Authors and Reading - Kids on the Net

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Advice to young authors and illustrators

If you have a question for David Clayton, you can write to Kids on the Net

David Clayton

David is an advisor for Kids on the Net. He wrote the first chapter of the hypertext story Planet of Dreams. You can read the story David started when it was completed by children from Tabubil International School in Papua New Guinea. If your class or group would like to use David's first chapter to build your own hypertext story (no knowledge of HTML needed with our template!) then take a look at the teachers' notes.

His advice is:

1. Don't JUST watch TV and play computer games, go out there and do something. Computers and television are important in this world especially for information. However, they are only a part of life. Your brain processes 300.000 pictures of the world around you every day. these are the building blocks of your life and writing.

2. Read a lot of different things. If something isn't very interesting, remember why.

3. Notice what is going on around you. Notice events, people's faces. Wonder why things happen. See how life works. Try to see the other person's point of view.

4. Write anything. keep a diary, write notes, write letters, work at strip cartoons, JUST WRITE!

5. Learn to use a keyboard as well as you can.

6. Keep your writing as simple as possible.

7. See how stories are shaped. See how a good opening drags you in, how a good middle keeps making you wonder what's next by keeping back details and how a good ending gives you most of the answers.

8. See what interests others not just yourself.

9. Listen to people's voices and how they use words for different effects. See what voices tell you about people no matter what their words are.

10. Ask other people what they think of your writing. They could be wrong but if several people say the same thing then you need to think about what they are saying.

David Clayton's website

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