WRITING KNOWHOW Ideas (Part 3)
Where should children's writers get all their crazy ideas from? SCBWI's Emma Finlayson-Palmer, author of Autumn Moonbeam: Dance Magic, investigates in this three-part series.
Freewriting is brilliant for helping with this. Whenever I get a little stuck, I just start writing
in a notebook. You can do it on a blank Word document too, I just find that it seems to tap into a
different part of my brain when I freehand writing, like the physical process of forming words on the
page somehow helps.
What is freewriting?
It’s almost like a form of brainstorming, but you don’t think too much and let
your mind just wander.
You could start with a prompt, a word, a visual, maybe a character idea, or
even take the first sentence of a favourite book, ask yourself questions, what ifs, talk about what
you’ve had to eat that day.
I once got a whole short story idea after freewriting starting with the
word cushion. It’s all about freeing up your mind and just going with the flow. Have a try and see
where your subconscious leads you.
Do you have a notebook where you store all your ideas? Or even a box where you
can stash index cards or post it notes? Perhaps you could fold up ideas on paper and put them into a
jar to dip into for inspiration.
I have an Ideas and Inspiration notebook/journal where I keep all sorts
of things, I doodle and write in it, there’s even old cards or shiny paper I like, so it’s also a little bit of
an art journal too. But this is how I work, I am very inspired by visual cues, so when I’m not adding
new bits to the notebook I often flick through and look at all the things stored there.
It’s a nice way
of using one of the particularly lovely notebooks I get for birthdays or Christmas too, no notebook is
too good for ideas and inspiration!
*Header image: In-house collaboration between Ell Rose and Tita Berredo
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Emma Finlayson-Palmer is an autistic, working class writer who lives in the West Midlands with her husband and a multitude of children, cats and chickens. Author of the Autumn Moonbeam series, including Dance Magic and Spooky Sleepover, published by UCLan in 2022. Emma runs #ukteenchat, a writing themed chat on Twitter, and edits, mentors and reads competition entries for #WriteMentor and also reads flash fiction entries for Retreat West. She’s also one half of Word Witches, as a children’s fiction editor. Find Emma on Twitter @FinlaysonPalmer
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Got an idea for KnowHow, or a subject you’d like to hear more on? Let us know at knowhow@britishscbwi.org
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Tita Berredo is the Illustrator Coordinator of SCBWI British Isles and the Art Director of Words & Pictures. Contact her at: illuscoordinator@britishscbwi.org
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