Teen Short Story Writing Circle 2014-05-19

Last class!

Final Critiques

We wrapped up our six week session today by finishing the round of critiques that we started last week. By now, everyone should have received critique on at least one story, and depending on how many pieces you have given me, will be receiving all final critique by the end of this week. If you have not sent me three pieces yet, there is still time! I am happy to continue working with you over the summer. In addition, all pieces can be revised and/or edited and re-sent to me for a second look.

Thank you so much for creating and sharing your work with our circle of writers! It really has been an honor to hear your stories each week and work with you individually on developing your talents even further.

Publishing to The Writer’s Community

After revising/editing, students may send me their favorite story from this course and I will publish here on The Writer’s Community where they can share and/or tweet to friends and followers.

Next week I will send out an email with my recommendation of which pieces I think should be published. The students are free to make a different choice, or decline to publish. I do think it would be a great record of their work!

Free Writing for Fun

We closed class with two free writing exercises. For the first, each student was given one word and three minutes to write something, anything, about that word. I was really impressed with the quality of the writing that emerged in such a short time and I think everyone agreed that they would have loved more time to develop their ideas.

The second free write involved images. Students chose one or two images that I had prepared ahead of time, and wrote for five minutes. Again, we had some really interesting ideas! For this free write, students could choose to begin a story, write a poem, or simply describe what was in the picture.

Free writing is a great activity for the summer! Have students select a block of time, say five minutes, and write from a word, images, or a prompt. The only rule with free writing is that you don’t stop writing until the timer goes off and that you do it consistently. Even if you write nonsense, the idea is to keep the words coming without hesitation. This will come in handy later when students are expected to write in a more formal environment. It will help them “think on their feet.”

Have fun and enjoy your summer!