The Hunger Games – Will This Be The Next Teen Movie To Break Box Office Records?

Those of you who have followed my blog posts will remember my comments on the opportunities out there for writing a good teenage novel. 

On 23^rd November I commented on the record sales of the film adaptation of the Twilight saga which is specifically aimed at the teenage girl market.  At that time, the movie took an incredible £13.9 million on its opening weekend.

I was eager to point out that those who are interested in writing for children should make a mental note that the teenage market is hungry for great fiction.  In fact, I went a little further to emphasise that a great number books for the teenage market are aimed at girls.

I urged you to pay attention to the reporting of the Twilight saga.  I was keen to demonstrate that this would be a phenomena that would spread beyond film reviews and into the main media.  I closed my post back in November simply saying that you will soon discover for yourself that there is a true market for a well written teenage romance. 

On 9^th January of this year, I reported the next children’s novels that would be adapted to film in 2012 and one of the films that I felt would be of great importance in 2012 was the adaptation of Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games aimed at teenagers.  At the time I was trying to point out that there is huge potential for a well written children’s story.  I sincerely hoped when writing my earlier post that none of you were of the opinion that Harry Potter and Twilight would be the last teenage films to hit our screens.

The media have finally caught up and have started to report on the teenage film market.  You will not be able to avoid the hysteria surrounding The Hunger Games.  The reporting is well beyond the pages of film reviews, it has now found its way to main stream reporting in the media.  

You will have noticed that attention is given to whether The Hunger Games is comparable to Twilight and whether it will make more money in the box office than the Harry Potter and Twilight movies.  This week, the BBC reported the following:

“The Hunger Games arrives this weekend on a tsunami of hype and advance ticket sales...........according to trade paper The Hollywood Reporter, rival studios and other box office observers believe The Hunger Games could potentially gross $130-$140m. That would put it on a par with two films in the Twilight franchise, 2009's New Moon, which opened with $142.8m and the recent Breaking Dawn - Part 1's $138.1m.”

The BBC make the following direct comparison:

 “Like Stephenie Meyer's vampire and werewolves saga, Hunger Games books have been a teen publishing phenomenon. A glowing endorsement from Meyer even appears on the back cover of the first novel. Much of the pre-movie hype has focused on asking whether Hunger Games is the "new Twilight", or even Harry Potter”

I hate to say I told you so, but that is really what I mean here.  When considering whether you are going to write a children’s book,   do not underestimate the power of the teenage market, particularly the teenage girl market. You could be the one who writes the next hugely successful book and make a handsome profit if your story is adapted to film. 

There are tips on how to write stories for teenagers in the course Writing for Children.  In the meantime, just watch how the hysteria surrounding the Hunger Games unfolds and, dare I say it, wait until we see the impact of The Witch Hunters soon to be released.

Until next time, good luck with your writing!

Writing The First Chapter of Your Children’s Story

My recent posts covered several  problems that writers may encounter before they start to write:  Failure to plan, procrastination and feeling un-creative. 

Lets assume that you have overcome these problems.  You have had a surge of creative ideas and have actually settled down and scribbled out your plot.

But where does your story begin?

This is a problem that faces every writer with every story, but the answer is obvious - you start at the beginning!

Forgive me if you think this sounds stupid, but let me explain.

New writers often start their story too far back setting out a long winded background story.  Way before all this routine guff has ended the readers have got bored and given up.  It is important that you hook your readers almost immediately – if you can do it with the first sentence, so much the better.    

To do this, you really need some action on the first page. This doesn’t have to be anything major, but it does need to be significant enough to let the readers know that something life-changing is about to happen.

The best beginnings are those which involve a change in the life of your main character.  Some form of conflict.  Your story needs to start with the introduction of a change to come.   For example, a journey is a good  way to initiate change, or the arrival of strangers or a letter that arrives in the post.

You see, this throws the reader straight into the story - at the beginning.  Your plot starts to unravel itself from there.

For more information on how to write children's stories, have a look at Write For Children.co.uk or Write For Children.com

You Must Make a Start With Your Writing

In my previous post I mentioned that you should not make the negative mistake in thinking that you are not creative.  This in itself could stop you from putting pen to paper.

But there is an even bigger problem that stops some people from writing.  It’s procrastination.

If you find yourself making sure all the pencils are sharp, that you have enough paper, you are checking how a couple of words are spelt, stopping to clean the oven and so on and so forth… you must be honest with yourself, you are procrastinating!

Perhaps you tell yourself that you are too busy?  Perhaps you tell yourself that you will start your writing “in the weekend” only to find that when the time comes there is always something “more important” to be getting on with?

The truth is, it is easy to find almost anything to do to stave off the moment of starting to write.  You need to ask yourself why you are doing this.  Be realistic with yourself.  Is it because you have a fear of going down the wrong track, or that you think that your first scribbles will simply be a useless waste of time?  Do you think that you haven’t got the talent, or a strong enough story?  Do you think that your story is unlikely to come together?

