Most good fiction is character driven, which means that the personalities and quirks of the characters fuel the story. One activity to get you started on writing your own juvenile fiction book is to make a detailed character chart for your main character. Romance writer Charlotte Dillon has an extensive website with a free downloadable template to assist you in profiling your first character, and although it's geared toward romance writers, most of the questions work perfectly with juvenile characters. Some questions to ask yourself: What are your characters strengths and weaknesses? What are his or her interests? What is his or her family situation? All of these will drive the plot with your character firmly in the driver's seat.
charlottedillon.com/characters.html
If the character of your story is the driver, the plot is the vehicle. Visualize a roller coaster; you're taking your reader on an exciting ride with twists and turns and a satisfying ending. Try some exercises to work out your plot-developing muscles, such as VirtualLit's exercise where you choose a character and a conflict and write your way around them. You can also fill in the specific plot points on a graph such as the one featured at novel-writing-help.com. Consider rising action, conflict, climax, and resolution for any story.
bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit
novel-writing-help.com/plot-diagram.html
Conflict is the obstacle you'll throw in your main character's way to help him or her learn and grow. To find an exercise online, go to the Sticky Situation Story Idea Generator at Story Ideas Virtuoso and let fate throw you a situation that will challenge your character. Decide on whether you will deal with man versus man, man versus nature, or man versus himself, three classic types of conflicts.
debgallardo.com/virtuoso
Once you decide on your main character, plot, and conflict, you have a decision to make: from which point of view will your story be told? The usual choices are third person or first person. Third person point of view (or POV) is when the writer tells the story from a distance. You're not using the pronoun 'I' to tell the story. It allows for multiple perspectives and more complex plot lines. First person is when one character tells the story in his or her own voice, and the pronoun 'I' is used throughout as if the character were talking to the reader. Many juvenile books are written in first person; it is very immediate for the reader. However, it limits the author's ability to tell the story; you can only write about what the character sees or hears or experiences. As an exercise, try writing the first paragraph of your story in third person, and then write the same passage in first person, and see which feels more natural.