At the meeting on 16 November, 15 members enjoyed a lively session led by Wolverhampton’s Poet Laureate, Emma Purshouse. The subject was Writing For Children and we began with members announcing their favourite children’s books and authors they had read when much younger. Memories were stirred which highlighted an important point. Present day writing must be contemporary, children understand objects and words that they meet today, not years ago when many of the writers were children.
Emma passed around a sheet containing 11 extracts and we were invited to tick which ones we thought came from books written for children. From the first ten, only one, (an excerpt from The Godfather) was considered as penned for adults and even that might be enjoyed by older children who were aware of the movie franchise.
Then it was time for action and we began to draft ideas and sentences which might be attractive to children. One or two were read aloud and the topics varied from tales about animals to those featuring fantasy characters. This was followed by developing an idea and plot, bearing in mind the ages for which the story is intended. Time, setting and characters needed to be recorded with a three line description, a single sentence strap-line and three words to sum up what the writer desired the reader to learn.
In bringing the session to a close, Emma reminded us to :-
Not underestimate readers
Use contemporary style
Avoid stereotypes
Use engaging three dimensional main characters
Not preach
Use children for research, listen to how they speak and behave, and …
READ lots of contemporary children’s literature.