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Regular news and insight from our many poets, writers, educators and facilitators

15 March 2021

Posted by Tabby Hayward

ADVENTURE

13 attending

This week, we were looking at the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation 'Author of Tomorrow' competition, for the best adventure story: bur-niso-smithfoundation.org/awards/author-of-tomorrow-2019

To begin, we thought about what the criteria for an adventure story would be - what sorts of themes, characters, settings and storylines would we expect? Mysterious temples, and Indiana Jones style stories, were a particularly popular suggestion! We compared this to the criteria which the judges will be looking for, from the competition website... And then we used this to write flash fiction pieces, taking an ordinary/every day activity (e.g. making a cup of tea/having breakfast/walking the dog) and writing it in the style of an epic adventure story!

As many of the young writers had just returned to school last week, several of the stories focused around the return to school, including Leo's epic tale below...

It was opening, opening for the first time in eons. It was a
momentous occasion, one that made headlines all over the world, one that made
the naysayers teeter on the edge of insanity. The wardrobe was opening. Investigators
from around the globe travelled to witness such a mysterious event. One of the
investigators, Jim, was simply stumped as to what had caused it to open, as it
couldn’t be the return of the school blazer, could it?

Next, we looked at winning stories from last year's anthology as inspiration, looking at the variety of themes, settings, characters and storylines, and how to create a really bold and exciting opening. Inspired by this, the young writers got to work.

The deadline is 30th April, and as many of our young writers will be submitting their stories, we aren't able to share their work here at the moment, but we wish them all the best of luck with their adventure writing!

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