{"id":928,"date":"2013-03-26T11:45:31","date_gmt":"2013-03-26T16:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.littworldonline.org\/?p=928"},"modified":"2016-11-18T22:36:08","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:36:08","slug":"is-it-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/es\/is-it-true\/","title":{"rendered":"“Is it true?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When a child asks Katherine Paterson, \u201cIs your story true?\u201d she answers, \u201cI hope so. I meant for it to be true. I tried hard to make it so.\u201d\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some people think that because fiction is \u201cmade up,\u201d it can\u2019t be true. So storytellers are suspect. How can something which never actually happened, about people who never really existed, be true?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a strange thing. But fiction can actually show us the truth \u00a0about people, about ourselves, about the world we live in. It isn\u2019t the Truth, but it\u2019s a signpost, directing us to what we might not find or see otherwise. As we read good fiction by the great writers, we recognize the truth, often with a shock of surprise, taken unawares. Things ring true.<\/p>\n

There is another side to this. For the writer, serving the truth can be uncomfortable. It means seeing things as they are, not as we would like them to be. We cannot be sentimental about children or childhood. Children are not living in Paradise. We know they are not always at the center of a loving family. We know that they experience abuse, want, hunger, and many, many fears. How are we going to deal with that in our stories?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with these Sunday-school books,\u201d a friend\u2019s daughter remarked, \u201cis that they are not very much like life.\u201d Children are perceptive. They see through characters who are \u201ctoo good to be true.\u201d We have to be honest with them. You can\u2019t set fears to rest by denying them.<\/p>\n

The writer\u2019s task is to help children face fear, face evil. We want to lighten the heavy burdens many children carry. We can\u2019t do that if we have an unrealistic, idealistic view of childhood. We can\u2019t serve up simple, packaged answers.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

The encouraging thing, as Margaret Clark points out, is that writers for children (like writers for adults) cannot hide what their values are. The story will communicate them. If you are a writer your values will be revealed in everything you write.<\/p>\n

To quote Katherine Paterson again: \u201cThe work reveals the creator\u2014and as our universe in its vastness, its orderliness, its exquisite detail, tells us something of the One who made it, so a work of fiction, for better or worse, will reveal the writer.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did your favorite children’s book effectively convey values to you? Tell us here.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This article was excerpted from MAI\u2019s booklet, Effective Story Writing for Children<\/em>, by Pat Alexander and Larry Brook. The booklet offers several practical tips for mastering the important craft of children\u2019s writing. Check out\u00a0resources on writing and publishing\u00a0on MAI\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photo above courtesy freedigitalphotos.net<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a child asks Katherine Paterson, \u201cIs your story true?\u201d she answers, \u201cI hope so. I meant for it to be true. I tried hard to make it so.\u201d Some people think that because fiction is \u201cmade up,\u201d it can\u2019t be true. So storytellers are suspect. How can something which never actually happened, about people […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,46,86],"tags":[83,18,72,156,85,73,157,74,158,159,67],"class_list":["post-928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mai","category-writing-resources","category-writing-for-children","tag-children","tag-christian","tag-fiction","tag-katherine-paterson","tag-larry-brook","tag-pat-alexander","tag-stories","tag-story","tag-truth","tag-values","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\n"Is it true?" - Media Associates International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/maiglobal.org\/es\/is-it-true\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Is it true?" - Media Associates International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When a child asks Katherine Paterson, \u201cIs your story true?\u201d she answers, \u201cI hope so. 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