teen writers

Writing Prompts for July 2018

WRITING PROMPTS JULY 2018

I believe that creativity begets creativity. When I’m working on one creative project, I get inspiration and ideas for others. Does the same thing happen to you? It’s certainly a lovely to be in that place right now. I plan to enjoy it and wish the same for you!

I’m also happy to announce the launch of my online Writing Camp for Teens. If you are a teen writer or have a teen writer in your family, please check out what I’ve been up to here.

I’m taking the plunge and attending a writers’ critique group this evening. I only know one member, so I’m a little intimidated, but I know it’s healthy to get out and meet other writers. I’ve always been reluctant to share my work, so this will be a stretch for me. If those of you already in critique groups have any encouraging advice (or cautionary tales) please pass them along. I’m sure I’m not the only one interested in some insider information.

I hope you enjoy the new writing prompts and that you and yours have a healthy and writerly month ahead.

Use one, some, or all of the words in one of these groups to create a story or poem.

  • Deck, breeze, book, cup, alone, fear
  • Lake, tree, shore, run, midnight
  • Table, menu, grief, pie, memory
  • Message, hurry, unknown, friend, doubt
  • Thunder, clouds, running shelter, lightning, breath

Use one of these opening sentences to start a story.

  • I deserved better.
  • Henry smelled of Old Spice and trouble.
  • The audience rose to its feet.
  • Saying goodbye was going to be harder than I thought
  • I was afraid that my famous last words were going to be, “I should never have believed Henry.”
  • Storm front coming.
  • I wasn’t sure Helen would recover from this one.

Here are some titles that might inspire a story or poem: Every Monday, Run, The Last Pony, The Answer, Quotient, Formula for Murder, Always or Never, Alone in the Sky, Promises and Lies, One Heart for Yesterday.

Here are some dialogue excerpts. See what scenes you can create from them.

  • I haven’t seen Henry for ages.
  • He was around yesterday. Maybe, he doesn’t want to see you.

 

  • Did you like the movie?
  • Uh huh.
  • That’s all you have to say?
  • Didn’t you notice who was sitting in front of us?

 

  • I thought we were done here.
  • You might be, but I’m not.

 

  • Did you hear what Helen said?
  • Yes.
  • Did it sound like a threat to you?
  • Yes.

 

  • I’ve had enough. Let’s go.
  • Who put you in charge?
  • Okay fine. You can stay, but I’m leaving now.

 

 

 

 

 

Online Writing Camp for Teens

Online Writing Camp for Teens – Explore Creativity and Story Writing at Home

I’m really excited to announce that I have just put the latest touches on my online Writing Camp for Teens. It’s a self-run, online course, offered through Teachable with five Activity Bundles containing writing activities, crafts, field trip ideas, and Internet links. The Activity Bundles are organized by topics and can be completed one day at a time, or they can be dipped into at random for a variety of activities all centred around writing.

Activity Bundles

  1. Finding Story Ideas
  2. Learning About Your Characters
  3. Plotting and Starting Your Story
  4. Writing Description and World Building
  5. Writing Dialogue

Writers can use the information in Writing Camp for Teens anytime in the future, too. Students have lifetime access.

The Other Activities in the bundles are creative activities that are fun to do along with the writing.  A few of these focus on drawing for a reason. Writers tend to have a critical voice in their heads that can get in the way of creativity. Drawing and colouring are simple ways to quiet that voice before tackling a writing session.

Along with writing-centred exercises and activities, the Writing Camp for Teens provides a few links to librarian-selected reading lists by age. Links to resources and writing tips are in each bundle.

I have incorporated relevant material from my two books, Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens and Writing Fiction: A Guide for Pre-Teens, into this Writing Camp package, along with lots of writing prompts in each bundle. There’s no need to buy either of the books to supplement the camp material.

Writing Camp for Teens is offered at two levels: Silver and Gold. The Gold Level includes a personal critique by me of a 1500-word excerpt from a story or novel.

Please take a peak at Writing Camp for Teens at the following link. Several activities are open for you to explore. https://wrightwriter-school.teachable.com/p/writing-camp-for-teens/

Publication for Young Writers

51fSKVUK2lL._SX385_BO1,204,203,200_Here’s a list of new locations where young writers can be published. I’ll be adding these to the Where to Get Published tab, too.

10 Publication Opportunities for Young Writers:  Writers like Françoise Sagan, Sonya Hartnett and S.E. Hinton demonstrate that youth doesn’t have to be a barrier to literary success. Here is a list of 10 magazines, journals and websites that are committed to publishing young writers and that champion the work of those just starting out.   http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2015/03/26/publication-opportunities-for-young-writers/

Canvas Teen Literary Journal is published quarterly in print, ebook, web, video, and audio formats. http://canvasliteraryjournal.com/submit/

New Pages Young Authors Guide: Where young writers can find print and online literary magazines to read, places to publish their own works, and legitimate contests. Some publish only young writers, some publish all ages for young readers. For specific submission guidelines, visit the publication’s website. This is an ad-free page; publications and contests listed here have not paid to be included. This page is maintained by Editor Denise Hill, a teacher who loves to encourage young writers.   http://www.newpages.com/writers-resources/young-authors-guide

