Writing for Children 6: The teen reader

 

Who the reader is

This is the Key Stage 3 child in the British system, so ages 11-14 on average. 

They have started puberty i.e. strange new things are happening to their body. Start time varies because of genetic and environmental considerations.  On average girls start at 10 and end at 14.5 (Menstruation starts 12.8) and boys start at 11.5 and end at 15.5 (First ejaculation 13).  It can be a frightening time if young teens are not warned about these changes.

Girls talk a lot at this time but boys keep quiet, though in mixed groups boys often dominate. Some undergo cultural ceremonies to mark this transition – e.g. bar / bat mitzvah. This time marks the start of physical and psychological separation from parents.  

Physical attraction between genders begins as do concerns about body image. 

They are entering Piaget's formal operations stage. They can make a hypothesis. Abstract and scientific thinking starts now.  They can understand propositional thoughts without referring to real life examples. Abstract thoughts lead to them thinking more about themselves. 

Adults have made a mess of the world. The young teen could do better and wants to have a go. Beware Year 9 (13-14) if you start teaching in high school. They can be unforgiving. Parents and teachers are really stupid up until you are 14 – by the time you’re 18 they’ve become a little wiser. Teens often admire other adults –e.g. rock star, footballer, young aunt or uncle or older cousin. They are trying to make sense of the world. 

What the books look like

The characters will be like them but perhaps will be two years older. 

Sometimes they read adult books. This is often because of school e.g. Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. They will also read adult books with a punch: Joanne Harris’s  Chocolat or Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting.

Point Horror is popular with the teen reader. They read early "chicklet-lit / staglet-lit". Chicklet-lit is like chick lit but for a younger reader.  Staglet-lit is similar to chicklet-lit but aimed at young males.

The books contain strongly drawn characters who take charge of the world. We see examples of peer pressure, awkward sexuality and some risk-taking. 

The pace is usually fast. 

Fantasy, science fantasy and science fiction help to objectify the world as anthropomorphism and glove puppets do for younger readers.

How to do it

Draw your characters

Characters must be rounded and believable.

The writer knows the following:

• What they are like:
• physically
• mentally
• emotionally
• What they are most afraid of
• What is their greatest desire
• The motivation within the story

Achieve pace

Your story should have a solid structure with a well-balanced narrative. There should be plenty of action.  

Short chapters and short sentences help.

Supply plenty of cliff-hangers and page turners

Keep something back from the reader.  

Make sure the stakes are high.

Studying a teen book

As you read a teen novel consider the following:

How old do the characters seem to be? How do you know?

Are they going through puberty? How do you know?

How are they reacting to everything going on with them?

Is there any evidence of any cultural ceremonies?

Are they moving away from their parents?

What is their attitude to other genders? 

Is there any evidence of Piaget’s formal operations stage?

Are they capable of abstract thought?

What is their attitude to the world?

How strongly drawn are the characters?

How much do they resemble young teens?

What about sexuality?

And risk-taking?

Are they trying to create a new world?

Are there fantasy or science fiction elements? 

Why do you think the writer has used this here?

What are the characters like physically, mentally, emotionally?

What are they most afraid of?

What is their greatest desire?

What is their motivation in this story?

How has the writer achieved pace?  

Writing an extract of a story for early teens

1. Establish your four main characters – hero, friend, enemy, mentor. Remember, the enemy and the mentor might not be human and might even be a set of circumstances.   
2. Work out a character sketch for each of them. Remember the main character is in his / her early teens or just a little bit older. 
• What are they like physically?
• Mentally?
• Emotionally
• What is their greatest fear?
• What is their greatest desire?
• What is their motivation in this story?
3. What is the premise of the story that emerges from the tension between the characters?
4. Tell the story in two lines.
5. Now work out a bullet-pointed plot using one of the story theories from the previous post.  
6. Choose a scene in which you think there will be plenty of pace.  
7. Put the two characters together in this scene and see what happens. Remember to include plenty of pace: structure, balanced narrative, short chapters, short sentences, action words, cliff-hangers, page-turners, keeping readers guessing and high stakes
8. Remember also who your perceived reader is.
9. When you have completed your scene, show it someone else.
10. Ask them what they “get”.
11. Ask them about the characters – does what they say match your ideas? What has happened if they don’t match? (But I’d be surprised if they didn’t)  
12. Discuss with your partner how well this text would suit an early teen reader.       

