The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children

by Nancy Lamb

Create Unforgettable Stories for Kids! You dream of writing stories that children respond to–the kind they come back to again and again. Nancy Lamb can help you achieve that dream. She mixes insightful advice for mastering storytelling with dozens of examples that illustrate a variety of plot-building techniques.

Nancy's instruction covers everything from format and content to setting and characterization. She also draws from a range of children's classics, including "Where the Wild Things Are," "Charlotte's Web" and "Bridge to Tarabithia" to explore and illuminate the unique nature of children's literature.

Nancy also shares writing tips and tricks accumulated through years of successful storytelling–invaluable advice for crafting fiction that resonates with children of all ages, from 4 to 14 and beyond.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference, Self Help, Crafts, Adult, Read For School

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 20, 2001

About the author

Nancy Lamb is the author of 43 fiction and non-fiction books for adults and children. She is also the author of The Art and Craft of Storytelling and The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children.

Lamb serves on the faculty of the Big Sur Writing Workshop and the Big Sur Children's Writing Workshop. She taught at the Hariette Austin Writing Program at the University of Georgia. And she also taught a master class in Singapore for the Media Development Authority. In addition to writing and teaching, she is also an editor and story strategist.

The Art and Craft of Storytelling has garnered high praise from professors, teachers and writers of both fiction and narrative non-fiction and is used to teach creative writing at several schools and universities throughout the country.

The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children is used to teach children's and adult fiction classes at The University of California, Los Angeles and Berkeley; the University of Georgia; Georgia Southern University; and Stanford University, as well as many other writing classes, workshops and conferences.

Reviews

[Barb Middleton · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of an introduction than in-depth look at the writing craft, I found this book a good refresher, especially with my teensy-weensy memory. I did skim some parts such as beginning, middle, end, conflict, and voice, but I did find some of the writing information helpful when it comes to analyzing stories as I read them. I didn't particularly like the first chapter that focuses on what she calls the "magic hour" which is basically your brain working on your story while you sleep. The following chapters are more concrete and helpful with examples regarding structure, characters, and plot.

I did like the part about the 6 stages of a hero's quest and vaguely remember studying Joseph Campbell's monomyth or hero's quest. While Nancy Lamb's explanation is simpler, I liked her example of "Catcher in the Rye." Two things I haven't really thought about with the writing craft is the subplot and premise. She covers this and it made me think of some of the reviews I've done in the past. The last chapter has some interesting tips to think about when writing such as eliminating all the "that's." I have not heard that one. 

I did find the swear words in Lamb's examples disconcerting, but many come from her reference to the book, "How to Write a Damn Good Novel" or examples from middle and high school novels. I was expecting only children's books but that isn't the case. 

The writing is easy-to-read and engaging. If you are looking for a quick read and want to remember what you learned in your English courses, then I recommend picking this one up.

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of books on writing, and Nancy Lamb is one of the most gracious how-to writers. Although this book was geared towards writing for kids & young adults, the tips and advice are applicable to crafting and structuring a story for all ages. No matter where you’re at with creative writing, it’s a great introduction and a great refresher. She quotes passages from a variety of books to show examples of the topics at hand. She writes about crafting an enticing beginning; choosing the right POV; creating a page-turner; writing relatable characters; using the right voice for the audience and the premise, and more.

I recommend this writing book. Nancy Lamb made it fun and a breeze to read. Between these pages there is no pomp or patronage.

[Alexander Velasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent work. I have read Strunk and White's 'Elements of Style,' Stephen King's 'On Writing,' James N. Frey's 'How to Write a Damn Good Novel,' Aristotle's 'Poetics,' and 'Writing Fiction for Dummies.' and Let me say, I STILL had things to learn from Nancy Lamb. Maybe that was because this was geared for writing to children, as opposed to a general or to different audiences like the above works. But Lamb covers it all, so it was good to refresh on a lot. Everything is covered, from the ABC's of what children's literature consists of, how to begin, what keeps the story going, how to finish, what plot consists of (she breaks down the classical Greek structure [Freytag's Pyramid], the three act structure, and the hero quest), the rules and how-to of subplot, setting (working with the five senses), promise, premise, theme, voice, tone, how to create excellent characters, inner and outer dialogue, and what makes for good writing (much of this is taken from Elements of Style, which is a good thing). Yeah, nothing is left out. If you want to start writing for children, this is THE book with which to start.

