It’s come to my attention that we need a collective noun for children’s book writers and authors.
I am therefore inviting your input.
If you’d like to suggest one for writers and a different one for authors, please feel free. (Can’t forget illustrators!) Leave as many collective nouns as you’d like. Of course, you get points for cleverness. I’ll pull them together in a future post so we can vote on them. And then, perhaps, when we see a gathering of these wonderful folks, we’ll know what to call them.
For those of you who didn’t grow up on 80’s music, this is A Flock of Seagulls.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 
97 comments
Comments feed for this article
March 23, 2015 at 5:04 pm
kiwiskan
kideratti…
March 23, 2015 at 5:13 pm
Jim Cullinane
Nice…
March 23, 2015 at 5:24 pm
Melanie Ellsworth
like it!
March 25, 2015 at 3:47 am
Stacy Couch
Love
March 23, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Hey, Jim Hill!
An Exposition of Writers. *drops mic*
March 23, 2015 at 5:11 pm
Jim Cullinane
A scribble of kidlit writers?
March 23, 2015 at 5:15 pm
Margaret Greanias
A school, a notepad/notebook, a jumble, a Facebook group (ha, ha). I’ll come back if I think of more. 🙂
March 23, 2015 at 5:15 pm
Carleen M. Tjader
Can’t wait to see these ideas!
March 23, 2015 at 5:16 pm
Melanie Ellsworth
While we’re at it, can we do something about SCBWI? That’s a mouthful.
March 23, 2015 at 5:19 pm
Tara Lazar
At home, we call it “squibby”. It’s not an entirely correct pronunciation (it should really be “scibwee” or “scubwee”), but “squibby” works best for my kids to say. I just mention “I’ve got a squibby thing tonight” and they know what I mean! LOL
March 23, 2015 at 5:55 pm
ptnozell
We use the “Scoobi” version, as in “Scoobi Do.”
March 24, 2015 at 9:37 am
Melanie Ellsworth
At my house, we pronounce it Shwibwi, but that’s a mouthful too. Maybe we’ll adopt your “squibby” pronunciation.
March 24, 2015 at 2:58 pm
Tracy Molitors
Ha Ha! We cal it ‘Squibby’ too! Good to know we are not alone 🙂
March 23, 2015 at 5:18 pm
Melanie Ellsworth
The pen-niless
March 23, 2015 at 7:15 pm
Genevieve Petrillo
I love this!
March 23, 2015 at 5:27 pm
aadenise
A galley? A query? An alliteration? A slush? 😉
March 23, 2015 at 6:23 pm
Juliana Lee
Yes! Galley, Query, or Slush! 🙂
March 23, 2015 at 5:30 pm
JEN Garrett
about the SCBWI mouthful: Being from the Nor-CA region, I hear my kids call it “Scabwin-orca”
That’s SCBWI Nor-CA.
I vote for a Scribble of Writers. Oh, yeah, we’re not voting yet.
A Gaggle of Writers?
A Class of Writers?
No, I still like Scribble.
March 23, 2015 at 5:41 pm
Mary Jo Wagner
Surely Julie Hedlund can help us out here?! If a Troop is a Group of Monkeys than a XX is a Group of Writers?!
March 23, 2015 at 5:46 pm
Sue Heavenrich
a query of writers (1 less than a quorum I think?)
March 23, 2015 at 5:53 pm
Cathy Ballou Mealey
A treasury
March 24, 2015 at 6:54 am
Hayley B
Nice, Cathy!
March 23, 2015 at 5:55 pm
Jennifer Mook - Sang
A serendipity of writers
March 23, 2015 at 5:57 pm
Lori Dubbin
A flourish, an interplay, a wordsworth ;), a bouquet, a slush, a plume, a tribe (I’ve heard SCBWI use this term), a cohort, (a quill and a brush for author/illustrators :))
March 23, 2015 at 5:57 pm
Michele Blood
How about a PLUME or a QUILL of kidlit writers?
March 23, 2015 at 5:58 pm
Michele Blood
Oops – should’ve read all the comments first!
March 23, 2015 at 5:59 pm
Doris Fisher
Scribblekins
March 23, 2015 at 6:02 pm
Michele Blood
How about a “ribbon” of writers?
March 23, 2015 at 6:07 pm
Penny Parker Klostermann
Including a couple of made up words cause we’re making this up anyway 😀
a wit
a numbertwolery
a pencilary
a doodle
a graphite
a journal
a revision
a draft
a scribe
a scrawl
a compositon
a broadcast
a composition
a dummy
March 23, 2015 at 6:09 pm
Penny Parker Klostermann
a jot
March 23, 2015 at 6:11 pm
Lorraine
A syngraféas of writers.
