My kid wants to write. Where do we start?

Ask most writers about the first story they wrote, and you’ll find the obsession started when they were super young. My first story was about a dentist (?) when I was six, plunked out on my sister’s sky-blue SmithCorona electric typewriter. Some writers don’t get the bug until later but are definitely BIG readers. Is your child on a first-name basis with your local librarian and/or booksellers? Has the barcode on their library card faded so much, you’re constantly asking for a new one?

I cannot state it heartily enough: If your child wants to write, SUPPORT THEM. Let them read everything they can get their hands on—and yes, graphic novels are REAL books! Let’s stop telling kids that authors need “day jobs” or that writers are destined to be poor, and maybe the next generation will find some respect and success in artistic professions. We all love books, movies, music, and art—it has to come from somewhere.

Who knows—maybe YOUR kid is the Next Big Thing in the publishing world!

Young writers, educators, and parents, check out our Storytellers’ Workshop!

Introducing the Storyteller Workshop PDF: Unleash the Power of Creative Writing in Your Home or Classroom!

🌟 Are you an educator or parent looking for a fun and engaging exercise to spark your students' creative writing skills? Not sure the best way to introduce the concept of story to your kids? Look no further! Our Storyteller Workshop PDF is the perfect tool to transform your classroom into a vibrant storytelling hub.

📚 What's Inside? Our comprehensive, easy-to-follow Storyteller Workshop PDF is expertly crafted for educators, containing everything you need to help students start on the path toward nurturing their inner storyteller.

Developed through years of writing my own novels, editing for internationally best-selling authors across multiple popular genres, and teaching all levels of writers, this simple, easily digestible workshop is an interactive, hands-on way to give your aspiring writers the tools they need to build solid stories.

💡 Why Choose the SGA Books Storyteller Workshop? Our downloadable PDF offers a unique, comprehensive approach to creative writing in the classroom, empowering educators like you to:

  • Inspire students to express themselves confidently and creatively.

  • Encourage collaboration and build a sense of community in the classroom. Have them work together to brainstorm!

  • Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills through creative exploration.

  • Run the workshop as a single lesson, or break it up across a few weeks to really inspire writers to dig deep into their story ideas.

  • Nurture a lifelong love for writing and storytelling.

  • Pay for the single download and then make photocopies for your classroom as needed!

Resources to get—and KEEP—you writing!

**All the information on this page is listed in a free, downloadable PDF. Click the button above or at the bottom of this page.**

Also, please visit the main RESOURCES page and the Learning Library for TONS more publishing industry resources.

Writing programs, places to share work, and other helpers:

Stock photography sites (if you want to make a mock cover for your book!): 

NOTE: Not all of these sites are free, and it’s not ethical to steal photography as this work belongs to an artist (just like you), but if you fall in love with an image, they can be very affordable to buy. Also, you can save an image (like, to your Pinterest board) or make a mock book cover with it, as long as you don’t try to sell your book until you pay for the stock image.

Awesome writing books!

  • Spilling Ink: A Young Writer’s Handbook, by Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter

  • The National Novel Writing Month’s Young Novelist Workbook for elementary, middle, and high school levels <— Cannot recommend this enough! :)

  • Seize the Story, by Victoria Hanley

  • Writing Magic: Creative Stories That Fly, by Gail Carson Levine

  • Writer to Writer, by Gail Carson Levine

  • Brave the Page: A Young Writer’s Guide to Telling Epic Stories, by Rebecca Stern and Grant Faulkner

  • Rip the Page! Adventures in Creative Writing, by Karen Benke

  • Banish Boring Words! by Leilen Shelton (a Scholastic book)

  • Basher Basics: Creative Writing, by Simon Basher

  • Basher Basics: Grammar, by Simon Basher

  • My Weird Writing Tips, by Dan Gutman

  • The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, by Jane Straus

  • Wonderbook, by Jeff VanderMeer (FOR OLDER STUDENTS)

If you want additional online resources to inspire and help you with your writing, google “resources for young writers” for a ton more!

The sky is the limit!