20 January 2024

Posted by Sukie & Claire

Junior Writers - Week 2 (The Art of Writing) - Genre & Setting

Hi Writers!

In this week’s workshop we focused on setting and genre, and how these can be played with or

intertwined to create exciting new stories.

In our check-in, we described our week as a type of doughnut, cake or pastry.

Hamish said his week had been a justice doughnut after defeating the beast of the east on the school playground
Marissa described her week as a jam doughnut – a bit of a sticky scramble as she had performed at the O2 in London with Young Voices!
Indie’s week had been like a sugar and jam doughnut – the grains of sugar representing all the many things going on at school
Claire said her week had been a doughnut covered in sprinkles – hundreds and thousands of things going on and lots of emails to reply to
Sukie’s week had also been like a doughnut covered in sprinkles, but they hoped it would become an apple and cinnamon doughnut, full of comfort

From our reading check-in, we found out everyone was reading a lot!

 Indie: Varjak Paw & Giraffes Can’t Dance

 Hamish: Hedgehog, The Bad Guys, and The Phoenix

 Marissa: Scarlet & Ivy, A Place Called Perfect & Mistletoe and Murder

We read an excerpt from ‘A Spoonful of Murder’ from the ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ series by Robin Stevens:

‘Somehow, even though Daisy and I had seen the body with our own eyes, I did not quite

believe that the crime was real until we came back home from the doctor’s office this

afternoon.

Before that moment, it all just seemed like a bad dream, the very worst sort – like the one I

have some times where we’re investigating a case and I realize, like a slow shiver going up

the back of my neck, that the murderer is after Daisy, and there is nothing I can do about it.

But, unlike those dreams, this time I cannot wake up, no matter how hard I pinch myself. And

I know that I ought to have been able to stop what happened.

Daisy says that this is nonsense. She says, wrinkling her nose, that I could not have stopped

anything – and, in fact, if I had been on the spot, I might have ended up murdered too. Like

much of what Daisy says, this is true, though not particularly comforting. But all the same, I

cannot shake the feeling that I’ve failed.

You see, I have come back to Hong Kong. Here it is beautiful and bright, the air is warm and

heavy and I am at home. No one looks at me oddly. I’m not strange, and that is a wonderful

feeling, like opening up your hand and realizing that you have been clenching the muscles of

it for far too long.

But, all the same, some things have changed in un comfortable ways. I have been in England

for almost two years, and while I was there I learned how to be not only an English

schoolgirl and a best friend but also a detective. That is what the friendship between Daisy

and me is all about, after all. We are secretly detectives, and have solved five murder cases

so far, and, although it is not exactly true to say that we helped the victims, we did at least

find out the truth about their deaths when the police could not.

But in Hong Kong I am with my family, who remember me as the smaller, younger Hazel I

was when I stepped onto the boat to go to Deepdean. It’s harder to be brave and grownup

and sensible when all I’m expected to be is dutiful, a good daughter and a good older sister.

It’s particularly hard to be the second, because— But I am getting ahead of myself. Daisy

says to tell things in order as much as possible, and she is right. At least I have not forgotten

how to lay out a case in a new notebook, the one Daisy gave me for Christmas.

All I will say before I go back to the moment when everything started – this journey, this

crime – is that a terrible thing has happened, a thing that the Detective Society must

investigate. And we will – but this time I am stuck in the very middle of the case. I am not just

a detective, I’m a witness. And I think that I might even be a suspect.’

We each took a slip from one of the envelopes for the Murder Mystery Generator game, and came

out with:

 A well-rounded rockstar

 A practical ballerina

 An aspiring baker/chef

 A space station in the future

 Murder

 Murder!

So with these character, setting and crime prompts, we each took some time to come up with a

story to share.

Indie’s rockstar and ballerina are twins, while the baker moonlights as a detective. One of the twins has murdered the other, but who is who?
Hamish created a Choose Your Own adventure story. You are Spaceman Sam, stuck in an airlock. Ram launches you into space, where you will fight off a great snake, defuse a hidden bomb and possibly even discover great treasure!
Marissa’s rockstar and ballerina are also twins, but they have visited the space station to take part in a performance competition. Will the rivalry go a step too far?

We spent the rest of the session discussing the different genres of fiction, including science fiction,

crime, fantasy, historical, contemporary, romance, horror and realism.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone next week for our session on plot!

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Junior Writers - Week 2 (The Art of Writing) - Genre & Setting