Student News: "Visiting
Author Conducts a Writer's Workshop", by Student Grade 6*
Author
Stacy McAnulty visited IHM on Tuesday, December 2nd and conducted three
presentations. She had an assembly with Pre-K – 2 and another with 3
-5. For middle school, Mrs. McAnulty conducted a writer’s workshop for a
few students who are interested in writing and authoring.
I
was fortunate enough to be selected to participate in the program, and the
experience was amazing. To start, the author talked to us about her desire to
write, and treated us like authors. That was inspirational. During the workshop
we worked on many activities that she does to perfect her stories.
Creating a storyboard for our ideas was one of the activities in which we
participated. We had to think of one simple story idea and create
eight boxes, which described the story through the actions and feelings of
a certain character or group of characters at important points in the story. To
get started, I used words from a 'word sheet' I had been given to describe the
emotion/feeling the character was feeling at that point in the story.
Then I drew a picture in the box to show the character’s action or
reaction to what was happening. For example, I had used
"paranoid" to describe how a character was feeling in a very scary
situation. Currently I am writing my second book and I used characters from the
first book. When Mrs. McAnulty showed us how she did a storyboard for her
novel, I knew that I was getting very helpful hints for my own writing. She
shared about all the emotions that we will experience as authors, nervousness,
rejection, and that we would need to learn patience. It takes a long time
to get your writing published, even when a publisher likes your work.
I
honestly think and strongly believe that this was the best workshop or
presentation that I have experienced. I wish that more classes could be
as hands-on as this session. One thing for is sure, all the tips and
information Stacy McAnulty will help me to be a better writer. They were
inspirational. Who knows? Maybe one of my novels will be published
someday. Thank you to the PTO for sponsoring the author visit and to Mrs.
Ravel for hosting the workshop. It was unforgettable.
*I removed the student's name.
