In this solo instructional video, literacy specialist and author Lois Letchford explains how reading and writing are interconnected skills that can be strengthened by treating reading like a writer and writing like a reader. She begins by promoting her memoir, Reverse to Memoir, and describing her work helping vulnerable students develop literacy strategies. Letchford then defines narrative conflict—not as fighting but as the tension that makes a story compelling—and argues that conflict is the engine that keeps readers engaged. She illustrates this by dissecting the opening chapter of Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon, contrasting the vivid, detail‑rich description of the antagonist Gobba the Belch with the more restrained introduction of the protagonist Hiccup, showing how the author uses specific sensory details, exaggerated traits, and escalating stakes to create conflict. Letchford challenges viewers to practice turning a list of facts about a person or group into an entertaining paragraph, emphasizing the need to weave details into a story rather than presenting them as a dry list. She then provides three timed writing prompts—describing Cape Town, the viewer’s own town, and a mother or mother figure—followed by a reflective exercise counting words and analyzing why familiarity influences output. Throughout, she stresses the importance of reading widely, writing frequently, playing with scenes, and gradually tackling harder material. The video concludes with motivational encouragement, a call to like, subscribe, and share, and a reminder that writing improves with practice and enjoyment.
Chapters
Hello, I'm Lois Letchford, author of the book Reverse to Memoir. Grab a copy, it's a brilliant book, and check out the reviews in Goodreads and on Amazon, and please put a review there. So I'm the author of the book Reverse to Memoir, and I'm a literacy problem solver, and I do a whole range of literacy literacy strategies and skills and learning for those who are the most vulnerable students. That's what I do. And this week I am talking about reading like a writer and writing like a reader so that we encourage children to make that connection between reading and writing and build up their strengths. Books are built around conflict. What is conflict? Doesn't mean fighting. But it's setting up a story so that there's a good and a bad, or a good and not so bad, so that we the reader are invested in the story. Why is it important? Because that's what keeps us reading. And read a book that doesn't have conflict and look at your reaction. Do you like it or do you dislike it? And I can think of a number of books that don't create a conflict early on, and what's your reaction? Think about it. And then we're going to look at, continue to look at, how authors inject conflict and use conflict to keep us as readers engaged. And then we want to be able to repeat that as we write. In How to Train Your Dragon, We look at chapter 1 and we're looking again at the contrast between Gobba the Belch and Hiccup. Gobba the Belch. The author tells us, you know, that Hiccup's going to be in charge, and then she adds a bit more detail about Gobba, that he screamed. He doesn't like noises quieter than screaming, so that suggests that he's screaming all the time. And then she goes on and adds the details, that he's a 7-foot giant with a mad glint in his one working eye. So what have we learnt about him here? He's only got one eye. And he's got a huge beard like exploding fireworks. What does that tell you about his colouring? She hasn't said basically he's got one eye and he's got a big red beard. She's changed the writing so that we've got a story behind Gobba the Belch, because I'm sure somewhere in this book there will be a story about his— how he only has one working eye. Then she goes on. What else does he do that despite the freezing weather, what is he wearing? He's wearing shorts. Shorts. And a teeny weeny deerskin vest. And then she adds, that shows off his lobster red skin and bulging muscles. Finally, he's holding a flaming torch in one gigantic fist. Have— if you're listening to this as a child, draw a picture in your mind of what Gobba the Belch is like. And then the author contrasts Gobble the Belt's next paragraph with Hiccup. And she's made an introduction, Hiccup will be leading you, because we know Hiccup is the son of the chief. And the story goes on, Hiccup's position, but how does Hiccup feel? And then finally she's given us a task, a task Of catching the dragons. So we've learnt more about Hiccup. We've learnt more about dragons, and we've learnt more about the Hairy Hooligan tribe and some of their customs. All of this is coming out not as a list of facts, but woven into a story. And that's the real art of writing, is to set out a list of facts, And put those details in, in a way that the reader wants to read them. So this is your turn. Write a list of facts pertaining to a person or a group of people, and then write a paragraph that is entertaining to the reader to incorporate those facts. That'll give you something to do. That gets you thinking, how am I going to do this? How am I going to become a better writer? How did Cressida Cowell do this in her book of the How to Train Your Dragon? Think about it. Do lots of reading and lots of writing. Escalate the conflict by adding details and expanding on the facts. And then play with scenes through writing. Play, write, rewrite. And make writing an enjoyable exercise. It's not something that must be completed within a certain timeframe, or you must write this number of words. Just write for fun and play with the words, play with the scenes. Because when we're playing, life becomes easier. I write best when I'm writing things about what I like to write about, and I always start by writing the easy bits before I get into writing the harder bits. And by writing the easier bits, I find the writing of harder bits more acceptable. We're engaging the reader all the time, and you want to be asking, why should the reader read on? And you look at the transitions. You know, I've just read you about Gobba the Belch, and then Gobba continues, Hiccup will be leading you. So now we have another introduction to Hiccup and all of Hiccup's problems, the mounting weight of evidence that he lives under, that he's small, he's tiny, he's not physical like everyone else. That's how we engage the reader, setting up this conflict. Poor Hiccup. We're feeling sorry for him, and that's what we want our readers to do. How do we get better at writing? As I just said, you read a lot, you write a lot, and then I'm going to add, write about what's important to you. And I've got a task for you here, and this task is, I want you to pull out a pencil and paper or computer, whichever you choose, and set the timer and set the time for 90 seconds. And in that 90 seconds, I want you to write number 1 and write about Cape Town, South Africa. Just write. Don't worry about anything, you know, write to the best of your ability. Write in complete sentences. But write about Cape Town, South Africa. That's task 1. Task 2 is I want you to write about your town, the town you live in. 90 seconds again. And task 3 is write about your mother or your mother figure. Do you think you can do that? So write those things, and then the next task is? Count the number of words you wrote on number 1, number 2, and number 3. Why? Why? Well, not so much why, but how many words did you write on each task? Why did you write the least number on South Africa? I'm assuming you wrote less— the least number of words on South Africa, more on your town, and wrote the most about your mother or mother figure. Why is this the case? Think about why. And then when we write, what are you noticing? Which is easy? Which is challenging? Think about that for every task you write. Why is this hard? Why is this easy? Why do I want to do it? Why do I not want to do it? Because to get better at reading and writing, The best thing to do is write about what you know. And when you're writing about what you know, your emotion and your passion comes through your writing. Practice, practice, practice. Enjoy. Hit like, hit subscribe. Share with me and share with others. Thank you. Keep up writing. Writing is an incredible skill that, like everything else, Takes practice. Thank you from me.
