Following on from our introduction to writing for children by guest speaker Paul Bristow, this week our very own club member, Maggie Bolton, was picking up the mantle and asking us to put our imaginations to paper. A published author, illustrator, winner of the SAW Children’s Novel competition, and member of the Ayrshire writing collaborative, Litereight, we were bound to pick up a few tips and tricks on writing for the younger generation from her. The focus of the evening would be writing for 8–12-year-olds, as this was the criteria for our “Children’s Story” competition – good in one sense, to help our entries for the competition, bad in another, in that I would no longer have any excuse not to enter the competition.
We started off the evening with a free-writing exercise where we had to note down the ideas and thoughts we had for our children’s story. Maggie reminded us of the rules for free-writing – just write, don’t cross out or go back to edit, don’t worry about punctuation or spelling – just write! She also advised us that the number “3” was significant in folk tales so to bring this into our writing somehow, maybe joining three disconnected items together?
Five minutes of free-writing later and Maggie asked us to put our pens down and consider what we had written. Were there any interesting phrases or ideas standing out in the scribbles? If so, we were to underline them, then put our pens aside again, as Maggie was treating us to a short story time (being on Zoom meant we were not required to sit cross legged on the carpet, though silence and concentrated expressions were still expected).
Maggie read a short passage from each of the following four books;
- The Wreck of the Zanzibar, by Michael Morpurgo
- The Super Amazing Adventures of Me, Pig, by Emer Stamp
- Diary of an Accidental Witch, by Honor and Perdita Cargill
- The Fearful, by Keith Gray
The stories were varied in their language, length, styles, pictures and plotlines, deliberately so, to emphasise another key point for this evening. The competition may be aimed at stories for 8 to 12 years old but what an 8-year-old will happily read is significantly different from a 12-year-old. Younger fiction tends to be more action / adventure, and relatively short in both sentence structure and overall length. There may also be some illustrations throughout the story. Older children can handle more emotion and reality in their fiction, and have the ability to follow longer, more complex plotlines. The secret is therefore to aim your story at an age-group with only a couple of years’ difference e.g., 8– and 9-year-olds. Obvious when you think about it – I mean, what did you want to read when you were 8? What about when you were 12?
I remember being delighted on the first day I could borrow books from the Young Adult section of our local library – I was bored by this point by what was available in the children’s library. This took us to our next point of the evening – have you read any children’s stories recently? Yes, some of the classics that you read in your school days are still favourites, but the world has moved on and kids are far savvier these days; their books reflecting the changes over the generations. If you want to write stories for children now, then you need to know what they’re interested in now.
Next up, Maggie got us to consider the folk tale side of the competition, with questions such as:
- What is a folk tale?
- Where can you find them?
- Do they have origins in human tales e.g., old ladies the inspiration for witches, unusually tall people the inspiration for giants?
- What spin can you put on that folk tale to weave it into a children’s story?
Folk tales, Maggie continued, are traditional stories passed down the generations. The original versions were often not written down, but handed on as verbal tales only, hence the variations that seem derived from a single source. Fortunately, someone eventually decided to capture each tale, meaning you can source out a good story or two from the internet or the local library. Those early tales were often much more frightening that the ones told now as well– we don’t really think it good parenting these days to terrorise kids before bedtime with monsters that creep about at night! However, you could take a scary tale and twist it with humour to make it more age-appropriate, have those previously feeble medieval maidens become feisty warriors that battle away at any creature that considers them supper, or tell a tall tale from the criminal / supernatural being’s point of view.
On that note, it was time to revisit our free-writing, having highlighted any sentences or phrases that were interesting, and start turning it into the beginning of a children’s story, inspired by a folk tale.
I admit, I’m fairly rubbish at writing to order. The imagination part of my brain laughs at me when I tell it to get working on demand, before returning to a cosy, relaxed state, snoring softly to emphasise the “not going to help” vibe. I started off with one or two ideas about the three little pigs, but didn’t get far. Fortunately, there were plenty of others at the workshop with more active imaginations than mine. Maggie invited us to share some of our ideas with the group and an eclectic selection of plots followed, from fairy tale themes – including more playful pigs and ghost bears, and modern-day twists on the Pied Piper and Red Riding Hood – through to satirical thoughts about government parties and the chill of Rabbie Burns’ “Tam O’Shanter” made warm and friendly.
After a short comfort break to refill mugs and glasses (in my case another cup of red bush tea and a couple of chocolate digestives for essential blogging energy), Maggie had us back for more writing exercises. Now she concentrated on writing prompts, giving us a selection of opening sentences to kick start our stories. We could attempt as many of the four suggestions as our brains and imaginations would allow.
The first, “The sky and the sea was black velvet, and the wind howled. All he could see was…”, got me doing some scribbles on an army of mermen invading the shore, which I may revisit. Others caught glimpses of sea monsters and pirates amongst the dark waves. There was even a mention of sparkling wine and Guinness – definitely not a black velvet story recommended for children, but perhaps one appreciated by members of AWC.
The second prompt was again short, not necessarily sweet, and a complete contrast to the first: “ ‘Ha ha, that will show him,’ she said, gleefully waving her wand”. The subsequent “show him” outcomes across the Zoom screen included rabbit ears, shrinking clothes, breakfast salad, and a jam roly-poly pudding, each wicked enough to amuse the younger generation. It’s becoming evident that writing for children may require some rather twisted thoughts!
“ ‘They do say’, the old sailor said, ‘that when the wind blows north north west….’ ” This was our third prompt. Apparently, this wind can influence curry smells and Wi-Fi signals, as well as having a more folk-tale-like choral impact. The latter one gave me goosebumps with its lyrical idea, and hopefully will get turned into a story – I’m sure you’ll agree once you’ve checked the Zoom recording.
Finally, “If you’ve ever been alone in a graveyard at night, you might find….?” In my case, absolutely nothing, as I would be running to the nearest well-lit, well-populated place, being a complete scaredy cat for all things dark and creepy. I couldn’t resist a pun on a churchyard party and spirits just for tonight though! Fellow members were braver than me, reveling in the witching hour with grave robbers, skeletons, and owls. We even learned a new word – taphophile – a person who is interested in cemeteries, funerals and gravestones. I found it appropriate that this AWC day was a school day when our workshop was leading us through the delights of writing for children.
The graveyard turned out to be our final location in what had been a very entertaining and educational evening. I’m channeling a certain children’s tv programme when I say tonight’s learning was bought to us by the number “3”, folk tales and a few writing prompts. Maggie has certainly given us much food for thought, be it the competition entry or simply having a go at a children’s story.
Now, back to my own writing. I wonder how well those three little pigs did get on when they all moved in together to escape the wolf…and did they see that army of mermen last night as well?
Maggie Morton