I cannot believe it has been almost two weeks since my last post! Where has that time gone? Even I was taken by surprise when I woke up this morning (Wednesday) and realised that it is only a couple of days until the next Young Writer session! So, as promised in my previous post, here is an update of what we are now doing.
After months of patient poetry writing, there was an audible sigh of relief from the Young Writers when I confirmed a return to story writing. I gave out two info sheets - one was a general guide to the nuts and bolts of actually writing and the other gave a number of ideas for the Young Writers to work with. It was wonderfully refreshing to see how quickly they took to the suggestions made - especially considering that the first half hour of the session was given over to announcing the forthcoming changes due to my move with Steve to the south coast later this year.
Story writing is a bit like baking a cake. You need a number of carefully balanced ingredients in order to produce a finished masterpiece. In this case, instead of sugar, flour, eggs etc, you need a good opening sentence, a couple of well rounded characters, some descriptive scenery and, of course, an idea to expand on. Once that is all in the mix, the actual cake is the finished story and the icing on that cake is knowing others will read and enjoy that story. The cherry on top is obviously if people ask to see even more of your work. The cake analogy has always worked well with the Young Writers, even the youngest ones. After all, we all love a slice of delicious cake!
Writing is a wonderful gift and with stories, you are the master (or mistress) of your own universe. You create the places and situations and you people it with characters you have created. This is so magical and so beautiful. It does not matter one jot if you mix famous characters of history with creatures of your own invention as long as the story carries both along to a successful and relative conclusion. The only trap I occasionally see our young wordsmiths fall into is the use of other people's characters. Including Spiderman and Wonder Woman in your own story is fine at this level. But it is always better to go with your own ideas. Tyler, for example, has invented a durable super hero called The Shadow. He has even given back story on how The Shadow comes into being. Tyler also knows that short, sharp sentences build tension and whenever I read one of his Sci-Fi creations, I feel rather like I am on an extreme rollercoaster ride! And the beauty of it is that Tyler did not even know he was doing this; it has just come naturally to him because of the kind of stories he prefers to write!
Every member of Addiscombe Young Writers, past and present, has their own voice. Creating stories and poetry is a way to make it heard. And that, mums and dads, is the most important thing of all!
See you all Saturday!
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