Writing short stories for children is a hugely rewarding experience for a writer. You are writing for a group of young people who are developing and your work is contributing towards this process. The actual stories can be a very positive and entertaining experience for young kids.
Do you want to get into writing short stories for children, particularly for those aged between 4 and 8? If so, check out the following tips to help you:
1. Base your stories around a central character
The best way to entertain kids through your short stories is simplicity and this includes the characters you have in your stories. Rather than having many characters, which will only serve to confuse children, have one main character and two or three other supporting characters who interact with the main one. This will help kids to follow your stories far better.
2. Create a plot that is relatable
When writing short stories for children, you have a great opportunity to develop plots that kids can relate to in their everyday lives. This could include situations like being at school, going on holidays, friendships, and the experiences had within these contexts such as worry, happiness, anger, being hurt, and frustration.
3. Keep language simple
Unlike writing for older children, when writing for kids aged between 4 and 8, writing in simple English is vital. Keep sentences short, and use simple words that are easy to understand for children, so that they can be read easily by those children who can read. Also, simple language will help adults who may be reading your stories to kids, to clarify any points should youngsters ask questions.
In the text, use plenty of dialogue between the main character and the others, and also describe actions taken by the characters. This will help to create pictures in the minds of youngsters and really engage them with your stories.
4. Use pictures and illustrations
In order to make your short stories for children extra engaging, use pictures and illustrations to help tell your story. For instance, if your short story is about the adventures a young girl has with her pet dog, you could use an illustration of the girl, her young dog and the situations they both find themselves in.
By using pictures and illustrations, you increase the modalities by which your message will get through to kids. Not only will they read the words that are written in your short story if they are reading themselves, (or hear if an adult is reading), they will also see the pictures and illustrations you use. This will help them make connections between the words and the visuals.
5. Write a series
Writing a series of short stories can be an excellent way to continue teaching lessons to young children. For instance, having a series based around the experiences of a main character will help young children to relate to the person, and go on a journey with him or her, ending with a positive outcome.
Image credit: woodleywonderworks on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of eBooks India. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]