Fiction writing book recommendation for a 10-year old
My 10 year old niece enjoys writing fiction and writes very well for her age. I would love to encourage her love of writing.
Can anyone recommend a good fiction writing book that is accessible to a 10-year old?
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2 answers
First of all, it's great of you to take such an interest in your niece's passion for writing! I'm sure it's much appreciated :)
To the main point, I'm not finding much in the way of books on writing for children. And I think that's for good cause: nobody's trying to get children to write fiction particularly well. Kids at that age aren't really in the running for writing good fiction, and I don't think anybody's trying to push them in - just encourage them to keep enjoying it. For that, you don't want a how-to book, any more than you'd want to get a ten-year a personal trainer just because he enjoys playing basketball.
There are lots of other ways to encourage a kid's enthusiasm for writing, which might be more effective. Obviously, this will depend muchly on the kid herself, and your relationship, so YMMV.
- Take an interest in her writing; be appreciative. Kids love an audience. But writing is solitary, and doesn't get the audience a hockey game does. Knowing people are interested in her writing; are impressed by her writing; enjoy reading her writing - these are all powerful motivators. Heck, this'd work on most adult writers I know.
- Publication and community. There are several kids' websites and magazines that regularly publish kids' writing. If your niece likes the idea of sharing her work with others, this is a great route to pursue - it adds the elements of feedback, of interaction with others, and of an audience. It also establishes your niece as part of a community of kid writers - again, since writing is solitary, she probably doesn't know about other kids writing. Seeing that this is a "thing" is encouraging and involving. I don't have any specific recommendations, but you can look around for appropriate magazines and websites.
- Reading, reading, reading. Books and reading excite writers. Nuff said.
- Focus on authors. Until she's reading about writing, she can read about writers. As a kid, I read a biography of Louisa May Alcott I still recall fondly (there seem to be many...); writer biographies or fiction featuring authors should be easy to find. Similarly, you can find articles and interviews featuring authors she likes; those will certainly be interesting to her and encourage her interest in writing.
I did find one book that looks right up your alley: Kids Write!, by Rebecca Olien. It looks really aimed at kids (and not at kids' teachers); it's also got good Amazon reviews. Probably worth checking out! Following links on Amazon leads to other likely candidates - Writing Magic and Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook both caught my eye. I can't personally attest for the quality of any of these, but browse for yourself and see what might suit your niece's fancy :)
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