How to Hatch a Natural Writer

By Betsy James
Issue 145, November/December 2007

• Love human speech—even the grotty bits.
• Model writing yourself. Be seen writing. Keep a journal.
• Model reading. Recent research says that boys who become readers are those who have seen their dads reading—reading anything—even Soldier of Fortune.
• Books are essential furniture (and good insulation). Have plenty, give plenty.
• Use your library! It's free, and in July it's air-conditioned.
• Buy or make each child a bookcase, which can also house china horses and orphan socks.
• Make sure kids have a variety of writing instruments: paper, pencils, pens, access to a computer. Don't be stingy with masking tape, like some people we know.
• Help kids make "love books" as presents instead of wobbly ashtrays.
• Buy each kid a Goodwill desk.
• Coerce relatives into writing real letters and postcards to your children, not just "Wish you were here." It'll be good for the relatives too.
• Give each child a place to keep his or her writing. For teens, this means a locked box whose privacy no one, including you, will violate.
• Invite your children to read to you what they write. If they're willing, listen gracefully and respond warmly. Your role is to enjoy, not to critique; do not criticize in any way. They'll get plenty of that later.
• Special note: Avoid writing competitions that rank child writers as "First," "Second," and so on. If a competition "celebritizes" the winners—get on TV, meet the mayor, kiss the queen—avoid it even more. Writing is speaking. It is a human and a democratic right. Children should never be judged "better"—and their peers, therefore, "worse"—while learning to speak their souls. Instead, give them paper, attention, praise, and the response that means "Your writing works. Your voice is heard in this world."

—BETSY JAMES

Betsy James is the award-winning author and illustrator of many books for children and young adults. Her latest novel, Listening at the Gate (Atheneum), is a New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age, and a Tiptree Award Honor Book, "for stories that explore and expand gender roles." For more thoughts on writing, visit her on the Web at www.betsyjames.com

Illustration by Betsy James.