{"id":6551,"date":"2025-01-08T22:03:58","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:03:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/writing-scary-stories-for-children-by-rachel-burge-the-federation-of-childrens-book-groups\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T22:03:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T22:03:58","slug":"writing-scary-stories-for-children-by-rachel-burge-the-federation-of-childrens-book-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551","title":{"rendered":"Writing scary stories for children by Rachel Burge \u2013 The Federation of Children&#8217;s Book Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\n<p>Readers of all ages seem to be reading more scary stories and we are so pleased to share a guest post from Rachel Burge about exactly writing and reading scary stories.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-21482\" src=\"https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178-195x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"195\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178-195x300.jpeg 195w, https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178-668x1030.jpeg 668w, https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178-768x1184.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178-996x1536.jpeg 996w, https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178-973x1500.jpeg 973w, https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178-457x705.jpeg 457w, https:\/\/fcbg.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/IMG_6178.jpeg 1054w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 195px) 100vw, 195px\"\/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><br \/>Reading and Writing Scary Stories for Children<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s widely known that reading helps children develop empathy. But did you know that fiction does more than just encourage us to see the world from different perspectives, it actually changes us on a neurological level? That\u2019s because reading tricks our brain into believing we are part of the story, according to researchers at Emory University in America. When we feel for the characters in a book, it wires our brain to have the same sensitivity towards people in the real world.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s an argument that reading frightening stories helps children develop another valuable skill \u2013 emotional resilience. When reading a scary book, young people are aware that it\u2019s not real, but at the same time, it allows them to emotionally rehearse how they might react in a similar situation. According to Marshall Duke, Professor of Psychology at Emory University, reading stories where characters \u2018overcome the monster\u2019 helps children to realise that when they come upon their own \u201cmonsters,\u201d they will be able to overcome them too.<\/p>\n<p>As many adults would agree, there\u2019s something uniquely thrilling about reading a heart-pounding ghost story or horror novel. All good fiction has tension and suspense, but the genre takes \u2018gripping\u2019 to another level. We simply have to keep turning the pages, desperate to know whether the characters will survive the night. Reluctant young readers may find a scary book holds their attention in the way other stories don\u2019t. It was certainly that way for me. As a teenager, I remember going straight from children\u2019s classics to devouring Stephen King. As soon as I discovered horror, reading gripped me in a whole new way.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there are key differences between writing horror for adults and writing scary stories for children. The type and level of threat needs to be age appropriate. Crucially, the characters in a children\u2019s story are safe by the end, and the monster vanquished. In adult books there\u2019s often a sense of bleakness, but in children\u2019s fiction there\u2019s nearly always a renewed sense of hope, a feeling that the world is now a better place.<\/p>\n<p>When writing scary stories for young people, I always ask myself how my characters\u2019 lives will have improved by the end. If I\u2019m going to put my protagonists through a terrible ordeal, it\u2019s important to me that they should have a stronger sense of self-worth and have grown from the experience.<\/p>\n<p>All of my books are set in the contemporary world, and I make sure to include everyday concerns that children can relate to, as well as supernatural ones. In Whispering Hollow, I explored the theme of change to echo my plot of dark faerie changelings. My main character, Pippa, has a fraught relationship with her older brother Jed. He\u2019s changed so much over the past few months, that she barely recognises him. The children are also dealing with the anxiety of moving house and starting a new school. The things they face (evil faeries are living in their grandpa\u2019s garden, and they take Jed and replace him with a changeling) brings them closer together during the story. By the end, the siblings have mended their relationship and the future looks a lot less scary.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Readers of all ages seem to be reading more scary stories and we are so pleased to share a guest post from Rachel Burge about exactly writing and reading scary stories. Reading and Writing Scary Stories for Children It\u2019s widely known that reading helps children develop empathy. But did you know that fiction does more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[2268,6044,680,352,3723,3724,5568,6043,4717,2456],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-6551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-book","tag-burge","tag-children","tag-childrens","tag-federation","tag-groups","tag-rachel","tag-scary","tag-stories","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Writing scary stories for children by Rachel Burge \u2013 The Federation of Children&#039;s Book Groups - Som2ny Network<\/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:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Writing scary stories for children by Rachel Burge \u2013 The Federation of Children&#039;s Book Groups - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Readers of all ages seem to be reading more scary stories and we are so pleased to share a guest post from Rachel Burge about exactly writing and reading scary stories. Reading and Writing Scary Stories for Children It\u2019s widely known that reading helps children develop empathy. But did you know that fiction does more [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-08T22:03:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_6178.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1054\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1625\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Writing scary stories for children by Rachel Burge \u2013 The Federation of Children&#8217;s Book Groups\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-08T22:03:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551\"},\"wordCount\":599,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/IMG_6178.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"Book\",\"Burge\",\"Children\",\"Childrens\",\"Federation\",\"Groups\",\"Rachel\",\"scary\",\"Stories\",\"Writing\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=6551\",\"name\":\"Writing scary stories for children by Rachel Burge \u2013 The Federation of Children's Book Groups - 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