Some books to study

Almond, David. (2003) The Fire Eaters. London: Hodder.

Baron, Angie. (2013) The Ana Switch. Kibworth Beauchamp: Matador.

Black, Holly. (2002) Tithe. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Brooks, Kevin. (2003) Martyn Pig. Frome: Chicken House

Ray, Bali (2014) What's the Problem, London: Barrington Stoke  

 

 

    

Writing for Children 5 The fully fluent reader

Who the child is

The reader is aged roughly 9-11 and often in the last two years of junior school. They are no longer dependent on the reading scheme and want to choose books that look like the ones adults and older children read.  They are firmly in Piaget's concrete operational stage; they can measure and calculate. However, they are not yet into abstract thought. They recognise make-believe for what it is. They understand and expect the normal patterns of story.   

What the books look like

They will usually have a thick spin and on average contain 45,000 – 60,000 words though there are many exceptions outside of this range. The text is usually blocked. The font is usually seriffed, with difficult 'a's and 'g's. There are few pictures though some may have decorative icons at the beginnings of chapters. Occasionally the font and the line-spacing may be a little larger than in books for adults and older children. The books certainly look like "proper" books for these readers.      

What to think about when producing the text for the fully fluent young reader

As these children know what to expect from a story you need to make sure your story has a firm structure.   

For all sorts of ideas on story shape, see my blog post Story Theory. You may find Christophe Booker's ideas particularly helpful here. Booker identifies seven story shapes:

Christopher Booker’s Story Theories

(Booker, Christopher. The Seven Basic Plots. London: Continuum, 2004.)

The Seven Plots

Overcoming the Monster

Rags to Riches

The Quest

Voyage and Return

Comedy

Tragedy

Rebirth

Overcoming the monster

The call

Initial success

Confrontation

Final Ordeal

Miraculous escape   

Rags to Riches

Initial wretchedness at home (call)

Out in the world – initial success

Central crisis

Independence and the final ordeal

Final union, completion and fulfilment

Quest-Odyssey

Problems encountered:

Monsters

Temptations

Deadly opposites

Journey to the underworld

Story arc:

Call

Journey

Arrival and frustration

Final ordeals

Goal

Voyage and return

Anticipation

Dream stage

Frustrations stage

Nightmare stage

Thrilling escape and return

Comedy

Often contains:

• Characters dressing up in disguise or swapping clothes 
• Men dressing up as women  or vice versa
• Secret assignations when the wrong person turns up
• Characters hastily concealed in cupboards etc. 

Types of comedy:

• Burlesque
• Dark figure is hero
• No dark figures

Macbeth (and other tragedies) 

Act One - anticipation

Act Two – dream stage

Act Three – frustration stage

Act Four – nightmare stage  

Act Five – destruction stage 

Some archetypes

Good old man

Innocent young girl

Rival or “shadow”

Temptress

Rebirth

Hero falls under shadow of dark power

Threat may seem to recede

Threat approaches with full force

Dark power seems to triumph

Miraculous recovery – some input form hero, though

Underlying shape

Booker also identifies an underlying shape in all stories:  

Initial phase

Opening out

Severe – constriction

Dark power dominant

Reversal and liberation

Dark figures

Father

Mother

Rivals

Other self 

Sub-plots

Also for the first time we are likely to have a story with several sub-plots. The relationship between the main plot and the sub-plot is important.

Andrew Melrose argues that if you pile the plots up on top of each other in the order of which takes up most of the story, largest on the bottom, smallest on the top you get a pyramid if you keep a balanced ratio between them.

