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Dec 9, 2017 · At the end of the day, you should write what you want to write, and if you’re feeling called to write a story loosely inspired by events from your childhood, you absolutely should. A lot of people find writing therapeutic, so it’s possible that in the writing of this story you might work through some things and start to gain perspective.
- Children Are Individuals
- How Children Learn
- Writing Toddler Characters
- Writing Child Characters
- Writing Preteen Characters
- Writing Teenage Characters
- Draw Inspiration from Your Own Experiences
This should be obvious, but children are unique individuals with different passions, goals, and personalities. Despite this, writers often pick one of a few worn-in personality tropes to assign to their child character, then simply call it a day. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but that’s just not going to cut it. If you want your young c...
Children learn how to behave as a result of what they are exposed to. They learn how to act based on how the people around them act, and they learn to speak by repeating the words they hear other people saying. Children are like little sponges that absorb whatever information they come across, so you can assume a lot about a child based on who thei...
This is a particularly difficult age group for people to write about, and toddlers in stories often resemble more of an object than a person. Writers tend to shy away from giving toddlers any real personality, out of fear of conveying them unrealistically. This strategy, however, only produces boring children that end up being more like plot device...
Once a child outgrows the toddler phase, they will start displaying more critical thought and preferences. They might have a favorite show, a favorite genre of music, and a favorite pastime, and all of those reveals a little bit more about the person they are shaping up to be. They are really starting to get the hang of being alive, so you can expe...
This is often a difficult time in people’s lives. Middle School is tough, and it can pose many complex challenges to people who are still figuring themselves out. It is an awkward transition, where they are not quite teenagers, but they feel too old to be considered children. They are expected to find things they are good at and figure out what the...
Writers often mistakenly write teenagers like they are fully developed and experienced adults. However, like when adult actors play teenagers in a movie, this comes across as inauthentic and strange. Teenagers are intelligent and grown, but they are not yet like adults. There are many things that they still don’t fully understand, and they are not ...
If you still need inspiration, try looking at your own past. You were a child once, like everyone else. Try to remember all the stupid things you did, and why you did them. Think about what you liked, and the phases you went through. Additionally, remember the children you played with, your siblings, and any other child you interacted with growing ...
Feb 24, 2019 · Deconstruct it. Examine how much emphasis the author places on family members, events, and setting details. Consider whether you’re immersed in the author’s perspective, how other characters are portrayed, and more. I advise against undertaking this analysis before you commence writing, as you might risk being overly influenced.
- Georgette Todd
- Decide whether you’ll write non-fiction or fictionalize. There are many ways to approach life writing. You could follow a non-fiction approach and set down dates, facts and memories as close to events as they occurred as possible.
- Choose an approach to time. Time is an interesting element to conside r when deciding how to write your life story. For example, will your book cover birth to the present day?
- Do what you need to set aside any fear. Many writers feel daunted when embarking on a new project. This is often particularly acute when writing about more personal experiences or real life where you don’t have the protective veil of fictional characters.
- Summarize significant events to cover. Any one person’s life is a massive archive or trove of significant experiences and memories. As Hermione Lee says, the immensity of this ‘source material’ can feel overwhelming.
- Journal and Free-write. Take a few minutes to free write or journal each day, focusing on one memory. A good writing prompt for this free-write session is to write about a significant 24 hours in your life.
- Outline and organize. After you’ve written down a variety of memories—whether they’re a part of an overall narrative or a collection of essays—they now need to be organized into a coherent story in order to actually write it.
- Pick your genre. “Creative nonfiction has become the most popular genre in the literary and publishing communities.” – Lee Gutkind, What is Creative Nonfiction?
- Research. Regardless of how you begin writing your life story—with free-writing or outlining—research can help you build on memories to create a fuller story and establish you as a credible writer.
May 30, 2018 · Posing childhood writing prompts for your characters gives you and your future readers more insight. I had many sleepovers growing up, but two memories stand out. First, the night Carrie and I made a Polly Pocket water globe in a Pepsi bottle. And second, the night Rachel and I found a poster-sized piece of cardboard and constructed a collage ...
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Feb 2, 2019 · If you’d like to hire me as an editor, check out my children’s book editing page. 12. Find an Illustrator. This is the most important step of the post-writing process. An illustrator will be the most expensive step of publishing a children’s book, but also the most essential for a successful book.
