Creative writing tips for 8yo

[RedAngel19]

DS hates and dreads creative writing with a passion. Y4 now sees more writing required and, consequently, more tears at homework time.

I have tried everything. From practising simple activities writing sentences with expanded nouns. To story mapping. To drawing and visualizing his stories. To story spiders. To giving story prompts where he just needs to write what happens next. Nothing seems to work. He sits and cries and stares at a blank piece of paper exclaiming that "it's impossible".

Ironically, DS is an avid reader. Loves Roald Dahl, David Baddiel, Enid Blyton, Kevin Tsang etc. Reads a variety of fiction as well as non fiction. He also listens to audio books in the car. Reads to us every night or we read to him. We have Mrs Wordsmith in the house so he looks at the vocabulary calendar and cards that we have (out of interest...he likes to flick through them whilst he's eating).

I have bought creative writing books which are full of graphic cartoon style pictures and fonts to engage him. They don't work.

I am really beginning to despair. Homework when it's English is becoming a real challenge. I honestly believe he CAN do it but his self belief is such that he doesn't have any confidence that he can do it. He says his mind is empty. That he has no ideas. Even when I tell him to draw inspiration from favourite stories. We have tons of fairy tale books as well. But he always says "I can't think".

No SEN issues and nothing wrong with his handwriting or how he holds a pen.

He sees writing as functional. Why write "The big, brown dog greedily are a juicy bone" when he could simply write "The dog ate a bone". We have talked about why writing is more interesting when adjectives and adverbs are used. We have related this to books he enjoys but he can't apply (or can't be bothered) to apply this in his writing.

Does anyone have any advice? We have ordered the Decriptasaurus and hope this will help. However, I think our main challenge is his self belief and also his extreme dislike of creative writing which means he simply doesn't want to put any effort in. It's become a vicious cycle. He believes he can't do it so doesn't enjoy it which perpetuates the lack of effort which means he doesn't improve so he continues to think creative writing is "impossible".

Alas, creative writing is something he can't avoid at school and they are increasingly doing more of this now he's in Y4.

Btw, I realise this is common amongst boys at his age. However, it doesn't help that boys aren't exempt from creative writing exercises just because they feel this way.

I will also add that DS actually has a great imagination. It's only when he has to write that his brain freezes and he draws a blank.

Two ideas:

1. Write 'fan fiction' based on Roald Dahl (or another author/ character he likes)

2. Story Cubes

Your phrasing about blank pieces of paper stood out to me - have you tried writing a sentence starter for him?

Maybe try writing with a real purpose ~ post letters to authors / celebrities he looks up to and hope for a reply.
Could you look up book making / folding and try non-fiction or scrap books on something he is interested in?
The Jane Considine write stuff writing rainbow symbols are useful for children that can't think what to write.
Writing on the computer / an app ~ comic book software etc could be appealing.

Can he dictate a story for you to write down? Would he be happier typing his work?
Is it that he can’t do it, or that he doesn’t want to do it and is coming out with an increasing range of excuses?

@UniversalTruth yes we have tried this. We've even tried me writing a simple sentence such as "The cat ate a fish" and asking him to add in adjectives to the noun and adding an adverb to the verb. I'm still met with protests or wails of "I can't".

@Amblesidebadger thanks. I will look up Jane Considine. I'm wary of of the laptop because the school are already doing too much on laptops and not enough handwriting and I feel he needs to get used to writing. When we tried this at home, he spent a great deal staring at the screen and retyping the same sentence in different fonts etc.

@bodie1890 we have story cubes at home (these dice). Actually, a game we all enjoyed playing a lot when out walking is that one of us names three random nouns and the other person invents a story which involves those three things (e.g. wizard, birthday cake and flying carpet). DS really enjoys this and we play it with his sibling. The more imaginative the better! Which is why I don't get why he struggles with putting pencil to paper!!! I feel that the foundation is there in theory but it isn't working for some reason.

What is his spelling like?

Could you start with lists and ideas so he can make up parts of the story and bits of plot etc without the pressure of writing sentences and then add his ideas in to build it up.

