Just a quick reminder that we have our next session tomorrow so very much looking to seeing you all there. Also just to drop a hint that I have some wonderful news to announce at the end of the session!
Did any of you see last week's Croydon Advertiser? The Young Writer group had a mention in its pages. I will bring a copy tomorrow to show everyone so if you didn't see it, don't panic.
See you tomorrow then...
Friday 26 February 2016
Tuesday 16 February 2016
Super Saturday!!!
Had a mega session on Saturday! Ten Young Writers came along including two new members! This is so great! Huge welcome to the newbies, I am so glad you enjoyed the session and hope to see you again next time.
The topic this week was - back by popular demand - writing strip picture stories for comics. This is still a hugely popular area of literature with Graphic Novels for both adults and children currently making a big come-back. That whole novels can be told in this way clearly enthralled the Young Writers!
Having gone through the basics - getting the idea, outlining the pictures, adding the script and then combining all three - the Young Writers were soon working diligently away. Some invented characters and stories of their own and some "borrowed" characters from well-known comics and built new stories up around them.
It intrigued me that they mostly went haring straight into the pictures, making up the stories as each picture box emerged and adding the speech balloons as they went along. Talk about spontaneous! But the point of the session was really to get them to plan something out, come up with a simple story that could be told in three pictures and then develop it and I have made it very clear that when they hand in their assignments, I want to see how they worked on the story, planned it, developed it and produced it so perhaps you could gently remind them for me that I don't just want the picture stories back when they hand their assignments in, I want to see how they got to the end-product.
Maddie the AYW mascot bear went home with Shaan so let me know what she gets up to, Shaan! Don't forget you can write a poem about her, write it as if it's a letter or do it as a diary entry or story and it is perfectly ok to let your imagination run wild!
I have sent a letter to Croydon Advertiser asking for support from the local community to pave the way to the next Word Magic book. I had the idea of inviting local businesses and organisations to make a contribution towards the cost of producing the book in exchange for a mention on a special supporter's page in the book. Similarly, I have also suggested a special page where someone can write a dedication for a loved one or a friend in exchange for a contribution so let's see how it goes. Let's hope the letter appears in this week's paper first.
If the book is going to come to fruition, I need to raise around £300 so please put the word about. I am going to ask if we can hold a small sale at the library as well and if you can think of any other fund-raising ideas please let me know. I am desperate to give the current batch of Young Writers their own book but I need all the help I can get and that is an appeal from my heart and, I am sure, from the hearts of the Young Writers, so please give us some support if you can.
Next session is on February 26th so see you there. And good work everyone. Saturday's was a great session!
The topic this week was - back by popular demand - writing strip picture stories for comics. This is still a hugely popular area of literature with Graphic Novels for both adults and children currently making a big come-back. That whole novels can be told in this way clearly enthralled the Young Writers!
Having gone through the basics - getting the idea, outlining the pictures, adding the script and then combining all three - the Young Writers were soon working diligently away. Some invented characters and stories of their own and some "borrowed" characters from well-known comics and built new stories up around them.
It intrigued me that they mostly went haring straight into the pictures, making up the stories as each picture box emerged and adding the speech balloons as they went along. Talk about spontaneous! But the point of the session was really to get them to plan something out, come up with a simple story that could be told in three pictures and then develop it and I have made it very clear that when they hand in their assignments, I want to see how they worked on the story, planned it, developed it and produced it so perhaps you could gently remind them for me that I don't just want the picture stories back when they hand their assignments in, I want to see how they got to the end-product.
Maddie the AYW mascot bear went home with Shaan so let me know what she gets up to, Shaan! Don't forget you can write a poem about her, write it as if it's a letter or do it as a diary entry or story and it is perfectly ok to let your imagination run wild!
I have sent a letter to Croydon Advertiser asking for support from the local community to pave the way to the next Word Magic book. I had the idea of inviting local businesses and organisations to make a contribution towards the cost of producing the book in exchange for a mention on a special supporter's page in the book. Similarly, I have also suggested a special page where someone can write a dedication for a loved one or a friend in exchange for a contribution so let's see how it goes. Let's hope the letter appears in this week's paper first.
If the book is going to come to fruition, I need to raise around £300 so please put the word about. I am going to ask if we can hold a small sale at the library as well and if you can think of any other fund-raising ideas please let me know. I am desperate to give the current batch of Young Writers their own book but I need all the help I can get and that is an appeal from my heart and, I am sure, from the hearts of the Young Writers, so please give us some support if you can.
Next session is on February 26th so see you there. And good work everyone. Saturday's was a great session!
Monday 8 February 2016
See You Saturday ...
Can hardly wait to see you all again this Saturday (13th) - same place, same time. Hope the Young Writers have lots of comic-book ideas! And don't forget to bring in any other work - including assignments set - it all counts towards the next Certificate.
If anyone would like some more leaflets about the group for school or if you haven't had the latest issue of AYW - ok - let me know.
See you Saturday!
If anyone would like some more leaflets about the group for school or if you haven't had the latest issue of AYW - ok - let me know.
See you Saturday!
Friday 5 February 2016
On Our Way ...
It was lovely to welcome new member Jasmine to our Young Writers session last Saturday! And great to see the Regulars getting stuck in with the topic which was Non-Rhyming Poems. We haven't actually covered this as a subject in its own right before - although we touched on it when we did Free Verse a few months back. I explained that snatching sentences out of the air and stringing them together is a good way to create a non-rhyme poem. I suggested something along the lines of Fish in a pond, a day at the zoo as a good way to open such a verse, concluding it with Busy day out with Auntie Joan as a means to tying it in. Thus:
fish in the pond
a day at the zoo
busy day out
with Auntie Joan
is a perfectly good example of non-rhyming poetry.
After overcoming the restraints of syllable counting with Haiku and Tanka in recent sessions, once the Young Writers grasped the concept of practically anything goes, they were, as usual, soon coming up with some cracking poetry - some of which will appear in the next AYW - ok issue.
It is this constant eagerness and being willing to try anything in the world of Creative Writing that so thrills and excites me about these young writers. They truly love to write; they are passionate about it and that is what it is all about of course! One day I am going to put all this into a book to encourage others to start similar groups - and that book will be dedicated to every single AYW member, past present and future. They are the lifeblood of this group and I am so proud of them!
We will be going back to writing comic strips for the next couple of sessions. This subject is back by popular demand and I think there's only a couple of members who were here when we tackled it last time so, for most, it will be another new experience.
The next session will be on 13th February so please come along - I look forward to seeing you there.
fish in the pond
a day at the zoo
busy day out
with Auntie Joan
is a perfectly good example of non-rhyming poetry.
After overcoming the restraints of syllable counting with Haiku and Tanka in recent sessions, once the Young Writers grasped the concept of practically anything goes, they were, as usual, soon coming up with some cracking poetry - some of which will appear in the next AYW - ok issue.
It is this constant eagerness and being willing to try anything in the world of Creative Writing that so thrills and excites me about these young writers. They truly love to write; they are passionate about it and that is what it is all about of course! One day I am going to put all this into a book to encourage others to start similar groups - and that book will be dedicated to every single AYW member, past present and future. They are the lifeblood of this group and I am so proud of them!
We will be going back to writing comic strips for the next couple of sessions. This subject is back by popular demand and I think there's only a couple of members who were here when we tackled it last time so, for most, it will be another new experience.
The next session will be on 13th February so please come along - I look forward to seeing you there.
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