Sent from my iPhone
>
March 23, 2015 at 6:13 pm
Keila Dawson
A wisdom of wordsmith
March 23, 2015 at 6:16 pm
Keila Dawson
*wordsmiths
March 23, 2015 at 6:15 pm
Cathy C. Hall
A coterie of kidlit spirits.
OR, ’cause my 91-year-old dad always says I TALK a lot about writing…a chatter (which would be a group of writers who talk a lot about writing. Actual writing? Not so much.) 🙂
March 23, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Penny Parker Klostermann
an ink
an arc
a plot
a paragraph
March 23, 2015 at 6:29 pm
carolmunrojww
My favs so far: A query of writers and a scrawl of writers. I don’t think I could do better, but I’ll think about it.
March 23, 2015 at 6:29 pm
Juliana Lee
Conference of Writers. (Not to be confused with a Writing Conference.)
March 23, 2015 at 6:36 pm
Kim Pfennigwerth
A Totem of Talesmiths
March 23, 2015 at 6:37 pm
Kim Pfennigwerth
Otherwise known as “TOTs”
March 24, 2015 at 9:39 am
Melanie Ellsworth
Cute!
March 23, 2015 at 6:50 pm
Juliana Lee
A Scrabble of Writers. A Binding of Writers. A Catalog of Writers. A Library of Writers.
March 23, 2015 at 6:53 pm
Penny Parker Klostermann
We need a “Like” button! There are so many fun ones!
March 23, 2015 at 6:58 pm
Tara Lazar
Yes, keep ’em coming!
March 23, 2015 at 6:57 pm
Joanne Fritz
A Keyboard, an Imagination, a Persistence, a Sendak of kidlit writers.
Or maybe that should be a Sendak of Illustrators?
This is a great idea, Tara.
March 23, 2015 at 7:01 pm
Penny Parker Klostermann
a wonka
(that could even include chocolate 😀
March 23, 2015 at 7:08 pm
Myrna Foster
a camaraderie
a diversity
a kaleidoscope
a web
a garden
a puzzle
March 23, 2015 at 7:09 pm
Johnell DeWitt
So many great ones already. A Kiddle, A Biblio Pile. A Librerum. A Scriptorum. A Plume of Authors or A Quill of Writers–Plume n Quill when all together. Such fun to bandy about one’s brain. 🙂
March 23, 2015 at 7:16 pm
Genevieve Petrillo
Um…. A bunch of psychotic lunatics?
March 23, 2015 at 7:17 pm
Michele Blood
A signature, page, or leaf of writers.
March 23, 2015 at 7:38 pm
Lynn Alpert
A Twain, triter (tribe of writers), series
March 23, 2015 at 7:38 pm
terrycpierce
Penny Parker Klostermann–a dummy??? Uh-uh 😉 But I do like “scribble” and “scrawl.” Long ago, I read on some SCBWI-related format that a group of writers was called a “stable.” Not liking being something akin to a horse or other barnyard dweller, I vote to get rid of it and go with one of the many cute ones named above 🙂
March 23, 2015 at 7:39 pm
terrycpierce
My husband says that since I became a writer, I’m a “cornucopia of crap.” Would that work? 😉
March 23, 2015 at 8:00 pm
Maura Kay
A troupe of writers
March 23, 2015 at 8:10 pm
Dana Arnim
OK, for the illustrators among us, a flourish of illustrators, a wash of illustrators, a field, a line?
March 23, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Juliana Lee
Still thinking… A Pitch of Writers. A Devotion of Writers. A Print of Writers.
March 23, 2015 at 8:21 pm
Juliana Lee
An Epic.
March 23, 2015 at 8:30 pm
Margaret Flint Suter
In homage to Dr Seuss, a wubbulousness of writers!
March 23, 2015 at 8:32 pm
Kristi Veitenheimer
Okay, I feel really silly for asking this. What’s the difference between a “writer” and an “author”?
March 25, 2015 at 3:36 am
Stacy Couch
Up for debate, but generally: an author is published, a writer is not.
March 23, 2015 at 8:34 pm
Michael Karg (@michaelkarg)
Kinderklatch
March 23, 2015 at 9:06 pm
June Smalls
I like A Scrawl.
Or a Draft
My husband calls us all Stuck. Because we’re always getting ‘stuck’ on something like plot points, scenes, dialogue. He compares writers to a bunch of kids running through a door for cake. Stuck.
March 23, 2015 at 9:11 pm
June Smalls
We could steal the name of Gnus. Gnus come in groups called a implausibility or Guinea pigs come in groups called a muddle. Writers can relate to muddle, right?
