Excursion to Sydney Writers Festival
This week, the boys in 9EN1 participated in the Sydney Writers Festival’s Secondary School Day. The boys listened to four different authors talk about their books and the craft of writing. Jack Heath, a master of action and suspense with over 30 published books, emphasised the importance of making room for boredom in our lives as those quiet times allow us to hear ourselves think and develop our imagination. The indigenous writer Graham Akhurst encouraged the boys to use their own experiences in their writing. The American poet and novelist Elizabeth Acevedo entertained the audience with her slam poetry. In her writing, she does not overtly try to send a message, but she wants her readers to develop empathy as a practice. The fantasy author C.S. Pacat shared many tips about developing the craft of writing and told the aspiring writers that you need to explain much less than you think. To keep the reader keen to turn to the next page, you should leave something for them to figure out.
Jack Heath went through a quick writing exercise with the audience and stressed the importance of editing. He encouraged everyone not to worry too much about the first draft. There will be many more before the writing project is complete, and editing is a large part of the writing process.
The Shore boys enjoyed the day and learnt valuable tricks for their own writing. Some takeaways discussed on the trip back to School were:
- There are many different ways of starting to write a story, and there is no right way. You have to work out what works for you. The four authors all seemed to do it differently.
- Use your own experiences in your writing.
- Shorter is better.
- Give your characters authenticity.
- Write plenty of drafts.
- Editing is when the story comes to life.
- Refine, refine and refine…
- You create narrative traction by signalling that what we are about to learn is more exciting than what is happening right now.
Mrs E White
Head of Library & Information Services
Top image: 9EN1 with their teacher Mr Nicholas Daunt Watney
