Let’s be honest. When it comes to our children’s compositions, we see more than just 3 mistakes. However, these 3 killer mistakes are the ones that we usually see in the mountains of stories that we mark.
1) Dialogue
Way too many dialogues.
Way too lengthy dialogues.
Way too many lengthy and unnecessary dialogues.
A dialogue is such a powerful writing tool and not just a means to convey information! A good writer will use dialogues at appropriate times to drive the plot forward and give insight into each character through the words they speak!
Is your child still writing “Hi!” and “Hello!” dialogues? It’s time to throw them out of the window!
ps: read our article on how to write a good dialogue here!
2) Scene Change
When it comes to scenes in a story, a good writer will try their best to keep scene changes to a minimum. This not only stops the reader from losing interest in trying to keep up with multiple scene changes, but it also gives them more time to bring their scenes to life with vivid and detailed imagery!
So make sure your child deletes unnecessary scenes, deletes transitory scenes and get right to the meat of the story!
3) Too many characters
First there’s Billy. Then there’s Bob, his best friend. Before that there was his mother who was mentioned in just one sentence at the beginning of the story, sending Billy to school. In class, Mrs Tan came in. Then Billy’s classmate Patrick came to give him an eraser, then his enemy John laughed at him.
Then it turned out that the story was about him witnessing a car accident after school.
Having too many characters in the story takes away the speciality of the main characters! It is completely unnecessary and provides no progress at all to the plot of the story.
Remember! A good writer always thinks twice before adding in characters as all characters in a good story is justified.
Accordingly, the next time your child is due for a writing exam, make sure they look out for these three major mistakes to avoid!