I’ll write a Children’s Story! How Hard Could It Be?

In 2008, I was illustrating for a small Christian publisher. Our company owned the license for one of the most successful Children’s Bible series of all time, which was what I spent most of my time illustrating. Then work slowed down. I found myself with time gaps between projects. Rather than just sitting around, I asked if I could try writing Bible stories for the series. I’d never written a story in my life.  How hard could it be? I’m not trying to write a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. It’s only a children’s story.

 

  My boss said I could give writing a try on company time, as long as I had nothing better to do. I have always loved Dr. Seuss books. I loved his brush and ink illustrations. I loved his quirky rhyming stories. As far as I knew, no one had ever tried writing Bible stories in a similar style. I’ll do that! How hard could it be?

 

 I opened my Bible and read the story of Jonah and the fish. Then I rewrote it in my own words—in rhyme and meter. It was hard, but it was also a lot of fun. I titled the finished story Food for a Fish. My boss liked it! I’ll write some more! How hard could it be? Actually, it’s very hard.

 

Children’s stories are short, usually well under 1000 words. They must always keep your interest from the first word to the last. You must never waste words. If a word isn’t needed to tell the story, it shouldn’t be there. AND I was writing in rhyme and meter. That means I also had to find rhyming words that helped to further the story and didn’t sound like they were there just because they rhymed. AND the meter had to work as well. PLUS, these were Bible stories that couldn’t be changed just because I couldn’t find an interesting rhyming word. Phew!

 

I wrote a story about David and Goliath titled The Biggest and Toughest. I wrote a story about the Nativity titled Good News of Great Joy. And I wrote a story about Daniel in the Lion’s Den titled Daniel for Lunch. Surprisingly, my boss liked them all. She tried to get them approved for the series. They were rejected. I failed. Now what?