"Freedom is … the right to write the wrong words" – Patti Smith
It’s World Book Day! And a much quieter one than last year but that’s OK, we can read quietly.
We can also write! Fighting Words NI have been busy bees this year, creating videos of creative writing workshops for schools to use (more on that later), and I’ve asked the writing students at the Seamus Heaney Centre QUB to contribute five-minute ‘Tiny Masterclasses’ of their own favourite writing tips, tricks and exercises for young writers, schools and homeschoolers to use.
As you may have heard, there are two kinds of writer in this world: planners and pantsers.
Planners like to plan out their story in advance, down to outlining every scene before they put pen to paper.
Pantsers like to hit the page running, with maybe only the vaguest idea of where this story is going and write ‘by the seat of their pants’.
Great news for these dark winter days! No, not the vaccine (TBF, that’s pretty cool too), but our new online Write Club!
I was disappointed not to get to go out and visit as many writing groups as I would have liked last year (stoopid covid!) but I’ve been lucky enough to be working with Fighting Words NI instead so I have got to hang out with some teen writers, which has been brilliant. And now we’ve moved our fantastic teen writing group, Write Club, online!
The Blank Page was created by Kelly McCaughrain, Children’s Writing Fellow for NI (2019-2021), as a support and resource for Librarians and Teachers running Creative Writing Groups in post-primary schools.
To read all the posts from the beginning, click here.
