My Little Author
Timmy was all excited about entering the Reading Rainbow writing contest until we had to sit down and write a story. I’m amazed at how wonderfully put together the writing guide is. It contains everything a kid and adult needs to know about writing a story.
Some of the topics cover brainstorming, characterization, setting, problem and resolution and constructing a beginning, middle and end. Then it goes into the mechanics of sentence structure and different suggestions for illustrations.
When I sat down with Timmy we first started with a cast of five characters who resemble his siblings! We learned about their physical characteristics, their likes and dislikes and their moods.
Then we moved on to plotting the story. That was a lot harder and we had to do it in several sittings. I tried to prompt him without letting my writer’s mind take over his creation. He whined and fussed, saying he didn’t know what happened, but in the end we came up with a story about a boy whose brothers and sisters take his toys. I asked him if he wanted to have a happy or sad ending. He said happy and we brainstormed happy endings. Eventually the boys shares his toys.
Then we moved on to the title. Timmy whined again. He had no idea what to call the story. I told him to grab five books from his shelf and he came back with all Mercer Mayer books. But we found one that helped. Just Me in My Bath. I had to prompt him again, saying let’s use some of the words. Just me and my… He said brothers and sisters. I told him that was good and let’s think of another one. I asked him what the story was about. He finally came up with the title. Just Me and My Toys. And it fits the story.
The next step we’re going to do is draw the rough draft. Then he’ll really write the story out. This has been a really great writing program so far and the contest adds to the excitement for Timmy. It was so sweet the other night to hear him share his creation with his dad. He was so proud of his story.
Maybe I won’t be the only writer in the family.
