![]() I always think that having a first book published is a little like having your first child. First-time authors need to understand that. Editing the book is when the hard work usually starts – and writing a second novel is quite often more difficult than writing a first. Lots of first-time authors think getting a book deal is the hard part. Leaving it open-ended in the hope that a sequel will answer the questions isn’t a solution. They’ve got a brilliant, original idea, a wonderful voice and a great main character - which have got them a book deal - but sometimes they’ve never properly thought through how to give the story a satisfying ending that ties everything up. New authors often need to work on the endings of their books. New authors often need to work on their endings Plot needs to come from characterisation rather than the other way round. Motivation has to be clear, honest and woven through the story. Why does a character behave or act in a certain way – it mustn’t be simply because the author needs them to do so in order to solve a plot problem. Plus, find out how to support storytelling skills for children in EYFS, KS1, KS2 and KS3 to get them thinking about story elements, plot and character development.Motivation is something I spend a lot of time looking at with new authors. You could also try a great story-making app and get your child writing fiction on their tablet! We also recommend the free art and creative writing challenges on the Night Zookeeper website your child will be contributing to a co-created animated television show. If your child finds writing a story a little daunting, start with something small from our list of 9 fun writing projects to do with your children. They may wish to write in short chapters, use illustrations, or make their own book to write in – let them use their imagination and creativity when it comes to presentation, and make sure you show how much you value the end product by keeping it to read again with the other books in your house. ![]() They could do a draft in the first instance and then a neat, polished version later. Once they’ve got all of these ideas in place, they can start writing. ![]() This is just a little guidance on how you can support them and encourage a more structured approach to their story writing. It may very well be that your children write stories at home regardless of whether they’re required to for school, because most children have a seemingly natural urge to want to do so from time to time. During this week children would be consolidating their learning of phonics and be ‘writing for purpose’, considering carefully the aspects of story and who their audience might be. I wasn’t deviating from the curriculum – far from it. I know my author brother did too – we found some of his old stories a few years back, and I felt so pleased he’d had the time to write these endless pages of action, adventure, characterisation and twisting plotlines.Īs a primary teacher I ensured I would have a week each term when, during literacy sessions, we would focus solely on creating stories. When I was at school I adored writing stories – even stories with chapters and illustrations. While I think the more structured approach to literacy teaching we see in classrooms today makes learning more fun and accessible, my one worry is that there’s little time left for writing creatively. The way literacy is taught in primary schools has changed radically in the last couple of decades when I was at school in the 80s we copied from blackboards, had whole hours of handwriting practice and sweated over spellings without any formal teaching of phonics whatsoever.
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