Peter Economy - Writing Children's Books For Dummies

Writers usually write science fiction for older children, so the formats that work best for it include middle-grade books, young adult books, and graphic novels.

Fantasy relies on the notion that real people in real settings can encounter magical things and can often perform magic. In other words, some people have special powers, whereas others don’t. Fantasy can also involve mythical creatures such as fairies and unicorns, as well as talking animals that may or may not interact with humans. Subgenres of fantasy include urban fantasy, epic fantasy, historical fantasy, paranormal romance, the supernatural, fairy tale retellings, magical realism, high fantasy, sword-and-sorcery tales, and visionary fantasy.

Fantasy is written for children of all ages from, say, three years of age and up, so the formats that work best for it include picture books (see Figure 3-1), early readers, first chapter books, middle-grade books, and young adult books, graphic novels — basically all the formats!

Cover only from The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry & the Big Hungry Bear by Audrey Wood. Illustrated by Don Wood. Copyright © 2020 by Audrey Wood and Don Wood. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.

FIGURE 3-1: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry & the Big Hungry Bear, a classic tale in picture book format.

Great examples of classic contemporary children’s fantasy include Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda (Puffin Books), J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (Scholastic Press), Eva Evergreen by Julie Abe (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers), and Curse of the Night Witch by Alex Aster (Sourcebooks Young Readers).

For recently published fantasy examples targeted at young adults, check out Where Dreams Descend, by Janella Angeles (Wednesday Books) and the anthology A Phoenix First Must Burn, by Patrice Caldwell (Penguin Books).

Fantasy shares many elements with the rich array of fairy tales, fables, folktales, myths, and legends from all cultures. They come from old traditions of storytelling that you can trace to particular countries or regions. A few of the originating sources that writers mine again and again include the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, Aesop, Russian folk tales, and Greek mythology.

In fact, nearly every culture has a storytelling tradition that you can research for material. These stories continually inspire writers to write retellings and adaptations, stories that add to or change the source material in some unique way. Here are some excellent examples of retellings: Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine (Quill Tree Books), a Cinderella retelling; Beastly, by Alex Flinn (HarperTeen), a “Beauty and the Beast” adaptation; and Bound by Donna Jo Napoli (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), a Cinderella tale set in ancient China.

You can also combine fantasy and science fiction (discussed in the preceding section). Middle-grade and young adult readers especially love reading these combos. For example, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series (Laurel Leaf Library) has technological aspects to the plot, as well as fantasy-type characters.

Although graphic novels and manga are formats (flip back to Chapter 2), they’re also genres.

While graphic novels can cover almost any topic, many are fantasies. Graphic novels also often cover topics such as action and adventure, comedy, romance, science fiction, sports, historical fiction or nonfiction, and detective content. Recent entries include the middle-grade series Rise of the Halfling King (Tales of the Feathered Serpent #1), by David Bowles, illustrated by Charlene Bowles (Cinco Puntos Press), and Beetle & The Hollowbones, written and illustrated by Aliza Layne (Atheneum Books for Young Readers). Books to check out in the YA category include Flamer, written and illustrated by Mike Curato (Henry Holt & Company BYR), and Banned Book Club, by Hyun Sook Kim and Ryan Estrada, illustrated by Hyung-Ju Ko (Iron Circus Comics).

You may have heard anime and manga referred to as similar, but they’re actually quite distinct. The difference between manga and anime is the method of delivery. Anime is either hand-drawn or computer animation (or a combination of both) created in Japan, regardless of origin or style, delivered as TV or movies. If the anime is produced outside of Japan but has a style similar to Japanese animation, it’s referred to as anime-influenced animation . Anime can have original content, but it also offers adaptations of Japanese comics, novels, or video games. Depending on the content, anime can fall into many genres and target many audiences.

Horror stories and ghost stories are the creepy, goosebump-inducing stories that make you leave the flashlight on under your sheets — even when you’re done reading. Good ghost stories always suck you in because they’re grounded in reality. After you really fall for the characters and the setting (as if the story were about the family next door), the plot springs something otherworldly on you. For an example of good writing in this genre, check out Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins), with illustrations by Dave McKean.

To break into writing horror, you need to demonstrate an appreciation for otherworldly content and hold-your-breath pacing — and you need to stick to formats for middle-graders and older.

Who doesn’t like an action-packed story that stimulates your mind and perhaps even makes your heart skip a beat or two? We know we do, and so do many other people — children and adults alike. Young readers also find history a very fascinating topic. They crave finding out more about where they and their parents, grandparents, and other ancestors came from and the experiences they and others went through in past times.

With very stylized, bold covers, action/adventure focuses on young boys and girls who combat nature, industry, bad adults, and other evils (see the example, The Revenge of Joe Wild, in Figure 3-2). You can find action/adventure stories in early readers, middle-grade books, young adult books, and graphic novels.

From The Revenge of Joe Wild. Reprinted by permission of Santa Monica Press © 2022.

FIGURE 3-2:Find action and adventure in The Revenge of Joe Wild.