diff --git a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/jettison/badgerfish/BadgerFishXMLStreamWriter.java b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/jettison/badgerfish/BadgerFishXMLStreamWriter.java
index 455086f..3cfcec9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/codehaus/jettison/badgerfish/BadgerFishXMLStreamWriter.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/codehaus/jettison/badgerfish/BadgerFishXMLStreamWriter.java
@@ -119,6 +119,10 @@ public void writeAttribute(String local, String value) throws XMLStreamException
     }
 
     public void writeCharacters(String text) throws XMLStreamException {
+    	text = text.trim();
+        if (text.length() == 0)
+          return;
+
         try {
             Object o = getCurrentNode().opt("$");
             if (o instanceof JSONArray) {