Creative writing - help for child

[JSSB]

My 7 year old loves writing stories, poems etc. I'd like to support her and wondered if anyone could recommend any resources. I'd really love to find her a group to go to locally but haven't been able to find anything. Thank you.

[sleepismysuperpower1]

there are lots of tips here. where are you based OP? maybe someone on here will know of a group? it may also be worth having a look here. they critique and suggest ways to improve the child's story (of under 2000 words) and you can submit as many stories as you like. all the best x

[CakeRage]

It probably goes without saying, but I think the single greatest gift my parents gave me in terms of my writing now was encouraging me to read widely and voraciously.

They also never censored what I read, so when I’d burned through all the kid books at the library when I was about 8, my mum lent me her books, or let me take adult fiction out, and I think that was the biggest boost in terms of my vocabulary and writing skills.

A lot of the subject matter went over my head, and I read with a dictionary next to me to look up words I didn’t know, but I read such a volume of well-constructed sentences that it’s just second nature to me now. Don’t mean to toot my own horn, but it also turned me into the shit hot speller that I am

I hope you find something which helps her. Have you tried speaking to her teacher? They might know about resources or courses

[JSSB]

Thank you for your responses. I'm going to order the book as it looks fab. I agree reading is definitely the best thing to build writing skills. It's something I've always loved and she loves it too. We are in south Essex. I've done a fairly exhaustive search online. It's a shame as I can find lots of sports related clubs but nothing around creative writing for her age. Maybe it's viewed as being too much like school?

[Cordillera]

My DD was introduced to the Descriptosaurus books at school so we bought one for her, it's great (when she remembers to look at it).

[JSSB]

Thank you for recommending the Descriptosaurus. It was expensive but what a great resource. My daughter hasn't stopped looking at it all weekend.

[Mamma1974]

Hi there, I have the opposite problem. My son is nine and a reluctant reader and subsequently writer. He is an amazing reader but it just doesn't interest him. I suggested books, gone to the library to allow him to choose his own, trips to the book shop and given him his own choice as to what he'd like to read! I read to him every night also. I've also spoken to school. Any suggestions to harness the love of reading and writing?

[JSSB]

I would just carry on what you're doing. I've heard a few of my daughters friends parents say they've stopped reading to their child at night because they're no longer interested which I thinks a real shame. Have you tried playing word games? We recently introduced scrabble to our daughter and boggle which is good because it's quick. You could also think about encouraging him to write a journal if he's struggling to think of creative ideas. You could make it into more of a scrapbook with pictures etc. I think when you have a love of reading it's hard to understand when people don't. My husband is very academic but in the 20 years we've been together he has probably only read 5 books for pleasure!

[Mamma1974]

Hi... We have boggle but Scrabble is a good one too - I'll try that one. And yes, a former teacher from his school mentioned just having a book he can write whatever he wants in, whenever he feels like it. She suggested that there should be no rules eg correct punctuation. It should just be free flowing.

I have some friends who are GPs, Engineers etc, have made it to Cambridge and I asked them if they were big readers as children, the answer has always been no. That always surprises me.