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Story Ideas – Book Review, Part 1
By Deb Gallardo
Book Review
Story Sparkers: A Creativity Guide for Children’s Writers
Chapter One
If writing for children is something you’ve considered, I have a book recommendation to get you started right away. Story Sparkers: A Creativity Guide for Children’s Writers, published in 2000 by Writer’s Digest Books (still available for purchase through online channels) and written by Marcia Thornton Jones and Debbie Dadey, is sure to get your creativity activated with at least some of its many exercises, tips and suggestions. Jointly the elementary teachers authored these popular series:
- Adventures of the Bailey School Kids
- Triplet Trouble
- The Bailey City Monsters
In addition, the authors have written several books individually.
The first chapter of Story Sparkers opens with two paragraphs that define what we all need in order to get started writing – a spark. I’ll let the authors speak for themselves.
Page 5
“Sparks are tiny glowing embers capable of igniting into a brilliant fire–or of being completely snuffed out by the surrounding ash. As writers, we need to discover our own buried story sparks capable of igniting into full-fledged stories, articles, and poems. The strategies and exercises in this book will help you dig through the ash and find those glowing embers that will spark your writing, igniting it until it glows.”
Since the book’s intent is to get you writing, the authors start with the basics:
- Where to write (computer vs. paper)
- Where to store your story sparks (computer vs. container)
- Children’s market overview
- Genres
- Lists and lists of books, including Caldecott and Newbery Medal Winners
- What’s Hot
- What’s Good
Lots of great advice abounds in the Try It Yourself sidebars scattered throughout the book. These tips are designed to move you to action, instead of merely reading ABOUT writing.
Action steps for chapter one include setting up the place you will keep the story sparks you uncover, whether it’s a computer file folder, a hand-written journal devoted exclusively to ideas or, if you jot down ideas on anything handy, then a shoe box might serve you better for storing those napkins, sticky notes, backs of envelopes, index cards and toilet paper jottings.
Other tips include joining the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), always good advice for aspiring children’s writers. Another is reading widely in all children’s genres, both classic and current titles, to help you determine your preferred genre.
Finally they point you to The Horn Book Magazine and the School Library Journal for monitoring trends in the industry and what’s being published now. If you love reading children’s books, you’ll adore the mandate that you spend hours at libraries and bookstores pouring over today’s books, along with time-honored classics, doing your due diligence with market research.
And of course, you must hone your writing skills, yet think like a kid. How’s that for the best of both worlds?
Their sites are http://BaileyKids.com and http://DebbieDadey.com
I can’t believe I’ve let this book sit on my shelf for eight years! Tune in tomorrow for part two. And feel free to comment below. I value your feedback.
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- Story Ideas – Book Review, Part 2
- Story Ideas – Warren Adler’s Trans-Siberian Inspiration
- Story Ideas – Inspiration from Your Kids
- Story Ideas – Scaling Stories Down For Children
1 Comment »
April 2nd, 2010 at 4:46 pm
[...] have taken the canvas and reinvented the visual. … Mail (will not be published) (required) …Story Ideas Book Review, Part 1Book Review Story Sparkers: A Creativity Guide for Children's Writers Chapter One If writing for [...]