[Stacy Nyikos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lamb’s Writer’s Guide is a bare bones outline of the how-to’s of writing a children’s book. It is a resource I come back to when I want the basic essentials. When working on the critical essay on “First Sentences: A Story’s Booster Rockets”, I referred to Lamb for a foundational concept of what a first sentence, or, more broadly, the opening paragraphs, are supposed to do for a piece. There are a variety of approaches and tactics a writer can employ. Lamb narrows them down to six: 1) “give the reader a sense of what the book is about”; 2) “uncover a problem”; 3) “reveal character”; 4) “pose a question to the reader”; 5) “hint at the conflict to come”; 6) “anchor the story in time and place” (37-39). She suggests that a writer think of the opening to her story “as your booster rockets” (36). I would add that, if possible, the opening sentence should, in some way, sum up what the main problem of the story is about, or its main emotion. It must hook and pull the reader in, not letting go until the story reaches its end.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book on writing, and I'd highly recommend it to any writer who's just starting out (even if you're writing for adults). I didn't learn much new information from the book since I've learned much this from a "writing for children" course I took, from other books, and from critiquing first thirteen lines on online writer's forums. However, I'm adding this book to my personal library for periodic review since it's very nice to have all that information in one place.

[Chris Derby · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books on writing kid lit!!! I keep this by my side when writing, revising, editing.

[Christine Quiampang Rader · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Throughline in a nutshell…in Watty Piper’s ‘The Little Engine That Could,’ the story begins with a train carrying toys and food to the good little boys and girls on the other side of the mountain. The desire to make the delivery is the original and sustaining Throughline of the book. The train has toys. The children are waiting…
Committing the train motif, think of the Throughline as a locomotive carrying your main character on the journey through your book…You might stop at stations, take on new passengers others off, admire the views, even grab a bite for lunch. But always-no matter what-you maintain a forward-moving trajectory. You never lose sight of your goal. You might change tracks but you don’t bring the Throughline to a halt before it connects to the next Throughline or before it reaches the final destination.”

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not as good as her other book The Art and Craft of Storytelling which I have read twice. A lot of the info from the crafting children's stories book is reprinted in The Art and Craft of Storytelling book (I would recommend that book hands down.) I will be checking out other books about writing for children so that I can compare more...but this book just didn't do it for me. I wonder if it was because so much of the information was repeated in her other book.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book! It helped me see a lot about steps to take when writing. It has steps about plotting, subplots, theme, premise and much more. It gives great tips, and also has "your turn" assignments after each chapter. There is a great chapter that helped me understand voice and point of view. It has much to read and great examples of books for suggested reading material! Check it out!

[Abbi Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good resource for brushing up on all the basic angles of crafting and analyzing many different aspects of writing stories and all of their components. I loved getting a refresher on outlining techniques, as well as the samples included.

[Abrar_abdullaha · Rating 3 out of 5]

بسيط و عملي جداً ، ممتاز كمرجع .

[Shala Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year for NaNoWriMo, The (then) Seven-Year-Old convinced me to take a break from writing historical fiction she wasn’t allowed to read, and try my hand at writing stories about rabbits she could read.

The (then) Seven-Year-Old: “And dragons, Mommyo. Your story needs dragons, rabbits, a rutabaga, and a pogo stick that has a sword hidden inside. Write me something that has all that.”

With a writing prompt like that, how could I resist?

But though the finished draft of Ebenezer Rabbit, Dragon Hunter had all the elements The (then) Seven-Year-Old had requested, I felt it was missing something. It just didn’t feel like a chapter book to me.

Try as I might, I couldn’t figure out why. So I asked The (then) Seven-Year-Old. She laughed a few times reading the draft and pointed out some typos.

I asked Daddyo. He suggested changing the name of the dragon.

I asked a writing coach. She suggested trimming it down to be a picture book.

