Tag: imagination

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Guest Posts

Getting Kids Excited About Creative Writing

Guest posts

Whether you have a child of your own or you’ve worked with them before, you already know that most kids have incredible imaginations. They are naturally creative and great at storytelling. However, they don’t always get the opportunity to write down those incredible stories on paper. 

Getting kids excited about creative writing gives them a chance to hone in on their natural storytelling talents. 

Beyond that, creative writing is beneficial for kids. It fosters their imagination, encourages self-expression, and can boost their self-esteem. It can also broaden the way they think, allowing them to come up with alternatives to problems and creative solutions they can use in real-world situations. 

So, how can you get the children in your life excited about creative writing? What can you do to encourage them to put their incredible stories to paper and foster a love of the written word from an early age? 

Spark Their Imagination

It’s usually easy for kids to come up with interesting stories, but when you tell them to sit down and write something, it’s just as easy for them to draw a blank!

One of the easiest ways to encourage young minds to start writing is to give them a prompt that sparks their imagination. Use creative story starters to get their wheels turning, and you might be surprised what they can come up with on their own. Some ideas to offer include:

  • What I could do if I could fly
  • What I would do with one million dollars
  • What I would do if I was famous for a day
  • The person I most admire

You can also spark their imagination by reading an existing story! You never know what a child might pick up on from a book they enjoy. They might be able to relate to certain situations and experiences and write about their own. Or, they might be inspired by a particular character and use some of those traits to create someone completely new. It’s just one more reason that daily reading should be a part of every kid’s routine. 

Keep Them Engaged

Let’s face it – kids don’t always have the longest attention spans. Even when they’re excited about something, it can be hard to keep them dedicated to a specific project for any length of time. Letting them verbally share a story is different from having them write something down. 

So, how can you keep kids engaged while they’re writing? 

Try offering a fidget toy to help them while brainstorming. It can help them stay focused on the task at hand and encourage new ideas that excite them. 

Keep in mind that kids can feel “stuck” or experience a block in their writing just as easily as adults. They might feel overwhelmed with having to come up with new ideas while learning about the ins and outs of grammar and punctuation. 

Do what you can to be encouraging. Teach them not to give up when things get tough. By using positive statements in your encouragement, you’ll foster a growth mindset, and teach them to embrace and overcome challenges well into adulthood. 

Finally, don’t be afraid to let them take breaks. Even adult writers need to step away from their work so they don’t get burnt out. Children might need more frequent breaks to stay excited and inspired. Let them spend time outside, socialize with others, and use their imaginations in different ways before coming back to their writing. 

Let Them Share

Again, most kids have no problem being creative and coming up with unique stories on the spot. While writing things down will take more time and effort, every child should be acknowledged and praised for their work. 

With that in mind, make sure you offer opportunities for your kids to share their writing. If they’re doing it at home, sit and listen to their stories before bed each night, or have a weekly “story day” where they share what they’ve written with the family. 

If you’re a teacher, encourage your students to share their stories with the class, and let them answer questions from their peers. Discussions about creative writing can lead to even more unique ideas in the future. 


Getting kids excited about creative writing is easier than you might think. With positive encouragement and a little help along the way, you can foster the next generation of writers, and they’ll experience lasting benefits as they continue to learn and grow. 

Amanda Winstead is a writer from the Portland area with a background in communications and a passion for telling stories. Along with writing she enjoys traveling, reading, working out, and going to concerts. If you want to follow her writing journey, or even just say hi you can find her on Twitter.

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A Lighter Look at the Writer's Life

What Was Your Childhood Dream?

lighter look at a writer's life

“God hears and remembers your childhood dreams.”

I read this phrase on a social media post by author Angela Hunt, and it resonated with me. The more I think about it, “story” has been a part of my life since childhood.

I was an only child, so, when my cousins weren’t around, I had to entertain myself. I would spend hours in my room alone, acting out stories with my stuffed animals and action figures. I loved comic books and would often finish one and then dream up scenarios to continue the plotline. When my cousins were around, I often led our pretend adventures (one that involved us using my closet as the Batcave didn’t end well, but that’s a long, complicated story for another time).

