A story exists in each of us. I encourage children and adults to find inspiration to write. Ideas can come from a variety of sources:
Pictures
Newspaper or magazine articles
Sunday school lessons or sermons
Events in one’s own life
Events in other people’s lives
Shared conversations (with permission and without revealing sensitive info that could personally hurt someone)
I understand, some children do not like to write, but as adults, we must provide the impetus for them. Observe your children and/or students to determine occurrences that give them pleasure. Once you figure out their interests, locate books, articles, or pictures on the subject, read and discuss the information together, look at the illustrations or pictures, and then suggest that they write a short story on the topic. Also, consider writing a story together. People often find motivation to write when I share my inspiration for my writing ideas.
Some of my unpublished writing projects include story ideas partially based on real life events when I was younger, shared conversations about things someone told me, events in other people’s lives, and sermons. I also developed a story about a wild turkey that resided in my neighborhood for about nine months! Stay tuned for its publication in a few years. In addition, some topic ideas appear in my quarterly newsletter, Connecting Readers to the Word.
Recalling my inspiration for my first published book, Mama, I Want to See God (Boutique of Quality Books, 2014), one evening my daughter-in-love shared with me that my grandson said to her those exact words, “Mama, I want to see God.” She discussed some concerns with me regarding his declaration. I eased her mind by telling her that I felt my grandson was just curious about the God we pray to, we talk about, we sing about, but we cannot see. The next morning I was motivated to write the story. Furthermore, inspiration came to create a series name for the book, “Families Growing in Faith.” Now, book two, Daddy, I Want to Know God will launch October 2017!
Join me, get started, and incite your child/students or yourself to write a story today!
Book Recommendation: Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine.
Thanks for stopping by and I invite you to join me again as I continue to explore literacy topics and issues affecting children. Please share my blog with others and feel free to subscribe to this publication, so that you don’t miss an issue.
Vanessa Fortenberry
Author
Teacher-Librarian
M.Ed., Media
Ed.S., Media
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