Tips on How to Write a Winning Story

• From our numerous themes for the competition, pick the theme(s) you find most interesting. Your story may revolve around more than one of the given themes.
• Ideas: Brainstorm and come up with an idea or ideas for your story.
• Create a compelling character. For a short story, it is always best to have few characters. You could decide to have one main character and a few secondary characters. Your main character could be an animal while the secondary characters could be either humans or animals.
• Plot your story. A good story usually has a sympathetic character that has a problem. The problem could be either external (e.g. a secondary character who is a villain and bent on stopping the main character from reaching his goals) or internal (e.g. the main character is bad-tempered and in danger of losing something important because of his anger problem) or a combination of both. The problem could also be something as simple as five-year-old Ado losing his toy in the park. The story usually revolves around the problem and ends when the main character solves the problem.
• Choose a familiar setting. It is always best to write about places and things that you know very well.  
• Write! Start your story with a bang! Show the main character with the problem so that your readers will be curious to know what happens next.
• Show, Don’t Tell! Show the scenes in action rather than narrate them.
• Keep your dialogues interesting. Avoid lengthy greetings and any dialogue that does not add to the plot.
• Re-read your story. Look out for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes and correct these.
• Edit your story to ensure it has no more than 1000 words if you are putting it in for the MyRainbowBooks competition.
• Come up with a captivating title that aptly fits your story. Your story title may or may not reflect any of our given themes e.g. Nkechi and the Magic Pencil, Bayo’s Big Game, Fatima’s Day at the Zoo, The Proud Little Girl etc.
• Submit your story.

Tips on How to Write a Winning Poem

• From our numerous themes for the competition, pick the theme(s) you find most interesting. Your poem may revolve around more than one of the given themes.
• Ideas: Brainstorm and come up with an idea or ideas for your poem. You may read a number of poems to give you the spark you need to get started. Write down everything that comes to your mind.
• Decide on a poetry style or form. Do you want to write a poem that has rhythm and rhyme or do you want to write free verse (a poem that does not rhyme)? Your poem does NOT have to rhyme.
• Think about what you want to say through your poem. Organize your thoughts. Write them down and arrange them to make them flow.
• Re-read your poem several times. Ensure that it says exactly what you want it to say.
• Try to replace some words with more interesting words. Avoid using common phrases and try to create phrases that express the same idea as the common phrases you would like to use.
• As much as you can, use vivid descriptions to create images.
• Revise your poem and take out unnecessary words. 
• Edit your poem to ensure it has no more than 250 words if you are putting it in for the MyRainbowBooks competition.
• Put your poem away and come back to it later. Read it again and see if you would like to add or remove any words or phrases in the poem.
• Read out your poem and listen to it. Make changes as you see fit until you are satisfied with the poem.
• Come up with a captivating title that aptly fits your poem. The title may or may not reflect any of our themes e.g. My Silent Friend, My Magic Pencil, Roli’s Folly etc.
• Submit your poem.

We look forward to reading your winning stories and poems at MyRainbowBooks!