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 beautiful hardback format thanks to my publishing partners, Saronti.

Over 30 children so far, have written and published a book this way. Take a look for yourself at the fantastic collection of stories written by these young authors.

A great way to encourage young authors.

The workshops run over the course of a week. We meet on Zoom for an hour every morning to progress with the next stage of the writing or planning process.

I guide the children along each step of the way. This includes idea formation at the very start, and down to the editing once they’ve completed their first draft. What’s great about this is that they get to add their own illustrations to the book, or they can choose an image that represents their story.

The children I’ve worked with have all been so proud of their stories when they’ve received them. One mum even told me that her son, who was not part of the workshop because he is a reluctant writer (and didn’t want to do it) became so intrigued by what his sister was doing on the course, that he went off and wrote his own story too. He was so proud of his achievement. And that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it?

We want children to see that they are capable of great things.

Having something tangible to show for your efforts can be really important for children. For instance, it’s something they can show their family, friends and teachers. Something to feel proud of.

As an author of children’s books, I want to share my love of stories with children and get them to enjoy writing too.

I can help them understand where their creativity can take them because really, there are no limits. As I always say, the world needs creative people. And where better to start than here.
Writing can be fun. In a way that reading a story takes you to worlds you can only dream of, writing can do the same. Only these worlds are of your own imagining.

Meet one of my published authors, James.

James wrote a story about Frodo and Pippin, two parrots who live at the ARC (Animal Rescue Centre) and who turn their dream of flying into space a reality.

Along with his mum, James came up with the clever idea of using the book to raise funds for the ARC charity. The ARC is an animal rescue centre based at Greenvale Primary school, near Croydon. You can find out more about what they do here.

The Astronaut Parrot costs £7 and is available from the ARC. Alternatively, you can contact me at storymakers@nikkiyoung.co.uk if you would like to buy a copy. All of the proceeds from the sale will go directly to the charity.

Not only is James one of Storymakers’ published authors, he’s helping to raise money for a good cause too.

Join us at the next story writing workshop. For details and booking, see the Workshops page.