The Art of Writing Short Stories: Soft Skill Development Tips For Kids

Introduction

Stories are a constant source of fascination for children. The enthralling plots and characters are a perfect way for children to get into the world of fantasy and adventure. Writing stories is a beneficial way of enhancing creative thinking and articulation skills among children. Young children observe so many things in their surroundings and are often creative thinkers. However, because of no proper supportive activities, these creative skills get suppressed and children never get the opportunity to fully explore writing as a field.

An engrossing story is a product of an impressive plot, a relatable protagonist and other characters, and most importantly a proper structure. It makes one go through a rollercoaster of emotions. Teaching all these aspects of story writing to your child can help them develop proper plot oriented and structured stories. Also, one must not ignore the numerous career opportunities related to this field.

Tips To Improve Story Writing Skills Among kids

While children may have a plethora of ideas, expression and setting up a proper structure is where they might struggle a bit. If you want to hone your child's story writing skills, then here are some resourceful tips for you

• Make Your Child Read Books

Reading books not only enhances children's vocabulary but also helps in making them understand how a story has to be structured. Try to provide your child with as many books as possible and make them read at least one story every day. Reading stories will help them gain a lot of inspiration to write a story of their own. Initially, your kid may write a story very similar to what they have read with a little bit of difference. However, with time you will see that your child may begin to start writing original and self-created stories.

• Help Them While Writing

It's very common for children to face a creative block. In this case, you may provide them with some assistance in terms of setting up a premise, giving character ideas, or a progression plot. Sometimes telling your kid even a single word can evoke hundreds of ideas in their mind. Try to give them different plot ideas related to gardens, space, picnics, and many more relatable topics.

• Motivate Them To Write Longer Stories

At the beginning of the process, your child is most likely to write smaller stories. However, with time you must make them write longer stories with an exaggerated plot. Give them some ideas and motivate them to include multiple characters and plots. While writing simple stories with one or two characters is a good way to start, do not stagnate there for a long time.

• Introduce Them To Different Genres

A story can be of different genres. It can be a sad story, a happy story, a motivating story, a mysterious story, or even a horror story. This is something that you need to educate your child about. Selecting a genre will help them decide the trajectory of the story and make them build a more immersive plot. Motivate your child to write different stories related to various genres from time to time. Help them with the plot if you want.

• Make Them Brainstorm

Any creative field requires a lot of brainstorming. While writing, a person may get hundreds of ideas, but all that matters is how a person selects that one correct idea that leads the story beautifully. Children may be very impulsive and not think before creating a story. While this is fine during the earlier stages, to make your child a seasoned writer, you have to ensure that they contemplate the plot properly before translating their emotions and ideas on paper.

• Make Them Watch Good Movies

A good movie is a product of a brilliant script and a story. If your child doesn't enjoy reading a lot of books, then making them watch deep and interesting movies can be a great option. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what the source of inspiration is. Both movies and books touch deep corners of the human heart. Also, the visual effect of a movie may have a deeper impact on a child and help them improve their story-writing skills as they might be able to imagine better.

• Focus on Grammar

A very important aspect of writing a good story is to know the proper grammatical concepts of a language. No matter what language you choose for your child to write the story in, make sure that they are equipped with proper grammatical rules of the language by their age. This enhances the accuracy and the beauty of the story.

• Be Consistent

Writing is a skill that requires a lot of patience and consistency. You must always keep in mind that writers are not born overnight. They have to go through a rigorous process of learning, reading, and practicing. Kids can be taught how to become good writers through a lot of practice. Also, you must keep a check on their performance and give your feedback to your child regularly. Highlight their problem areas and suggest alternatives to improve them. Keep motivating them to learn new words and phrases to enhance the charm of their story.

Conclusion

Just like a lot of other life skills, the ability to create stories is learned through determination and consistency. To build great story writing skills in your child, a lot of positive input and practice is required. Although the progress may be slow, you are most likely to see very substantial changes in your child's writing skills with time.