How To Write For Children – Motivation

There are a lot of books written on the subject of how to write for children.

This article will focus on your motivation.

Motivation is crucial and exploring it a little will help you to decide if you are really suited to writing for children.

You may think you are but believe me, it is a subject worth thinking about and being clear on motivation will save you a lot of wasted time.

Read on and try answering the questions honestly.

DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT MOTIVATION?

The real motivation of the writer is crucial.

You can be an expert in the nuts and bolts of children’s writing but you may not really enjoy writing the stories. This will show in your work.

In my opinion, the most important thing about writing for children is that you should love it.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO WRITE FOR CHILDREN?

Some people read about a children’s writer getting a large cash advance and it is this alone which motivates them into deciding they will write for children as well.

But be aware, money may motivate some people into starting to write but it rarely motivates anyone to finish.

If money was the best motivator everybody would be writing.

If you are ‘settling for,’ ‘lowering yourself’ or ‘forcing yourself’ to write for children, then that will be obvious in your writing.

There are lots of other types of writing you can do, so why waste your time on something to which you are not suited?

ARE YOU WRITING FOR YOUR OWN CHILDREN?

Many parents make up stories to tell their children.

When they see the delight on their children’s faces they begin to think maybe they should change their career.

It is absolutely wonderful that parents make up stories for children.

Children love this but, don’t let your children’s delighted faces fool you.

In the nicest way possible, I’m afraid your own children are biased.

It is not just your story they are enjoying but your company, your voice, and your undivided, loving attention.

ARE YOU ALREADY WRITING?

Have you been writing children’s stories for some time?
Are you regularly making notes with ideas for stories?

If so, then maybe you are someone who should write for children, but only you can answer that honestly.

Writing for children is wonderful. In fact, it is hard to describe just how enjoyable it can be.

However, all writing takes time and effort and you should only write for children if you love writing and have a wonderful story you are absolutely dying to tell.

MY MOTIVATION

Cover of When Things Go Wonky by Grace Jolliffe on page about how to write for children What drives me is a burning desire to tell a story that children will enjoy.

I wrote children’s stories for RTE Radio here in Ireland for two years and I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed every moment I spent writing them.

The fact that I was paid to write the stories was the icing on the cake.

Paid jobs for writers are very hard to come by, but it wasn’t my only motivation.

My biggest motivation was, is and always has been, a compulsion to write. I had lots of ideas.

These ideas bred other ideas.

I loved writing these stories and I simply had to write them. I was motivated. You can see my stories here.  

If this describes you then, like me, you will have a fantastic time writing for children so be sure and click the links below. You will find lots more help to get you started.

In writing these articles about how to write for children I have drawn directly from my personal and professional experience.