children's book ideas
Okay, I have to make a confession. I am a procrastinator. Three weeks ago, I signed up for a community education class about writing children's stories. The class meets one day each week. Unfortunately I tend to either finish my homework right away or wait until right before class and finish it. Terrible.
The other people in my class are these good, organized, self-motivated people who write every day. Unfortunately I'm not like that. I write in spurts - which is not good, because if I ever hope to become a published writer I have to become more disciplined than this.
In the meantime, I have a character that I need to develop for this class, and absolutely no inspiration! That's so awful. But I figured I would toss some ideas out here and see if any of you had any suggestions.
Ok. So far my character is a hamster (what else?). He lives with a family (what do you think the family should look like?). And... hmmm... I'm thinking that the hamster should solve mysteries. Only problem is that I have no idea of what kind of mystery he should solve! Of course, this is a children's book, and I've seen some children's books with good, clean mysteries (i.e. "The mystery of the lost baseball cards" type things). Not blood-and-gore mysteries that you would see in adult literature ("Who killed Colonel Mustard in the billiard room with the candlestick?"). What is a unique, clean, fun mystery that the hamster-detective could solve?
And if you have any other good ideas, throw them in. None of this is set in stone... it's all just ideas.
The other people in my class are these good, organized, self-motivated people who write every day. Unfortunately I'm not like that. I write in spurts - which is not good, because if I ever hope to become a published writer I have to become more disciplined than this.
In the meantime, I have a character that I need to develop for this class, and absolutely no inspiration! That's so awful. But I figured I would toss some ideas out here and see if any of you had any suggestions.
Ok. So far my character is a hamster (what else?). He lives with a family (what do you think the family should look like?). And... hmmm... I'm thinking that the hamster should solve mysteries. Only problem is that I have no idea of what kind of mystery he should solve! Of course, this is a children's book, and I've seen some children's books with good, clean mysteries (i.e. "The mystery of the lost baseball cards" type things). Not blood-and-gore mysteries that you would see in adult literature ("Who killed Colonel Mustard in the billiard room with the candlestick?"). What is a unique, clean, fun mystery that the hamster-detective could solve?
And if you have any other good ideas, throw them in. None of this is set in stone... it's all just ideas.
posted by Tidy Bowl at
2:50 PM
2 Comments:
How about a British hamster family, and the father is the detective for some British agency. While working on a case that involves random thievery around town (such teacups, shoestrings, and thimbles), the father discovers the stolen goodies under his son's wheel. He finds out that his son has been tricked into helping a mischievous ferret who happens to be popular, and he has promised the young hamster that he will be popular and cool in return. There could be a few morals or lessons for this one.
Another idea could be something like a hamster family who lives in a museum. The young hamster is the detective here, and he determines to figure out who or what is responsible for stealing dinasaur bones. When he discovers that a homeless and hungry dog is the culprit, they help each other find compassion, as well as respect for property and history.
You may not like either of these, but hopefully it will inspire your creative juices! Good luck.
By
Just Me, At
February 10, 2006 11:08 PM
Hmmm... British. I hadn't thought of that!
I've also been pondering the idea of some kind of Civil War-related mystery. Not sure exactly how it would be related. Maybe a mystery set the 21st century, but the hamster is helping to find some kind of small Civil War artifact. Or something like that. It would be cool to integrate history into it.
I also think it would be cool to somehow use the book to teach kids about how to take care of hamsters. But I'm still figuring that out, too.
By
Tidy Bowl, At
February 10, 2006 11:16 PM
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