New formats keep showing up in front of young readers, from apps to interactive platforms to whatever comes next, and it would be easy to assume that changes what a children’s book needs to do. Author Greg Soros does not see it that way. After more than fifteen years writing for children, he treats format as the least interesting variable in the equation.
“The medium may change, but children’s fundamental need for stories that help them understand themselves and others remains constant,” he reflects. “Whether through traditional books, digital platforms, or emerging formats, thoughtful storytelling will always find its audience.” For Soros, the screen or the page a story appears on matters far less than whether the character on it feels true.
Writing for Today Without Losing the Thread
That focus on constants runs through everything Greg Soros discusses about his craft from the mirror and window framework he uses to build characters to his insistence that representation has to be built into a character rather than added on top. He wants his books to speak to problems kids are actually facing now, including things like environmental worry and life spent partly online, without losing what makes a children’s story recognizable across generations. In a recent profile in Walker Magazine, Greg Soros set out a clear vision for the role of children’s literature in shaping young minds.
Greg Soros describes that tension plainly. “We’re writing for the children of today while honoring the universal childhood experiences that connect generations,” he concludes. “That’s both the challenge and the privilege of this work.” It is a line that sums up how he approaches nearly every project, balancing a specific moment against a much longer thread of what childhood has always involved.
However, the next format arrives, his answer to it will likely stay the same: build a character worth caring about first and let everything else follow from there.
That patience with the slower, harder parts of character building is part of what sets his approach apart. Trends in publishing come and go, but a young reader’s need to feel understood by a story does not, and Soros writes as if that fact will still be true long after the current format questions are settled. Refer to this article to learn more.
See for more information about Greg Soros on https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/7460801.Greg_Soros