Judy Blume won more than 90 literary awards and has been the best-selling author for books for younger readers. Her best- known works include: “Are You There, God?”. “It’s Me, Margaret”, “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”, “Deenie”, and “Blubber”.
1. The only way to learn how to write is to practice, and that takes time. No magic tricks or fast rules will allow you to skip the hard work that writing requires.
2. Your individuality is what will make you stand out as a writer.
3. Before you start writing books, you need to be a reader first. Reading will help you figure out how to tell your own stories.
4. Judy is a firm believer in determination, which she feels is as important as having talent. You must be determined enough to stick with writing, when times are hard and reach for the stars when the opportunity comes knocking your way.
5. You never know when the idea for a story will come to you. In reality, the idea doesn’t have to be fully developed to write a whole book right away. Sometimes a small detail is enough to spark your imagination. When that happens, allow that idea to take over and see where it takes you.
6. To create realistic and relatable characters, you should invest time and energy into creating details. Observe everyday life, pay attention to details, and how they shape real people and their lives.
7. Using real-life experience in your stories is great, but don’t forget to add imagination to the mix; describing just everyday real life might just be boring.
8. Do you remember what it was like when you were a child? Recall your childhood memories and see where it will take your creativity and your imagination.
9. At times you may end up using your feelings and personal experiences in your writing without even realising that.
10. Don’t be afraid to walk away from your desk and have a break. A lot of creativity happens when your mind is busy with something else.
11. You don’t have to start writing the very moment you have an idea. Letting an idea grown on you and with you is a very precious time.
12. Think about how the mood and emotions come through in your writing.
13. Judy believes that writers who write for kids are able to be in touch with their childhood self.
14. Younger readers aren’t going to be as generous as adult readers with their time. If you don’t hook the younger readers right away, they won’t give your story a chance.
15. Judy tends to stay away from themes in her books. She feels that themes don’t give enough credit to the readers and can turn, especially the young ones, off. She focuses more on present situations and characters instead, allowing her readers to decide on the meaning of the story.
16. Each story is about something. However, the good stories never preach or make their themes too obvious.
17. Judy likes being surprised by her characters and likes discovering them through writing.
18. As a writer, the more time you invest in your characters by writing about them, the more you will know them, and the more they will seem like real people.
19. Your readers want to empathise with your characters, which means that part of your writing job is to develop empathy for them.
20. Use details to create your character’s inner life. Those details can become your framework, which will allow you to play around the character.
21. Experiment with your voice. Try writing in the first or third person and see if that voice feels like yours. Character’s voice is both, yours as it comes from you, but also your character’s voice. What is your character saying or thinking? Finding the right voice for your character is an organic process. Don’t be afraid to get rid of an element, if it doesn’t feel right.
22. Pair heightened emotions with ordinary, everyday moments.
23. Never forget that your characters need to be on a journey, allowing them to change along the way. The journey you are portraying in your story will only depict a small fraction of their lives.
24. With dialogue, you give your characters specific knowledge they might not possess otherwise.
25. Judy prefers simple dialogue and stays away from slang, which often can date the story.
26. While writing dialogue, remember that people don’t really talk grammatically. Allow your characters to interrupt one another. Think about what the characters are not saying in the dialogue. It will help you build the tension and reveal a little bit more about the characters.
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