Why is it important for children to read a lot to be able to write better?
A young writer in the Young Writers' Club Jr. program ended a story that he had written by saying that all that happened in the story was only a dream. He was told that ending as a dream doesn't work and could disappoint a reader. He was asked if he was willing to take up the challenge of changing the ending. Before he answered that question, he had an even more important question to ask.
"Why shouldn't a story end as a dream? Why is that disappointing to the reader?"
Ending a story by saying all that happened throughout the story was just a dream risks the reader feeling disappointed, even cheated. The reader has felt compelled to read the whole story. He or she has put in the effort and time for the story and expects a good ending, preferably an unexpected ending that is likely to remain in their minds for awhile. Making the story that has engaged them all this while as simply a dream feels like the writer did not know how to end the story and hence took the easy way out. We as individuals feel impacted when someone beats the odds and succeeds after surpassing several hurdles. We don't applaud anyone who made it the top by following a short cut do we? The same holds good for a story too. The more the writer cares for the reader and works to get the ending right, the chances of the reader being happy becomes higher.
We write to convey something. When we write to entertain, we need to take care of every aspect of the story and make sure it is entertaining. That takes work.
The connection between reading diversely and the ability to write well.
Aditi Krishnakumar, the renowned author of several children's books such as Magicians of Madh, Murder in Melucha, That Year in Manikoil, to name a few, shared a very valuable insight into why reading diversely helps with writing. We had the good fortune of interacting with her while reading her book Magicians of Madh.
Reading diversely also pays the way to better understanding why descriptive detail is important to enable the reader to get pulled in and remain engrossed. Extend this skill a little further to writing for school. Children often lose marks because of lack of details. Encouraging them to notice details that a writer chooses to add to make the story even more interesting is the first step to teaching them how to write details in their writing.
Reading diversely helps with introducing twists and turns instead of a linear path in one's writing.
Raju was asleep in the morning. He was dreaming while his mom kept screaming that he was late for school. He did not get up no matter what she did and he missed the bus. The end.
That story is somewhat predictable and lacks detail. The same story comes to life when more detail is added. Perhaps Raju finally gets up but a whole lot of things go wrong. Detailed descriptions here become important to engage the reader and leading the reader to the climax. The climax could be how he managed to either surpass all the challenges and board the bus on time or something utterly unexpected happens.
Reading diverse books helps children to notice different approaches to make the story little less linear. For instance a young writer who is also reading the Magicians of Madh, shared how he drew inspiration from the book to distract the reader either by introducing a new character and arousing suspicion or a new element or event that seems connected in some way to the plot. These techniques help engage the readers, keep them thinking and feel compelled to read further. " We have multiple theories and suspects. But we have had to strike down many of those theories. We are trying to be vary of getting carried away by suspecting a new character or believing an event gave us a clue to the suspect and holding on to it. But sometimes it is hard not to get carried away with the engaging writing style!"
In sum, there is no short cut to writing well. The good news is that it gets better as children read and observe more. This coupled with regular writing is the magic recipe to be able to write anything well. This is simply because they are aware of the reader's perspective and hence constantly strive to write in such a way that the reader feels compelled to read.
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NEW! Writing programs for the 8-12 age group- Young Writers' Club Jr.
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