BFG

One of the greatest authors of children's stories was, of course, Roald Dahl.

He was often asked about what made good writing for children and produced a sort of manifesto or guide to this art.

His primary intention was to entertain but equally as important he wanted to teach a child to be comfortable with a book and the reading of it.

It was his aim to lift the reader into a marvellous, funny and incredible place.

In acheiving this through his much loved works Dahl became very much the voice of the young. They recognised that he was, indeed, one of them.

I regularly read and re-read his stories to my own children when they were little and they were, in equal proportions, scared, amused and shocked by the antics of Matilda, the BFG, The Witches and James and the Giant Peach amongst many others. Their love of his stories persists and even in their twenties they fondly recollect every twist and turn in the narrative.

A common theme of his writing was the attitude towards the grown up characters be they parents, teachers or figures in authority who were regularly attacked , villified and belittled.

Dahl was a firm exponent of employing his own traits and skills and building into his first class plots the elements of tricks, jokes, riddles and childish things.

A successful writer for children must also be unconventional, able to invent new things and ideas and use unorthodox methods. This can be fulfilled by a sense of eccentricity.

He or she must know implicitly what enthrals a child but also what runs the risk of boring them.

Children love being spooked, exposed to suspense, appreciate action scenes, ghosts, finding treasure and magic. They love chocolate, money and toys.

The importance of being made to laugh and giggle cannot be over-emphasised nor a suitably grisly fate befalling the villainous character or characters.

There must be a hero and that hero must be a winner.

Children are sensitive to good writing, hate long descriptive passages and flowery prose and love a tale that contains a strong threat.

Dahl was well aware that children can lack powers of concentration and so must be tantalised and fascinated on every single page. There must be some variation in pace and an awareness of whether it is too slow or too fast.

The writing must not be dull.

Roald Dahl continuously questioned his own written word as he formulated his fantastic fables.

If there was any possibility that children would stop reading, put the book down and go and do something else then the only response would be to cross out the text and start all over again.