My storytelling tendencies continued into my middle and high school years, as, when I was an eighth grader, I was asked to join the high school newspaper staff. I became editor as a sophomore and continued through to graduation. I also appeared in some plays along the way, as my outgoing (a.k.a. loud) nature did not go unnoticed.

When it came time for college, I decided to double-major in radio-tv broadcasting and print journalism. I already had a lot of experience with print, and I figured television would be a good outlet for my dramatic tendencies and storytelling. I was active with the college station, hosting talk shows, doing news reports, and serving as the weatherman. I still can’t tell a cold front from a cold snap, but it was fun at the time.

College graduation day came, and tv stations did not beat down my door. The audacity! Dan Rather had nothing to worry about.

I ended up going to graduate school and eventually became a college professor. Not the path I had planned, but, looking back, God knew what He was doing. The subjects I teach—Interpersonal Communication, Basic Public Speaking, Journalism—allow a “ham” like me to be the center of attention to tell lots of stories as they relate to the curriculum. Engaging with students through story has been a joy from day one.

God wasn’t quite through yet, though. Several years ago, He called me to write for Him, to tell His story in my unique, often wacky, way. Then, during the darker days of 2020 pandemic lockdown (during which my first book was published, by the way), God birthed something new, harking back to the dreams of my childhood and formative years. Since I couldn’t connect in person with the kids in my children’s ministry, I started doing videos and posting them on social media.

I developed some truly crazy characters who tell the stories of Scripture in their own unique way. I initially shared the videos on our church’s social media pages, but one day I shared one on my personal page. The response was phenomenal, something only God could do. My stories now reach as many adults as children, and my childhood “story dreams” have come true, in a totally different way than what I had planned.

God didn’t forget that only child with the overactive imagination. He hasn’t forgotten you, either. Just don’t use your closet as the Batcave.

Carlton Hughes, represented by Cyle Young of Hartline Literary, wears many hats. By day, he is a professor of communication. On Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings, he serves as a children’s pastor. In his “spare time,” he is a freelance writer. Carlton is an empty-nesting dad and devoted husband who likes long walks on the beach, old sitcoms, and chocolate—all the chocolate. His work has been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game, The Wonders of Nature, Let the Earth Rejoice, Just Breathe, So God Made a Dog, and Everyday Grace for Men. His latest book is Adventures in Fatherhood, co-authored with Holland Webb.

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Courting the Muse

How Reading Perfume Catalogs Can Help You Show, Not Tell

Emily Dickinson knew how to find inspiration without leaving the house. In her thirties, the reclusive poet withdrew into the quiet of her childhood home, holding conversations through her closed bedroom door. But she also carried out lively friendships through letter-writing, and even traveled — so to speak.

Dickinson, as much a landlubber as any, wrote movingly about the nautical sweep of reading, something we as writers know well:

There is no Frigate like a Book

To take us Lands away.

But there’s another vessel that can carry our imaginations to distant lands without moving our bodies at all: perfume.

Smell, as Helen Keller once observed, is “a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles” — often to places we’ve never been before. Perfumers use this teleportational magic to tell a story, bottling up exposition, climax, and denouement to bloom through the air as top notes, heart notes, and base notes.

Perfumes are succinct, vivid, and memorable — all show and no tell. As storytellers, we can learn a lot from how they work. How to distill an experience into a few drops of salience. How to ensnare someone’s attention from the opening and keep hold of it as the story unfurls. How to evoke emotion directly, by playing to the senses instead of the mind. Still, there’s one problem when it comes to transmuting perfume into writing inspiration: scent is notoriously difficult to capture in words — at least if you take a direct approach.

What happens if you list out a perfume’s component scents? Violet, ylang-ylang, rice powder. The words are pretty enough, but they feel abstract, even sterile — no living fragrance clings to them. The ingredients might tell us what the perfume smells like, but they don’t show us how it feels to dash it along our wrists, to wait as the heat of our bodies makes it dance across our skin. When it comes to scent, words so often fall flat.

Luckily for us, copywriters in the fragrance industry have grappled with the inexpressibility of scent for years. As creative writers, we can learn a lot from the perfume catalogs they assemble, which translate stories told in scent into our chosen medium of language.

