24 February 2024
Posted by Suki & Claire
Hi Writers,
Welcome after half term! We hope you’ve all had a fun week off. This week we had a fabulous session on Scriptwriting & Dialogue. Led by Suki
During our check-in we all described our weeks as a Game [board games ect…]
Berry’s was Pit - a frantic card game
Poppy’s was hide & seek - a bit scary
Suki’s was Tag - played a lot in arial class
Claire’s was operation - fiddly stuff to do
Then we did our reading check-in
Berry is reading The Final Year and Last Bear
Poppy is reading Far From the Madding Crowd
Suki is reading lots of non-fiction, some Manga and Immortal Rain
Claire is reading The Witches of Vargo
Scriptwriting & Dialogue
We then had a discussion about the difference between scriptwriting and dialogue, and listed all the different types we could think of.
Dialogue: speech marks, characters speaking to each other in a story, speech tags ‘he said, she said’
Script: Conversation. Films. Plays. Shows. TV. puppet shows. Radio. Podcasts.
Then we read through our examples. The group enjoyed getting to play different characters and perform the pieces of dialogue & script.
Video Game: Skyrim
Film: Frozen
Play: Merchant of Venice
These excerpts were a great starting point to open up discussions on how conversation can be very effective in setting a scene, building a world, creating tension & conflict, and portraying character (especially through monologue).
Next we did our writing exercise
Write a script, using no more than 3 characters, starting with one of the following prompts:
Misunderstanding
Two characters are trapped in a broom cupboard, one character believes they are both in on a secret and the other is completely oblivious.
Two characters meet on the street and one sincerely believes that they know the other whilst the other insists they have never met.
Hiding a secret
Three characters are sitting at a bus stop. Two of the characters know something and are trying to keep the third character from finding out.
Two characters have scheduled a top-secret meeting. One of them is a superhero and is about to reveal their true identity.
Emergency
Two strangers are stuck in a lift. One is calm, the other believes the walls are closing in.
Two characters are waiting in line to buy train tickets, but their train is about the leave the platform and the queue isn’t moving. They have one minute to decide what to do.
Group Tasks
A group of actors are on stage, every single one has forgotten their lines, along with the plot, and even who they are.
A group of characters are waiting in a queue. The first character knows what they are waiting for, the others do not and continually wonder out loud what it could be.
Extra prompts:
You’re walking your dog in the park and suddenly he runs away.
You are a dark wizard planning to take over the world.
Your aunt is coming to stay and you’re trying to convince your family you are allergic to her.
You’re sitting in the classroom minding your own business when suddenly everyone disappears.
There’s a knock at the door. You open it to see your childhood hero.
You’re an international spy trying not to get caught by your rival.
You arrive at school and realise you haven’t done any of your homework.
There’s a secret realm behind the blackboard, but only you know about it.
An alien has crash-landed in the playground.
This challenge produced some great results;
Berry wrote a scene set in a lift - Katie, Max and Jake - all trapped and having different reactions
Poppy set up a football match scene - Mrs Bartholomew, Carl and Susan - a power play dynamic
We had enough time to write up a follow on scene.
Berry set her group in another lift - on a far future occasion
Poppy continued the same characters, but added more tension
Everyone did so well, acting out each other’s scripts. This was a great class.
We’d love to see some more new faces this term, so if anyone knows a budding writer aged 7-10, we’d love to hear from them!
All of our Young Writing sessions are free and bookable through the Forest Arts Centre, so come along and have a go with us!
See you next Saturday
Archive
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
Junior 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'
Young Writers - week 1 - 'from deep inside a forest'
Creating Communities through Writing
WORDCUP - Hounsdown Session #6
Making pillows in a house full of feathers
WORDCUP - Hounsdown Session #5
Exploring home – a place, person, house
WORDCUP - Hounsdown Session #4
Stories From Our Streets at the Abbeyfield Wessex Society Reminiscence Session at Poole Library
What Do You Really Mean? Writing Dialogue for Scripts
WORDCUP - Hounsdown Session #3
Character Building & Murder Mysteries
Going inside – from a spark to a story
WORDCUP - Hounsdown Session #2
Maybe I Can Be Invisible After All... Monologues
Creative Writing: Fun Facts, Diverse Voices and Different Perspectives
Writing Competition - Stories From Our Streets
Stories From Our Streets Community Activity Pack
Thinking in-quiet, after the fire
Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City Curated by Lubaina Himid CBE
Ekphrastic Jukebox - Writing to Music
ArtfulScribe LitFest Community Showcase 2023
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Writing to The Sorcerer's Apprentice
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Stories From Our Streets Launch!
Interview: In Conversation with Dr Victoria Leslie
The Missing Farmer/ Blackout Poetry & DADA
Exploring this wonderful World
Using props to create characters/ working as a writing room
Stories of the Dust and Character Questions
Storytelling and Escalation or Rising Action
Junior Writers Club Acrostic Poem
Notes on Intention for MAST Collective - Year 3 - Facilitation Focus
Earthquakes & Dominoes - MAST Collective Blog #4
SUPER MARIO AND POP CULTURE POEMS
Receptionists & Inky Voids - MAST Collective Blog #3
Saying No and saying YES on National Poetry Day!
There's a Dragon in the Wardrobe...
House Warming Party (The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known) - MAST Collective Blog #2
Intern Blog 5 - The Publishing Process
POEMS TO SOLVE THE CLIMATE CRISIS
On The Streets With Theresa Lola
Intern Blog 4 - The Internship Journey
NEW DIRECTIONS, STARTING SMALL - THE ORWELL YOUTH PRIZE
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on workshop and transformations: frogs, lions, and the duck that becomes a larder...
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Intern Blog 1 - Finding a Voice
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