I have just returned from a sightseeing trip to Brazil where we spent our last few days gazing at the awe-inspiring Iguazu Falls.

The Falls are – deservedly – finalists to be chosen as one of the new seven wonders of the world – that’s natural wonders rather than man-made, although there’s a new list of man-made wonders being drawn up as well. Voting is open to everyone (visit www.new7wonders.com) and the winners will be announced later this year – on 11/11/11.

Whilst I was considering these two new lists of seven wonders it occurred to me that the number ‘seven’ in itself is rather special. For example in Tibetan Budhism Seven Bowls of Water are found on all altars and are replenished twice a day. The seven bowls represent the Seven Examined Men, the first seven monks in Tibet. They also have Seven Regal Symbols and Seven Factors of Enlightenment. And then there’s The Magnificent Seven…

And, on recent workshops that I’ve been running, I’ve been offering seven tips for children’s writers. It could be any number but, for some reason, it always seemed to come back to a magic seven.

And here they are:-

1. Research the market. It’s no good just writing something in a vacuum and hoping that someone will publish it. You need to get out there, see what’s being published and then target your work at an existing slot. It’s not up to the new writer to find ‘gaps in the market’.

2. Create a strong opening. You only have a few seconds to grab the attention of a reader or editor so hit the ground running. It doesn’t matter if there’s a magic dancing pygmy goat on Page 2 of your story if Page 1 is all about what you ate for breakfast last Tuesday. No-one will ever find out about the magic goat because all your readers will have died of boredom before then!

3. Keep your writing sharp. No-one wants to wade through messy paragraphs littered with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. One way of untangling messy writing is to read your story aloud. Clear writing needs active sentences, strong verbs and not too many adjectives.

4. Tell don’t show. Telling is vague and general. ‘I was angry’. Ok, so you’ve given us information but you haven’t given us any reason to care. Instead, ‘The anger burned and bubbled inside me like lava in a volcano. My jaws were clamped together and I could feel my lips tight across my teeth. I wanted to hit him. Really wanted to hit him.’ (Excerpt from The Knife that Killed Me by Anthony McGowan)

5. Be clear about viewpoint. Readers are always looking for a connection with a character. They want to see the world through the character’s eyes, know what he/she knows, feel what he/she feels. Bouncing around from character to character will end up bouncing your reader right out of the story. Try to stick with either first person viewpoint or third person viewpoint from just one character’s perspective.

6. Keep the plot simple. Don’t try and put all your ideas into one story. Consider your plot and identify the biggest, most important thing that happens. Once you’ve decided, make it your focus and be ruthless with the other stuff. The simpler your story the more powerful it will be.

7. Get your approach right. When sending out your manuscript to publishers and agents make your presentation as professional as you can. Your covering letter is particularly important as it is the first thing the editor or reader will look at. Make sure it is typed and is just one short page. Tell them what your story is called and what it is about – one sentence only please, two at most. Tell them the target age range and why it is suitable for that particular publisher. Tell them a little bit about yourself – two or three sentences. This might include anything else you have had published, what you do for a living, whether you have children, whether you are working on anything else etc.

And there you have it – seven wonderful tips for children’s writers. Any other significant sevens happily received.