Ebenezer Rabbit, Dragon Hunter would make a great picture book. Especially the bit where the dragon gets a rollicking case of the galloping hiccups from eating rutabaga lasagna. That scene screams to be illustrated.

But I wanted to write a chapter book. While my writing coach’s comments validated my sense that I hadn’t quite pulled it off, they didn’t really get me any closer to figuring out why.

That’s when I pulled out Nancy Lamb’s The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children.

Best writing decision I’ve made all year. There’s lots of great information in there about constructing stories for children. There’s great information in there for constructing stories, period. You should read it sometime.

In the meantime, I've catalogued my five favorite bits of advice from the book at my writing blog, bostonwriters.wordpress.com ( https://bostonwriters.wordpress.com/2...)

[H Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot understand the wonderful reviews for this book. It was so generic, basic, and dry. It added little or nothing to the body of on or off line subject-matter content. The only thing I felt excited by were the excerpts of writing from published books. Although, a few were quite odd choices for the author to include. One reviewer on Azon said that Lamb gave "outdated advice, and advice that is debatable." I agree. Having studied children's book writing with Nora Cohen, it is clear there is greater wisdom available. Cohen's courses and guidance is recommended. Unfortunately, she does not have a book out on the subject. She was formerly a HARCOURT Children’s Books freelance editor. She is also also a former SENIOR EDITOR & MANAGING EDITOR at G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS, in New York, NY. Still, educators and others rave about Lamb's book. They found it information-packed and useful. I found it overwritten, boring, and creatively dry. To each his own. You may love this book. Be sure to avail yourself of the useful "Look inside this book" feature of Azon. Notice that, despite rave reviews, as of today's date you can buy copies of this book for .o1c + shipping on Azon. That never happens with the most valuable published content. I agree with the readers on Azon who gave it 1-2 stars. Much ado about nothing.

[Margaret Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a two-day course I am taking this March about how to write children's literature (including middle grades and YA novels). I found it to be very helpful. It's definitely a "how to" book rather than a theory book on the topic, which is what I needed. I wrote a draft of a middle grades fantasy novel several years ago, and I wish I had read this book first. I think I would have done a much better job with the draft of my first attempt at a middle grades novel if I had read this advice first. It's a great book for people who are relatively new to writing in this genre. Also, the author recommends mentor texts as well as books that offer more advice on craft.

[Jeffrey Henning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read this for school. There are loads of wonderful tips in this book about writing in general, not just for children. On the children topic, Nancy Lamb does a great job of breaking everything down for us so it’s easy to learn and understand.

There are also some good checklists and tips for general writing in here, which can be pretty helpful!

All in all, I think I’ll keep it on my shelf!

[Sarazen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonably good book on writing, especially if you are interested in young adult fiction. If you have read other books on fiction writing though, you'll find a lot of similar ground covered. I would have liked more age group specific information.

[Neha Garg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best Writing for Children guides that I have come across. Put in a very straightforward and practical way, with lots of examples to get each point across, this is the most heavily marked book on my bookshelf.

[Mollie Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource. Truly appreciated the last two chapters of the book. So rarely are the topics of burn out (and how to recover) and the proper care of your creative spirit touched on in "How To Write ______" books.

[Yoan · Rating 4 out of 5]

from page 60:

I am wise enough to know what I don't know.
I am smart enough to learn what I don't know.
And I am talented enough to write what I do know.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I use as a reference book.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource/guide for aspiring authors.

[Shannon Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites on writing for children.

[LeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well organized, easy to use. Exercises.

[Liaken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well put together, highly readable, and full of good advice and instruction. Sometimes it gets a bit prescriptive, but it's really an excellent introduction and reference.

[Jazz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Easy read and full of plenty of fun and exercises. One useful book :)

[Stacia Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written well, lots of good wisdom, and easy to pull out detailed information from the whole. Glad I bought this book!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Much of the information applies to all stories, not just children's stories. Also, it was an easy read.

[Yamile Méndez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful advice that I had heard/read before, but the new approach was super helpful

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has some excellent ideas, tips and overall suggestions if you are a writer. It can easily apply to many other genres.

[D.L. Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good resource if you're an author of children's books.