A summer of stories

My daughter loves writing stories in her down time—she’s been done with her latest school year for a little over a week, and she’s already written several chapters of The Secret of the Blue Whale (right now, Julian has discovered a secret underwater village—more to come).

She’s a bit like me in this way, even though right now it comes out more in the talking-animal form: she processes through writing. But even if she weren’t the writing type, I’d still want a way to encourage her to take a pen to paper and scratch out her imagination. There’s something pretty powerful about a well-told story. They make up the magic of our collective culture.

In order to foster her creativity, I created a journal of ten story prompts, one for the ten (more or less) weeks of summer). And last week, I realized it’d be fun to make it available to you, too. It’s called A Summer of Stories.

“A book is simply the container of an idea—like a bottle; what is inside the book is what matters.” -Angela Carter

This PDF can be made in to a printable journal, filled with room to brainstorm and scratch out stories till her—and your child’s—heart’s content. It also includes a low-key explanation of the five elements of a story, the five elements of a plot, point of view, and a pep talk about why writing is fun. I also may or may not reference Harry Potter. (I need to emphasize my hipness with the youth.)

If this sounds like a cup of tea your kiddo would like to sip this summer, head here. My daughter is nine, so I wrote it for around her age, plus or minus a few years—but I’ve already heard from a few grownups that they’re having fun with it, too. I’ve included ideas on how to tweak it for younger or older writers.

I’ve also included general encouragement for the parent, resources for grammar if you want to go there (since this e-book is more about the creative free-flow of writing), and a link to find free paper I’ve created for younger writers and videos about the book-publishing process.

If you prefer a Kindle version, head here; a Nook version, head here. They’re a dollar cheaper, since they’re also not journals—it includes all the other info, but you’ll need to provide your own writing space. Still just as fun, though, I think.

I’d love to know what you think! If you guys like this, I may make available the one I write her for the fall as well. Go ahead and take a look at A Summer of Stories.

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” -Stephen King