Here are a
few ideas which might help with your writing.
One of the things you need is raw material. Jokes, little stories,
places, people and the sorts of words we use. You also need feelings. You know
- sadness, joy, anger, fear, embarrassment and worry. Where do you find this
raw material? In your own life, that's where.
People say
to me "You must have an interesting life, Paul Jennings". Well, yes I do, but so do you. Everyone has something worth writing
about. If you think hard, you'll find
there are countless stories in your life.
What your dog did. The time you
ran away from home. How adults don't
understand what it's like to be a kid sometimes. How you hated speaking in front of the
class.
All your
experiences are fantastic raw material.
Remember, if it made you cry it will make someone else cry. If you are embarrassed, other people will be
too. You take these feelings and
exaggerate them a bit - make them larger than they really were. Once, I was
embarrassed because I forgot to change out of my old painty trousers into clean
ones when I went to a posh dinner.
Embarrassing - but not good enough for a story. I changed it to a boy who is embarrassed
because his head got stuck in a toilet seat and he can't get it off. That would make people in the restaurant sit
up and look.
I am nearly
always the main character in my stories.
Lots of the events are straight from my own childhood and others are
things that I wish could happen. Like,
being able to fly or read people's thoughts.
Before you
write the first line, think. Is it
interesting? I never start my stories
with ‘It was a sunny day and the sun peeped out from behind the clouds’. That's no good. The reader has already closed the book or
fallen asleep. Go for an unusual start.
How about ‘I did not eat your jeans. Well, not on purpose anyway’. Or ‘My cat
laughs every time I sneeze’. Or maybe ‘Is this the way to the Hell's Angels
Flower Show?’. You can probably do better.
Why not try?
Another
very important thing is the title. It may be the best story ever, but if the
title is so boring that people don't even start to read it, they will never
know. So a lot of thought has to go into the title. I don't usually choose a title
until my story or book is finished.
My first stories were terrible. I can't bear
to read them any more. If you keep
practising you get better. Read, read,
read. If you're not a reader you won't
be a writer.
Don't let
anyone tell you that you are just a kid - your life is as important as anyone
else's. When you tell your own stories
they are real. Add a bit of fantasy and
you have MAGIC!!
Good luck!!
Paul
Jennings
