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Creative writing can be so much fun when you know what to write about and how to set about writing. But if you don’t have a clue as to what you want to write about or don’t know how to go about putting your thoughts down on paper, it could become a very daunting task.
Creative writing, as the name suggests, should be original and self-expressive. It should be entertaining, in order to be able to hold the reader’s interest – think about the last book you read....would you have got through it if it hadn’t held your interest...?
We have put together our top five tips to help your child produce some great creative writing pieces.
Find Kick-starters
Contrary to what some might think, ideas don’t fall from the sky. They have to be prompted by something; this could be a direct/indirect experience, books one has read or stories one has been told. Ideas could come from films/programmes or from real lives. These ideas can then be modified, tweaked or based loosely on. They could even just form the very basic framework for a creative piece for example, a human as the main character in the actual story could be changed to an animal or the setting could change. Your child may decide to leave the character as a human but change the description (appearance and character).
Planning
So we now have great sources from where we can develop our ideas. We will now have to gather our ideas and put them down in the right order, so our creative piece flows. This is the part where we would need to consider all the elements of our creative piece and jot them down in bullet point form. This could also be seen as a checklist of sorts; something for your child to refer to, to make sure they have included all the ideas and elements needed to make their creative piece has that desired outcome. Also, note that this plan can be edited as your child writes their creative piece; items can be added and removed as they see fit.
Proper execution
The plan has been written and checked to make sure all the important elements needed to make your creative piece a joy to read, have been included. The next step would be to get writing. Remember, the plan was in bullet points (or whichever other method your child has used), so now would be time to develop those bullet points into actual sentences, paragraphs etc
Remember, the aim should be to keep the reader interested in your piece from start to finish. Look for great phrases to use within your piece. Think of books, your child has read in the past or programmes your child has watched; how did the scenes begin, how did the chapters begin. The introduction needs to be quite interesting, in order to make the reader want to continue reading. Again, feel free to borrow phrases, as long as they fit well into the story.
Would also be a good idea to have a dictionary, thesaurus and possibly a descriptosaurus to hand, to help your child with the vocabulary side of things.
Proofread
Once the work has been written, be sure to proofread it, and then get someone else to proofread it again. This is very necessary because we sometimes read what we think we wrote as opposed to what we actually wrote. Also, after writing for that length of time, you tend not to see the proverbial woods between the trees, so getting that fresh pair of eyes to look over the written piece is really important.
Note to Parent
As the parent, encourage and nurture this practice in your child. Try not to dwell on the grammar and spelling mistakes too much, but more on the ideas in the piece.
It also goes without saying that your child should have the correct writing materials, in order for him/her to carry out the task, otherwise the ‘tools’ will be the first subject of a complaint.
If all of the above are implemented correctly, this would set your child on the right path to becoming a very competitive writer.
If you still need help with your child's creative writing skills / technique, Leaders are Readers Writing Workshop would be the perfect solution. Click on one of the links below to contact your nearest centre for more information:
https://www.leadersarereaders.co.uk/find-your-centre
https://www.leadersarereaders.co.uk/saturday-school
