Session 19 - Feedback

Hello everyone.  Wow!  What a thumper of a session we had at PMT today!  I was over the moon to see so many Young Writers there - fifteen in all - including our newest member Isabelle.  There was a real buzz in the air and the children worked their socks off!

Today's topic was creating Characters.  I used H C Andersen's Thumbelina and my own Yucketypoo characters to help the Young Writers get to grips with the subject.  I gave out some new Session worksheets which featured the following character names - Mr Quackers, Miss Clever, Billy Band and Debby Donut.  I suggested they think carefully about what - and who - these characters might be, including in appearance, habits, any family or pets, whether they were animal, vegetable or mineral - or indeed human.  In fact I gave the children completely free reign and then suggested they pass them to the person next to them to look at. Finally I told them to keep the Session sheets today so they could take them home and, for the assignment,  write a story featuring at least one of the characters plus a character of their own imagination.

In looking through the records, I am so pleased to see that, almost one year to the day since our first meeting (2 May 2012), we have covered the following subjects and topics - Story Ideas, Working With And Developing Those Ideas, Poems That Don't Rhyme, Book Reviews, Letter Writing, Holiday Diaries, Stories - length, the three key rules (beginning, middle and end) and subject matter, Self Awareness, Using Our Imaginations To Invent Recipes and Monsters, Character Identification, Limericks, Description, Fairy Tales, Stories For Boys/ Stories For Girls and Character Creation.  That is an amazing amount of info for these youngsters to absorb but absorb it they have - in abundance.  And I am so so SO proud of them.  Plus they have seen their work published, had some Local Paper Coverage - and even got a back-stage theatre tour out of it.  And virtually all of them have worked their way right through the Certificate Trail so a huge well done to each and every one of them.

Over the next few months - as long as the Sunday Sessions prove successful - I am hoping to cover some - if not all - of the following: Nature Poetry, Haiku, Dialogue, Sports Writing, Titles, Historic Fiction, Food Reviews, Plays, Story Poems and Science Fiction - so we have a bumper summer coming up.  I am also hoping to firm up at least one guest speaker, I just need to confirm some dates.

Finally - I was thrilled to be able to present two out of the three Prize-winner Certificates for the Mother's Day Poetry competition, and a whole bunch of Runner Up Certificates as well.  Actual prizes will be awarded over the next couple of sessions.  I will also be awarding the next bunch of Achievement Certitifcates the RED BAND ONE certificates, to those youngsters who have completed the last four assignments - so I have my work cut out for me.

Thanks are due to those of you today who asked how my new job is going, I really appreciate your support.

And thanks are due to EVERY one for helping to make the Addiscombe Young Writers' first year such a massive, MASSIVE success.

Good writing everyone - and here's to the next year.