Guest post by teen writer, Colby Cox.
Colby writes his own blog, a teen's reads -check it out!
Have you ever wondered what writers did when they were teenagers? Well, in many cases, they do exactly what they were good at: they write. You might think that a teenager can never write something worthy of your precious time, but you might be surprised at the amount of talent that you can find on writing websites that are geared toward young writers.
A lot of us think of our teenage years as a time to practice writing. You have to go to all of the basketball practices to be good enough to play the game, right? That’s how it is with writing, and that’s what we’re doing. I’m not sure how it worked in the past, but as it is now, the internet is very friendly towards those of us who want to be writers – there are support groups, critique websites, and places for us to waste our time socializing with other teen writers.
As for me, while I’m not convinced I’ve written anything incredible yet, I think that this is a great time to practice and get better while still having fun and enjoying myself. Teachers are great, too, because they can really help you to feel confident about your writing. I can’t stress enough how important it has been for me to grow as a writer to actually listen to my English teachers, because while it may be hard to believe, they’re actually saying something important.
Another thing that is characteristic of young writers – and any writers, really – is a love for books. You have to read books to hone your craft. It’s like how football players watch film of their opponents before their games. (This is just a note, I really don’t pay any attention to sports at all, so the fact that I’ve referenced them twice is an oddity. Hmm.) We also talk about books on many of those websites that I’ve already mentioned. It’s really awesome that there are great authors who are getting teens reading books that actually have some depth to them – authors like John Green, Patrick Ness, and Ellen Hopkins are just a few.
If you’re thinking that you would like to somehow take action, there is one simple way that you can help teen writers grow, and that is to comment on what they are writing. You can do this at websites that are primarily used by teenagers such as www.figment.com and www.inkpop.com I’m sure that one day whenever that teen, now all grown up, has published a bestseller, they’ll be thanking you on the acknowledgements page at the back of the book and your fifteen minutes you spent to help them write better will have been worth it.
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Brilliant advise! Thank you Colby.
Are you a teen writer interested in guest posting on this blog? Email me! josh@TheNeverChronicles.com
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As always, for more information on my writing, short stories, videos, contests, give-aways and the release of my upcoming book, Exiled, book one of The Never Chronicles, visit my website, www.TheNeverChronicles.com
Nicely done Colby, and so true! As an old man now I wish I had written more in my teen years instead of playing (oh, who am I kidding) doing nothing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stonemason, and thank you, Josh, for having me! I really enjoyed writing this post.
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