Jack Trelawny School Author Blog: Ideas for Kids

Jack Trelawny's Story House - Ideas for kids - Quotations and the 'W' words

Children from Homefield Prep School reading and finding out

Famous quotations or 'quotes' can give you ideas for stories.

I will be visiting Homefield Preparatory School (Sutton, Surrey SM1 2TE) on 17th September 2012. As with all things, I like to carry out some research and find things out before I do something. I looked at the Homefield Prep School website to find out about them. These three quotes were on the school's home page.

T. S. Eliot - Poet - Nobel Prize Winner - Literature - 1948

"The function of education is happiness." T.S. Eliot

Albert Einstein - Scientist - Nobel Prize Winner - Physics - 1921

"The important thing is not to stop questioning." Albert Einstein

"The only place you'll find success before work is in the dictionary." May B. Smith

Firstly, think carefully about what the words mean. If you're not sure, ask your teacher or someone who might know.

Ask someone who might know

Then find out all you can about the person Who said the quoted words. When did they say them? Where were they at the time? What happened to them in their lives? And after you've asked the four main W word questions, you could also ask, Why did they say the quoted words?

I like to find some pictures of the person who said the quoted words as well. Looking at pictures gives me a 'feel' for a person or place or time and ideas come into my head.

Using the the W words for research into quotations and finding out all about the person with pictures gives me lots of ideas for characters (Who is in the story), settings (When and Where is the story set), and plots (What happens in the story).

You can do the same. Ask lots of questions, look everywhere you can for the answers, and collect pictures to give you more ideas.

As Albert Einstein - one of the cleverest people who has ever lived - said...

'The important thing is not to stop questioning.'

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See you next time in the Story House.

Happy writing... and reading!

Jack

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