We talk about stories in our house a lot. I don’t mean just telling stories, or reading, or watching movies, and so on. We do that, too. But what I mean is that we talk a lot about the shape of stories, or the way that they are structured, and why.

Sometimes I will ask the girls to pause a movie at a critical juncture in the story, when the main characters come across some new knowledge or discovery that changes the character’s understanding of what’s going on. And just before they pause it, I’ll say ‘is this about halfway done?’ And sure enough, they will look at the time and it will, almost invariably, be the midpoint. 45 minutes gone, 45 minutes left. And they’ll say ‘how did you know?!’

Well, they used to say that. Now they can do it, too.

So, anyway, we talk a lot about the structure of storytelling, because they are writers, too. And it helps them.

My oldest daughter published her first novel on Amazon when she was 12 (it actually came out the same week as mine.)

My younger daughter is working on her first one now.

If you were a mad scientist and you were trying to build a body with different pieces so you could bring it back to life, it would help if you knew where all the parts were supposed to go.

Well, if your kid wants to be a mad scientist with the pen, it’s going to help if they know where all the parts go.

So, this blog is going to dive into everything I know about telling stories and structuring them. And with any luck, you’ll find some helpful advice in here.

Also, I am going to write this in a way that you can feel okay letting your young writer scroll through the posts to find whatever they need. You won’t find any swear words or adult references.

Happy writing, young writer.