Perhaps the most obvious one is enjoying reading children’s literature yourself. Personally I love kid’s books! Because of this, I’m not really writing for children (although, of course, you do keep your audience in mind, especially in the later drafts) I’m just writing the sort of stories I love to read. Why do I love them? One reason is that they transform the ordinary – old tin cans become transportation systems, libraries become embattled castles, and wardrobes become doorways to other worlds. So I suppose one thing a children’s writer needs is the ability to see through the ordinary to the extraordinary. Not to underplay or sidestep the ordinary, no, children’s writers have to take everyday things very seriously, but like a child in play, they have to be able to see the magic beneath the most ordinary of objects, situations or people. The world is an extraordinary place, after…
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