03 February 2024

Posted by Sukie & Claire

Young Writers - Week 4 (The Art of Writing) - Non-Fiction

Hi Writers!

This week we learned about non-fiction!

Starting out with our weekly check-in, we described our weeks as a kind of reptile.

 Poppy C: a snake, crazy at points but mostly calm

 Berry: a lizard – like a fairytale character being turned into a lizard, there were some

unwanted events this week

 Poppy M: taking a sidestep toward the amphibious, a frog! Quick and jumpy.

 Sukie: a diplodocus, too much and overwhelming

 Claire: a crocodile, old and tired

We had a lot of variety in this week’s reading check-in.

 Poppy M: a spinoff book from the ‘Murder Most Unladylike’ series

 Berry: ‘Arsenic For Tea’

 Poppy C: a series of books about the First World War

 Claire: ‘The Northern Lights’

 Sukie: ‘Good Omens’

We discussed the different kinds of non-fiction, including instructional, historical, scientific,

informational, news, biography, Atlas and autobiography. Berry explained the difference between

biography and autobiography – biography is written about other people, while autobiography is

written about oneself. Then we played a round of Storyonics, starting with a collaborative version

where each player reveals the next bit of the story:

I always ate bananas, and I managed to graduate school and achieve my dream of becoming an ogre

living in a cave on a desert island.

Our second round told us a short adventure story:

Feeling stressed, I packed my backpack and moved into my treehouse to get away from it all. Once I

had settled in I played with my toy boat, but then found a snail. It put me off so I gave up and went to

Italy instead.

We then moved onto the solo version where each player has to tell a story based off the images on

their flash card.

 Claire: Once upon a time my head was very cold, so I bought a bobblehat. I decided to go on

an adventure, so I packed my compass and headed north. Unfortunately, at the airport there

was an announcement informing me that my plane had been delayed.

 Poppy C: Sitting in my hammock, I shuffled a deck of cards and pulled out an ace. I decided to

leave it in the flowerpot and walk the dog.

 Berry: I was sitting in my chair and wanted to go canoeing. Under the water, I saw a china

doll and fished it out. It spoke to me.

 Poppy M: I received a letter that said that if I could conquer my fear of heights I would

receive a sheriff’s badge. I went on a plane and won my badge.

We took some time to read some different non-fiction books, including ‘First Book of Mammals’,

‘The Villainous Victorians’, ‘Night Animals’, ‘Who was the Girl Warrior of France?’, ‘100 Facts to Save

the Earth’, ‘The Big Book of the UK’, before thinking about what we each might like to write about if

we wrote a non-fiction piece:

 Poppy M: Victorian workhouses

 Poppy C: World War 1 and 2

 Berry: animals, history and gory stuff

In the meantime, we settled in to write a non-fiction piece about our lives or New Milton itself.

Poppy C’s piece about New Milton was a very clear and concise introduction to the town, while

Berry’s wrote a playful, comedic account of an encounter with a fluffy caterpillar, and Poppy M

explored creative non-fiction with an article about her life.

We closed the session with a final round of Storyonics, this time the long version!

I found a shell washed up on a beach and thought about where it might have come from, and

thought about the Romans. Deciding to go to Italy, I got in my canoe and started rowing, but I

washed up too far south and found the pyramids instead. I gave up and went home to my treehouse,

where I carved my name in the tree trunk with my penknife.

Something strange happened, and I became Spiderman. To train, I started doing crossfit and bought

new trainers. Hefting my sword, I cut a Nike symbol into them but it ruined them. What a waste of

money!

It wasn’t all bad though – I still had some gold ingots left from a treasure trove I found a while ago.

Unfortunately, the police came for me and arrested me. I threw a cactus on the floor and they stood

on it and got needles in their bare feet. Rushing to escape, I climbed a drainpipe, but slipped and fell

onto a lamppost. Thankfully, I made a quick getaway and flew to the mountains with my luggage.

Who knew there were so many mosquitos in the mountains? I was bitten to within an inch of my life

so hid in a hut to escape, but the knight who lived there chased me out. I stole his bedsheets and tied

them into a rope to climb higher up the mountain, before finding a helicopter and flying to Sydney.

The opera house was, bizarrely, wearing a bow tie. I put on my glasses to see better.

Inside, there was a safe that I took the time to crack. There was nothing but a note reading ‘go

upstairs’. I went carefully up the stairs and found a terrifying man with a clock for a face! I made my

escape and ran away to live in an igloo.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone for next week’s Poetry session!

Don’t forget, the Shaftesbury Tales writing competition has opened! Open to writers living in Dorset

(so that’s at least some of you!), it has age categories of 11 & under; 12-16; 17-19; 25 & under, and

‘open to all’. It’s a community project with a procession from Corfe to Shaftesbury, performing the

tales of people living in the Dark Ages in villages along the route. Please do spread the word and

submit something – if you are looking for some extra eyes on your work, do come along to the Junior

(7-11) & Young (11-14) Writer workshops at Forest Arts, New Milton. Just as a reminder, we run on

Saturday mornings (09:30 for Junior Writers and 11:30 for Young Writers) and you can sign up by

contacting the Forest Arts Centre directly, or come along and we can add you to the list!

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Young Writers - Week 4 (The Art of Writing) - Non-Fiction