Story Something Writing Guidelines

1. About Story Something

Story Something is an Internet and mobile platform that provides parents with personalized,
interactive stories for children 2 to 8 years of age. The service asks parents to supply their child’s
age, gender, family information, some information on his or her interests and favorite story
categories, and allows parents to instantaneously receive personalized stories of approximately
500-850 words.

Story Something stories–first and foremost–feature the child in an active, positive way, and
show the child taking the lead in the story. Stories that describe a child doing and seeing new
things, accomplishing tasks, undertaking a new experience, etc. cast the principal character as the
hero, and the personalization will allow a child to see himself or herself in that role. Depending
on the age of the child, particular elements, themes, and situations will be age-appropriate, so
please use the thematic and developmental guidelines when writing. In general, though, stories
should have an energetic pace, should captivate readers with a strong dramatic arc and vivid
language that matches the age level of the reader.

A strong, clear narrative will be critical to a story’s success, especially as, for the most part,
adults will read the stories to children, either as a print-out or from a portable computer or mobile
device like the iPhone. The stories will include limited illustrations so the story will rest on the
strength of its narrative.

Include standard motifs of children’s stories such as conventional introductions and

conclusions, and a happy ending for the hero.

At every age, a child’s capabilities, interests, and reading preferences shift to encompass
their newest accomplishments, their mastery of skills, or other developmental growth. In order to
best match the child’s age range to the appropriate story, we have developed a following
framework for all stories. Please make sure your story fits into one of the following categories:

2. Age-level Guidelines

The following guidelines should be kept in mind when creating a story for Story Something.
Length of stories should be approximately 500-850 words long. For obvious reasons, the shorter
stories are more appropriate for the younger age levels.

Stories should be written for one of these age brackets:

2-3 years: Two to three year olds’ language acquisition is blossoming, so this is a wonderful
opportunity to use musicality in the language of the stories, for what strikes the ear of a 2-3 year-
old is as much about sound as it is about sense. Prose with a strong rhythm and beat and a
repeating refrain can be an integral part of the stories. It’s best to focus on simple concepts or
plots. Some of the most appealing themes for this age are a child’s daily routine, a child’s intense
attachment to inanimate objects, admiration for parents (wanting to be “just like dad” or “just
like mom” is an important development at this age.) First experiences with night dreams and
nightmares is also common at this stage. Other aspects of a 2-3-year-old’s experience/interest
that would make appropriate themes for stories are home/yard/garden, family (immediate and
close family such as parents, Grandparents and siblings, a pet), common games like hide-and-
seek, peek-a-boo, and stress the simple physical accomplishments of the young child such as
running, jumping, sliding, and marching.

3-4 years. Three- to four-year-olds pick up a bulk of their language acquisition at this time in
their development. As a result, stories that encourage a child to “use his words” will reflect what
he experiences in daily life. Moving from gestures to speaking to convey needs, wants, and
desires is a huge step developmentally, and allows a child to become more social around this
time. Making friends and making choices are two subjects that will especially appeal to this age
child. This is a time when children start to love secrets and surprises, silly and nonsense words,
while continuing the love of language that has musicality and rhythm to it. Fantasy play starts to
blossom, so stories about pretending to be someone else, stories that allow a child to act out a
fear or banish a worry, would be welcome as long as they non-threatening. However, children
this age want to be reassured that that although they are growing and changing, the world around
them hasn’t changed, so any story with fantasy play should always begin and end in the real
world. Leaving the home environment for the larger world (visiting grandparents, going
shopping) and simple transportation is a big interest at this age—especially cars, but also boats
and trains.

4-5 years. The 4-5 year old is best characterized by the word “expansive.” Learning to count
above ten, learning time, the seasons, developing fine motor skills and asking lots and lots of
questions are all characteristics of this age child. A blossoming interest in telling fantastic stories
will naturally correlate well to hearing fantastic stories. Feeding a child’s imagination with
stories that explore other realms, exotic creatures, and far-flung adventures really take hold now.
The opposite is also true. Children at this age have a strong self-interest so stories about them as
babies and stories about their parents as babies are especially intriguing. Four-year-olds love
stories about fire, firefighters, and firetrucks. This is a big age category, so some themes will
work better for the lower end of the range. For examples, just-turned-fours might still love a
story about being Mom or Dad’s helper around the house or yard, whereas a five-year-old would
probably consider that too babyish. Four year olds often begin a real fascination with dinosaurs
that can continue on to a much older age.

