Writing for Children

AN INTERVIEW WITH HANNAH HOLT

In this rebroadcast, we talk with Hannah Holt, a children’s author with an engineering degree. Her books, The Diamond & The Boy (Balzer+Bray) and A Father’s Love (Philom…

FOUR WAYS TO LEARN TO LOVE NONFICTION

Many writers view nonfiction as less: less creative than fiction, less fun than fiction, less interesting to kids than fiction, and definitely something they wan…

LAUNCHING A STORY FROM A TITLE

Chances are you fall into one of two camps when it comes to titles: You either love creating them or you dread trying to think up something clever that will catch a rea…

TOP THREE NARRATIVE NONFICTION MISSTEPS

Nonfiction is basically broken into two broad types. Expository nonfiction describes, explains, and informs. Narrative nonfiction uses story elements to convey…

INTERVIEW WITH A CONTEST JUDGE

In this rebroadcast, we interview frequent ICL contest judge and longtime instructor Nancy Coffelt. As well as being a multi-published picture book author and illustrat…

TIPS FOR YOUR WRITER WEBSITE

Every author needs a website—yes, even if you're not published yet. In the Internet age, your website acts as your online business card for readers and even prospective a…

5 QUESTIONS ABOUT AUTHOR PLATFORM

A while back I sent out a one-question survey. Writers could submit any one question about author platform and marketing. I learned a ton from reading all the questi…

INTERVIEW WITH VICTORIA BOND

Victoria Bond is a writer and professor. Her novel, Zora and Me, co-written with T.R. Simon, won the John Steptoe/Coretta Scott King Award for New Talent and was nominate…

FINDING YOUR CHILDLIKE VOICE

Voice is the number one thing that can make or break your children’s story. So, let’s see how to find a childlike voice that appeals to your audience. Readers love dialog…

AUTHENTIC KID VOICES

A while ago on the Institute's Facebook page, someone was asking about dialogue, which made me think again about this important writing tool. Readers love dialogue because it mak…

INTERVIEW WITH MAGGIE TOKUDA-HALL & JAMIE TAN

Katie interviews award-winning author Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Candlewick Senior Publicist Jamie Tan about Maggie's latest book THE MERMAID, THE WITCH, AND…

ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE

Voice can be a tough thing to define and a tougher thing to master, but when I ran across this article about active voice and passive voice from my old friend Mary Rosenblum …

INTERVIEW WITH TALIA BENAMY

Talia Benamy is an associate editor at Philomel Books (an imprint of Penguin Young Readers), where she focuses on everything from picture books to middle grade and young a…

THINGS THAT MAKE EDITORS CRINGE

Nobody wants to make an editor (or anyone) cringe when they read your manuscript. Inspired by a post from Jamie K. Schmidt, we’re covering 10 things that make editors …

INTERVIEW WITH AGENT ADRIA GOETZ

Adria Goetz is a Literary Manager with Seattle-based Martin Literary & Media Management. She primarily represents picture books, middle grade, young adult, Lifestyle …

SUBMISSIONS

It’s the beginning of a new year. A time that we as writers like to set goals for our writing success and dream about what our writing career will look like next year at this time. Maybe …

YOU'RE THIS CLOSE

We're wrapping up our five part series on National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with special guest Jamie K. Schmidt. Even if you're not writing a novel this month, we think you'l…

NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 4 - THROW IN A DRAGON?

We are continuing our November National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) celebration with tips for writing 50,000 words in one month, which is 1,667 words…

NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 3 - GET PAST THE SLUMP

We are continuing our November National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) celebration with tips for writing 50,000 words in one month, which is 1,667 words…

NANOWRIMO SUCCESS PART 2 - DIGGING IN

Welcome to Part 2 in our 5-part series to help our listeners get through NaNoWriMo with support, encouragement, and some great tips and ideas from Jamie K. Schmi…