This page will tell you how to teach your child to write creative stories.

Parents, please view the following 7 TRAITS to teach your child HOW TO WRITE. Be sure your child has included evidence of all the writing traits in their piece, but first, help your child make a graphic organizer of what they plan to include. It’s best to zoom in on a small moment rather than an “I woke up” through “I went to bed” story.

THE TRAITS ARE HOW WE WRITE and Consists of. . .

1. Ideas: central message and details, the content. Find a topic. Decide on a title that enticingly captures the theme. Focus on the topic, making it narrow and manageable. Freshly develop the topic with insight and evidence, transcending the obvious and predictable. Use NUMEROUS details to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. The exact details make the writer credible, especially with believable anecdotes. Be memorable.

2. Organization: internal structure, the thread of logic, and pattern of meaning. Create the lead that entices the reader.

Tips for Interesting Openers to Hook the Reader In

State an interesting fact or thought. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. I learned this the hard way. . .
Ask a question. Did you ever wonder what it would be like if. . .
Make a bold or surprising statement or a promise. It is true; I am a skiing master! I realized when. . .
Give a definition. Dictionary.com defines happiness as pleasure, joy, exhilaration, bliss, contentedness, delight, enjoyment, and satisfaction. I experienced all of this when. . .
Start with 3 adjectives. Spooky, creepy, and scary are three words that come to mind whenever I think about last Halloween.
A quote. “To succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” (Bill Cosby) This rang true for me when. . .
A flashback. I will never forget that Christmas. . .
Sound.Chirp, chirp, chirp. . .
Action. The waves were crashing against the rocks. . .
Dialogue.“Happy birthday!” Mom exclaimed as I . . .
Description of setting or character. (Be very descriptive, telling time and place. Use your senses when describing settings and characters.)
State a problem. Be very descriptive. Use senses. Use sequence and transition words to show the reader how the ideas progress, relate and diverge. Develop the body, fitting the details logically, slowing down to highlight important parts and events, and speeding up to move the reader along.

Tips For Ending Your Story

End with a sense of resolution and closure.

Circular ~ end it from the place you began.
Question ~ ask a thought-provoking question at the end.
Cliffhanger ~ leave the ending suspenseful and up in the air.
Hopes/wishes ~ tell the reader your secret hopes and wishes.
Advice ~ offer the reader a piece of advice.
Moral ~ tell the lesson that you learned.
Quote ~ research a quote on the Internet related to the theme of your story and end it with the quote. (Don’t forget to mention who said the quote!)

3. Voice: tone and tenor, personal stamp achieved through a strong understanding of purpose and audience. Establish a tone, showing you care by being expressive, compelling, and credible. Convey the purpose to add interest to your overall message. Is this a narrative piece, informational piece, or persuasive piece? Create a connection to the audience. As the writer, you must consider what the reader needs to know and the best way to share this. Take risks to create voice. Be original, fresh, and sound like yourself. VOICE MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT TRAIT, SUPPORTING AND EXTENDING WHAT THE WRITER SAYS. VOICE SEPARATES GREAT WRITING FROM PROFICIENT PIECES (Culham, p. 46).

Northern Nevada Writing Project recommends showing:

Your Personality ~ be honest, sincere, have passion and confidence

Your Emotions ~ energetic, heartfelt, your true feelings coming through, invite feelings from the reader, too

Your Style ~ be either a reporter or a storyteller, showcase your techniques, sound like you, take risks

Your Point of View ~ show an emotion, consider perspectives, be aware of your audience, and be sensitive to them

Your Experience ~ know your voice, show insight, sound believable, own the topic

4. Word Choice: (Use a thesaurus.) Vocabulary is chosen carefully. Think of the 5 senses. Keep AABH-SOAP in mind (created by me, Mrs. Judy Araujo), which stands for the following:

A: Adjectives ~ describe nouns (beautiful, soft, crispy, delicate, rosy, etc.) Be thoughtful and specific. Use your 5 senses!

A: Adverbs ~ describe verbs and usually end in ly (slowly, gently, happily, angrily, quickly). Use your 5 senses. Be specific.

B: Better Words! Instead of said, say, replied, whispered, responded, etc. Instead of run, say trotted, sprinted, dashed. Think STRONGER VERBS! Think STRONGER NOUNS! Instead of car, say Cadillac. Instead of “The car drove by,” try “The Cadillac rattled by.”

H-SOAP is the Figurative Language you add to “clean up” your writing!

H: Hyperboles ~ something that is greatly exaggerated (ate one hundred pancakes, ran a one-minute mile)

S: Similes ~ compare using like or as (as bright as the sun, like a bull in a china shop)

O: Onomatopoeia ~ sounds like the sound it makes (plop, drip, ring, crash)

A: Alliteration ~ sentence or phrase with same letter sound (sweet smell of success or breezy, blustery day ~ stick one or two in for effect)

P: Personification ~ brings life to nonliving objects (the moon smiled and winked at me, or the bed welcomed me after the long day)

By picking the BEST words, you can SHOW, not just tell.

5. Sentence Fluency: how words and sentences flow ~ the auditory trait because we “read” it with the ear and eye. Capture the smooth and rhythmic flow. Read it out loud. How do the sentences sound? Craft well-built sentences and combine sentences using and, but, so, and other transition words. Vary sentence patterns and lengths. Use a one-word “sentence” for effect. Use a mixture of simple sentences with more complex sentences. Have a few sentences answer WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY, HOW. For example, The cat sat. Change this to Yesterday, the sick, lonely cat slid slowly and softly under the old porch swing. Break the “rules” to create fluency, especially with dialogue, to make the writing more authentic.

6. Conventions: These guide the reader through the text and make it easy to follow ~ spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, usage, and paragraphing. Check spelling. Use punctuation and indent paragraphs. Insert capitalization where needed. Check published texts on how to use punctuation and capitalization for dialogue. Apply grammar and usage, only breaking this for stylistic reasons. Otherwise, nouns/verbs should agree.

7. Presentation: The physical appearance should be visually appealing to attract the reader. Apply handwriting skills with consistent size, neatness, clearness, and spacing. Use word processing with a clear and appropriate font, using color only to increase readability. Use white spaces, including appropriately sized margins. Incorporate text features that align with the content. There should be no cross-outs or smudges.

ChoiceLiteracy.com (2006-2011) recommends Cynthia Rylant’s The Relatives Came to teach:

leads ~ gives a little information about the setting and makes you wonder
endings ~ ease the reader into the conclusion
memoir writing ~ a small slice of life
internal thoughts ~ lets us know what the characters are thinking
transition words ~ propels the reader through
visualizing ~ word choice, using the 5 senses, helps us form a mental picture
sentence variety ~ varied beginnings and lengths
voice ~ show ~ don’t tell, write as you talk
beginning, middle, end ~ clear, simple story structure
circular story structure ~ this text is similar to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff.

Parents, notice what real authors do as you read aloud to or with your child. Encourage your child to imitate the author when they write, too!

A QUICK FYI: LETTER FORMATION IS IMPORTANT! Students who form letters correctly and fully grasp spelling will have an easier time writing. In combination with poor spelling, poor handwriting can contribute to disability in written expression (Graham, Harris, & Fink 2000, Graham, MacArthur, Fitzgerald, p. 276). Failure to develop automatic and legible letter and word formation may interfere with content in writing (Jones & Christiansen, 1999, Graham, MacArthur, Fitzgerald, p. 276). Students devoting too much time to letter formation or letter retrieval have less time for spelling, planning, and expressing themselves.

Check out my Letter Formation information!

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Edited on 03/14/2024

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