Writing tips & tricks for the Young Authors Fiction Festival

Writing tips & tricks to help you submit for the Young Authors Fiction Festival

It’s creative writing season again! The Library encourages young authors all over the greater Paris area to sharpen their pencils (or put their fingers to the keyboard) and prepare to submit an original story to the Young Authors Fiction Festival, a city-wide writing initiative that aims to strengthen community among English-speakers in the Paris area through the art and craft of storytelling. The YAFF is free of charge and open to all students ages 5-18 in the greater Paris area who write in English.

The deadline for YAFF submissions is 1 April 2015. When you are ready to submit a story, be sure to fill out our online submissions form by that due date.

We often get asked: Can I, should I, help my young author? The answer to this question is an unequivocal, “Yes.” It’s okay to offer guidance to your young author. Real working authors seek guidance all the time, from critique partners to agents and editors to family and friends. No writing can mature in isolation. So, please do feel free to help, however, the key is to not do for your young authors, but to guide them so that they may do for themselves.

To help you guide your young author in the creative writing process, check out these blog posts written by award-winning author Sarah Towle on how to help young authors – from pre-readers to emerging readers to developing readers – write an original story.

For more hands-on writing tips, join Sarah Towle on Saturday 14 February from 11h00 to 14h00 for an intensive writing workshop dedicated to drafting, revising and editing your story for submission for the 2015 YAFF. Participants are requested to bring in a few story ideas or draft as well as a bagged lunch. This workshop is for ages 8-14. Space is limited and RSVP is required at rhoads@americanlibraryinparis.org. Participation is free for library members and 10€ per session for non-members.