Writing for children is a passion that many people have. How well they do it is a separate issue. Add writing in rhyme to the equation and the numbers take an even narrower path.

It is a well-discussed subject among those that are both published in the genre of children's books and those aspiring to be published, on why most publishers do not like works in rhyme. While there are surely a select number of editors who do not like rhyme for one reason or another, I would speculate to say that what the editors dislike is bad rhyme.

What is Bad Rhyme?

"How hard can it be to rhyme?" you might ask, as most of us learned the basic skills to do it early in our primary educations? Rhyming two words may not be that difficult, but when you consider the fact that, the rhyme must come secondary to the story itself, that the storyline must be the most important aspect; rhyme can start to take a more difficult curve. The words must flow in a natural fashion. If they don’t, the story will never come to fruition.

Forced Rhyme

Beginners often have a story in mind and for whatever reason drives them; they want to merge the story into rhyme. The difficulty with this is the words often become forced just to make the rhyme work. The dilemma, forced rhyme itself never works. What exactly does it mean when an editor or critique partner tells you that your rhyme is forced? "Forced" is when just to make the pattern work, a word is placed out of its natural context within a sentence, just to make it rhyme with a previous line.

Near Rhyme

Near rhyme is even a bit trickier. Since some published works include it, many new writers feel that they can "get away with it." Unless you are already published, with a strong editor-writer relationship, it is not in your best interests to use it if your goal is to become published. Near rhymes can tell an editor that you did not give the work your best effort, especially if the near rhyme can be displaced with a useable rhyme that is perfect. In the few published works that I have read where a near rhyme existed, the story and rhythm of each were so strong; the near rhymes were not even noticeable at first reading.

Near rhymes often occur when two words look alike but do not sound like. Lean and stream, or bone and home, have middle sounds that make them look as if they could rhyme, but they do not. Sometimes due to different phonetic pronunciations, the words seem to rhyme, but if you are in a region that has strong phonetics -- an accent -- that could affect the way you hear certain words, again, the words may not really rhyme at all. Plural endings are also another form of near rhymes. "Cat and bats," and "top and shops" do not rhyme.

Recommended Dictionaries

If you have any question whatsoever about a word’s pronunciation in your work, head to the dictionary to check it out. Several print and online dictionaries devoted to rhyme exist. A favorite among writers is Write Express Rhymer that installs and works seamlessly with your word processor on your computer. The paperback copy of The Complete Rhyming Dictionary: Including the Poet's Craftbook is also a favorite and is small enough to be carried almost anywhere. By doing an online search for rhyme dictionary, you will also discover several online versions free to use including Rhymer and Rhyme Zone.

Meter

Stressed and unstressed syllables are as important when writing rhyme as the rhyme itself. Some writers are better at this than others are. The most successful writers of rhyme understand the importance of syllables. How can you bring this important aspect of writing in rhyme into your work? Listen to your story, line by line, and mark where the stressed and unstressed syllables fall. You should not hear any blatant discrepancies, any jarring positions as your work is read aloud. Too often, if you read it yourself with no outside input, you can convince yourself that it sounds perfect when in fact it does not. This can be corrected by having others read the work aloud to you and to themselves. Ask them if any parts hang or trip them as they read. A story that has good flow will not do either.

The Basics

Any story, no matter the genre it is written, must include the same basics: a beginning, middle, and an end. The story must have some type of conflict that will propel the reader to turn the page, a need to know what comes next. The words must also support enough pictures to either fill the pages of a picture book or evoke a few strong pictures to accompany it as a magazine piece. Without these basic beginnings, no story, no matter how well you have perfected the rhyme aspect, will ever become published by a reputable company.

What is Good Rhyme?

Good rhyme has effortlessness about it when you read or hear it. You hear the story. You hear the rhythm. Then you hear the rhyme. Many assume that the rhyme should be the focus and they would be right. For the rhyme to be the focus and work though, it must appear to be a secondary consideration to the overall story itself. This takes work.

How Can You Be a Better Writer?

Take note. Some writers exist that can just set down to pen and paper, or in front of their computer, and with very little effort, pen award winning stories and poems with very little exertion. The majority of us writers do not write that easily though. We must work at it. We will start with a draft, a very basic idea that will grow through numerous revisions and restarts.

Some people think that you are either a writer or you are not. That no amount of classes or practice will take you from the point of being someone who wishes they could become published to someone who is worthy of it. For those that write in rhyme, this is even more of a stereotype. I would argue the point simply for those that truly have words and stories that they want to share and just do not understand the process. If someone is willing to learn, and writes whether or not publication is a possibility, simply because to do it as a basic a need to their daily existence as breathing, chances are they will eventually produce work that is publishable. However, as with anything in life that someone really wants, that will be when the truly hard part begins.

What Markets Exist for Works in Rhyme

Once your story is as good as you can make it, you will most likely want to share it with the reading population by getting it published. While the market for work in rhyme is one of the toughest markets that exist in the publishing field, there are companies that do publish it. This fact can be proven simply by walking into a bookstore’s children section and browsing some of the favorites. Many are in rhyme. Look for the newest books to see which publishing houses have recently published works in rhyme. Check the magazine section in the same department to see what magazines are printing works wrote in this genre.

Two resources that are published yearly for those looking for markets for their work include Writer’s Market and its more detailed sister publication, Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market. You can also access the Children’s Book Council member’s list online. They update monthly what publishing houses, that produce works for children, are actively accepting submissions and what they are currently looking for.