Importance of having fun for young writers
YOUNG writers put pen to paper to tell imaginative tales about dinosaurs, wolves and birds for the Cruinniú na nÓg writing competition.
The stories, all on the theme of ‘Wild Wicklow’, were judged by award-winning children’s writer Sarah Webb, with the winning entries showcased recently.
Speaking to this paper, Sarah Webb said the young writers had ‘embraced the wild theme very widely’.
‘The young writers had put a lot of thought into the theme and some had gone in weird and wonderful ways around it, which was great,’
The best-selling author said the idea of freedom was a recurring theme in many of the stories.
‘Children and teenagers are very good and honest in their writing. There was a lot of feeling in their writing as well. Several of the pieces referenced the difficulty for them of Covid-19, such as not seeing their friends or their grandparents. I think it’s very good for young people to express these things, whether in writing, music or art, and to let people know how they are feeling and reflect on it themselves.’
When judging stories, Sarah says she looks for tales that only the young writer could tell.
‘I always look for originality and someone with their own ideas coming through. I don’t want to see something that’s been done before or that someone else could do. I’m looking for a story or poem that only that young writer could write, that’s quite personal to them and I can see a lot of thought and work has gone into it. There were lots that had originality, personality and a lot of heart to them and that was what I was looking for.’
Sarah’s books include ‘A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea: Favourite Rhymes from an Irish Childhood’, ‘Blazing a Trail: Irish Women who Changed the World’ and ‘Dare to Dream: Irish People Who Took on the World (and Won!)’. She also runs creative writing clubs for children and reviews children’s books for the ‘Irish Independent’. Sarah’s advice for budding writers is to read as much as possible. ‘I think it’s really important to keep reading. You can tell writers who have read widely because they understand how stories work and how to structure sentences.
‘They understand that sometimes that brevity works. After that, practice writing as often as you can, whether that is keeping a journal over the summer holidays, short stories, comic strips. And have fun with it.’