Does your child like to write? Has your child written a long piece and gone over it many times already? Let me help you direct your child in their love for writing.
Lately, multiple people have approached me asking me to read a story and give my feedback. I LOVE looking at young writers’ work. Their enthusiasm spills from their words. Carefully selected prose display their effort. I feel I do the parents and children a disservice with the relatively short conversation we have about their child’s writing.
So, what do I see in almost every budding writers’ work?
Let me explain a little about myself first.
I’m a certified elementary, bilingual and English teacher. I’ve been seriously writing for four to five years and have done ghost writing. I’ve also made school visits and taught middle schoolers creative writing. Unbetrothed, my debut novel, with Illuminate YA releases February 2022. Therefore, I’ve seen a lot of writing. I’ve done a lot of writing, and I see the same mistakes over and over again.
When I started my creative journey, I made the same mistakes.
I can give you a long list of things to do, but I find the list can sap a person’s ability to write. So I want to make it a little more fun while giving the information.
How can you help your child in their writing journey today?
I plan to post each Monday about something you can do this week to better your creative writing. I hope these exercises help.
WRITINGS TASKS
- READ LIKE A WRITER– Reread the opening scenes in your favorite books. These novels are your textbooks. Look at how the author put together their sentences. How did the author make you like the main character? What lie does the character believe? Did the author give you questions while you were reading? What questions do you still have about the story after reading the first chapter?
- Write something new. It can be the next chapter. If your child has finished their story, let the story rest. Come back to the story in a few weeks or even months. I prefer to let my stories rest for a few months. It’s tempting to want to write, rewrite, edit, edit, edit and call your story done. Letting a story rest will help you and your child look at the story with fresh eyes. In the meantime, write something new or illustrate your story.
I hope this helps give a little more guidance than the info dump I’ve give my friends. There’s so much to learn about creative writing. It’s hard impossible to fit it into a single conversation. I am excited to see the stories that come from your children.
Until next week, happy writing!
