Story Sparkers: A Creativity Guide for Children's Writers

"Ideas are everywhere. They are walking down the sidewalk, hidden in stolen snippets of conversation, buried in the books we read and the movies we watch. Every waking minute- and every dreaming minute- is filled with tiny sparks just waiting to be ignited." 

With it being the middle of PiBoIdMo, there's still time to come up with those 30+ ideas. 

And thankfully, I've discovered an old book that looks promising.  Yes, this book is fourteen years old, however the content still works. 

(From Amazon)
This book is a practical guide for writers interested in writing for the children's market, and teaches aspiring children's writers how to generate, assess, and apply ideas for fiction as well as nonfiction, short projects as well as long ones. Marcia Thomton Jones offers exercises, worksheets, and guidelines for assessment to help writers apply what they've learned to on-going projects or to help them begin new projects. Story Sparkers begins with an overview of how to write fiction and nonfiction books for children. Jones then discusses the specifics of idea generation assessment and application. The design is open, easy to browse and features boxed tips and quotes from top children's writers. By the end of the book, writers will have a plethora of ideas and insight to help determine audience and appropriate genre, and helpful hints for developing new ideas. While this book is intended for novice writers who are interested in writing for the children's market, writers with experience will find it helpful and motivating, too.


This book is filled with writing exercises and prompts to get your ideas flowing. 

Here is a sampling of brainstorming type activities just from chapter two:

Webbing
Freewriting
Listing
Questioning
Researching
The Five Senses
Overheard Conversations
Dialogue
Letters
The Big Idea
What If?
Thinking Small
PIctures
Pet Peeves
Reading
Forced Relationships
Timelines
Possessions
Doodling
In My Shoes
Musical Muse

Unfortunately, it is out of print. But fortunately, you can get a used copy online for a cheap price. 

So if you are still stuck, during PiBoIdMo, check out this fabulous resource. 

Mandy Yates is currently an elementary reading specialist and children's book writer. She has an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and has been published multiple times in Highlights Magazine. 

She is also assisting Mira in teaching The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Books. http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-childrens-picture-books.html, as well as The Chapter Book Alchemist  http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/the-chapter-book-alchemist.html .

Find some of her teacher resources over at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mandy-Yates.

And you can follow her on Pinterest, Twitter,and Facebook.