I love running story club, a fortnightly writing workshop at Thrive cafe. Technically for children 9 and up, parents are getting involved too. Together the group comes up with amazing ideas, and it's so wonderful to see parents and children sharing their creativity.
 
In the most recent story club, we focused on animal characters. What can they bring to our stories? Here is what the group came up with:


A tiger (or mouse)! can get the action moving. (Thanks, Amani!)
A boa constrictor can be a good analogy for a girl who holds on too tight, who needs to shed her skin and let go. (I love this image, and also the idea of the girl dancing as she sheds scarves, clothing, transforming. This one is Beatrice's!)
An unnamed, primal creature from deep within a mountain may emerge with a teaching for us. (Thanks, Rebecca).
Looking forward to reading the stories that come from these focused sessions. And to the next story club!
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A supermoon. An eclipse. Tornadoes, sand storms, tidal waves.
These amazing natural events can spice up a story. They increase the tension, the action, and can allow the story to change.
I like to think about what my characters would do in the face of a natural event. How would they react?
A storm can reveal the bravery of a character, or fear. A full moon can draw out powers. Shooting stars allow for wishes to be revealed. 

At Story Club, a young writer Jess came up with water power, heightened when the moon eclipses the sun. At that point the character could call a storm that quieted down the sand storm, a card her mother had chosen. It was so lovely to see mother and daughter working together.

Coco's character gained powers when the moon shone on trees. I loved the connection, it made me think of tree nymphs, or dryads.

What natural event would you like to ponder? How would your characters react? 

Yesterday at Story Club, held at the fun and friendly Thrive cafe, we explored voices. 

Pick a character. What sorts of things do they say?

A character’s voice can make them more real, standing out from other characters. The way they speak, what they say. The voice reflects the personality and shows the character’s unique perspective on the world.

For example, our pastry chef in the photo tends to comment about the latest flavour he’s tried. Or how a building looks like a wedding cake. Or how he’s ill after tasting 100 pastries at a competition he was judging.

And Jade, our forest friend, leans out from the trees with a message. She wants us to treat the forest better. She is strong, confident, a little angry, and speaks for all her brothers and sisters.

We can look at each character in our stories, and come up with a unique voice. This will reflect what’s important to the character, and how they perceive the world.

And if you have a cat in your story, they might just comment on how doors should be left open just in case they want to walk through. Or back. It’s important to have the option.
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Happy Writing!

The other day, I hosted a young writer’s workshop at the wonderful Thrive cafe. All food and drink plant-based, woohoo! We focused on world building, with questions like what is the weather like in our world? Does magic exist? If so, what are the rules of magic?

The more we know our story world, whether it be a real place or fantasy, the stronger our story will be.

​In this exercise, Beatrice (A Tale of Journeys) already shows a good knowledge of her story world(s)! The questions helped her find out what story research to do next — ie what plants, if any, were in the Sahara during the time of ancient Egypt?

A great character changes throughout a story.
We explored character arcs in my Thursday Story Club for young writers at Thrive cafe.

Elsa undergoes a big transformation in the movie Frozen. At the start, she fears her own power and believes she must hide from the world. Her emotional outbursts that cause ice to flow where she doesn't want it to flow.

Elsa at the end is cool, calm, confident. She's in control of her ice power. She realises her power can be used for good.

How can we make sure our characters change and grow in our stories? Sketching out a before and after pic can help. And, it might help to consider these questions: 

1. What is the character's GOAL (what do they want?)

2. What is the character's CONFUSION or the LIE (what do they believe about themselves or the world that is not true)?

3. What is the TRUTH (what does the character learn/how do they change)?

I hope these questions will help you create strong characters with good narrative arcs!

Today I had the fun of holding a Story Club for young writers. I loved the venue- the Hive at Thrive cafe, Cambridge.
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We talked about strong characters. Knowing our characters strengthens our stories, as they become more real to the reader. We can dream about our character, draw them, create them out of clay, write about them - there are lots of ways to get to know them so they come alive in our stories. I presented the following questions to get to know our main character (and side characters too) better. You might want to test them out on your characters if you're working on a story yourself.

Luck was on my side this weekend. I preordered Emmy Levels Up from Waterstones ... and it was delivered yesterday. It's not even released yet, officially. How did that happen? (Emmy might say it was a magical anti-mulch time travel spell - you will understand if you read the book).

I read it late into the night, not able to put it down. I enjoyed the creative, fun and fast-paced game element, as I expected. I didn't expect to be so moved by it. Three plots are seamlessly woven together. The fun, inventive, adventurous game, the tensions at school as bullying and friendships come into play, and a changing dynamic in Emmy's family. The bullying especially took me back to when I was in school, and the dark relationships that can exist under the nose of teachers and parents. I think many children will take heart in Emmy's beautiful though sometimes painful journey. 

​I highly recommend discovering Emmy Levels Up by Helen Harvey and being inspired to seek community. This book is for the 8-12 yr old audience (and of course young-at-hearts like me!)

The book has the beautiful message that, sometimes to move forward, we need to do it with friends.