Children's

All writers need to know their audience, and that's especially true for middle grade fiction. In this post, author Alyson Gerber offers up tips for writers on how to write middle grade fiction that is compelling AND compassionate.

No matter the age of your audience, there are a few keys ways to ensure that they are hooked by your story. In this article, author Mary Alice Monroe gives her top 3 tips for accomplishing this.

Critically acclaimed author Alyson Gerber discusses how she tackled the topic of disordered eating in her latest middle-grade novel, Taking Up Space.

Author Lynn Painter discusses the strengths of the romantic comedy genre and how she utilized them in her novel Better than the Movies.

Emmy-nominated writer Luke X. Cunningham explains how he came to write a middle-grade mystery novel and what he hopes for the kids who read his book.

Debut picture book author Kitty O'Meara shares her experience of writing a viral poem that's been turned into a printed picture book in only a few months about finding joy and community in a pandemic.

A strong premise often leads to a strong story. In this post, MG author Fleur Bradley shares her seven tips for developing a compelling middle-grade novel, including advice related to writing for the age group, the gatekeepers, and the kids in all of us.

In this post, middle-grade author Fleur Bradley shares why she enjoys mysteries, how illustrations impacted her most recent novel, her top tip for writers, and more!

In this January 2015 WD interview, Rachel Renée Russell talks about changing careers from lawyer to author and the chart-topping success of her Dork Diaries series.

For this post, we're deconstructing five spooky children's picture books to see how they're put together to find success. Warning: Spoilers are included in these deconstructions.

In this excerpt from Ann Whitford Paul's new book Writing Picture Books, Revised and Expanded Edition, learn the five fundamental elements you should know inside and out about your picture-book characters.

Many YA authors are adults, which means the generation gap between these writers and their intended audience can make it easy to miss the mark. Teen writer (and avid reader) Lorena Koppel lays out four ways to make sure your YA novel meets young audiences' expectations and interests.

For more than 25 years, Stine has been writing horror for kids around the world with his Goosebumps series, which has sold over 350 million copies in 32 languages. Here are four lessons from the master himself.

After writing two very different manuscripts, Marie Unanue sent them out to kids and their parents, who acted as beta readers, along with a survey. The process resulted in her final early reader chapter book.

Zetta Elliott discusses addressing complex topics in children's fiction, starting her own imprint, Rosetta Press, and what she'll address in her upcoming keynote at indieLAB.

Here are 5 great takeaways on writing and illustrating children’s books from our Writer's Market Podcast with Debbie Ridpath Ohi. (Plus a link to listen to all the other great tips she has to offer writers and illustrators.)

How can you—a grown-up (gasp!)—effectively write the middle-grade voice? Author Erin Entrada Kelly shares how to write middle-grade fiction that readers love.

Here are three ways to avoid dumbing down our stories, our messages, our language when writing for middle grade audiences.