I further develop that argument and say that: The smallest subplot contains the crisis, climax, resolution and an ‘aha’ moment. Each sub-plot is actually part of the main plot and the next sub-plot.  

We can see this in Palacio's Wonder:  

Main plot: August gains acceptance

Sub-plot 1 – circle of friends

Sub-plot 2 – friendship with Jack

Sub-plot 3 – attitude of family

Sub-plot 4 – Amanda

Sub-plot 5 – hearing-aids   

Have a go

Now have a go at planning a story. You will find now that you will devote several chapters to each of :  

Inciting incident:

Growing complexities:

Crisis point:

Climax:

Also similar arcs will be making their way through the sub-plots.

How will you set your plan out?

Suggestions:

·         Mindmap

·         Spreadsheet

·         Filing cards

·         Writing software such as Scrivener.

If you really are a "panster" and can't be bothered with tis amount of detailed planning, try analysing a book for an early fluent reader instead.

 

Some books to study

Cross, Gillian. (2013) After Tomorrow. Oxford: OUP.  

Funke, Cornelia. (2005) Inkspell. Frome: Chicken House.

Kinney, Jeff. (2010) The Last Straw  London: Puffin  

Palicio, R.J. (2012) Wonder. London: Corgi.  

Saunders, Kate. (2014) Five Children on the Western Front. London: Faber & Faber 

Writing for Children 4 The early fluent reader

Who the child is:

The reader is aged roughly 7-9 and is often in the first two classes of junior school. They read with some confidence and want to choose their own books but may be daunted by a full length novel. Often teachers will keep a selection of suitable books in the classroom. The child still feels as if s/he is choosing.

 

What the books look like:

The covers will have stylised pictures though some may be more three dimensional.  The colours will be bold. The pictures will include cartoon characters but may be busier than in emergent reader texts. There will also now be more experiments with fonts and layout of text. There may be some branding e.g. as with Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The blurb will be more complex.

However, the books will look more like "real" books to the new reader. They will have a fatter spine, be up to 30,000 words and 150 pages long. There will be more information on the cover than there was for younger readers. There will be fewer pictures and these will amuse and illustrate rather than adding more to the story.  Some elements of the emergent reader book remain. In most texts some are present. There may be a similar number of pictures. The pictures may be stylised. The text may be formatted ragged right. The font may large and the text may be double-spaced. Multiple text formats are still used to break up the texts.  Chapters and sections tend to be short. The texts, though, rarely contain all of these elements.  

Sometimes an individual text will contain mixed elements, for example:

•         Blocked text and stylised pictures

•         Ragged right but three dimensional pictures

•         Short chapters and denser text

•         Blocked text but high number of illustrations

•         Huge amount of text and many illustrations.   

 

What to think about when producing a text for this early fluent reader:

Think about the characters – maybe keep the main ones to four: the hero (Cinderella), friend (Buttons), enemy (stepsisters and stepmother) and mentor (fairy godmother).  What are the tensions between them?

Then outline a simple plot:

Inciting incident: Cinders is sweeping the floor

Growing complexities:

·         Receives invitation to the ball but sisters / stepmother destroy her invitation

·          Fairy godmother gets her to the ball

·         She meets the prince and they fall in love

Crisis point: she leaves almost too late and loses her shoe

Climax: Will the shoe ever find the right foot? Point of no return for both Cinders and the prince.     

For more ideas on plot, see my blog post Story Theory   Later on in this series I'll be issuing exercises on various aspects of this.  

Each of the above plot points should have a chapter of its own in this type of text and each should end on a cliff-hanger.   

Now, plot out your story so that it has a similar shape. Choose one plot point and write it up as a chapter. Decide which elements, if any, of the emergent reader text you would include.   

   

Some books to study:

Roald Dahl, Roald.  Dirty Beasts.  

Nicola Davies and Laura Carlin. The Promise.

Laird, Elizabeth: Crackers. 

Michael Morpurgo Tom’s Sausage Lion .

Mark Thiessen, with Glen Phelan.  Extreme Wild Fire.

