Recently I was asked to assist a First Robotics Tech Challenge team with their community outreach project – a children’s book involving a protagonist with a mind for robotics engineering. Discussing their plot and character development I showed them areas where they needed to noodle a little more before working on their rough draft, and they reminded me why I love to write.
Such experiences also affirm my belief that as long as people take the time to talk/work through their ideas they can write great material. So often we all (yes, even writers) get caught up in the stress of making the writing fantastic. That if the idea doesn’t come out the way we expected the first time we “can’t write”. However, if we turn to the very people we’re writing about and talk/journal through their motivations, secrets, and problem solving techniques the story unfolds before us. It was neat to see these teenagers’ faces light up as they did so, and strategize the project onto the right track.