For Day 4, food was on the menu.
After answering the question “What fictional place would you represent at the Olympics?”, Noah led the young writers in an activity all about food in fiction.
Starting with some classic scenes of eating in movies, including Ratatouille, Kung Fu Panda, and The Hobbit, Noah asked the young writers what each scene revealed about the characters eating. Writers showed off their knowledge, sharing examples from their own literary experience of meals with meaning. Examples included The Hunger Games and Beauty and the Beast.
Using the characters that they created yesterday with Cosette, the young writers applied their literary knowledge of food, free-writing and brainstorming about their characters’ eating habits: “Would they eat a lot? A little?” and “Can they afford fancy resturants?” Then, with their characters’ diets all figured out, the writers focused in on writing a scene in which their characters had a meal that revealed something integral about them. Our director, Traci, kindly donated an elderly apple to the cause to inspire writers’ characters to respond.
Building yesterday’s attention to detail and emotion, visiting author Amanda Sellet led the young writers in a lesson with the elegant title “Defiantly and Joyfully: Writing YOUR Way.”
Amanda began talking about each writers’ individuality: Every writer writes like themselves, and Amanda was interested in getting the writers to consider themselves as uniquely positioned. Just as every writer is unique, every reader is, too. Probing for the young writers unique positioning, Amanda asked writers what their favorite books were and why. Some shared books with skillful technical moves like foreshadowing, while others shared books that made them feel emotion strongly.
Amanda encouraged the young writers to think about plots that “hook [them] like a fish.” Sample responses included “tension in romance novels,” “ordinary people turning out to be special,” and “strong family relationships.” Clearly, our young writers have some diverse tastes!
After considering what writers like to see in fiction, the young writers turned to the real world. Fictionalizing somebody close to them, the writers put someone they know very deeply into a short descriptive statement. Writers demonstrated their powers of observation as they described siblings, friends, and loved ones in clear and revealing language.
Putting it all together, the young writers took their favorite aspects of fiction and the personality traits of their chosen subject and wrote a short narrative of what might happen if that person was put into a fantastical situation such as discovering a hidden object or being taken by strange besuited men. The young writers regaled each other with stories of secret drawers, vampire-riddled village politics, and children of the wealthy elite.
Having completed these generative exercises, the young writers learned about the industry of being a professional writer. Amanda gave the advice that every young writer secretly wants to know: the steps you need to take to publish a novel. Guidance on choosing agents, descriptions of their work, and comparable books were the subject of Amanda’s veteran knowledge. Young writers asked some great questions about the industry as future artists!
After lunch, it was time for another game of the Fantasy Olympics. This time, “Unicorn Donut Ring Toss” and “The Dance Contest” were at stake. The saboteurs’ winning streak continued…but the Olympics continue for one more round. Will the honest, rule-following athletes pull through on their final day? Come back tomorrow to see the exciting conclusion.
The writers returned from their break and impromptu dance party to learn about scene setting with Aimee in the lead. The young writers shared what they felt makes a good story. Even deeper, they thought about what makes a good scene. Considering these elements from their own experience, along with an insights from Aimee, the young writers honed their scene writing abilities.
Using a grab bag of events and settings, writers composed scenes which showed growth in their characters. Whether the growth was physical or emotional, each character was to end up in a different place than they began.
In anticipation of tomorrow’s reading, a few young writers volunteered to share their scenes.
To the surprise of no one, the young writers once again excelled. Here, constraints in where writers could start the story made them even more creative, as the young writers needed to figure out what could make their combination of event and setting a compelling scene study.
The resulting scenes ranged a variety of genres, from comedies to thrillers to mysteries. Certainly, the young writers, both those who shared today and those who didn’t, are prepared to share their work tomorrow. Be sure to attend their reading at 1:00 pm at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum to experience their creative work!
For the final section of the afternoon, Noah led the young writers into the last revision time of the workshop. With tomorrow’s reading right around the corner, young writers took the opportunity to finish and polish up their best and most exciting work.
Young writers also shared their understanding of why revision matters, from having a better understanding of the story in retrospect to perfecting the language. Then, after reviewing this important part of the writing process, our young writers completed the day by getting to work revising.
Our penultimate day was rich with content, creative energy, and the friendships forming between the young writers. With one day left in the workshop, we cannot wait to see all of the impressive pieces that our young writers have produced this week. Tomorrow’s final reading at 1:00 pm at the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum will include some refreshments, and we are looking forward to a full audience for our young writers.
-Eli Long, YWW Program Assistant
K-State Young Writers' Workshop 