How To Work with Young Writers

Children don't really care if you are an extensively published writer. (You also don't have to be an expert children's book writer.) What children really care about is satisfying their curiosity about the exciting world of books and writing:

1. Have a passion to share with children how interesting writing can be. This can require a lot of patience and persistence, especially if you are working with a group of young writers. When you're in a class, there's always someone skeptical about what you're doing--and young skeptics are great at adding extra nuisance. You can encourage them first by taking out the ‘boring' in writing. Make everything enjoyable. But...
2. Offer sufficient direction. You still need to direct them, really, so that you help your bunch of aspiring writers to focus on what they need to be doing. For instance, when you ask young writers to write a descriptive story, some could mix it up too much with the cause-and-effect side of their story (Your goal must be to narrow down each of your lessons into the distinct areas of writing.) Because children are naturally creative, they could easily get lost in a ramble of ideas. Remember that writing follows certain rules so make sure that the kids are always guided. Let them experiment, have room for ingenuity, but don't let too much play ruin their writing.
3. Prepare several demonstrative or illustrative activities. You won't have problems with young writers having mental blocks--they always have a lot of ideas, but sometimes they have so many ideas that they don't know which topic to pick or how to start or how to stay with their subject.
   • Here's a good exercise: Bring a bag with several items from home. Ask the children to form a small circle. Let one of them pick just one item from the bag (no peeking). Ask him to make up a one-line story involving that item. Have the second child pick another item from the bag. Have him tell a story about that item, but making sure to connect it to the previous story. And so on and so forth... You just taught a bunch of young writers how to pursue one trail of thought in storytelling!
4. Bring sufficient props. Sometimes children are just not in the mood; hence, you should always be prepared with stuff that can catch their attention and revive their interest in writing. Here are some things that you can bring:
   • Sample fairytale stories or horror books.
   • Destination photographs.
   • Love letter.
   • Pet.
   • Interesting item for the children to personify and write into a fable.

   Or just go out and expose them to Nature for writing haikus. Be creative--you're surrounded by creative minds.

5. Challenge them. Organize games or contests. Here are a few suggestions:
   • Dare them to write a continuation to a story with a hanging ending.
   • Ask them to write two possible endings to their work.
   • Let them guess what happens next to a character after reading the middle part of a story.
   • Ask them to write a story without using the word "said."
   • Or ask them to make a list of all possible substitutes to the word "went."

   The main idea is to push their limits and let them reach the best of their potential - without being obvious.

6. Be generous with compliments. This remains the best way to encourage young writers to try to do their best--and to keep on writing!

Children are natural storytellers. However, their playfulness and zest for writing often need guidance and organization. Time and again, they need help focusing their work, and must be directed. I hope these guidelines help to make the hard work more fun. To learn more about how to work with young writers read Part 1 of this 2-part series, How To Teach Writing to Children.