Writing is not something that you develop overnight as a skill. It requires passion, hard work, and sometimes desperation. Writing also requires perseverance, especially if a person is pursuing it as a job rather than just a hobby. It would be nice if children could develop their writing abilities at a young age so that when they reached early adulthood, they had already developed the characteristics of a good writer. These are just some of the things that a good writer should be able to do without buckling:
Finding a Unique Perspective
Everybody’s got stories. One student can come from a cookie-cutter household, but there are family traits or secrets that no other family will have. The books they read and the people who influence them also develop their perspective on things. However, this is not just about collecting one-dimensional characters in a story. This is about how the writer considers them to come up with something that readers haven’t read before. The sooner schools use creative writing worksheets to help students hone their writing skills, the better.
Knowing How to Edit
One major problem for writers is not knowing when to stop. It sure is easy to write tens of thousands of words. After all, words are what a writer is good at. They can string up words in sentences that describe a single scene in different perspectives and can span chapters. Still, is it necessary? Readers will easily lose interest in the story if writers don’t know when to stop or when to remove a plotline that only serves to muddle up the recipe rather than thicken it. It can be hard to let go of one character with so many quirky lines, but if they cannot be differentiated from another character, the author needs to say goodbye and take comfort in the fact that in their mind, that character will always exist.
Developing a Cohesive Story
A writer doesn’t need to write a whole book to tell a story. Short stories and essays are just as appealing if done right. This emphasizes the importance of knowing the different parts of a story, from the introduction to resolution. There’s only so much room for long-winded sentences that lead nowhere. They can be forgiven if it is their first time writing; several tries in and they will see just how unnecessary some of their chapters are. Encourage your student to practice. Give them tasks to fill their composition notebook and read them to see which areas you can help them improve.
Taking Criticism
No one starts writing and masters it instantly. However, a writer will not know how to improve if they don’t let other people read their work. When others read it, they will have opinions. Writers need to steel themselves for words that they might not want to be associated with their piece; these same words will help them get better at writing. Getting another person’s opinion is not something to skip, either. A writer needs to know how to deal with criticism, and if that means wallowing in their room after their first bad review, so be it. After that, they’ll learn to have thicker skin and an open mind.
As an educator, you shape the young minds of kids to help them have a bright future. Hone the right skills in these future writers, and you’ll feel a sense of pride in reading their work someday.
