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Sally Murphy, Australian author

Guest Article: Plotting a Children’s Book, by Robyn Opie

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Plotting a Children’s Book
by Robyn Opie

In a previous article on writing for children, I explained the ideas behind some of my children’s books. Over time, I’ve trained my brain to be on “alert” for ideas and I discover a lot more ideas than I have time to put pen to paper or fingers to laptop.

Not all ideas are equal.

Some ideas work well and become books. Some ideas fail to develop.

So how do we take an idea and develop it into a plot for a children’s book? How do we work out what to write once we have the initial idea?

Here’s a basic plot outline:

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A main character is introduced.
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The main character’s problem is revealed.
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Obstacles stand between the main character and their goal.
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The main character reacts and new obstacles arise.
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The main character reacts again and new obstacles arise. The tension is mounting.
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All seems lost. But wait!
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All is resolved as the story is brought to a satisfactory conclusion.

It’s important to remember that a plot is supposed to help the writer and reader. Don’t adhere too closely to the above plot outline if it hinders your writing.

Some writers prefer to work with a plot outline. Some writers don’t give plot a thought until they’ve finished the first draft. Do what works for you.

Let’s look at some important elements of plot in regards to writing for children.

The best plots come from characters. It’s a character’s personality, background and experiences that determine how he or she will react to certain situations, events or people.

As a writer, you can come up with an idea. Where your idea goes – the plot – depends on your characters. Every idea can go off in many directions. More on this in a minute.

A plot needs conflict or a problem to be interesting and entertaining. Sure, I can sit here and tell you the “plot” of my day. Ho hum! No one cares, other than me, and possibly my dogs.

However, if I go outside and find a lion in my backyard, you’d probably become interested in my day. My day has a conflict or problem. What am I going to do? How am I doing to solve this problem? Can I solve this problem? Or will I become lion lunch?

Okay, back to the character. Me. Imagine I’ve been abusing my dogs… Huh! They’re asleep on my bed. Anyway, imagine that I’m abusive to animals. You’d probably be rooting for the lion, hoping that I get my just desserts. Or hoping that the lion gets its just desserts. Me!

Now imagine that I’m a little old lady who takes in poor orphaned children and cats. Er small, domestic cats. You’d probably be rooting for me (and my brood), hoping that the nasty lion goes away hungry.

The direction this plot takes depends on the main character – their personality, background and experiences. Animal abuser or little old lady with orphans? The animal abuser might feed her dogs to the lions then try to escape. The little old lady would probably feed herself to the lions to save the orphans – as a last resort.

Every character has motivation – a reason to be in the story. The main character has motivation that the reader cares about i.e. the little old lady saving herself and her poor orphans from being lion lunch.

Sometimes it’s the motivation of other characters that become obstacles to the main character reaching his or her goal i.e. the next-door neighbour wants the old lady and orphans to move out and therefore tries to assist the lion. He probably put the lion there in the first place.

The best plots have tension. It’s the tension that keeps a reader involved in a story, that keeps them turning the pages. Most of us have had the feeling “I need to know what happens next”.

The little old lady is about to be eaten. No, she’s not. Yes, she is. No, she’s not.

The tension is building. The main character has a problem. He/she tries to fix the problem. But the problem gets worse. He/she tries to fix the problem. But the problem gets worse. He/she tries to fix the problem. Yay! They finally solve their problem.

As you can see, every scene in a plotted story follows logically from the previous one. Plot makes the scenes appear connected.

A picture book has simpler plots. The above illustration of a plot may not suit a picture book.

My plot “map” shows you how I started with a basic idea. “Tom is afraid of water” then took that idea off in many directions. The plot of this children’s story comes from the character – Tom.

How Tom will react to being afraid of water depends on Tom’s personality, background and experiences. Other characters can become part of his problem or obstacles to resolving the problem.

I thought about water and related topics. Then I asked myself questions.

I used my plot “map” to follow each of these ideas to see what could happen next. Hopefully, one of these possibilities will appeal to me and I’ll choose that one to work on. I can use the plot “map” structure to outline the plot of my chosen idea.

Remember a plot is about a character with a problem. Make that problem BIG. And if your story begins to snooze, then give your character more problems.

My plot “map” is a visual of where an idea can go. As I mentioned earlier, one idea can go off in many directions. You may prefer to work with a list. This happens. Then this happens. Then this happens. You may prefer to work without a plot. Give your character obstacles, not yourself. Do what works for you.

