CHILDREN WRITING FOR THEMSELVES....

A few days ago I ran a writing workshop for children. Once again I was amazed at how creative and funny kids are. They love EVERYTHING  and think that ANYTHING can happen.


I gave them a quick exercise to get their brains ticking in the right direction and then we were plotting and planning.

We talked about the boring real life compared to the adventures found in stories. How you can escape life for a moment or thirty, how you can pretend to be anyone.

We looked at a photo (an elderly gentleman with the most amazing lived in face) and they all got to write about him. His life, his family. They created jobs and homes, created his character.


We did another exercise which involved two characters, a setting, two lines of dialogue and an ending. It was a fun game with many giggles as characters such as Chicken Nugget- out to get those that dare turn chickens into such things...were created.

Then they began to write their stories. I gave them some things to think about. Their setting, their characters. Why is something happening. What is the problem. Is there a solution.


We ended up with some great WHAT IFS.

What if  - cats could talk. (this so divided the room. Some insisted cats would do nothing but moan and complain, the others insisted cats would have great conversations if they so cared)

What if - chocolate wasn't invented.

What if - you woke up to find your entire family had vanished. (This led to much delight with the 'we can do anything we want. No one to tell us off. We can eat lollies for breakfast, watch TV all day.')

It was a really good few hours that reminded me how the young are so imaginative and it is usually us, the adults, that tell them to be 'sensible.'

Some amazing ideas were in that room and I hope that a few of them would continue with them. I do know that Miss C will..her story featuring Ancient Greece and Future Mars and the power struggle between the two rulers was so fleshed out!

A future author to watch out for.

Vicki 

Comments

  1. TasmanianAugust 5, 2019 at 7:15 PM

    It's funny that their reaction the vanishing of family members is glee whilst my immediate imaginative reaction was terror! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vicki ThorntonAugust 6, 2019 at 8:55 PM

      Isn't that always the way with kids...first thought is 'wow no adults, we can do what we want'..but then reality strikes and the 'who will look after us?' pop up.

      Delete

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