Top Tips for Getting Young Writers Inspired!

We get a lot of questions about writing, but one that appears time and time again is ‘how can we encourage young writers?’.

As the minimum age for Write Storybooks is 13, the answer isn’t quite as simple as signing up for our comprehensive 18-module course. Keep reading to discover how you can help any young writers (or old) to fall in love with writing again!

Creative Space for Young Writers

Everyone needs space to be creative.  This could be a quiet corner of the kitchen or even the coffee table in the living room. They don’t need fancy software or a top of the range laptop; they just need space that’s theirs.

If you’re able to — either as a gift for a special occasion, or a ‘just because’ treat — you can even make up a special writers pack. A notebook, pens, stickers, a set of colouring pencils, anything that they can use in their stories.

A child that feels in charge of their writing space feels in charge of what they’re writing.

Letting Go of Mistakes

Our next step is a tricky one; don’t squish creativity because of silly mistakes children are allowed to make.

At least in a first draft, mistakes are okay. So, instead of worrying about spelling and grammar in the first draft, encourage drafting and revision. Revision forces any writer to see how their story could improve. It’s about tweaking mistakes and fixing plot points. Most importantly, revision is about instilling a sense of accomplishment when these improvements are made. 

Reviewing a story also encourages a young writer to think critically about the work they’ve created. It gives them a chance to see if that word can be changed for a more dynamic one or if the ending needs a great giant twist. Mistakes aren’t mistakes — they’re a path to great writing.

Making Writing and Reading Fun

Writing for fun is all about that… being fun! There’s a wealth of adventure to be had with any kind of storytelling. Encourage young writers to think outside the box and try something new.

This doesn’t just apply to the kinds of stories they may write, but how they’re told too. So, why not:

• Create a personal newspaper with made-up articles about silly news, fictional characters or different time periods?

• Step into another character’s shoes and write a diary from their point of view?

• Embrace your inner artists and create a comic strip to go along with a story?

• Turn a story into a script that friends and family can act out?

The same sense of fun applies to our attitude to reading too. Not every reader needs to be a writer, but every writer must be a reader.

Stories don’t come from a vacuum. They’re influenced and informed by the thousands of stories that came before. Also, they’re the only way to see how a tale can be told well. It’s important to remember that the type of story a child wants to read doesn’t matter.

Whether a story won a tonne of awards or was written 100 years ago doesn’t automatically make it better. What’s more, it doesn’t matter if a child wants to read articles in a crafty magazine, a football annual or a book on ponies. After all… if you say to a child that a certain book isn’t worth reading, you’re also saying that the stories they enjoy aren’t worth writing.