I’ve just read the article “Three easy steps to writing a children’s short story”, by George Edward Stanley from “The Basics of Writing for Children” magazine .. Vol. 20 .. I’m trying to find a date, or a year .. I can’t find it in the publication at all .. what about on the internet .. nope, I can’t.
But I think the concept is useful, and so I’m going to talk about it today.
The basic concept is to start with a bare-bones story. Where the first paragraph (only a sentence or two) sets up the characters and the plot, then you have a few attempts of the main character “solving” the plot, and then a resolution.
The bare-bones version of the story establishes the structure.
I’ll copy George’s story example here :
The Mystery of the Funny Noise
Mary Smith heard a funny noise in her room. She decided to find out what it was.
She looked in the closet. But all she found was a pile of dirty clothes.
Then she looked behind the door. But all she found was her teddy bear.
Finally, she looked under the bed. That’s where she found the dragon.
She said, “If you’re going to sleep in my room, you’ll have to be quieter.”
Then she went back to bed and fell sound asleep.
And that’s it — for the bare-bones story. The next step is to expand upon it by adding content. It actually works really well, and I like the expanded content version.
The Mystery of the Funny Noise
Mary Smith heard a funny noise in her room. She had never heard anything like that before. She decided to find out what it was. She got out of bed and put on her robe and slippers.
She looked in the closet. She looked and looked. But all she found was a pile of dirty clothes. I forgot to put those in the dirty-clothes hamper, she thought.
Then she looked behind the door. The squeaking noise it made scared her. But all she found was her teddy bear. She picked it up and set it on a chair.
Finally, she looked under the bed. That was where she should have looked in the first place. That’s where she found the dragon. It looked so lonely that she couldn’t ask it to leave.
She said, “If you’re going to sleep in my room, you’ll have to be quieter.” She gave the dragon a pillow and a blanket.
Then she went back to bed and fell sound asleep.
There is a third step too, of adding style.
The title and the main characters name are changed in this version, and there is some restructuring of the sentences to improve the flow.
I’m actually not going to include George’s version, because I don’t love it — I guess I love his technique more than his style.
I need to write a children’s book this month, and I’m going to be utilising Georges technique to get me started.
I’ve put this out here so you can use it too.
