Who becomes a children’s writer? What sort of person has the mix of imagination and madness, plus the final discipline to get this stuff down for others to read and hopefully enjoy? All ages and all sorts apparently.
Enthusiastic mothers, fathers who have always wanted to write, and now have their in house audience, clever artists who needed someone to join them to add the words, individuals anxious to improve the lot of kids by encouraging them to read, and where possible by adding important life messages.
Some kids quickly reach the stage when they can write their own stories, and bless them for their drive and fresh imagination. JR Tolkien of Lord of the Rings, and his great friend: CS Lewis of the Chronicles of Narnia books, and Lewis Carroll with Alice in Wonderland, were each mature and ageing academics, who provided diversion for themselves and their friends, by writing their fantasy stories with the governing experience of tight academic communication.
One thing that seemed to shine through from all long-lived kids books, is the power of the story, and the attraction of the characters. I recently skimmed through an original of Peter Pan. Fantastic story obviously, but the text is very complex, almost late Victorian, and far from being an easy read. So is the story and the characters, and try and ensure that the text becomes a seamless railway to carry the stories forward.
So the bottom line for anyone who wishes to write stories, is that anyone can if they wish. There are no formal entry requirements to the ranks of children’s authors other than an exciting imagination.