Why Do I Teach Creative Writing to Children?

Why did I open a creative writing school for children?

I offer creative writing classes to children because I want them to have what I didn’t have – someone to teach them how to write brilliant stories!

I loved to read as a child and I thought authors were magical beings – I still do. My greatest dream was that I would one day write a novel and become one of those magical beings too – it has happened!

My aim is to encourage children to believe in themselves and know that they can write fantastic stories too.

As a child, I didn’t think that I could become an author for two reasons:

  1.       I wasn’t very good at spelling. Their, shoes and diary were particularly difficult words for me. I still get some words muddled up.
  2.       I didn’t think I was good enough. In primary school, my teacher once wrote, “You read too much Enid Blyton,” at the end of one of my stories. I had been so proud of that story – it was about gold bars, smugglers and a cave – just like in The Famous Five. Her comment devastated me and I gave up writing stories until I was in my thirties. I don’t want this to happen to other children. I want all children to know that they have stories inside them and they have a right to tell them, no matter what they are about and whether they are similar to works by writers they love. After all, artists always imitate those who have gone before. Think of the followers of Cezanne and Picasso etc. 

It gives me the greatest of pleasure to encourage children, especially anxious ones, to escape into their own imagination. I want them to experience the thrill of creating their own stories, and to know that this tool is available to them whenever they find real life difficult. Discovering they can create stories, gives children an immense boost in confidence and appreciation for themselves.

My aim is 

  • to help children find this precious place inside themselves and 
  • to help create the next generation of storytellers.