Writing Challenge
In her interview, Jen discusses the challenge of writing a story in very few words. Can you write an extremely short story?
Try this:
- Introduce the character, the setting and the problem in a starting sentence.
- Show three steps the character takes to tackle the problem, using one sentence per step.
- Wrap up the story with a strong resolution in one or two strong sentences.
Check your word count. Are you under 500 words? If not, can you cut anything out? Not every story should be told in a teensy tiny space, but writers can learn a lot about what matters most when we write very short stories. We’d love to see the results of your experiment!
Submit your responses by emailing submit@younginklings.org and you might be published on our website! Even when it’s not November anymore, you can still take the challenge and submit your work. We love to see your writing anytime.
An Interview with author Jen Campbell
When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. I spent a lot of time in hospital as a child and fell in love with stories – the places they can take us and the power they hold. I wanted to be part of that. So, as well as a writing, I did a degree in English Literature and worked as a bookseller for ten years.
What is your advice for aspiring writers?
Simply:
- Read as much as you can.
- Write something every day.
- Edit your work. Ask every word if it needs to be there. Once you’ve edited it, put it in a drawer and leave it for a while. Then come back to it and edit it again.
Your new book is a children’s book, Franklin’s Flying Bookshop. What’s it like to work with an illustrator? Does it change the creative process?
I wrote Franklin and the plot for its sequels before we asked Katie Harnett to illustrate the book. So, it wasn’t a collaborative process in that respect. However, once Katie started the illustrations, we went back over the text to see if there was anything we could remove; some things are best said in illustrations alone. You don’t want to say things twice. So, that was really interesting. And, of course, writing the sequel, I knew what Luna and Franklin looked like, which made everything more vivid.
How did the writing process compare to your other books?
I’m a poet so it was, in some ways, similar, however Franklin is my first children’s book so that came with a whole new set of things to think about. As it’s a picture book, there are only so many words you can have on one page (this book has about 1000 in total), so it was all about making the most of every single word. I wanted it to rhyme, too, but not have a set rhythm, so that the words would have an element of surprise. My favorite thing was creating lists within the book, and seeing how Katie interpreted those in her illustrations.
If you could tell your younger writing self something, what would it be?
Just keep going.
A special thanks to Jen Campbell!
Jen Campbell is an award-winning poet and short story writer. Her debut short story collection The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night is published by Two Roads, November 2017, and her children’s book Franklin’s Flying Bookshop is published by Thames & Hudson. She is also the Sunday Times bestselling author of the Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops series and The Bookshop Book. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 2016 and talks about books over at www.youtube.com/jenvcampbell. You can visit her website at http://www.jen-campbell.co.uk. You can buy Franklin’s Flying Bookshop here.
