"A huge problem when writing for children is introducing sufficient conflict in order for your main characters to have something to overcome ..."
Newsletter
It's getting towards the end of the year and we've been thinking about books that really stood out in 2007 - and one of the best has to be The Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon by Mini Grey. A subversive take (gambling and armed robbery, kids?) on an almost ingrained nursery rhyme, but with a firm moral message, it's a stylish, hilarious romp through New York in the 30s and 50s - looking forward to reading Traction Man by the same author.
The Dish and the Spoon face many a sticky situation in Mini Grey's version of their story, which leads me to this newsletter's tip of the fortnight: a huge problem when writing for children is introducing sufficient conflict in order for your main characters to have something to overcome, making their story a rounded, satisfying read rather than an episodic set of events told in a linear style. The main character (or characters) need to face a substantial problem close to the beginning of the story so that their struggles to overcome that problem form the main narrative until all is resolved in a character-changing (if not improving) denouement - just as the Dish and the Spoon are reunited by the light of a silvery moon!
Happy writing!
