Adventure Kids Books: the plotting of an adventure story.
Illustration by Samantha Kickingbird
** The plot of an adventure kids books proceeds logically from beginning to end. Anything can happen in the story, especially in fantasy kids books, but it must make sense and not just be introduced into the story haphazardly. There must be a reason for everything that happens, regardless of how bizarre that reason may be.
** The main character needs a motive for what they want to achieve. Their motive may be honor, vengeance, or love. Whatever the motive, it must spur the main character to act.
** Adding conflict is vital to making the story interesting. Conflict can be whatever or whoever is giving the main character a hard time. In writing children’s books, the conflict can be a villain, a situation, or even a storm that forces the main character to fight to attain their goal.
**Dialogue that is exciting. Every single word of dialogue should move the story forward in some way. If it doesn’t, then it’s babbling. Moving the story forward with dialogue can:
–make the character’s intentions or motives become clear.
–explain the emotions of the character.
–describe something or someone of importance, and at the same time tell the reader how the character feels about it or what they intend to do about it.
**Characters that are credible and real to the reader (whether human, animal, or fantasy characters) will move the story forward naturally. Know your characters inside out and those characters will always say and do things that are credible. Characters that are credible makes the reader really care about and connect with those characters.
**Logical surprise is the groundwork for humorous situations. But the surprise must come from some credible mannerism of that character or unfold naturally from the scene. Humor makes a character endearing. Even in a bad situation, a character can do or say something funny, and that can make the scene that much more memorable.
**Write simply and well. Simple writing does not mean dull–it means writing with clarity and writing artfully, with grace. Simple writing is hard work, but the more times you edit your manuscript, the more simplicity and clarity will come forward.
**Edit, edit, edit. Re-word sentences to read more gracefully. Take out all those words/sentences that don’t do anything to move the plot/characterization forward. Make everything your characters do and say have meaning. This is the art of good plotting in adventure kids books.
Read about my adventure kids books and dragon books for children here.