How to teach your child to write a novel: Preparation

July 21, 9:44 AMNorfolk Books ExaminerLydia Netzer

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Junior Secret Novelist Club

Hi! Welcome to the first part of this free course, "How to Teach a Child to Write a Novel." This is the first in a series of posts that will show you how to take a young child through the process of planning a novel. You'll start a young novelist club, teach eight weekly lessons, and prepare your students to take on one of the toughest creative challenges out there! Make better writers and better readers in eight easy lessons. Begin here! If you're not a child, if you don't intend to teach a child, if you want to write a novel yourself, stick around. You just might learn something and have some fun too.

Writing a book is not easy. It’s not something that people generally expect a child to be able to do. Not many children are willing to even contemplate writing a book, let alone attempt to begin one. This hesitation is not a natural reaction; it is a learned one, most likely born out of a parent’s impression of what’s involved in writing a novel. Kids don’t know that writing a novel is something that should intimidate them. And truly, there’s no reason for a child to approach novel writing with such trepidation. Can an eight year old child write a best-selling novel or a literary masterpiece? No. But in the process of writing the novel she can write, she learns a lot about the books she’s reading, and a lot about the creative process, and has a lot of fun.

How do you teach your child to write a book? I'm going to show you how, in eight lessons. The curriculum I'm sharing is less a curriculum and more like guidelines for running a club. Kids will name their club, choose a secret handshake and “oath,” and earn “badges” by doing weekly lessons, games, and activities. By completing these lessons, the student prepares him or herself for the task of writing a novel, without ever getting spooked by the enormity of the task.

To form your own "Junior Secret Novelist Club," (doesn't the word "secret" make it sounds cooler right away?) you will first need some kids. Six is a good number. For optimal fun and awesomeness, these should be mostly kids who are pretty game. Kids who are nervous and uncertain will definitely benefit from this course, but there should be a good percentage of kids who will jump in with both feet and not be afraid to get a little crazy. With a few enthusiastic little writers in the mix, the hesitators will be more likely to cast aside doubt and join right in.

You’ll need a notebook for the kids to write in, do their homework in, and use to collect their exercises. Choose a small notebook, not a standard size, so they can really fill it up. A 3x5 is too small, but an 8x10 is too big. 6x9 is perfect, and recycled paper is cool. Ideally the notebook will have a sturdy front and back cover, since this is where the students will be collecting their badges. You will also need eight very very cool stickers per child that are more like badges than paper stickers. I found three dimensional glossy flower ones for the girls, and metallic compass/clock stickers for the boys. Look in the scrapbooking aisle for something that will really make their eyes go wide.

The key concepts are as follows:

• Writing a novel is fun.
• Writing a novel can be broken down into easy, manageable steps.
• By the time you get to the part where you have a blank page in front of you, you have a solid, detailed plan and lots of material to use in your book.
• Planning and writing your own novel helps you become a better reader of books that others have written.
• Finishing means getting all your badges, not writing a complete novel and typing The End at the end.

The boy's notebook

On the front cover of the notebook, mark off four spaces, and label them GENRE, HERO, VILLAIN, and CONFLICT. On the back cover, mark off four more spaces, and label them SETTING, PLOT MAP, ANALYSIS, and CHAPTER LIST. Each week, as the children complete the exercises, you’ll hand out their badges.

The final thing you’ll need is something really super ridiculous to award them at the end of the course. I used a cool-looking paper clip, which became the Official Novel Writing Paperclip. After the final meeting of the club, you will pass out these official totems, and authorize the students to write their novels. Yes, it will be silly, but yes, you very much need something tangible. You could use hats, t-shirts, socks, necklaces, or whatever can be turned into an official, authorized novel writing item.Kids, notebooks, badges, and a final prize. If you have all that in order, you are ready to begin!