The Blog
Poems on the theme of loneliness
The inspiration for this post came from the poems, The Loner by Julie Holder and The New Boy by John Walsh. This is an ideal exercise for KS3 (ages 11-13). The first is about a boy who always stands by the wall in the school playground and never joins in. He’s reached...
Book anthology in aid of Ukrainian refugees
I've partnered with book publisher, Saronti, to bring together a collection of stories written for children by children. It's called Sunflowers and Nightingales and all the proceeds from the sales will go to charities, such as War Child and Four Paws, helping the...
How to create a reading culture within your school.
As an author, I regularly visit schools to deliver creative writing workshops. What I’ve noticed, is that it's obvious when there’s a strong reading culture within the school. It’s not only that there are books, and references to books, everywhere you look, but there...
How to write an acrostic poem
Acrostic poems are one of the most popular poetry forms. Children loving writing them and I think, perhaps, it’s because they have a starting point – something to work from. I’m going to take you through some steps you can do to practise before putting together your...
Children can be published authors too.
Do you know any budding young authors? I’ve been making that publishing dream a reality for children for some time now. My holiday workshops involve a week of idea brainstorming, planning and writing. This results in the children receiving a copy of their story in...
Encourage creative writing: Work with an author
As an author, I often visit schools Recently, I went to a school and, while signing in at reception, a boy behind me whispered to his mum, “That’s Nikki Young!”. He recognised me because they had been reading my book, Time School: We Will Remember Them before I came...
Why is creative writing so important?
Creative writing can boost children and young people’s well-being and help them feel connected to the world. That’s what the children who do enjoy writing say about it. Children and young people often write song lyrics, diary entries, reviews, stories and poems, and...
First line prompts for story writing
One of the most popular things we do at Young Writers is the five-minute story writing challenge. When I first introduced this idea, it was met with horror. How could you possibly be expected to produce a piece of story writing of any worth in just five minutes? But...
Nine-line poetry – The Magic 9!
When I first came across a poetry form called The Magic Nine, I was immediately intrigued. Though I love having a go at writing poetry and simply going with the flow, I also like a challenge. This one appealed because it is a structured form that follows the rhyming...
Recipe for a Story
Want to know how to cook up a story idea? Make a recipe! Follow this simple recipe. All you need are a few good ingredients. Mix them up with a bit of imagination and you’re good to go. What you will need:- Two characters- A place- Two objects- An adjective- An...
The power of the metaphor
Although not easy to come up with, I love a metaphor. I guess that’s partly what makes them so appealing. That, and the fact you don’t need to use many in your writing for them to have an impact. Unlike similes that make a direct comparison with something else using...
Writing and English support for children
Hello and thanks for stopping by. I’m so glad you’ve found my writing club. I’m Nikki and I started Storymakers in 2017. This was just after the publication of my first book, The Mystery of the Disappearing Underpants. At that time, I had been freelance writing and...