IMAGINE THAT! HOW TO HELP THEM TO THINK CREATIVELY

Encourage them to think about the detail. The more of it you put into your writing, the more it comes alive in your reader’s head. The example I use for this tip is from How to Train Your Dragon. If I say to you, “Gobber has a big red beard,” you can see the image in your head a bit, but not very well. If I say that, “Gobber has a beard like exploding fireworks,” or, “Gobber has a beard like a hedgehog struck by lightning,” you can see the image much more clearly. An extension to this is to think about your senses when you’re describing. If you use words that encourage your reader to smell, hear, taste, see or touch, then your story is more compelling.

And to look at the real world. If you’re stuck for where to start a story, then surprising facts about the real world can give you loads of ideas. For example, I read somewhere that Vikings trained cats for battle (it’s very difficult to sword fight when a cat is attacking your head). This gave me an idea that I then put in one of my books. Many of my dragons in How to Train Your Dragon are based on extraordinary fish: for example, the Monstrous Strangulator Dragon is transparent, like a barreleye fish. Both history and the natural world are full of unbelievable facts and questions that you can base stories on.

Suggest drawing a map of an imaginary place: a map is a very useful starting point for a story. Many great books begin with a map – Treasure Island, for example, or Peter Pan. I use maps, too for every new world. Give your map boundaries, which can be either sea or land, and give it place names. How long would it take to get from place to place? Are there any obstacles? As soon as your settings have names, you start to wonder who lives there.