Writing a Children's Book

Lesson 5: Beginning your Book.

W.I.P. Section. Writing Your First Chapter.

By now you’re ready to start writing your first chapter.

You should know-

(1) The genre and age-level of your story

(2) what story events will take place in the chapter

(3) which characters will be introduced

(4) which viewpoint you will be using

(5) which tense you will use.

It is also useful to know if you plan to have a frame for the story (as mentioned earlier in this lesson) and which tone you will take.

Tone is fairly difficult to explain, but it really means the general mood of the story. It stands apart from genre, because a thriller (for example) can be told in a light-hearted fashion, in a sober fashion or in a frightening fashion. Imagine you are reading your story aloud. You should know instinctively the tone of voice you would use. This gives you a clue to the best tone for your narrative.

You have already learned something about good beginnings in this lesson, so now is the time to put this into practice. Write your first sentence, and expand that into a first scene.

Scenes in a book are the same as scenes in a film or television programme. They are things that happen to a character or group of characters in one setting. They pertain to one event or to one section of an event.

Say your characters, Lou, Gina and Hugo, are at a picnic with their older cousin, Jude. They’re eating sandwiches and talking. Lou and Hugo decide to go down to the river to fish, while Gina and Jude stay where they are. The picnic, Lou’s and Hugo’s departure and Gina’s and Jude’s decision to remain are all one scene, but the scene must divide to follow one set of characters.

The scene could continue with Jude and Gina or with Lou and Hugo, but not with both. Otherwise, the scene might end when the company divides, and two new scenes could take place heel and toe. The first would probably follow Hugo and Lou, and then the second would follow and show what happened to Gina and Jude.

Needless to say, something important must happen to both groups of characters if each is to have a scene. If only Lou and Hugo have an adventure, then Gina and Jude’s activities need nothing but a sentence or so. Scenes can be divided with a blank line, or with a transition sentence.

Scenes can be anything from a few sentences to a dozen or more pages in length, but in a short book like the one you’re writing for this exercise, they shouldn’t be too long.

Write your first chapter through to the end, and make sure you end at a hook or cliffhanger. This encourages young readers to continue into Chapter 2. Ending at a cliffhanger is also helpful to you as a writer, because it makes it easier to feel enthusiastic about writing the next chapter.

Important. Up until now, it’s been all about plan, plan, plan. Now is the time to stop working to rule and start writing by instinct. It may seem difficult to get the duality right at first, but it does help to know where you’re going before you start out. It also helps if you launch yourself off that bank and into the stream of the story.

And here’s another tip; as soon as you’ve finished writing Chapter 1, before you read any of it over, go on and write the first paragraph or so of Chapter 2. Then take a break.

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