In the summer I was asked to put on a creative writing workshop for four ten-year-olds: a birthday treat for some writers of the future. Delighted to spend time talking to young people about writing and keen to develop my skills, I immediately said yes. I asked them each to bring their favourite book along thinking that would be a good way to start things off. The birthday girl proudly showed me her Abi Elphinstone novel and said she was hoping Abi would be available for her eleventh birthday because she’d been too busy to do this one. Ouch!
Things improved from there (and I don’t blame her, Abi is very cool). The party participants made it very easy for me but I’m still claiming the success!
“Funnest thing I’ve ever done at a party!”
one of the talented participants
I was blown away by the girls’ enthusiasm, their knowledge and ambition. We focused on character and story openings. We interviewed each other to find out more about a character we’d made up and looked at examples of novel first lines, exploring how they made us think and feel, and what we pictured. I would definitely do those exercises again.
I invested in Lexi Ross’ Creative Writing Skills and had lots of back up ideas ready from her book which helped me feel well prepared whatever happened. The other idea I would repeat was to give something to leave with. I made each girl a folder with hints, tips, worksheets and resources in it. They were delighted to have something to take away and I heard that they left and immediately did one of the exercises together. I messaged the birthday girl’s mum the other day to let her know about a young person’s writing competition and she told me her daughter still regularly refers to the folder.