So if you said in this story there is going to be a boy. The boy is going to go somewhere, he is going to touch something magic and he is going to fall into a different world.
In the magic world he is going to meet someone, who has a problem. The boy will have a tool to fix the problem. The boy will magic himself back home.

And then you make lists of all the extra points, so its answering questions rather than makimg something up completely. So what is the boys name? What is he wearing? where is the boy going? What item could he touch that is magic? What is weird about the other world? (like is everything made of sweets or are are all the people actually talking animals etc)
Who does the boy meet? Ect, fill out all the questions and then start putting it into sentences.

That way he knows he can be imaginative and make stuff up, but its structured and easy. Maybe not a lot of questions first and build it up later?

@UniversalTruth spelling is full marks every week in his spelling test but then he forgets them so I suspect he just memorizes them for the test. Spelling can be great but more often it's pretty bad. However, if you ask him to edit his work and correct his spellings, he knows how to spell it correctly. Frustrating.

I should mention that I think his teachers do a great job teaching the class. However, he's in Y4 now and they can't be hand holding him and he doesn't qualify for extra TA support to work with him. I want to support the teachers but also to help DS so he doesn't develop a permanent dislike of English or writing.

I remember the daunting feeling of a big bank page. It's overwhelming. Is he a little bit of a perfectionist? Does he feel as though he "has" to write a perfect story, with perfect spelling and grammar and story, first time?

Would it help if he started off with the "three things" on post-it notes? Then he could jot down ideas under the post-its?

@Sandysandwich love this idea. I will try this. We have tried the who, what, why, where and when technique before but I think lists might be more helpful. As you say, he's answering a question. I like the sound of this technique and will give it a try!

I got my DD this and it was great, it prompts you all the way through the process of writing a story and she really enjoyed it.

usborne.com/gb/write-your-own-story-book-9781409523352

This reminds me of my dB growing up. Loved reading but hated creative writing. Every weekend he had an essay to write as a teen and he begged us, his sisters to do it. But when we gave him ideas he couldn't go with it as had such a logical mind. Became a high powered engineer and glad every day he never has to write creatively again.
I presume he is good at Maths!
Could you get him to imagine it as a video in his mind? . Some children don't actually make pictures in their mind and have to be trained as its not automatic. So get him to describe what he sees by asking ..what colour/ size he sees.
Can he get ideas from movies he has seen. Its okay to steal ideas until he can relax and get over his mental block..Also if he doesn't do great don't over correct but let him show it to his teacher so they have an idea where he is at.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime we have that book! An old teacher actually gifted it to him but he's not been able to engage with it.

@junebirthdaygirl I've actually had several male colleagues who said the same thing. They hated creative writing but loved the sciences and maths which were logical. Yes, DS is strong in maths! Those are very good suggestions you make and I will certainly take those idea on board.

Thanks everyone so far for posting. Some great ideas here.

I asked about spelling because my ds is the same but has dyslexia - re reads for pleasure amazingly but has learnt the picture of the words, he doesn't naturally decode with phonics. It doesn't sound like this is the same with your ds though, although worth exploring maybe.

One trick we use because ds has appalling working memory is to have ready written characters that he can use in his stories - ie, we've already made up their names, siblings, likes, dislikes. It helps to take the pressure off so he can focus on writing about what they are doing in the context of the question, but doesn't have to 'hold' details in his mind about the people too. An idea to try.

I would think about having a chat with him about this along the lines of "I've noticed you have difficulty... Do you know why? What ideas do you have to help?" Then together you can agree some points to try. With my ds, acknowledging that something is hard for him and that it's ok and you'll work on it can be enough to change his mind to more can-do attitude.

Oh that's a shame. Would he prefer to design a comic book? It's just another form of creative writing, but maybe more appealing if he's into it. Or a video game, or Dungeons and Dragons plot.

Well I have one idea which may fail but it worked with my DD who would be anything from furiously uncooperative to hysterically crying during lockdown faced with creative writing.

So... before you start, you create a "word bank". Each of you takes it in turns to write one word in the word bank (which means write it on a piece of paper!). You can buy a little thesaurus so he can learn to look up new words too. Include adjectives, verbs and maybe even a few nouns. As he gets better at this over time (say next term) get him to build a few little noun phrases ready to slot into his work so instead of just "clouds" he may put the noun phrase "stormy clouds" in his bank.

