W is for Writing: Building Skills

I think the secret to writing is just to start writing.  As your ideas start to flow they tend to refine themselves.  You can start with a brainstorming session to generate ideas and then select the one that inspires you most.  Then, you can write out as many words, quotes, facts and ideas as you have pertaining to that idea.  

Some people are able to write a story from start to finish and only have a light edit at the end.  They write while 'in the zone' as the ideas flow from the mind to the pen and paper (or keyboard).  Others write a sentence, delete it, start again and so forth as they work their way through.  Personally, I am a fan of writing all you can then going back over it to build on it.  I like to get the 'bones' on paper and add the meat later.  The meat would include quotes if they are not already on the page, descriptors like adverbs, adjectives, similes and metaphors and other supporting documentation.

  

Some of the things to do once you have what you think is a finished product is to....

1.  Go over it again and make sure what you wrote makes sense.

2.  Go over it again and check that you remembered all of your capitals and periods.

3.  Go over it again and check that your verb tenses are consistent.

4.  Go over it again and see if you need to add in any adjectives or adverbs to make the story more               descriptive.

5.  Go over it again and see if you used a word repetitively.  If so, use a thesaurus to find synonyms to         diversify the terms you use to express your ideas.

6.  Go over it again to find out if you covered all the information necessary. One way of doing this is to       ask,  "If somebody read what I wrote, would they be able to answer the who, what, where, why,             when and how questions?" Maybe not all of them are suitable or necessary but there should be a             main point and supporting statements that a reader can clearly identify.

7.  Go over it again and check your spelling.  Usually a spellcheck app works well to help with this.

It is a lot of editing if you didn't write well in the first round but it is good to have a checklist of points to go over to make sure you gave your best effort. 

Granted, every story is worth listening to when it comes from a child and perfecting their writing is not always going to be the goal of the exercise.  However, when you WANT to work on building writing skills, these are the kinds of questions to ask.  I am sure there are more.  The key though, is to communicate the message as effectively as possible with writing  that flows clearly.  Do what you can to convey thoughts memorably and with excellence according to the current skill level.

I say "you" because this applies to everyone who writes but I am actually speaking to the child you are with.  Our goal should be to build up the skills of the child(ren) in our lives so that they may excel.  We want them to grow to produce writing as excellent as the writing of those whose books we are reading to them.  Reading well written books and classics sets a good example and exposes them to literary styles to inspire their own stories. 

Layer upon layer we are building up their skills.  Be sure that the process is inspiring and uplifting, so that the process of developing skills is positive for everyone!