As an example, let’s look at a perfume built around the violet, ylang-ylang, and rice powder scents I brought up either. These notes take on a starring role in Blanc Violette, a powdery floral scent developed by the indie perfume house Histoires de Parfums.

Instead of simply listing out its olfactory components, the perfume’s catalog entry uses evocative language to capture a delicate and playful mood:

Amidst the subtle games of shadow and light playing out in the underbrush, heart-shaped flowers flourish, showing off their delicate lines on a lush blanket of chlorophyll and Violets.

An image of purity and innocence, White Violet enhances the skin with a delicate freshness, at once iridescent and scintillating, and powdery and creamy.

An evening perfume caught between shadow and light, and innocence and seduction: a sweet, powdery and witty fragrance.

Whether or not you know what violet smells like, this catalog entry develops striking but accessible imagery — the heart-shaped flowers, the play of light and shadow — to convey how wearing it feels. When we grapple with linguistically elusive concepts in our own writing, we can do the same: showing what we mean through powerful imagery instead of telling it in spare and lifeless words.

Failing that, we can always spritz on a bit of perfume to inspire us as we power our way through our drafts. Why not write in a cloud of Paper Passion, which captures the aspirational scent of new books?

Lucia Tang is a writer for Reedsy, a marketplace that connects self-publishing authors with the book industry’s best editors, designers, and marketers. To work on the site’s free historical character name generators, she draws on her knowledge of Chinese, Latin, and Old Irish —  learned as a PhD candidate in history at UC Berkeley. You can read more of her work on the Reedsy Discovery blog, or follow her on Twitter at @lqtang.

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Copywrite/Advertising

4 Books that Fueled My Copywriting Imagination

Normally, when you search for a definition, you are looking for a way to narrow a term or concept. But the more I read about copywriting, the broader my understanding of copywriting becomes.

Copywriting is a boundless genre with limitless applications. Every time I bump into another copywriter and we swap writing stories, I am amazed at the uniqueness of his or her experience. I think to myself, “What a great idea! I’ll have to try that!”

The same happens when I “meet” another copywriter through reading their book.

Here are four books that fueled my copywriting imagination:

Writers for Hire: 101 Secrets for Freelance Success by Kelly James Enger. This book takes you step-by-step into the journey of freelancing. Most of the freelancing examples from the book are related to magazine article writing, but the concepts were useful for copywriting as well. Kelly emphasizes a personal touch by giving thank you notes to those she interviews, and she stresses the importance of keeping up on the business end of your writing life with invoices and paperwork.

Building a Storybrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller. People don’t really read emails or websites. They skim them. It’s not facts and figures that capture a skimmers attention. Storytelling captures attention. Donald Miller teaches you the simple elements of storytelling and applies them to business copywriting so you can catch the attention of customers and consumers and inspire them to participate in the call to action. Brilliant.

How to Write Copy That Sells: The Step-by-Step System for More Sales, to More Customers, More Often  by Ray Edwards.  This book is very practical with how-tos and templates for emails, websites, direct mail, and more. Includes tips and guidelines for social media posts as well which is an often overlooked area of copywriting.

102 Ways to Earn Money Writing 1,500 Words or Less: The Ultimate Freelancer’s Guide by I.J. Schecter. This book opened my eyes to unique writing possibilities that I never would have noticed otherwise. Wherever there are words, someone was paid to write them. My kids get tired of me saying it, but whenever they read a billboard or the bag that contains their fast food meal, I say, “Someone was paid to write that, you know.”

Sigh.

“Yes. We KNOW, Mom!”

Also, don’t be shy at initiating to ask if a business needs a copywriter. Even a big company. Send out an email describing your experience and your interest in writing about their service or product. The worse that can happen is… nothing. They never write back. The best case scenario? You land an awesome copywriting gig.

You don’t have to write fiction to be a creative writer. Open your eyes and take a look around you. What words are needed? Could you be the one to write them? Search #copywriter on Twitter and ask what kind of copywriting others do. Meet new people. Share your stories. Inspire each other to use your imagination.

Rachel Schmoyer is a pastor’s wife, mom of four, and a copywriter. She also helps Christians find the simple truths in the complex parts of the Bible at readthehardparts.com. Her other writings and publishing credits can be found on rachelschmoyerwrites.com.