We Have Many Stories Within Us
Who needs fictional children’s stories, when our personal life is filled to the brim with hundreds of amazing, fun, sad, loving, motivating, heroic, and adventurous stories; true stories, heartfelt stories, close-to-home stories, relevant and revealing stories, which are all ‘in the family’?
Here are some pointers on how we write our stories for our children, our grandchildren, and for our entire future generation, before they are lost forever.
Kids Like Pictures
We browse through our old photographs and see if there is a good story behind any of them. If there is, then great, we will have a picture to accompany our story. If we don’t have a real life photograph relating to the story we are going to tell, then we shop for on-line pictures, hire an artist, or we draw our own images.
- Writing in a child’s language
We use words which a child understands, but we don’t talk down to them. We try to imagine how they see the world – in a larger, more colourful, scarier, magical, awesome way, than most of us see it. - Being playful
We tantalize and tease our little reader with small jolts, surprises, and chuckles, as we write how we talk. - Keeping it short
The narrative, sentences, descriptions, actions, and explanations all need to be kept short, bold, and to the point, unless we require a longer prose here and there for emphasis. - Tying characters to our reader
We personally may not have liked our Aunt Maura, but for the most part children should feel proud of their family and the long lineage to which they are genetically connected. If Aunt Maura is not a blood relative, she was still part of a relative’s choice. All characters need to be treated fairly. We are honest with people descriptions, but at the same time we are loving as we connect our children to their family, providing them with a sense of belonging.
“Your five-foot tall, great-great Uncle Tim, who was a fast runner like you …”
“Your round and snuggly Nanna Jane, who loved to cuddle, just like you …”
We find ways to connect our reader to all the true characters in our story. - Sensory details and other descriptions
Kids love, and need, descriptions: precise, bold, clear, and focused outlines. And it is sometimes fun to repeat them in the story, more than once. ‘Six sparkly silver shoes.’ - Using words that sound like the noun or action
Bees buzz. Snakes hiss. Taps drip-p-p-p! “The fireman’s hose went swish, swoosh, swish.” We are not afraid to use words like ‘flibbertigibbet’ or ‘heebie-jeebies’ if we are telling a story about long ago. Kids love these tongue-twisting, rib-tickling terms. - Exaggeration
We take some dramatic licence here as we blow things up, a little, at least. We know if, and when, we’ve crossed the ‘fib’ barrier. “I blew the world’s biggest bubble-gum bubble!” - Suspense
We build up our stories to a climax, as we keep the child in suspense about what is going to happen next … and then– wham! It happens! - Questions or riddles
Kids love guessing, so a question thrown in here and there will have them ‘all ears.’ “And what do you think happened next?” - Including a chorus
We come up with a catch phrase and repeat it at the appropriate time, like a chorus in a song. “No, oh no, where did the chipmunk go?” - Finding a rhythm
A catch phrase will help to create a good rhythm and flow in our story. There is no steadfast rule to creating a rhythm; it’s more of a ‘feel’ thing. So we keep reading the draft of our story through to see where sentences can be broken up more, or extended, to the point of the story sounding as if we are telling it, not reading it. - The use of colour
We describe colours in their brilliance. An idea is to check out crayon names to get a good idea of what relates to children. ‘Neon Carrot’ ‘Jungle Green’ ‘Cotton Candy Blue’ ‘Piggy Pink.’ - We show; don’t tell
When we show, for example, “My eyes popped open wide, like two giant dinner plates” we bring our story and its characters to life, and we reserve the ‘telling’ parts to fast-forwarding the story, describing settings, and for general narration. - Humour
Wherever possible, and maybe when our reader least expects it, we go for a giggle, a chortle, or a hilarious punch line. - Dialogue
We interject dialogue wherever possible in children’s stories, because it breaks up long prose, and it also helps our reader to relate to the characters. - Ending our story on a good note
Even if our story has a sad ending, we always try to wrap it up with a positive message. “A pet in Heaven.” “A healed big toe.” “Everyone in the street came together to help.” - Avoidance of spelling out obvious lessons
We try not to lecture in our story, or state the lesson. If the story is well written, the ‘moral,’ if any, should be obvious to a young child. We could even end with a question. “I think someone gets a star in the sky when they rescue an animal. What do you think?”
We keep the story for our child short, compact, and to the point about our time well spent,
as we help them to feel well connected by a loving line of descent.
