Writing for Children - A Manual for Writers of Juvenile Fiction

By Arthur Groom

Originally published in the 1920s. The book contains a wealth of information on  every aspect of writing children’s books and plays. Contents include: Preparing the Ground – Titles – Fairy and Dragon Stories – Animal and Nature Stories – Adventure Stories – Sporting and School Tales – Points to Remember – Editors – Markets for Manuscripts – Lengths – Submissions – Children’s Plays – The Serial and Series – Books – Writing for B.B.C. – Verse for Children – Ideas Unlimited etc. Many of the earliest tuition books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing many of these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Oct 13, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447492795

Book preview

WRITING FOR

CHILDREN

A MANUAL FOR WRITERS OF

JUVENILE FICTION

By

ARTHUR GROOM

1929

Copyright © 2016 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from

the British Library

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

PREPARING THE GROUND

CHAPTER II

MAKING A START

CHAPTER III

TITLES

CHAPTER IV

FAIRY AND DRAGON STORIES

CHAPTER V

ANIMAL AND NATURE TALES, AND ARTICLES

CHAPTER VI

THE ADVENTURE STORY

CHAPTER VII

THE SPORTING AND SCHOOL TALE

CHAPTER VIII

POINTS TO REMEMBER

CHAPTER IX

HOW TO TREAT EDITORS

CHAPTER X

MARKETS FOR MANUSCRIPTS

CHAPTER XI

LENGTHS

CHAPTER XII

PUTTING A PRICE ON MANUSCRIPTS

CHAPTER XIII

WHEN TO SUBMIT

CHAPTER XIV

PUZZLE AND HOW-TO-MAKE PARAGRAPHS

CHAPTER XV

THE CHILDREN’S PLAY

CHAPTER XVI

THE SERIAL AND SERIES

CHAPTER XVII

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

CHAPTER XVIII

WRITING FOR THE B.B.C.

CHAPTER XIX

VERSE FOR CHILDREN

CHAPTER XX

IDEAS UNLIMITED

CONCLUSION

TO

MY WIFE

INTRODUCTION

IN recent years the demand for new and original stories, articles and verse for juvenile reading has grown tremendously, and, with this demand, the number of those who would like to and can write for the juvenile market has increased in proportion.

I think I am right in asserting that Jack the Giant-Killer and his friends Red Riding Hood and the others have had their day. The modern parent no longer feels inclined to talk to children about grinding the bones of Englishmen or men of any other nation. The fairy tales and other children’s stories of a past generation were designed either to terrify or to preach a sickly goody-goody moral, which were both equally bad for their readers.

Today the younger generation wants clean, healthy tales, and, while folklore still interests the youngster of 1929, tales of nature hold equal sway over youthful readers.

Now a children’s story is perhaps the simplest form of fiction, but, like more advanced types of literature, it has its pitfalls for the budding author, and it is because of these pitfalls that I have written this book, in the hope that its contents will in some measure indicate how they can be avoided.

Most people who start writing for children become obsessed with the idea of getting their names on the front of a book, and blandly settle down at their desks to write 50,000 or 60,000 words without first considering whether the idea in their mind warrants such verbosity or whether there is a market for such a book.

A FEW WORDS OF ADVICE

Beginners should avoid the lengthy story. It takes an experienced writer to tell a tale of, say, over 10,000 words, and maintain the interest to the end. Perhaps the most difficult long story to write is the fairy tale; school and adventure yarns are easier, because there one has more scope.

Therefore I would advise would-be writers of juvenile matter to commence with short, simple tales of not more than a thousand words. In this way they will gain experience without too great a loss of time. Remember that it takes quite three months for even a rapid writer to finish a tale of 60,000 words, and, if when the tale is finished, the author discovers that it is packed full of errors (both technical and otherwise), then the valuable months have been utterly wasted.

With the short story the beginner is able to practise all forms of story weaving in a very short space of time. Captions, opening sentences, climaxes and endings get better and better perhaps two or three times a day. Besides which, of course, the writer has a better chance of achieving the dignity of print and, once that has happened, the enemy’s first line of defence has been pierced.

Another bogey which the beginner has to fight is the feeling that the writing of juvenile fiction does not pay. This is ridiculous. In the first place, as I have said, stories for juvenile reading are easier to write than adult fiction, and therefore can be written and sold far quicker than anything else born of the pen or the typewriter. Secondly, it is quite untrue to say that one is poorly paid for children’s stories and articles. Admitted that the scale of remuneration is lower than for other material, but all is grist to the mill, and there is also the possibility of making a name for one’s self as an author of children’s stories—and thus be able to command a high price for one’s work.

Apart from the monetary side of the question, there is a tremendous moral reward awaiting the successful writer of juvenile matter. It is really wonderful to think that it is within one’s power to direct the thoughts of a child into proper channels, and when one has experienced the thrill of watching a child reading a tale of one’s creation, the feeling of intense satisfaction is almost beyond conception. Many of the most famous authors of today have confessed that they would rather hold the interest of one small child than sell 10,000 copies of a thriller.

Besides hoping to assist the writer of children’s reading matter, I sincerely hope that this book will help those who find themselves faced with the age-old lisping request issuing from youthful lips, Please tell me a ’tory.

Apropos of this it is interesting to recall that Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was first a spoken tale before it appeared in print.

So much for my reasons for writing this volume. With regard to the actual matter contained within its pages, I have tried to cover the wide field wherein the juvenile writing market is pitched, but should there be anything which I have omitted, I shall be delighted to hear from readers who are still in the dark as to certain problems connected with their work, and to advise them to the limit of my powers.

Before beginning upon the practical side of the book, however, I would ask readers to bear in mind that, if they are to succeed, Nil desperandum must be their slogan. In the vast majority of cases a writer is called upon to suffer numerous disappointments in the beginning, but, with faith in one’s work coupled with the will to succeed, success must ensue.

ARTHUR GROOM.

WRITING FOR CHILDREN

CHAPTER I

PREPARING THE GROUND

STORIES have been written on the backs of envelopes and then scribbled down in almost undecipherable writing at odd moments afterwards. These have been printed and achieved fame, but they are the exceptions. Nowadays a writer must have some sort of system of working. Typewriters, pens, paper, rubber, files and envelopes, all play a part in the great game of writing, for, to the real enthusiast, writing is one long glorious game, although a hard one, and the beginner must acquire a stock-in-trade before he can commence in earnest.

There are few books one can recommend to the would-be writer for juvenile reading. Folklore studies, natural history books and volumes of published juvenile stories should be read with avidity, particularly the last named, for they represent the thing for which the beginner is striving—success!

Juvenile matter can be divided into five categories—namely, short stories, articles, children’s plays, verse, and books. Each of these may be subdivided into types; fairy stories and tales of adventure; articles into semi-technical material concerning everyday things, how-to-make articles and the like; children’s plays into those dealing with history and those born of the imagination; verse into that which tells a story and that which describes an incident, and books into the pure fairy tale and the school or adventure yarn.

From all this matter the beginner can