Nothing is as fulfilling as finding the perfect book to immerse in with your child. But have you ever sat down and wondered how children’s book writers start their writing journey, find a topic, and get to the actual writing.
Writing is potentially a lonely and grueling career that is marred with many challenges from feeling inadequate, lacking feedback, to writer’s block. So when you grab a book from the shelf for your kids, acknowledge the effort that goes into finishing a single book. Let’s explore the various challenges children’s book writers face and how to solve them.
8 Challenges Children Books Writers Face and the Solution
Writing a children’s book is tricky as you must use age-appropriate language to ensure the kids understand. Creating a storyline and following through to the end is not easy. Thus, you should acknowledge writers’ hard work whenever you pick a book that enthralls your child.
1. Stopping Writing to Edit
Writers are the worst critics of their work. If you are a writer, chances are not once or twice you’ve stopped writing and gone back to editing. It puts a damper on your writing as you won’t progress as fast as you’d wish.
Solution: If you find yourself going back to edit content before finishing writing, it’s time to stop. Yes, checking for general mistakes such as grammar and spelling is okay, but the deep edits should be left to the editors. So, the next time, start where you left and avoid the temptation of going back to your content.
2. Forgetting Ideas
Writers have a habit of getting inspiration in weird places, and the propensity to forget these brilliant ideas is also high.
Solution: Always take a notebook with you, no matter where you go. This will come in handy when you get inspiration; note it immediately. Alternatively, you can carry a voice recorder and record your ideas. This will help you explain them in your book.
3. Never-Ending Research
With writing comes tons of hours spent researching your content. But as with everything else, you can only do so much, you must avoid getting sucked into the hole that is research.
Solution: Since research is necessary, you can dedicate several hours daily to research. Take down notes as you research to help you when you are penning down your ideas.
4. Rejection
Every writer, even the best of writers, will face this challenge in their career. For instance, you’ve written this cute picture book for kids, but whenever you approach publishers, you are turned away. This can be frustrating and stressful as you’ve put your passion and hard work into the book.
Solution: Don’t despair if the publishers turn you away, as there are many ways your book can get to the readers and on the shelves. You can read about how to self publish a book; the best part is when it sells, you’ll enjoy all the profits.
When the publishers notice that you have a decent following of readers, they will be clamoring to get you into their company. And the best part is they will give you better offers; the trick is getting a reputable agent to get your name out there.
5. Lack of Support from Your Partner
This is common among writers and their partners. They expect their partner’s work to be popular right off the bat. The partner starts to blame them and withdraw their support when things don’t pick up immediately. They might start bringing things to do just when you need to start writing.
Solution: To gain your partner’s support, you must sit them down and have a heart-to-heart conversation with give both ways. In your discussion, you should set clear boundaries on when you need to write and ask them to respect those hours. Yes, you love writing, but it would be best to pick a job that can bring an income to avoid financial issues.
6. Negative Feedback
Negative feedback is something every writer should be ready to receive, as not everyone will love your work. You have dedicated countless hours, energy, and passion to writing a masterpiece, and someone goes ahead and leaves a nasty and discouraging review about your book. You’ll be tempted to respond by defending your work, but don’t, as everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Solution: If you don’t want to read anything negative about your book, you better not read those reviews. However, not reading will force you to ignore even the positive ones or constructive criticism you may need. And avoid the temptation of reviewing yourself as it’s not ethical.
7. Writer’s Block
Writer’s block is common among writers, and when it hits you, be sure you will be stuck for a few days or weeks without writing a single word. Writer’s block happens for various reasons, such as fear, anxiety, or being overwhelmed by a new project. It is one of the most significant challenges writers face, and if not dealt with promptly, it can cripple your writing career.
Solution: Take a break from writing when writer’s block hits you. You can engage in your favorite pastime activities, go for a vacation, hike, go camping, or go on a retreat. Alternatively, you can skip that part of the book, change your workstation, or read your past work to get inspiration.
8. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious problem plaguing many writers’ work, especially in this digital age where the internet has everything you can think of.
Solution: If you notice someone has copied your work, send them an email requesting they withdraw their work. If they don’t, feel free to pursue legal action.
Tips to Apply When Writing Children’s Books
- Consider an education-based book, it is popular to teach children about things in their environment, body parts, cleanliness, numbers, shapes, or animals. To help your child develop a reading habit, get them books as a gift.
For instance, if your child is not a fan of brushing their teeth and taking care of their oral and dental health, you can get books on dentistry.
- One needs to use age-appropriate language depending on your target age. For instance, picture books are the best for preschool kids, accompanied by short sentences and simple words.
- Use a child’s tone of writing.
- Ensure it’s not too long as the child will get tired of reading.
Final Thoughts
Writing is a tasking career as you have to spend countless hours writing a book which you are unsure how people will receive. But, there nothing is as fulfilling as seeing kids enjoy reading your work or receiving that one fan review. And that’s why irrespective of the challenges writers face when writing a children’s book, they never stop nor give up.
