Friday, September 21, 2012

What the Experts Say: Fiction Fantasy Author Tracy Kauffman on Writing for Children


Tracy Kauffman, Author
GWENDOLYN'S WISH

Fiction fantasy author Tracy Kauffman has written GWENDOLYN’S WISH, a children’s book about a young girl who receives a special parrot that can grant wishes.  She loves writing for children and young adults.  She stopped by to give us some tips on the special requirements of writing for children. 

Writing For Children
by Tracy Kauffman

There should be a distinct difference in writing for Children than Adults, because of the subject matter.  Children are not capable of understanding the same things as an adult would. 

A theme, topic, or focus is much different for children, because their ability to grasp material and their awareness to data is much more limited than someone much older.  A child’s communication and intellectual skills require memory, understanding and concentration.  It is harder for a child with a small attention span to be able to sit down and read a story than a child with a longer one.

Secondly children have to be able to reason and separate what they have read, understand the difference in what is fiction or fantasy. 

Next children have to understand vocabulary and understand descriptive language that is talked about in the story. 

Last of all, children have to be able to develop their own ideas of what they are reading, from things that  they have learned about in the past.  You would not talk about a complex topic to a small child that has no possible understanding of the subject.

 To be able to write or teach a young child, you have to be able to get down to their level of thinking by considering their intellectual development or understanding capabilities.  This can be done by
·      repetition of words,
·      simple sentences vs. complex sentences and
·      the use of pictures for descriptive purposes.


About Tracy Kauffman

Tracy Kauffman is a Fiction Fantasy author from North Alabama.  She is married and has two children.  She graduated Calhoun College with an associates degree in Applied Science.  She loves writing stories for children and young adults.  She works part time at a nursing home with some fantastic elderly folks who inspire her. She loves hearing their interesting stories and often jokes that she has several mothers and fathers there. She started writing short stories and poetry when she was a teenager. She wants to help bring joy to the world today by her books. As an author, she wants to write books that will edify, encourage and be decent for children and young adults.

LINKS


GWENDOLYN’S WISH is available at 
Amazon in soft cover and Kindle E-book format  
Also available in Nook

Goodreads

Facebook 

Twitter: @KauffmanTracy

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