   

Writing for Children 3 The emergent reader text

Who the child is:

This reader is aged roughly 7 -10. In the UK we call this Key Stage 1 and the child goes to Infant School.

This child becomes aware that make believe is a representational activity, becomes aware of concepts, begins to replace belief in magic with explanations for how things are and can distinguish reality from pretence but will still suspend disbelief.   

Imaginative play

Piaget’s view: often used as a rehearsal – the child plays the part of the adult. However, Piaget’s view now considered rather narrow. More recent studies suggest that make believe helps develop:

–     Sustained attention

–     Memory

–     Logical reasoning

–     Language

–     Literacy

–     Imagination

–     Creativity

–     Empathy

The preoperational stage

Piaget defines this as:

•         They can’t yet quite work out how things work.

•         Children at this stage are still quite egocentric.

•         They often think inanimate objects behave like humans and animals.

•         They cannot conserve shapes and quantities e.g. the tall thin glass seems bigger even though the short fat glass contains exactly the same amount of liquid.  

•         They can only process one aspect of a situation at a time.

•         They often cannot reverse a situation – e.g. if something is built with Lego, they can’t take it down again and put the pieces in the right part of the box.

•         At the end of this period this is reverses.

•         With some Vygotskyian scaffolding they CAN do all of this.   

Andrew Melrose's view of this group:

Melrose describes this age as “running”.  For this reader there are longer, more language-rich picture books. There is slightly more sophisticated text. Books will be about 6,000 words. The story must start promptly. The book may well be read aloud – but the child is generally off the reading scheme and beginning to select their own books to red for pleasure. The book moves forward quickly. There are lots of cliff-hangers “and suddenlies” (though often avoiding the word "suddenly". There may be short chapters – hence sometimes called “Chapter books”. They are often filmic. These books use dialogue engagingly.  Very occasionally a first person narrative is used but more often a close third person.  The story has a clear structure – beginning, middle, end. It may have some sub-plots but not as many as an adult book or one for older children. There won’t be too many characters. The story will be “shown” more than it is “told”. The pages turn quickly.  

What the books are actually like:

Children are off the reading scheme but books still go through stages – e.g. Oxford Reading Tree Green, Blue, Red Bananas

•          Pictures illustrate the text and sometimes also tell a separate story.

•         The text is simple.  

•         The font is clear.

•         The formatting is ragged right – this helps the child to keep their place on the page.

•         There are frequent line breaks.

•         The print is larger than in books for older readers.  

 

Some books to study:

Stan and Jan Berenstain The Search for Naughty Ned

Jeff  Brown. Flat Stanley Plays Ball

Kevin Crossley-Holland’s Storm

Dick King-Smith All Pigs Are Beautiful  

James Marshall’s Miss Nelson is Missing

Andrew Melrose Write for Children

Joanna Nadin’s The Stepmonster

Richard Scarry's The Early Bird   

Alvin Schwartz’s In a Dark, Dark Room

Jacqueline Wilson’s My Brother Bernadette

 

What to think about when producing a text for emergent readers

Choose a theme.

Plan your story.

It needs:

• A beginning, middle and end
• To start promptly
• To move quickly
• To show, not tell
• Use dialogue convincingly

Consider whether you want to include a sub-plot.

Consider the point of view (third person close is common in this type of book)

Keep your language simple. Use simple sentences and not too many with clauses except those joined with “and” and “but”. Take care that there are not too many difficult words.  

Think about line breaks.

Writing with restrictions

Each level of these various schemes has certain restrictions. This is often to do with the type of language used, word count, number of pages, number of chapters and amount and type of illustration.  Study one in detail and use this to give yourself some restrictions for what you will produce.

Often our creativity is really challenged when we write with restrictions.      

However, this is possibly the hardest type of children's book to write. It involves writing that is almost technical. Often well-known writers are asked to produce the story and the editors then deal with the more technical issues. It is nevertheless useful for us to try and write to this brief – especially if we also teach young children.