When writing for children a popular method of beginning is to commence with an incident or happening. Any one incident, whether you've been told about it, or maybe heard about it on the radio, or maybe a random phrase or a meeting with someone may create a sudden unshakeable conviction that this is a possibility for, one day the beginning of a book. Writing for children is, contrary to what many people believe, just as hard and challenging as writing for adults, indeed in a number of more so, so when you are writing for children, do select your scenario or happening carefully as you need to gain, and keep a child's somewhat fickle attention.

Perhaps it may take years for you to start writing for children, but the idea stays firmly fixed in your mind, and so does its potential for a good book. Consider the story of the manager of an orphanage who was aware that many of the children in her institution had invented "real belonging mothers" all of their own. In some cases the mothers actually existed, but many of these absent moms were invented by the children themselves to fill an aching void, since they didn't know who their real mothers were, they just invented them.

When you are writing for children, you could possibly consider this scenario - store it away in your memory and give it time to grow and develop. Possibly years later you may be able to use and develop it. Here's one possibility ....

Children in an orphanage create fantasy mothers for themselves. Some invent warm, cuddly moms who love them enormously and only left them at the orphanage because they had no other option in a cold, hard world. Maybe other children fantasise about heartless, uncaring women who just left them out of cruelty and spite - sounds a bit like a wicked stepmother - doesn't it? And we all know what wonderful stories have been woven around wicked stepmothers!

Of course not all situations will develop well. You do need to consider carefully what might be grow into a good storyline and which scenarios should be left well alone when writing for children. After all, you don't want to make your stories too scary! Remember those fantasy moms - those children needed fantasy mothers who would support rather than injure them, and any writing for children should always leave the reader feeling warm and reassured after the end of the story.

Ellie Dixon lives in deepest rural Devon, England with her husband and two very large Newfoundland dogs. She is passionate about vintage illustrated children's books and loves to restore and edit them for today's kids to rediscover. Visit Scruffy's Bookshop, Ellie's main website for some great books, and Ellie also recommends How to Write a Great Children's Book! for aspiring authors.