YARN (Young Adult Review Network):  YARN is an award-winning literary journal that publishes outstanding original short fiction, poetry, and essays for Young Adult readers, written by the writers you know and love, as well as fresh new voices…including teens. http://yareview.net/how-to-submit/

The Telling Room is a nonprofit writing center in Portland, Maine, dedicated to the idea that children and young adults are natural storytellers. Focused on young writers ages 6 to 18, we seek to build confidence, strengthen literacy skills, and provide real audiences for our students. We believe that the power of creative expression can change our communities and prepare our youth for future success. Places to Publish:  http://www.tellingroom.org/get-published/places-publish

Inspiring Links for Teen Writers

New JournalSometimes the Internet just seems to throw something my way that leads me to explore even more. Today I started with one link and ended up with a series of websites about writers who were published in their teens. If you’re a young writer, you will find lots of great writers and books here to inspire you.

Here are the links to the sites I found. Enjoy! And keep writing!

Authors Who Wrote Great Books Before They were 25.

23 Writers Who Were Famous Before Age 23

List of Books Written byChildren or Teenagers

Teen Author Bookshelf: List of Published Teen Authors When you drop by this website to check out this list, take some time to explore the great resources here. An excellent site for teen writers!

Teen Writers Find Publishing Success

Yes, You Can Get Published as a Teen Another great site to explore!

New Edition of Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens

BookCoverPreview 2I’m very happy to announce the release of Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens–Second Edition.

The second edition of Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens contains expanded chapters and over 50 writing prompts to help young writers find story ideas and defeat writer’s block.

Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens has the concise answers that teen writers need to their writing questions. Whether at the beginning of a story or in the middle, or whether the words or flowing or or mired in hesitation, teen writers will find writing prompts, encouragement, concrete solutions to writing problems, tips for plotting, writing dialogue, characterization and more.

Reviewers of the first edition said:

“Writing Fiction is a bare-bones resource. If the information isn’t useful, it isn’t there. That is what makes it so valuable. Teens don’t have to wade through pages of padding to get to the good stuff. The book contains only the good stuff. Teens interested in writing will make good use of this book.”

CM: CANADIAN REVIEW OF MATERIALS, Manitoba Library Association

“This guide to writing fiction speaks directly to young writers and provides tools to help them become successful in their writing endeavours and to have fun doing so … The author’s love of writing and enthusiasm for sharing her expertise with young writers shines through this guidebook, making it a wonderful resource for young writers.”

CANADIAN TEACHER magazine

To read a couple of sample chapters, please click here.You can purchase copies at Amazon.com here and Amazon.ca here.

Classroom Visit and NaNo Thoughts

I had a great morning yesterday, visiting a class of Writer’s Craft students at a local high school. I talked with them for an hour about publishing: different ways to get your work published, some warnings, some resources and some facts about the money side of the business. The time flew and the class was attentive and asked good questions. I hadn’t visited the school before, but I was made very welcome. I was a bit early and while I waited for the teacher to meet me, without exception every teacher that passed me smiled and said good morning. That doesn’t happen everywhere.

In the conanowrimo_participant_06_100x100urse of talking about writing resources with the teacher after the class, I mentioned National Novel Writing Month. She teaches a course in the first semester that would overlap NaNoWriMo’s dates, and I thought it might be fun for her students to explore.  NaNoWriMo has a fantastic program for young writers with lots of excellent resources for the writers and for teachers who might want to get their classes involved.

So this got me to thinking about this coming November. Will I join NaNo and try to write a novel in 30 days? The first time I attempted NaNo, I stopped around 20,000 words. I was happily writing a suspense/romance and enjoying just letting the story go where it may, when I realized that if I could write 20,000+ words in a couple of weeks, why wasn’t I writing the book I had wanted to write for several years? Duh. So, I stopped the novel and finished Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens, instead. My 13-year-old son finished his NaNo novel with 50,000+ words and a lot of pride. The second time, just as we started NaNo, my much-loved mother-in-law began a swift and deadly decline due to pancreatic cancer.

There’s a unique quality about NaNo that seems to crack through something in me that just gets words on the page. Maybe it’s because the objective is so absurd that the writing can’t be overthought or second-guessed, and I don’t put up my usual procrastination roadblocks because I need to post a number every night.  Yup. Seeing that graph head upwards really motivates me.

Have you tried NaNoWriMo? What do you think about the experience? Are you thinking of signing up this year? If you’re a teacher, have you ever used the resources or used NaNoWriMo with your class?

Writing Links for Writers and Teachers

Work-in-ProgressThought I’d share a few blogs and resources that I’ve found useful this week.

A great blog from Janice Hardy showing writers how to set tone and mood in their scenes. The examples are excellent and capture a lot of writer flaws that are easy to see in your own writing–mine included. Sigh. http://blog.janicehardy.com/2013/04/how-to-set-tone-and-mood-in-your-scenes.html?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+janicehardy/PUtE+(The+Other+Side+of+the+Story)

An interesting blog on why the word “suddenly” should be deleted in your writing. The comments add some other words that can be deleted, too. http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2013/04/most-common-mistakes-series-why.html?utm_source=feedly

Skype in the classroom offers ways to connect with teachers and specialists who are willing to connect to you and your students through Skype. https://education.skype.com/

Have a great Wednesday!

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