Writing for children: Brevity

“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
– Blaise Pascal


Children’s literature is hard to write, despite the abundance of it, both published and unpublished.

Why IS it so hard to write, though? When it seems so, well, easy to read?

Having taught journalism, I see many of the same principles apply to writing for children. While one wants to choose one’s words carefully in ANY writing, precision, brevity and clarity happen to be particularly important here.

In a newspaper article, you have only seconds to grab the reader’s attention before he licks his thumb and turns the page. Children’s books simply won’t get read. (We’re not talking about getting published here – we’re talking about a good book.)

In journalism, you must be clear, above all. You must pack as much information – as interestingly as possible – into as short a space as you can.

In a picture book, a writer is challenged to use few, brilliantly chosen words. Jennifer Armstrong, a picture book writing teacher of mine in Vermont one summer, put it perfectly: the more you can compress your writing, the more powerful it becomes: tight and ready to bounce, like a rubber ball.

The famous editor Richard Jackson has a favorite saying: “Kill your darlings.”

If you have a line or two in your writing you MUST leave in, take it out.

Why?

You’re not paying enough attention to the work as a whole.

Learn to edit yourself. Get rid of anything you don’t need.

Embrace Strunk and White’s most valuable tool for any writer:

OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. Words are powerful. Use them with care.

For instance: Now that I’m done this post, I’m going to go back and edit it. Word count for this first draft: 393.

Edited down to: 297. (That’s right. I lost 100 words.)