Friday 20 May 2011

Friday Coffee - Writing for Children

Morning Racers!! It Friday, Friday!! Another lovely weekend to look forward to.
In light of my post I have some coco pops, rice crispies (hear them snap crackle and pop) and some S.M.A. Actually I still eat coco pops anyway so its quite the norm for me!!

I have a half day at work today. In my borough the library are running a series of talks and workshops, 2 of which are aimed at writers. Last week I attended a How to Get  Published talk which was excellent. The lady from Random House was just lovely and very very patient. The audience were a little aggressive I felt and it just showed how the world of a writer can be a frustrating and exciting one all the same.

This afternoon will be a bit different for me as I have always put my efforts into writing for the older market – solely womens fiction. Today I am attending a Writing fiction for Children workshop. I have no idea what to expect so there’s nervous excitement working my fingertips this morning.

My desire is to write something for when my neice Lola is older and hey, perhaps even spark a new interest within my writing. I know there are many avenues my writing can take and this one is new to me. I also have a very good friend who’s illustrations inspire me no end so I would like to work on a project with her.

So, tell me racers – are you exploring any new avenues with your writing, have you ever written for children – and do you know what I can expect later?

8 comments:

HelenMWalters said...

I have never written for children, but I have a friend who is a very successful children's writer and I know she really enjoys it and finds it rewarding.

I'd be interested to hear how the workshop goes. I hope you enjoy it.

As for branching out myself, at the moment I am trying to up my non-fiction work - so far with a couple of sniffs of success.

I'm also planning to run a couple of workshops for people hoping to get into the women's magazine short story market later this year, which is exciting and terrifying at the same time.

I think its important to be prepared to branch out - so good for you!

Anonymous said...

Rice crispies sound nice but I think I'll pass on the SMA. In fact, I didn't even know what that was and I had to look it up.

Aggressive wannabes eh? I've never seen that before. Was it because they wanted some sort of instant success, like on the X factor or one of those similarly dreadful programmes?

Good luck with the children's writing workshop. I've never purposely written for children before, but some of my short stories might be suitable, since the main characters are children. Haven't much thought about it, to be honest. I've read some YA novels in the last few years and I particularly liked The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Slightly off topic but... Helen, I heard something the other day that will please you. We were chatting about womag writing and someone said: "Oh there's nothing left of that market now; Helen Hunt has got it all". That made me smile.

Exploring new avenues? Branching out? Hmm, it would probably be more accurate to say that I'm going underground. Still quietly enjoying it though.

HelenMWalters said...

Hee hee - that made me laugh! It's very far from being the case though!

Jenny Beattie said...

Morning all. I'm sorry I've been a bit absent from here lately. My novel - after annihilation by an individual - has taken a back seat while I think about it. But yes, that's meant I have space for a different avenue. I have finally started my non fiction book, a project that has been flitting about my brain for some ten years - yes, honest.

I love your HH anecdote Capt Black. How marvellous.

Cathy said...

I've been thinking about trying to write for children as another string to my bow and had hoped to book on a one day course next month, but family obligations got in the way.

But definitely something for the future.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

Rice crispies for me, I love them.

Yay for Helen, you've done so well and I love Captain's comment.

I've written in several genres (historical at the moment) and enjoyed writing my YA novel (one very dirty draft so far only though. I've enjoyed branching out into different genres and giving them a try.

sheepish said...

As it is afternoon tea time you are probably well into your writing for Children workshop. You are lucky to have such opportunities. I am having enough trouble with what I am attempting at the moment to contemplate trying anything else. Hope you find it useful.

Rachel Green said...

What an odd reaction from the course attendees! I don't know anything about writing for children excepts that more teens read my Harold and Jasfoup than adults. As to branching out, I've wrote a play in April and I'm having more success with erotica and lesbian fiction. I'd love to write for kids but have no idea how. I was tempted to enter the new BBC scripts for kids TV shows comp, mind.