If so, you need to confront this.  If you look at my earlier posts, writing a good story is all about planning.  But you must make a start!

You will find with experience that making a start is very important.  Remember, you are not carving your words on tablets of stone, so if they turn out to be other than what you intended, just alter them at the revision stage.

If you really want to write but find that you don’t know where to start or you are afraid to start,  you need to tackle this head on.  If you need some guidance on how to write your story why not have a look at the website write for children.

The 'Creative' Process of Writing

Creativity is an attitude of mind that develops with practice. Do not make the negative mistake of thinking that you are not creative.

Everyone is creative; it is just that their faculties have remained dormant for such a long time.  Artists don't paint a picture by starting at the top left-hand corner of the canvas and then painting each little section perfectly before moving on to the next section. They start with a crude sketch, then block in the main areas with a big brush and continue to work over the picture as a whole until they finish with fine strokes of a small brush. Writing needs the same process.

You sketch in a broad indication of the plot in your rough outline, which will show you whether your idea is viable, then you go through it again, producing a more detailed outline as you clarify your thinking on the various aspects of your story.

The creative process of writing is covered in the book Make Your Fortune Writing for Children, a ten part writing course in a single volume.

To find out more, visit Write For Children

2012 Sees More Children's Story Books Adapted to Film

Just as we saw over Christmas and the New Year, children's stories make for wonderful films.  I have concentrated on film adaptations once again to remind would be writers that there is a huge market for well written children's stories.  Many of the film adaptations lined up over the coming year started with a well written children's book.

Several children's stories are lined up for release on the silver screen over the coming year that will cater for all age groups.  For teenagers, 2012 will see the release of The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (Jules Verne) - a follow up to Journey to the Centre Of The Earth -  and, who could forget, The Twilight Saga Breaking Dawn (Stephenie Meyer)  - another part of the  fourth book in the series.  2012 will also see the release of The Hobbit (Tolkien).  Another film that is due to be released this year is Hansel and Gretal: Witch Hunters, which is likely to be popular with teenagers.

For younger children, 2012 will bring The Secret World of Arrietty, an animation  film based on the Mary Norton book series, The Borrowers as well as Dr Seuss's The Lorax and Mirror Mirror based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Snow White.

The point that I am trying to make is that children's stories are well and truly alive.  There is huge potential for a well written story and you could be writing the next blockbuster.

Until next time, good luck with your writing.

Children's Stories A Smash Over Christmas and New Year!

I hope you have had a most enjoyable Christmas and had some time to put you’re your feet up and relax.

Theres no other time like Christmas time to reflect upon the power of children’s stories.  Many children’s books are  adapted to film and at Christmas we are reminded of the old greats as well as  the more contemporary children’s stories as they are played out across all of the networks!

Some fantastic children’s stories that were broadcast over Christmas.  Here are just some of them:

The Gruffalo /The Gruffalo’s Child (Julia Donaldson)

The Borrowers (Mary Norton)

The Spiderwick Chronicles (Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi)

The Wizard of Oz (Lyman Frank Baum)

Spy Kids /Spy Kids 2/Spy Kids 3 (Elizabeth Lenhard)

Gullivers Travels (Jonathan Swift)

The Snowman (Raymond Briggs)

Just Henry (Michelle Magorian)

The Railway Children (Edith Nesbit)

The Grinch (Dr Seuss)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe /Prince Caspian (C.S Lewis)

Harry Potter  -well, this was done to death! (J.K. Rowling)

For more information on some of these great contemporary writers, why not check out their websites - just click on the links below:

Julia Donaldson

Holly Black

Tony DiTerlizzi

Elizabeth Lenhard

Michelle Magorian

Maybe 2012 will be the year that you finally set your mind to writing a great children’s book of your own.  If you are stuck on how to start, why not have a look at what you can learn from the writing guide available from Write-For-Children.Com.  Simply click the link to find out more.

I hope that you find this post an inspiration.

That just leaves me to wish you all a Happy New Year.

Good luck with your writing.

Charlotte Bronte Manuscript Sold for $1.1 Million

There were mixed feelings when the news broke just before Christmas that a small manuscript by the 19^th century novelist Charlotte Bronte sold for just over $1.1 million.

A French museum won the battle for the prize, to the despair of the Bronte Museum in England.

The sale was reported as “an auction record for a manuscript by the Bronte sisters” selling at twice the estimated sale price according to Sotherby’s.

For those who missed this in the news, the book was a hand written booklet no more in size than 1.5 X 2.5 inches with 4000 words over 19 pages.  It is believed that Bronte (more famously known for her 19th century classic “Jane Eyre” ) wrote the booklet when she was 14.

But for me, the reporting of this demonstrated one thing.  People love the written word, and are prepared to pay large sums for the paper version. 

Remember that when all those around you try to tell you that the computer has taken over and the printed word is dead.  This little treasure proves that they don’t know the half of it!