Story writing tips from Bernard Ashley and your chance to win one of 3 copies of Little Soldier...

 
As part of the Imperirial War Museum North's Free Summer Activities, they will be will be hosting a week-long programme of activities and events inspired by Bernard Ashley's children's book Little Soldier, which is one of the books that feature in the Once Upon A Wartime exhibition.

Today he was at IWMN and visitors of all ages were able to meet the author, find out what it is like to be a professional writer and what inspired him to write Little Soldier and new book, Dive Bombing.

 Little Soldier, published in 1999, follows Kaninda, a young boy who witnesses the shooting of his parents and sister by government troops in his own home in East Africa. After joining the rebel army of his own tribe, Kaninda is rescued by the Red Cross and sent to East London – where he is in danger of getting caught up in further violence.

If you were unable to make it, he has been kind enough to share some top tips on story writing below, these are great tips for any budding authors in your family...


Bernard Ashley: What I’ve found useful in writing...

1. Carrying a writers’ notebook – small, unobtrusive – for jotting down phrases heard, thoughts, people’s dress, etc. I suppose an i-phone could be used in the modern world.

2. Researching. Get on top of your subject, see it from more than one point of view. The internet is marvellous for this, but so is ‘going there’ as I did for ‘Little Soldier’ – seeing the colour of the soil, eating the food, avoiding the mosquitos. Look for the idiosynchratic detail that brings a scene to life, illustrating that life can be stranger than fiction.

3. Being aware of style – an action scene will be written with shorter sentences, fewer adjectives and adverbs, while a romantic scene can be lush in sentence and word. I imagine what sort of music would be playing beneath a particular scene in a film, and match it with words.



To inspire future authors further we have been offered 3 copies of Little Soldier to give away to My Mummy's Pennies readers!



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