Writing Workshops for your students

Writing Workshops

23/10/2017

Check out some of the comments below, from teachers and students to see whether you might be interested in a workshop in your classroom. . .

I guarantee your students will have the tools to structure their own stories/novels by the end of the workshop!

including: character development / setting / plot

and other tips and tricks I have learnt over the past 15 years as a writer/author/bookseller and reviewer.

Students - Yr 7 and 8's

Charlotte - I enjoyed Adele's humour because I think our classroom likes learning to be fun.

Shaun - Adele was really passionate about her books and wanted to try and make us really like reading.

Laila - I liked that Adele gave everyone a chance to talk and share.

Elliot - I enjoyed when Adele was talking about her books. .

Laura - I usually get stuck on what to write so Adele's technique will be very helpful during writing time.

Teachers

- Adele's presentation included lots of information/teaching points for teachers to use and develop

- Many students have requested to write their own novel as a result of Adele's visit. It was very motivating.

- Both students and teachers enjoyed the focus on character development . . .

Where do you get your ideas from?

30/11/2015

This is one of the first questions I get asked at a writing workshop or class visit.

I can remember my teacher asking for our class to write about what we did in the holidays, and then being stuck staring at the blank page in front of me, completely stumped as to what I should write about.

Those 'What I did in my holidays' scribbles were all good practice for future writing. It didn't matter how little or how much you did in your holidays, you could tap into stuff you did and write about it - like a short and simple 'slice of life' piece.

But where do you get completely NEW ideas?

Ideas always elude me if I'm trying really hard to find them. I'm sure you've heard or read writing advice that tells you to keep your eyes and mind open at what is happening around you. And of course, the very helpful 'What if?' scenario.

So, if we combine these two pieces of advice, what can we come up with?
Just imagine being in a Shopping centre or Mall and you see a little old lady standing with her bag (that rolls on little wheels) in a quiet corner of the mall, or even sitting on the seats in the centre of the Mall.

What's in her bag? Is it her life savings in cash? Is it a rattlesnake she is going to let loose? Or something really creepy... is it not a little old lady at all, but a planetary warlord in disguise, scoping out these mall things that humans seem to flock to in their thousands?

Again, look around you and then think What if? What if you wake up one morning and you're not in your bed, or your room, or even the same house? Where are you? How did you get there? Are you on another planet, or in a cave deep underground or back in time when your grandfather was a boy?

What if - as you are pouring milk on your cereal in the morning, it starts to swirl in your plate and a message is spelt out in your cornflakes, or a tiny milk covered hand reaches out of the centre and you're the only one at the table who sees it?

What if a tree you sit under every day speaks to you?

What if someone new moves into the neighbourhood and they end up being the best friend you ever had, but only after they are your worst enemy?

Is there someone on the news that is doing something interesting? Can you change things around a little?

Is there a character who appears only briefly in a movie or book you can write about - telling their story? (This is close to Fan Fiction)

Your imagination is a powerful thing if you let it be. Sure sometimes imagination can be scary - That's why we're scared of the dark, or what's under our bed, or in our wardrobe, when we all know there is nothing there!
But if you let your amazing imagination dig a little deeper into what you see around you, you'll be surprised at what you might find. And when you get good at it, you'll have more ideas than you know what to do with - then you can combine certain ideas into a story.

You can 'What if' a bazillion things and each of those bazillion can be twisted and turned into a bazillion different directions and you're on your way to a great story.

If you'd like a Writing Workshop at your School, just drop me a message through my Contact page at the top of the screen.

In the beginning - Your Title

21/11/2015

One of the first things I'm asked at a school/class visit is where do you start?

Some people like to start with an idea, characters, setting or a dozen other things. But I remember as a child, even if I had some of those things worked out, the thing that would stop me actually putting my pencil on the paper in front of me, was a title.
Even when I began writing for children, I was still held up by wondering, 'What am I going to call it?'

Now (thank goodness), I have learnt that the title should be one of the last things to decide on or worry about.

If you need to have a title to begin, just pick something quick and relevant to your idea. If you don't even have an idea, no problem, we'll work on that in another post - but don't let the lack of an awesome title stop you from putting pencil to page - especially if you're in class and have limited time before the bell rings.

My 1st story 'Too Many Secrets' was called 'The Mystery of Isaiah', which at the time summed up what I was writing about. But after writing 3/4's of the novel, one of the characters says, "...too many secrets..." and I instantly knew that was my title.

(If you are wanting to put your story on the internet, a good idea is to check if your chosen title is a popular one, because your story could be lost among hundreds of others.)

You'll need a title that stands out. Titles can be anywhere from one word eg. 'Wonder' to long titles like 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.' - it's up to you. Make it interesting, unusual, or something that makes a reader want to know more.

Sometimes a publisher will ask you to change your title. When that happened to me, it was hard to think of something else. But it did make me think what the story was really about and my story title soon changed to: 'Trouble in Time,' which was much better than my original title.

So be brave, put your 'What am I going to call it?' worries aside, and begin!

If you'd like a Writing Workshop at your School, just drop me a message through my Contact page at the top of the screen.

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