Highlights
- Fun and dynamic writing workshops
- Emphasis on character development, setting and plot structure
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Every child becomes a published author!
Create something great. Claim your $100 Creative Kids voucher today.Join our Creative Writing Workshops
11 February: Short Story Blitz
Magical Creatures
25 February: Write and Perform a Play
Lights, Camera, Action!
10 March: Poetry in the Secret Garden
The Man from Snowy River
15 October: Short Story Blitz
Ready Player One!
05 November: Write and Perform a Play
Ahoy me Hearties!
26 November: Poetry in the Secret Garden
Animal Dreaming
First steps
During our workshops, we'll be writing all kinds of things to develop and sharpen our writing skills. Adventure stories, epic fantasy, science fiction, murder mysteries, heroic animal tales ... you name it, we'll try it! We'll experiment with voice, setting, atmosphere and style, and we'll have lots of time to develop our characters. Through funny plays to practise our dialogue, clever poems to tighten our language skills, and lots of imagination, we'll discover just how much fun writing can be!
Creating Crazy Characters
Everyone thinks and acts differently, and a good writer uses these differences to drive the story. We’ll brainstorm new characters, thinking about appearance, distinguishing features, favourite foods, favourite things to do, family background, etc. Is your character a feisty redhead with a cannibal king father? Is she a clever spider who can write, with a best friend called Wilbur? How did she feel when she met Mr Tumnus under the lamp post?
Building Magical Worlds
Every workshop is a journey of wonder and surprise, where anything is possible. We’ll look at magical places like Narnia, Hogwarts and the 78-Story Treehouse, discussing what makes these places special, and then we’ll take our characters to a desert island or a hidden jungle, using our five senses to explore our surroundings and finding much more than we expected.
A Map for the Journey
Stories have an outline – a beginning, a middle and an end. We’ll talk about how to start a story with a bang and hook the reader from the very first sentence. We’ll think about the complication and how it propels the character into the action, getting the story rolling. And we’ll discuss what our main character wants, what might stop him getting it, and how this will drive the story.
Time to Write!
Sharpen your pencils, it’s time to put it all together. First drafts are wild and crazy, and often make no sense at all. Punctuation doesn’t matter. Spelling doesn’t matter. We’ll worry about that later. In our workshops, we write and write and write!
The Second Draft
This is the easy part. We’ve written the story – now we have to knock it into shape. Does it make sense? Does it need anything else? Are the commas in the right place? Would it be better with a new paragraph here or another sentence there? Time to get out our red pencils and scribble.
Polishing your Masterpiece
How do you get a story published? What does an editor do? We'll put the final touches on our stories and hand them over to Karen for a professional edit, and then we’ll talk about the practical process of publishing a book.
Celebrate!
Book launches are so much fun! We'll invite our families to celebrate with us and we'll have certificates, lollies and a great big cake. In past years, we've launched books at Maitland Writers Festival and at literary events organised by the Children's Book Council (Newcastle Branch) and Maitland Libraries.
Enrolment Information
Visit our Talented Kids enrolment page for full details about class times, age groups, cost, online enrolment form, terms and conditions, and payment options.
Enrolments Closed