CLICK HERE to download my plot “map”.
(This is a PDF file – to download, right-click your mouse over the link and select “save target as” – then save the file to your preferred destination before opening!)

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Hot Link

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Another link to an article you should read if you want to write for children.
Today’s link is to a blog post on the Children’s Writing Web Journal. The post, Writing Page Turning Picture Books was written back in June, and discusses four ways of giving your picture book text the page-turning quality that makes a picture book work.

You can read the piece here.

Guest Article: Classifying Children’s Fiction, by Robyn Opie

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Classifying Children’s Fiction
by Robyn Opie

Simply put, a book is usually classified as children’s fiction if the main character is a child.

Adults usually read about adults. Children usually read about children.

When reading a book, the reader likes to connect with or relate to the main character. A reader likes to identify with the character and even romanticize that they are the hero/heroine. This is why authors spend a lot of time trying to create believable, sympathetic characters.

When I was a teenager, I wanted to be Nancy Drew. In fact, I still wouldn’t mind being Nancy Drew. She has so many fun adventures.

What is the age of your main character or characters? Let’s say they are 14. How many adults do you know who are interested in reading a story about the problems of a 14 year old? None, I’d guess – unless you happen to know a children’s author. Therefore the audience for a book about a 14 year old is most likely children between the ages of 10 and 14.

So, a book is children’s fiction if the main character is a child and the reading audience is made up of children.

Now, to take this further, children like to read about children solving their own problems.

From an early age, most children seek their independence, in small ways when they are very young to bigger assertions as they mature. If you’re a parent you’ll know what I mean about children pushing their boundaries. I remember pushing my boundaries. I remember them moving. And I remember them snapping back, like a rubber band. Ouch!

Children rebel against what they perceive as unfair restrictions. They don’t want to read about these same restrictions in children’s books. Who does? Remember, most people read to escape reality – every day life. The same is true of children.

In children’s fiction, children like to read about children solving their own problems with only minor assistance from adults or better still, no assistance from adults. In fact, it is quite common in children’s fiction for adults to be absent. A good way to explain these absences is having parents go off to work. At the very least, adults are kept in the background. They are minor characters. When writing for children you need to consider the roles of parents, keep them realistic, but unobtrusive.

For example, I am currently writing a novel about two brothers who solve a crime. Their father is dead. He died in a car accident. Their mother is a nurse who is working night shift. She is gone at night and sleeps during the day. This allows the boys to discover the crime and expose the criminals, thus enabling the police to catch them.

In reality, the boys cannot catch the criminals and take them to prison but they can discover the identities of the criminals and make it possible for the police to catch them. The adult assistance is minimal, therefore satisfying the young reader, and the boys have an adventure that fits within the realms of credibility.

It isn’t always easy when writing for children to find a way for main characters to solve their own problems with a minimum of adult interference. The answer isn’t always obvious. But you need to construct the plot so that this is possible and the solution must seem plausible given the limited experience and restrictions of your target audience. If you can’t find a way for your main character to solve their problem then move on to another story. You can always go back to the other one
later.

A few years ago, I had a conversation with a specialist children’s publisher about this very subject. They rejected my story because the main character hadn’t solved her problem. It had happened by accident.

There’s another reason why the main character needs to solve their problem; our main character is supposed to learn and grow from his/her experiences. This is part of the satisfaction a reader gains from reading your children’s book. If the main character doesn’t solve their problem then how do they learn and grow?

The subject matter of a children’s book must be something that children can relate to given their limited experience. Your story must be interesting to a child.

© Copyright Robyn Opie. All Rights Reserved.

Useful Ebook

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As a surprise follow up the release of my first ever ebook, Baby Monster, I received notification a few days ago that my words had been chosen for inclusion in I Wish Someone Had
Told Me That, an ebook offering advice for new and aspiring children’s writers. The book offers advice from 64 children’s authors, and I am humbled to be included in such a successful group of authors.

Produced by the people who run the magnificent Write4Kids website, this is an excellent resource.

Great Blog

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Still sore this morning but determined to get some work done today. Have just been reading a wonderful blog post by Sophie Masson, in the Good Reading Magazine Blog, about why she writes for children. If you write for children or think you’d like to, read Sophie’s post, which has obviously struck a chord with many readers, because it has garnered more than 20 comments. Plenty of food for thought and comments which have me nodding in agreement.

Well worth the read.

sallymurphy.com.au