Tips to Help Your Reluctant Writer

Do you have a reluctant writer? Does your child break down in tears any time you try to get him to write a simple paragraph of five sentences? Do you put off writing time as much as possible? Is writing the last thing you want to do on your homeschool day?

If you can answer yes to any of the questions above, you probably have a reluctant writer. It can be almost impossible to get any writing done, and you have to try to pull each word from the student to the piece of paper. You may even have the student who will sit there for hours and not write a single word on the piece of paper. Rest assured, you are not alone. Many families have been right where you are now.

I Had a Reluctant Writer

I have a child who used to be a reluctant writer. Yes, I did say “used to be.” The great thing about a reluctant writer is that he does not have to stay a reluctant writer. I dreaded writing time and then just wanted to hurry up and get it over with as fast as possible and move on with our day. He would sit there and either not write anything or write sentences without any purpose or flow. It wasn’t helping either of us. After some experimentation on my part, I found a way to turn my reluctant writer into a storyteller.

Don’t Start with a Blank Page

It may sound weird but children do not do well when they are asked to write something and all they have is a blank sheet of paper. Instead, start with a partial sentence or even a full sentence and have your child pick up from there.

Some examples include:

• If I could be any animal it would be …..
• My favorite toy is….
• If I could play any sport, it would be……
• My favorite movie is……

The above examples could be answered in just one sentence. However, the object is to get your child to add to it. Why would he want to be that animal? What makes that movie his favorite. The starter sentence is just supposed to be that- a start. It gives your child an idea, to begin with, and then lets him go from there. There is no longer just a blank sheet of paper staring at him and he has no idea what to write about or what you want him to write.

Provide a Scenario

Sometimes just providing a sentence or partial sentence is not quite enough for a reluctant writer to be encouraged to write more. Sometimes it does not provide enough background story to get ideas flowing. This is where a full scenario can be beneficial.

Some examples include:

• A gragon swooped down from the sky and landed on a skyscraper barely able to hang on. All the people in the city came outside to see what the loud noise was and couldn’t believe their eyes.
• Two children were playing on a swing set in the park. All of a suddent a big wind came up and it flipped the swings upside down. The children opened their eyes and they were no longer in their local park.
• You walk into a toy store. It has all of your favorite toys. Toys are everywhere. This store even has candy and other treats. Describe what it looks like. What do you see and where?

These scenarios give a little more information than a simple sentence does. This sets the stage for your reluctant writers to either carry on the story or describe something such as the perfect toy store. The object of this task is to provide more details and let your writer come up with ideas of his own. There is no telling where the story could end up.

Set a Timer

After providing a sentence or a scenario, set a timer. This could be for five minutes or ten minutes. This helps the reluctant writer to know that there is an end time. Now, there is no fear of sitting there forever with nothing to write. There is now a distinct ending time. After writing for so many minutes, he is free to stop. At first, you may find that he will stop writing as soon as the timer goes off. Slowly increase the amount of time required for writing. As you do this for several days, you will find that your reluctant writer is more willing to write and even for a longer amount of time.

From Reluctant Writer to Storyteller

Now that your child is willing to write when given a topic (sentence or scenario), it is time to let your writer explore. Start with asking and brainstorming topics he thinks he might like to write about. When he is able to brainstorm his own ideas, stop providing the topics yourself. Let him come up with his own topics. Then one day, do not set the timer. Let him start writing and do not stop him until he tells you he is finished. You will be surprised with the short story you might just be presented. You no longer have a reluctant writer but a full storyteller. He knows how to take a story he would tell orally and put it on paper so others can read his story.

Bonus: Publish the Story

After all the hard work of putting a story together, your young writer might like to share his story with others. There are several ways to share a writer’s story.

Share Stores:

• E-mail the story to family
• Get the e-mail from other parents to share his story with some of his friends
• Share the story in one of the kid friendly writing sites

Now that you have a storyteller and a student of writing, introduce him to other types of writings. Remember to start small and build. Introduce narrative writing, informative writing, descriptive writing, and persuasive essays of four to five paragraphs. Always remember to let your young writer come back to his creative writing even after learning other types of writing.