrowing a friend''s child for a day 125 Dipping into Popular Culture 127 Watching kids'' TV shows and movies 127 Playing kid-focused digital games 128 Reading parenting and family magazines and blogs 129 Perusing pop culture magazines and blogs 130 Surfing the web 130 Browsing bookstores 131 Visiting children''s stores online or in person 132 Studying kids'' fashion trends 133 Eavesdropping where kids hang out 133 Researching Your Nonfiction Topic 134 Outlining the research process 134 Getting around locally 136 Going far afield 136 Visiting the web -- a lot 137 Part 3: Creating a Spellbinding Story 139 Chapter 8: Creating Compelling Characters 141 The Secret Formula for an Exceptional Main Character 142 Defining your main character''s driving desire 142 Show, don''t tell: Fleshing out your main character 143 Getting to Know Your Characters through Dialogue 144 Compiling a Character Bible 147 Surveying a sample character bible 148 Creating consistency 150 Writing Stories with Two or More Main Characters 151 Choosing Supporting Characters 152 Calling All Character Arcs 154 Character Don''ts -- and How to Avoid Them 157 Steer clear of stereotypes 157 Don''t tell us everything 158 Toss out passivity and indefinites 160 Don''t rely on backstory or flashbacks 161 Developing Characters through Writing Exercises 162 Describe your first best friend 162 Borrow your favorite children''s book characters 163 Revisit a painful or joyful experience from your childhood 163 Chapter 9: The Plot Thickens: Conflict, Climax, and Resolution 165 Plot: It''s All about Action 166 Centering on the Story 167 Giving Your Story a Beginning, Middle, and End 168 Propelling Your Story with Drama and Pacing 168 Drama: A reason to turn the page 169 Pacing: How you keep the pages turning 169 Outlining to Structure Your Plot 170 Creating a step sheet 171 Fleshing out your outline 172 Knowing when to circumvent an outline 175 Preventing Plot Problems 176 Writing Your First Draft 176 Chapter 10: Can We Talk? Writing Effective Dialogue 179 The Fundamentals of Good Dialogue 180 Dialogue has a function 180 Dialogue has drama 182 Listening to Real-World Dialogue 184 How kids talk 184 How grown-ups talk 185 Adding a Speech Section to Your Character Bible 186 Testing! Testing! Reading Dialogue Out Loud 187 Avoiding Common Dialogue Mistakes 188 Failing to have conflict or tension 188 Repeating information: Showing versus telling 189 Describing dialogue 189 Using too many speaker references and attributions 190 Creating heavy-handed and unrealistic dialogue 191 Filling space with unnecessary dialogue 191 Improving Dialogue by Using Writing Exercises 192 Talking on paper 193 Introducing your first best friend to the love of your life 193 Chapter 11: Setting the Scene 195 Giving Context to Your Story and Its Characters with Scenery 195 Creating a Context Bible 196 Knowing When to Include Scenery and Context 197 When place figures prominently 198 When place plays an important role 199 When description of place doesn''t interrupt flow of action 200 When you must mention an exotic locale 200 When you mention a specific place at the beginning 201 When you use place to transition to a new scene 201 Providing the Right Amount of Setting 202 Engaging Your Readers'' Senses 203 Knowing When Not to Make a Scene 204 Exercising Your Nose through Smellography 204 Chapter 12: Finding Your Voice: Point of View and Tone 207 Building a Solid Point of View 208 Reviewing POV options 208 Picking your POV 209 Matching tense with POV 211 Having Fun with Words through Wordplay, Rhyming, and Rhythm 212 Engaging in wordplay 212 Taking different approaches to rhyming 214 Keeping your story moving with rhythm 215 Using Humor to Your Advantage 216 Figuring out what kids consider funny 217 Turning to the outrageous and the gross 220 The Mojo of Good Writing: Exploring Voice, Style, and Tone 221 Finding your story''s voice 222 Writing with style 223 Taking the right tone 223 Knowing When You Need a Voice Makeover 224 Helping Your Voice Emerge by Playing Pretend 225 Pretend to be someone (or something) else 225 Chapter 13: Writing Creative Nonfiction Books 227 The Nonfiction Children''s Book World at a Glance 228 Writing Toward a Nonfiction Masterpiece 229 Choosing a Great Nonfiction Topic 231 Looking at topics that get kids'' attention 232 Finding topics that interest you 233 Branching out into the real world 233 Testing Your Topic 235 Outlining Your Creative Nonfiction 236 Starting simple 236 Fleshing out your ideas 237 Enhancing your outline by using visual aids 238 Common Creative Nonfiction Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) 239 Writing Exercises for Creative Nonfiction 240 Pretend you''re a newspaper reporter 240 Create a funny five-step procedure to wash a dog 241 More short exercises to get you writing 241 Part 4: Making Your Story Sparkle 245 Chapter 14: Editing, Revising, and.