5-6 years. At this age, children are starting “real” school, so their world grows exponentially.
Naturally, there can be anxiety about that, but the opportunities for stories abound. They know
that stories have a beginning, middle, and end, so more fully-developed stories with a stronger
plot can be appreciated now. Themes that are important to five year olds include dressing
oneself, sharing, learning to make friends, weather, people in the community (such as police
officers, crossing guards, taxi drivers, etc. These can be characters as long as they are not named.
For example, “the crossing-guard” vs “Crossing guard Bob.”) Five- to six-year-olds are
beginning to understand the concept of rules and the concept of consequences for not following
rules, since being in a classroom setting with others requires them, some for the first time, to
observe and follow rules. Cooperation, as a result, is a story theme that children of this age find
enjoyable—and its opposite—what funny, ridiculous things might happen if people in charge do
not follow rules. Role-reversal, or putting grownups in a child’s place is particularly funny to
this age child. Accomplishments like learning to ride a bike or a scooter, tying one’s shoe, or
roller skating, ice skating, or swimming starts now and continues into the next age brackets.

6-7 years. Children ages 6-7 can start to predict the outcomes of their actions. This age can be
very sensitive, so stories that stress feelings, either their own or a friend’s or sibling’s, are
appreciated. Dealing with strong emotions, such as anger or frustration, make great story
opportunities, especially showing the main character as someone who is capable of handling a
frustrating situation. Family changes, such as getting a new sibling, or moving, would be good
ways to explore issues that are common to children and the emotions that accompany change.
Mommy or Daddy going on a business trip and leaving the child at home is something children
become more aware of as they get older. Consistency is a big theme for children at this age.
Predictability in stories, predictability in characters, and the surprise of what happens when
someone doesn’t act in a predictable manner are all wonderful themes. Since children are in
school at this age, and often participating in outside activities such as dance, sports, music, or art,
they will look for stories with themes that reflect the activities in their lives. Responsibility is
important, too, so stories about choosing a pet and learning to take care of it would be good
themes for children of this age.

8+ years. Older children have developed the ability to read on their own, so stories can be more
complicated and can incorporate real fantasy, not just pretend fantasy. The child can star as a
princess, prince, superhero, wizard, or pirate, as they have now developed a sense of their “real”
selves vs “pretend”. They can vanquish monsters (as long as there is no real danger present), and
they can participate more actively on a sports team, visit a friend without their parent, enjoy
amusement parks, and test their endurance skills. They enjoy competition and in proving their
physical skills in matches with friends. For girls, the social order is very important. Friends who
don’t always behave the way a child would like them to and learning to cope with that can show
the reader that she is someone who knows how to be a good friend. Helping a younger sibling,
earning money by doing chores, winning a contest in school are all experiences that are common
to children of eight years. Stories can reflect all of these developments, as long as the framework
and details are kept simple enough to allow for the personalization to work. For example, in a
school setting only the teacher’s name and perhaps one friend’s name should be introduced, with
all other people referred to by their role, such as “the coach”, “the custodian.”

Please specify the type of story submitted - please note word count, age range, can the story be
personalized for girls only, boys only, or either, what category the story falls into. However,
Story Something reserves the right to determine the best categorization of all stories and some
will have overlapping appropriateness for different age ranges and more than one thematic
category. Some examples of categories are: Friendship, Magic, Sports, Family, Pets.

2-3 details in the story must be variable so that the story can be personalized. Depending on
the length and complexity of the story, please include 2-3 character details, like these examples
from the list below. These do not necessarily need to be central to the plot in any way; however,
these descriptive details will allow Story Something to personalize the main character within the
framework of the story. When submitting a draft, please highlight the ‘personalizable’ details that
are included.

Protagonist name

Name(s) of sibling(s)

Names of family members (ie: Mom/Mommy, Gran/Grandma/Granny, etc.)

Name of pet

Name of teacher

Name of school

Stories should be written with the possibility of creating future sequels and serialization of
the work.
3. Specific Story Something Dos and Don’ts

Because of the technological demands of personalizing stories, there are several Dos and Don’ts
to keep in mind when creating a Story Something story.

• Family details, aside from those that will be personalized, should be avoided. (Ie. Annie
loved her pet dog Sam; NOT Annie loved her pet poodle Sam. Annie’s mom picked her
up in their car; NOT Annie’s mom picked her up in their red car.) The goal is to keep the
details that give a story a sense of place/tone, without breaking the illusion created by the
personalization.
• Stories should not be written in first person
• While stories may feature family pets, stories where an animal is the main character do
not work
• Please do not give characters last names
• Please do not put character name(s) in the story title.
• Stories should not have multiple POV

4. Synopsis

Please provide a brief but complete synopsis of the story. Parents should have clear idea of the
subject and plot developments of the story, so that they can determine whether the
personalization will work for their child. Please mention all the characters that occur in the story.
(Ie: This story is about a girl (or boy) who finds a dragon. The story features her mother and one
friend.) However, the synopsis should not include character names.

5. Author Bio

Please submit a brief bio (max 200 words) as well as answers to the following questions

What's your favorite book?

A favorite quote?
Any favorite websites (and/or your own, if applicable)?
6. Style Sheet

• Please cap all titles (ie. Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa)

• Please do not insert any extraneous formatting into the document (tabs, extra spaces, etc.)
• Please use 2 line breaks to denote paragraph breaks