Episode 9: Discussing Writing & Craft with Children's Author & Illustrator, Amy Young

I’m your host, Elizabeth Morphis and for today’s episode, we’ll hear how we can encourage kids to write and draw more, both inside and outside the classroom. We’ll also learn that encouraging kids to have ideas isn’t that tricky, ideas for writing are all around us. 

Our guest today is Amy Young. Amy has wanted to be an artist from as early as she can remember. She became a lawyer, but ended up missing art too much, so she left the practice to write and illustrate full-time. She’s the author of several children’s books such as Belinda the Ballerina and A Unicorn Named Sparkle and illustrated multiple other stories. 

Amy shares the unlikely sources of her past stories. Like how Belinda the Ballerina came to her while she was having dinner with her husband one night, or how Sparkle the unicorn came about while she was walking her dog, remembered the ads for sea monkeys from when she was a kid, and asked herself, “What if it was a unicorn?” 

The ideas from Amy’s stories come from everywhere. A conversation she heard, what she felt or did as a kid, some of the things her friends and family did, and even from watching animals. The trick lies in two things: writing the ideas down and recognizing when an idea is a good one. 

“Once the ideas are flowing, they’re more likely to flow. So, I can tell I’m getting close to a story because things are just more fun. I have to find a place where it’s kind of fun, and the ideas are coming, and then I’ll get that Bang! out of the sky.” –Amy Young 

But there are also times when she finds it really hard to come up with new ideas. Her advice? “If whatever you’re doing isn’t working, you try it for a while, and then you try something else.” 

To encourage ideas for writing or drawing from kids, Amy shared multiple suggestions such as lists, prompts, journals, letters to future self, and writing from the point-of-view of someone or something else. The key is to make it fun and make it non-judgmental. That way, kids will not only be encouraged to let their ideas flow and be creative, but they will also have fun. 

To hear more about Amy’s experiences and suggestions, listen to the full episode. And head on over to her website to see all the amazing books she has.