March 23, 2015 at 9:16 pm
David Robertson
An Exclamation of writers.
A Murmur of Authors…
March 23, 2015 at 9:29 pm
Wendy
Storytellers
March 23, 2015 at 9:58 pm
Aviva
Kidlitists or Kidlitors
March 23, 2015 at 10:03 pm
Sandy Perlic
A story of kidlit author/illustrators? Hmmm…
March 23, 2015 at 10:06 pm
Mari Barnes
A Cuddle of Kid Lit authors or an Edit
March 23, 2015 at 10:10 pm
jhayslett
A quill of writers. A sheaf of authors.
March 23, 2015 at 10:11 pm
jhayslett
A bibliophile of authors.
March 23, 2015 at 10:13 pm
jhayslett
A playpen of kidlit writers and authors.
March 23, 2015 at 11:05 pm
Carrie Charley Brown
A litter of kidlitters
March 24, 2015 at 4:56 am
Jamie Shaw
A QWERTY?
March 25, 2015 at 10:25 pm
Juliana Lee
I like QWERTY too!
March 24, 2015 at 8:05 am
Rita Mitchell
So far I like a scribble for fun and quill to take a more serious and professional note. Or, putting a few of the comments together, how about a “scribble scrabble of squibbies”?
March 24, 2015 at 9:57 am
Stephanie Shaw
A sheaf of writers.
March 24, 2015 at 9:59 am
Stephanie Shaw
A Sassy of writers (stemming from colloquial “SASE”) and, besides, I just like the word ‘sassy’.
March 24, 2015 at 10:59 am
Kat Yeh
an IMAGINARIUM 🙂
March 24, 2015 at 11:46 am
Derick Wilder
Hmmm… still pondering one for authors, but how about a “palette” for a group of our illustrator brethren?
March 24, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Rachel Anderson
We all write books = WeAlWrBo. 🙂
Pubbednprepubbed
Writers one and all= WrOnAnAl
Oh golly. I don’t know.
March 24, 2015 at 12:30 pm
jeanjames
Talisman of tales
March 24, 2015 at 1:12 pm
Stephanie Geckle (@SPGeckle)
This is way too much fun.
The Swallows (from Hans Christian Anderson’s Thumbelina)
Kinderbards
Kindermagicians
League of Extraordinary Enchanters
Kiddylitters (ew. too stinky?)
March 24, 2015 at 2:30 pm
Robyn Campbell
Wordslingers, scribblers, kindred spirits, wordbuilders, storymakers. kidship writers. I see some great ones.
March 24, 2015 at 5:03 pm
Romelle Broas
Author + writers = writhors…authriters…arthritis! YAH, that’s it! Lol. Anyway, did someone already say galley? A galley of writers, because afterall, we are an art!
March 24, 2015 at 5:16 pm
Kelly Parker
Scrivnation
March 24, 2015 at 5:24 pm
Kelly Parker
Bed of Bookworms
March 24, 2015 at 5:42 pm
Kelly Parker
Mindful Menagerie, Portfolio of Poetry and Prose
March 24, 2015 at 6:30 pm
Diane Landy
What a fun idea, Tara!
Scribble, query and treasury are my favs so far.
Or how about a ream of writers?
Or for fiction only…
Talespin
Taletwist
Dreamdrift
Yarn
March 24, 2015 at 6:48 pm
Kelly Parker
A Lingo
March 24, 2015 at 8:20 pm
Carrie Tillotson
A block of writers
kidinklings
Mythtifiers
March 25, 2015 at 3:44 pm
lindamartinandersen
Illuminators
March 25, 2015 at 5:34 pm
Al The Author
A scribe of scribblers,
A scribble of scribes.
A 500-word frenzy,
A tot-typing tribe?
March 26, 2015 at 7:35 am
ritaborg
AN ONOMATOPOEIA of writers and an insanity of authors
March 26, 2015 at 9:48 am
Reena Balding
So many good ones here. Fun challenge!
A wisdom of writers
A kettle of kid literates
March 27, 2015 at 5:18 am
Frannyb
A Block? HA!
A Jot
A Page
A Plot
A Wordsworth
We’re a gang of Optimists, that’s for sure, though it doesn’t have the same ring to it. 🙂
March 29, 2015 at 7:19 pm
ThisKidReviewsBooks
Howsa bout:
a doodle of illustrators, and:
a page of writers and authors
😀
March 30, 2015 at 2:43 pm
writersideup
Well, Tara, I know I’ve been referring to us simply as “KidLitters” since I’ve been on social media. To me, that actually covers everyone on KidLit, right?
May 31, 2015 at 6:18 pm
sheryltilley
A ream of writers. A passle of kiddielitters.