15 October 2022
Posted by Beth McKeeman
Microworld Animal Crossings
What do you get when you cross a cat with a squirrel? It’s not the start of a joke. Our Junior Writers were making animal crossings this week. And for those wondering, the answer is a sqat.
After watching a fantastic performance last week, we spent the session wondering what creatures the two travellers might have found just around the corner at the end of the show.
As we suggested animals for each other to jumble together, we ended up with increasingly wild and wacky creatures. What better way to bring them to life than by drawing them and bullet pointing all the facts we could think of. What do they eat? What noise do they make? What temperament do they have? Do they have fur or scales, what does that feel like? Where do they live?
We then continued Stories of the Dust where it ended, with the two travellers reaching ‘beyond the corner’ and finding our crossed animals there.
In Young Writers we focused on microworlds, creating a room for our characters to exist in.
We started with a picture of a random room from a game backdrop and listed everything we could see in it, describing the objects and if there was any meaning behind them.
During a quick story time visit to Oz, we thought about how settings can be implemented in a narrative. As Dorothy moved through the overwhelming green of the Emerald City we discussed Chekov’s Gun and Red Herrings and whether we needed to include everything we could list in the written description. We may find out a lot about the goods on offer in Oz’s shops, but we don’t get told how many buttons are on the guards uniform, for example, because that isn’t relevant to building the setting in the readers minds or to the plot.
We then applied all this to our own characters, creating a room or place they often frequent. Our writers built it up from a list of objects to descriptions to a 3rd person walk around the space.
As our worlds begin to form, I’m really excited to see where they’ll lead. Stick around to see.
Rafsan's animal crossing
Rebecca's animal crossing
Milan's animal crossing
Archive
Junior & Young Writers Week 3: Return From The Magical World
Junior & Young Writers Week 2: African Mythology
Problems, Problems, Problems...
Cautionary Tales & Christmassy Opening Lines
You've Gotta Have Pace, Pace, Pace
Junior & Young Writers Week 1: Alien Encounters
Junior & Young Writers: Week 5 - Play on Words Pt. 2
Junior & Young Writers: Week 11 - end of term showcase [build a bard workshop]
Junior & Young Writers: Week 10 - Greek Theatre - chorus stories
Junior & Young Writers: Week 9 - Greek Origin Stories - Spring
Rubber Ducks & Writing Festivals
Junior & Young Writers: Week 7 - Greek Hero Stories [the 12 labours of Hercules]
Junior & Young Writers: Week 12 [Wild Words] - Stuff & Things
Junior & Young Writers: Week 11 [Wild Words] - World Building 2
Junior & Young Writers: Week 10 [Wild Words] - World Building
Junior & Young Writers: Week 9 [Wild Words] - Mystery & Choose Your Own Adventure
Junior & Young Writers: Week 8 [Wild Words] - Spooky Sequels & Potion Poems
Junior & Young Writers – Week 10 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Final Showcase
Junior & Young Writers – Week 9 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Editing & Performance Tips
Junior & Young Writers – Week 8 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Cuteness
Time goes on by Tavinder Kaur New
Junior & Young Writers – Week 7 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Natural Solutions
Junior & Young Writers – Week 6 (Writers’ Inspiration) – The Language of Fruit and Veg
Junior & Young Writers – Week 5 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Adventures In Space
Tinklebobs and Bedraggled Angles
Junior & Young Writers – Week 4 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Our Environment
Fortune Tellers & Future Letters
Junior & Young Writers – Week 3 (Writers’ Inspiration) – Home
Young Writers - Week 10 (The Art of Writing) – Final Week Showcase
Junior Writers - Week 10 (The Art of Writing) – Final Week Showcase
Young Writers – Week 9 (The Art of Writing) – Choose Your Own Adventure
Junior Writers – Week 9 (The Art of Writing) – Choose Your Own Adventure
Young Writers – Week 8 (The Art of Writing) – Sequel Stories
Junior Writers – Week 8 (The Art of Writing) – Sequel Stories
Young Writers – Week 7 (The Art of Writing) – Picture Prompts
Junior Writers – Week 7 (The Art of Writing) – Picture Prompts
Young Writers - Week 6 (The Art of Writing) - Script-writing & Dialogue
Junior Writers - Week 6 (The Art of Writing) - Script-writing & Dialogue
Junior Writers – Week 5 (The Art of Writing) – Poetry
Young Writers - Week 5 (The Art of Writing) - Poetry Potions
Edward The Martyr - A Competition!
Mood Boards and Postcards from Space
Young Writers - Week 3 (The Art of Writing) - PLOT
Junior Writers - Week 3 (The Art of Writing) - PLOT
Moomin Stories and Hollywood Pitches
Young Writers - Week 2 (The Art of Writing) - Genre & Setting
Junior Writers - Week 2 (The Art of Writing) - Genre & Setting
Prompts, Dialogues, and Cliché
Story Structure Part One: Exposition and Beyond...
Young Writers - Week 1 (The Art of Writing) - Character
Young Writers - week 4 - Nature Writing [animals & wildlife]
Junior Writers - week 4 - Nature Writing [animals & wildlife]
Young Writers - week 3 - Nature Writing [trees/plants/flowers]
Junior Writers - week 3 - Nature Writing [trees/plants/flowers]
Young Writers - week 2 - 'fractured fairy tales'
Junior Writers - week 2 - 'fractured fairy tales'
