Today, we’re pleased to welcome author, Kate Foster to start off our Wednesday Writing Prompt series.

We hope that Kate’s prompt sparks some great story ideas for you.

ABOUT KATE

Kate Foster is a children’s author writing about friends, family, and dogs. Originally from a small town in the southeast of England, she now lives on the stunning Gold Coast in Australia with her family and second-hand dogs. She is passionate about encouraging and teaching a wider understanding of autism and mental illness via a positive approach and representation. Her favourite things are dogs, books, and cake … any kind of cake but preferably with cream or ice cream on the side!

KATE’S BOOK

Everything is changing for 11-year-old Alex and, as an autistic person, change can be terrifying. With the first day of high school only a couple of months away, Alex is sure that having a friend by his side will help. So, he’s devised a plan – impress the kids at school by winning a trophy at the PAWS Dog Show with his trusty sidekick, Kevin. This should be a walk in the park . . . right?

THE HARDEST THING ABOUT WRITING PAWS

The hardest thing about writing PAWS was ensuring I balanced Alex’s millions and trillions of thoughts that he has every second and his confusing feelings going on inside him with all the things going on around him. Being autistic can make processing what happens and understanding the world and other people quite tricky, and inside an autistic person’s head there is a huge amount of thinking and working out before they know how best to respond and react. I wanted to make sure all my readers understood how much effort Alex had to make to understand regular situations, but without them getting bored or as confused as him!

THE MOST FUN THING ABOUT WRITING PAWS

The most fun thing about writing PAWS was of course the dogs! I love dogs so much, so being able to write as many as I wanted, in as many different breeds as I could, with all the excitement and fun of a dog show, was brilliant! I wanted cute and clever and cautious and colourful, so readers could feel as if they were there at the show, watching the dogs, hearing the barks, and enjoying the fun.

KATE’S WRITING PROMPT

In PAWS, there were plenty of trophies on offer for different dogs and their owners: Happiest, Most Obedient, Best Tricks. What contests would you like to see at a dog show? Choose one, and then write about it! Think about what dog breeds might be entered into that event, what kinds of things that dog would have to do to show the judges they were the best, and so on. You can be as silly or as serious as you like. Just have fun!