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After finishing your story outline, you are ready to write your first rough draft. This is where knowing your audience is really important.
Let’s say I was writing about a bouncing ball. Watch how the simple story ideas change as
the audience changes. Can you guess who
the audience is?
I love to be
outside. I eat outside, I run outside,
and I play outside. I like to play with
my ball outside. I throw the ball in the
air. It comes down and bounces up real
high. I like to play with my ball outside.
One day, Isacc and
Naveah were playing catch in their backyard.
Naveah threw the ball to Isacc so hard that it almost knocked him
over. Since Isacc didn’t want to be hit
with the ball again, he came up with another idea. They were going to have a competition to see
who could throw the ball the highest!
Isacc took the ball and threw it as high as he could. When the ball came down, Naveah caught it and
threw it up to see how high she can throw.
On the way down, the ball hit the ground and bounced back up as high as
the top of the tree. Both children
laughed and they continued throwing the ball high into the air.
There are many
benefits to young children playing with bouncy balls. They can learn hand-eye coordination and
depth perception, as well as shape and color recognition. Additionally, they will learn sharing skills
by interacting with other children and the balls.
According to Newton’s
first law of motion, an object needs to have an external force exerted upon it
in order for the object to be set into motion.
The object then uses kinetic energy while it is moving, and when the
object returns to its motionless state, it is said to have potential
energy. For example, a ball sits on the
floor. At this point, it has potential
energy. Then, Jimmy picks up the ball
and bounces it. Jimmy provides the
external force, which comes from him bouncing the ball. While the ball is bouncing, it is using
moving energy, or kinetic energy.
Did you say that the first example was for toddlers and early
readers? Or that the second was for
elementary aged children? How about the
third being geared towards parents? Or
the last being geared towards students, teachers, or researchers?
Things to Remember
For children’s picture books, the main purpose is to have
the story be a learning experience for the child. The child will use the book as a guide
towards how the world works. There is
always something, whether physical or moral, to be learned.
For children’s chapter books, the main purpose is to
encourage the child to read. To do this,
you need to make reading fun. Children
this age love adventure, mysteries, and being able to pretend they are in the
character’s shoes. Make sure to add a
lot of extra description to the main story line to peak your reader’s
interest.
When writing for adults, remember to maintain a certain
level of professionalism and respectability.
Try not to use slang in your writing as it makes others more
skeptical. At this point, your audience
is completely capable of pulling out hidden meanings and translating
metaphors. Use less description or
‘juice’ as you would for a children’s chapter book because the adult likes to
be able to create the fantasy in their head.
Leaving a little for mystery is a good thing; just make sure not to
overdo it. You still need to have your
storyline firm.
Lastly, when writing for research and learning purposes, use
a guide to ensure that you are formatting your work correctly. Each piece of educational literature has a
rhyme and a reason for how it is done.
Make sure to research enough before you attempt to create your
piece. Don’t forget to maintain
professionalism in your writing as your target audience is adults.
