Writing a children’s book is more about thinking about what children today need than what you want to write. Even if you have a brilliant idea, you want to be addressing issues in your story and style of writing that display the diverseness of the world and your personal cultural experiences.

REPRESENTING CHARACTERS

Don’t just have your characters be people of color. Make sure they have mannerisms and some cultural behavior unique in their home. Maybe eating something that is from your culture or doing things like keeping shoes out of home or taking blessings (Hinduism). And of course, what they wear (as shown in the book cover above) can be a great way to represent authenticity.

HOME DECOR

Have the house represent your own home or those around you. What is art work that would be used? Would there be something that would be in homes not like yours?

RELATIONAL BEHAVIOR

Do you call your aunts and uncles by a certain name? Use that. Be true to the culture to which you are writing. Don’t be scared to alienate readers.

USE NEW/DIFFERENT WORDS

In my award winning, bestselling books, I use words unique to my own culture without worrying about the reader not knowing them.

We live the world of Google where anyone who wants to know will take the small effort of finding out what a word means. Besides, including a glossary in the back of the book or as a free resource on your website is a wonderful way create a relation with your readers.

In short, be authentic and unafraid. A person who has picked up a book in a new culture, wants to learn something new about the world and see things through different eyes.

For more tips on writing books, follow my profile. Also, I provide personalized coaching, editing and/or marketing tips for multicultural authors. Email me — contact@raisingworldchildren.comAditi Wardhan Singh

Author | Developmental Editor | Founder (Own Voice Stories of Empowerment) — https://raisingworldchildren.com/