Write a Serial Story

Your child writes an ongoing story in short daily episodes across a week, developing characters and ending each part on a hook that leads into the next. A creative project that builds into something bigger day by day.

How to do it

1. Have your child sketch the basics by choosing a main character, a setting, and a problem or goal to drive the story.
2. Ask them to write the first short episode, ending it on a hook that makes you want to know what happens next.
3. Each day, have them read back the last hook and write the next short episode that follows from it.
4. Encourage them to let the character change or learn something across the episodes rather than staying the same.
5. At the end of the week, read the whole serial together from start to finish.

What you need

• Notebook or device
• Pen
• Quiet time

Make it yours

Younger, 9-10 years: Shorter episodes of a few sentences, and drawing part of the story is fine. Older, 12 years and up: Add a subplot or a second point-of-view character across the week. Siblings: Co-write by taking turns, each writing the next episode from the other's hook.