26 children from Middleton, Dennington, Saxmundham, Charsfield, Peasenhall, Kelsale and Framlingham came together with children's author Josh Lacey for a day of creative writing.
Josh Lacey (author) read an extract from his first book GRK and told the children about the idea he had for the book which inspired him to write it, then how that small fact started a chain of thoughts and he used his imagination to create ideas.
What did they do:
• 1 minute to write as many words starting with the letter B
• 2 minutes to write about something you love or hate saying why - fact
• 2 minutes to write about the same thing, but opposite why, ie if you loved the thing, you now say why you hate it - fiction
• Write the same thing again but without using any words with the letter E in
• Pair up and tell partner about your favourite book and why you like it
• Create a character either person, animal or object describe : who/ what, gender, age, appearance, family, home, occupation, want, fear, name
• Create a second Character different to previous ie person, animal or object. Describe as above and draw it. Tell the table about your character
• Create a third character - describe as above, tell whole group
The author told everyone the 3 things that a story needs:
1. Characters
2. Setting
3. Plot
He said before you start writing:
1. Think about the tense that you write it in- past or present
2. Think about whether to write as 1st person or 3rd person
Write a story using 2 of your characters
Think about the plot - where they are going to meet and what will happen...
Pick a setting (from a box of settings the author has thought up), the story must start here....
ie: in the zoo, top of a mountain, in a car driving too fast, on a boat, in the middle of a big city, in a cave, on a staircase, at the circus, trapped in a lift, locked in a very old house, trapped in a lift.
The title can be decided as you write the story.
Get started...
After 5 mins, get a few of the children to read their opening .... Great to have a beginning that starts in the middle of an action, or one that has dramatic effect, one that leads us to want to know more.
Re-read your beginning, re-write it if you're unhappy, else continue with the story.....
Stopped after 15 minutes, re-read your story, as if you're reading it for first time and don't know what is going to happen. Is it exciting? Is it interesting? Does it make sense? Correct and move on..
Get a trusted friend to read, ask their opinion. ... pass to partner on table, and listen to their comments and talk about what you will do next.
Remember to include dialogue in the story, use it to help introduce characters and move the story along.
Continue writing for 15 minutes.
Read some out to whole group who feedback what they like about it so far, and what could help improve.
Continue writing, make sure you have introduced both characters and used dialogue.
The author also answered questions from the pupils about how to get published, and how to find a publisher.
He also signed copies of his books for the pupils to buy.
Feedback on day
Well done to all 4 of our pupils (Anna, Annie, Kasper & Toby) who have written some great stories, worked really hard, been very creative and were impeccably behaved.
Kasper read his adventure story to the whole group at the end, the author thought it was great with all the interesting vocabulary he used, and the drama of his story. The group all thought it was an exciting start.
Anna also read her story about a fox in which she had used some excellent descriptive story-telling, the author thought the fox was a really interesting character.
Josh Lacey (author) read an extract from his first book GRK and told the children about the idea he had for the book which inspired him to write it, then how that small fact started a chain of thoughts and he used his imagination to create ideas.
What did they do:
• 1 minute to write as many words starting with the letter B
• 2 minutes to write about something you love or hate saying why - fact
• 2 minutes to write about the same thing, but opposite why, ie if you loved the thing, you now say why you hate it - fiction
• Write the same thing again but without using any words with the letter E in
• Pair up and tell partner about your favourite book and why you like it
• Create a character either person, animal or object describe : who/ what, gender, age, appearance, family, home, occupation, want, fear, name
• Create a second Character different to previous ie person, animal or object. Describe as above and draw it. Tell the table about your character
• Create a third character - describe as above, tell whole group
The author told everyone the 3 things that a story needs:
1. Characters
2. Setting
3. Plot
He said before you start writing:
1. Think about the tense that you write it in- past or present
2. Think about whether to write as 1st person or 3rd person
Write a story using 2 of your characters
Think about the plot - where they are going to meet and what will happen...
Pick a setting (from a box of settings the author has thought up), the story must start here....
ie: in the zoo, top of a mountain, in a car driving too fast, on a boat, in the middle of a big city, in a cave, on a staircase, at the circus, trapped in a lift, locked in a very old house, trapped in a lift.
The title can be decided as you write the story.
Get started...
After 5 mins, get a few of the children to read their opening .... Great to have a beginning that starts in the middle of an action, or one that has dramatic effect, one that leads us to want to know more.
Re-read your beginning, re-write it if you're unhappy, else continue with the story.....
Stopped after 15 minutes, re-read your story, as if you're reading it for first time and don't know what is going to happen. Is it exciting? Is it interesting? Does it make sense? Correct and move on..
Get a trusted friend to read, ask their opinion. ... pass to partner on table, and listen to their comments and talk about what you will do next.
Remember to include dialogue in the story, use it to help introduce characters and move the story along.
Continue writing for 15 minutes.
Read some out to whole group who feedback what they like about it so far, and what could help improve.
Continue writing, make sure you have introduced both characters and used dialogue.
The author also answered questions from the pupils about how to get published, and how to find a publisher.
He also signed copies of his books for the pupils to buy.
Feedback on day
Well done to all 4 of our pupils (Anna, Annie, Kasper & Toby) who have written some great stories, worked really hard, been very creative and were impeccably behaved.
Kasper read his adventure story to the whole group at the end, the author thought it was great with all the interesting vocabulary he used, and the drama of his story. The group all thought it was an exciting start.
Anna also read her story about a fox in which she had used some excellent descriptive story-telling, the author thought the fox was a really interesting character.
