In this week’s Story Club, my young writers’ workshop, we looked at Plot Twists. How can we surprise the reader? Can we hide the truth and then uncover it in an ‘aha’ moment? I enjoyed the film City of Ember, which is based on a book. What amazing plot twists…

I recently read this high-action, creative tale of element powers, misbehaving unicorns, and young riders with heart. In Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, the first book in the Skandar series by A.F. Steadman, Skandar is a thirteen year old who has always longed to be a unicorn rider. He hero-worships…

In this week’s Story Club, my young writers’ workshop, we looked at tales with a twist. Putting a spin on a well known story or character can draw our readers in. We may want to tell a humorous tale, like Sherlock Bones (dog detective) by Tim Collins. …

This week’s Story Club, my workshop for young writers, had the theme of … themes. What are the overarching themes of our story? Love, loss, friendship, moving to a new town, family are big ones in young (and older fiction). Knowing the themes we wish to write about helps us…

This week at Story Club, my young writers’ workshop, we looked at moods. Which moods do our characters tend to be in? How do they look, speak and act differently in these moods? Portraying characters in different moods can help bring our characters to life. We thought about Elsa in…

I haven’t posted a book review in awhile, and was inspired to by this moody and enchanting YA novel by A. Conners. There was much I loved. The setting is unique and exciting — a deep sea rig that’s patched up like an old ship with plenty of duct tape…

At this week’s Story Club, my workshop for young writers, we looked at the inciting incident, also known as the call to adventure, the catalyst. Known by many names, we discussed this initiatory spark that starts off the story action. Whether it be a gentle ‘spark’, for example a letter…

Scribbling scribes gathered gleefully at Story Club. At my young writers’ workshop we wondered — how can we make our writing more alive? The sounds of words, the cadence and rhythm in our writing, convey covert pleasures to the reader. We looked at writing tools which can bring a sing-song…

The high point of tension. The face-off between protagonist and antagonist. The summit of a ‘story mountain’. We began this week’s Story Club by thinking about times we ourselves felt tension in our lives. This helped us tap into our feelings and bring them into the climax of our stories. …