Has anyone used Learn to Write the Novel Way?

[MitchellMom]

I have read some about it and it sounds interesting (not for my daughter, of course, LOL! For my niece.). It's actually intended for grades 5-12. I'd love to know what you thought of it! :)

[Michelle T]

I'm actually thinking of using it myself. I haven't had time to really review it yet, but it looks like a fun year of creative writing. There are all sorts of assignments/instructions on coming up with a story, developing characters, working on plot, etc. It appears to be broken down into easy, small chunks, and there is a couple of recommended schedules.

 

I would think it best for kids middle school age and up, unless the 5th grader was quite advanced in writing.

MichelleT

[Carol in Cal.]

I decided not to use it.

 

It is well written, but the way that it breaks up creative writing into chunks would not work for her. She has not been ready for that at all. She likes to write long, long stories in a stream of consciousness format, like a real storyteller. She reads what she already wrote, and the next ideas come to her. Now, I have no doubt that the tools that a curriculum like this provides would be helpful to her, but I don't care to put her through that much pain for so little result. I would rather save the pain for her non-fiction writing, at which she is far less intuitive, and encourage her creative writing with techniques from BraveWriter--freewrites, imagination prompts, lots of exposure to great books and even movies with good dialogue, and literature discussions.