Did you know that you can take an old story and rewrite (and publish) it as long as it is in public domain? You can!
Take for example, the story of Little Red Riding Hood. As a children's writer, you can take that story and rewrite it from the perspective...there's that word again...of Little Red's grandmother. What a story that would be!
Rewriting a short story is a great creative exercise for any writer. Even rewriting the beginning or the ending of a story to change it up, gets your creativity flowing. Give it a try writers!
Teachers, there's no better way to get your kids involved in the writing process than to have them take a story that they love and change the ending. You might want to read a familiar book several times to your class, (over a period of a few days). Ask your students to change the ending of that same story to anything they like. Suggest that their new ending can be happy, sad, or mysterious. Then ask each student to individually share their new ending.
You write your own new ending too! I know I've said this before, but I'll say it again, children become terrific writers when an adult eagerly joins them in the writing process. That simple action says that writing is special. It validates that writing is important.
Parents, you can do this same activity at home. It is fine to do this exercise orally at first. In fact, maybe it's even better. Remember, writing doesn't start on paper. It starts in the heart and mind!
2 comments:
When she was tiny, my daughter used to re-tell fairy stories including herself as the main character. When she was a little older we managed to get hold of a set of books re-telling those same stories but with a twist (stroppy princess, princes that were wimps and so on). Something we've never done, or indeed never seen done, is the telling on the story with a different viewpoint character. This is a terrific idea. In fact, your ideas are always great - I wish I'd met you years ago.
Fun, fun, fun. I've also used wordless picture books (Chris Van Alsberg) and had kids write the dialogue. They enjoy that, too.
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