Writing Challenge
By Stacy Zeiger,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Motivating story starter helps teen writers get creative.
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Writing Challenge
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What’s It About?
Upon opening WRITING CHALLENGE, kids are presented with a giant orange start button; they'll click it and see a series of suggestions. Suggestions come in the form of settings, conflicts, vocabulary words, or unique lines of dialogue that can help writers start a story. For example, settings might include "in a jail" or "on a distant planet," while conflicts include situations such as "suffers a serious accident," or "receives a threatening message." Other ideas offered might include vocabulary words such as "malicious," "smoker," "horseman," or "peanut" as well as specific lines of dialogue. Kids won't input their writing into the app; they can put its ideas to work in a notebook or another program. After the prompt ideas are listed, students write on the selected prompt for a set amount of time and, when the time is up, select another idea to add to the story. They can stop after a few rounds or keep their stories going for pages.
Is It Any Good?
Writing Challenge relies on its timer feature to help incite ideas on the spot, which can be just what some kids need when trying to write a story. Although enthusiastic writers can choose longer time limits to further develop an idea, shorter time limits might help encourage reluctant writers to simply write a little at a time. In either case, the timer helps give each prompt a sense of urgency, encouraging kids to simply get their ideas down on paper. As they add steps, kids can move beyond formulaic stories and traditional plot patterns, developing highly creative narratives. Writing Challenge's goal is to help kids get started, and it does this well. However, as students are likely to write beyond a story's beginning, the app might benefit from extensions to help guide students further in the process. Information and tips on plot structure, narrative arc, or even the process of revision could make for nice additions.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how writers come up with their ideas. Is it "cheating" to use a story starter like this one to get creative juices flowing, or is it a helpful tool?
Do an "exquisite corpse" writing exercise with the whole family. One person writes a sentence of a story, folds the paper down to hide it, and hands it to the next person, who can peek at only the previous sentence, then add his or her own, and so on.
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android
- Subjects: Language & Reading: storytelling, vocabulary, writing, writing clearly
- Skills: Creativity: brainstorming, imagination, producing new content, Self-Direction: effort, motivation, working efficiently
- Pricing structure: Paid
- Release date: September 25, 2013
- Category: Productivity
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 5.0 or later
- Last updated: August 17, 2016
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