Story Writing with Children – Ban Boring Stories
An alien, reading the stories of our elementary school children, would be very puzzled. Did human parents starve their offspring? All the little human children seemed to write was about food. Obviously, traveling was also a great thrill for humans. Bus and car rides featured frequently in the little human’s writing. While beds clearly had a mystical quality to human civilization, at least half of the little humans’ stories started with ‘I woke up…’ and then ended with ‘And then I went home to bed.’
Obviously the aliens would be wrong. However, why do our children always want to fill their stories with the minor details of life?
It’s called “warm-up” writing. People start with the safe and familiar. Professional authors know this and guard against it. Some authors even count on trimming the first few chapters, so your book moves faster and jumps right into the action.
Young children often haven’t learned how to cut warm-up writing. Do any of these look familiar?
- Food fetishes: At Luna Park we all ride a roller coaster and then have lunch. We had burgers with fries and a big thick milkshake. Mom even let me have a second fizzy drink and Dad shared apple pie with lots and lots of cream.
- Bedroom antics (the er…boring kind!): I woke up that morning and jumped out of bed. I hurried to get dressed in jeans and a sweater and then brushed my teeth and put on my shoes…
- Caught in the Journey: We all piled into the car and headed off to school sports. On the way we waved at the cars and chants of blood about Mr. Tracey. Mark and I sat in the back and ate lots of twisties and fries…
- Friends Fan: Lady. Ceniton asked me to help organize the stage for the school concert. So Andy, Jane, Phillip and I did all the funding. Tina, Pete and Malcolm did the lighting. Pam and Mandy did…
Put it all together and you won’t have much room to tell the really interesting parts of the story. Sometimes we learn more about what the kids ate on the way to the zoo than what happened when the lion escaped!
See how this story dramatically improves when you remove the warm-up writing. It’s much more vibrant because the author now has something interesting to write about.
Before: I woke up that morning and I put on my tracksuit and I was so excited and scared. After all our training today was the state meet. We had to leave at 7:00, so Mom, Dad, and everyone wolfed down their breakfast and got ready to head out the door. My sister Jackie and I sat in the back and ate lots of chips and chocolate. Then she took this sticky drink that spilled on her. It was a long trip. We finally got to the competition and everyone piled up and headed to the gym…
After: “Look at those Queensland kids,” said Jackie. ‘Gee, they’re good.’
I saw a girl sprint into the vault, fly high into the air in a double front somersault with a half twist, and then land all the way down. She didn’t even look like she was out of breath.
I groaned and moved closer to me. It was cold in the gym. Or maybe it was just me who was cold. My sister Jackie and I had been training all year for the state championships and today was the grand finale. Suddenly my legs felt like lead.
So how can we help our kids write with more action? Try this:
1. Just tell them to cut out all the boring parts. Ban them if necessary. No beds, no bus rides, no boring lists of friends or food. (Show them the list above.)
2. Make them ‘start when the action starts’ – and not at the beginning of the day.
For example, at the gym, NOT in the car on the way to the gym.
3. Give them the starting line.For example, ‘That’s a huge lion,’ I said. We were at the zoo and…
So ban the boring and help bring out the best in your child’s writing.
© Jen McVeity, National Literacy Champion.