Then you tell him to write one sentence on a scrap piece of paper that COULD start the creative writing piece. Tell him this sentence is one he is going to SCREW UP AND CHUCK as far as he can. So it doesnt matter implicitly if it is dreadful or the best sentence he ever wrote, it will get thrown away. This takes all the pressure off and gets him started. Starting is often the hardest thing.

If he still can't start then you give him a first sentence to chuck away. Then help him start the real first sentence. If he is stuck, tell him to pick ONE word from the word bank and help him build a sentence round it.

My dd found this unlocked her inability to get going and within a year she was happy doing her creative writing.

@UniversalTruth interesting that you raise this because in Y1 the school did consider possible dyslexia. They decided in the end it wasn't so we never had him assessed. They had him attend a TA led group to help with this handwriting and spelling and it rapidly became apparent he didn't need it. I'm really glad your DS was receptive to a change in attitude. I do reiterate "can't do...YET!" and acknowledge it's hard but he can do it but he doesn't listen. I will keep trying and I like your idea of a ready made cast in his head.

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime he does love comics!! He hates drawing though. He has cried before in the past when homework has involved drawing a picture with his writing. Again, it's the creative aspect that he struggles with. I do like the video game idea. I'm going to use that as a writing prompt so he can design his own game and game characters. Thank you!

@Popaholic will definitely give this a try! So glad it worked for your DD. You've brought back the horrors of writing over lockdown. My DS was the same as your DD!

Story plots

Look up these Pie Corbett basic story plots. You can write a story in 5 lines or expand it more..
I thought of these when you liked an idea like this upthread.

Thank you @Amblesidebadger . I will print these out. I am starting to find it so exhausting doing any kind of creative writing with DS! The first battle is get anything written. The second challenge is to get him use adjectives. He simply cannot be bothered!

If he is dyslexic I'd imagine it's possible that he has all the ideas in his head but he struggles to get those ideas from his head to the paper, I'd guess it could be a processing thing because it sounds like he loves reading and he can make up stories verbally. So I agree with a pp who said that it might help for him to dictate to you or for him to talk through his ideas with you and you write a list of what each paragraph could be about based on what he tells you - he might find this easier to do while you go for a walk rather than sat at a desk/table, and then as his confidence grows you can try doing it in a more formal setting.

You might not want to be writing for him because you want him to write himself but he can always copy it out after which he will find much easier as he's not trying to write and trying to think what to write at the same time. If his writing is not good he may also be dyspraxic of course, it's one of the things that gave it away with ds.

My son has ASD and dyspraxia and was similar, hates creative writing with a passion but is an avid reader. Looking far into the future for you but ds got a 9 in GCSE English lang because he was able to use a laptop and because before he did the exam he wrote two stories that between them could fit into almost anything that might be thrown at them (the titles are generally quite open ended). This meant he just had to chose the most suitable essay, tweak it to fit the given title and then he already had what he needed there in his head. Knowing that he only needed two stories he put a lot of time and effort into them as he's actually a good writer - just often doesn't know where to start, how to structure it or what the point is!

Dyslexia is an SEN and so I would definitely get him tested if you can, it could mean extra time and using a laptop when he starts doing secondary exams.

I bought this book for my granddaughter, it has all sorts of writing prompts, with some story structure. Write your own story

Sorry, just seen that someone else has linked to this book.

Sounds like you are doing a lot to help him and I wonder whether a bit less might get a better result. If he feels intimidated by the blank page or scared of being creative (as lots of people do) then it may be that all the support and activities are making things worse- he’ll have picked up that you see this as very important and if he’s anxious about not being able to do it, that might make him feel worse. So I’d try backing off a bit, encouraging him to keep reading and maybe let him find his own way a bit more with creative writing.

I realise this might not seem a helpful comment as when something isn’t going well, one wants to do something to make it better. But if you’re doing everything you can think of and it’s not helping, perhaps you need a different approach. Less “don’t just stand there- do something!” and more “don’t do something- just stand there!”