The Art of Creative Writing & Story Telling
JK Rowling and Stephen King
Is your student just bursting to share their creative stories with you? Are you just amazed by their imagination and their wild way of looking at the world around them? Have you considered that they might just be the next Stephen King, JK Rowling or JR Tolkien? Who knows for sure, but all three of these authors had to start somewhere, so why not unleash the author in your student by enrolling them in a creative writing course through the DPIE Middle School Summer Academy?
This summer, DPIE is fortunate to partner with three outstanding writing teachers from the Dublin School District who have each designed their own innovative, creative and fun courses aimed at tapping into the author within your student’s mind. They will take your student through a series of writing exercises that help improve your student’s creative writing skills and learn the structure for effective story-telling. Not only will your student develop their abilities to communicate their ideas more effectively, but they will develop their writing style and build their writing and story-telling confidence along the way.
Did You Know – JK Rowling’s Harry Potter book series was turned down by 12 publishing houses before Bloomsbury Publishing Accepted it?
Teachers, Sara Quintero and Sabrina Britton from Wells Middle School and Kyle Voeller from Fallon Middle School all love writing and each of them will introduce a new and challenging creative writing course that will tap into your child’s interests and imagination.
“Stories are the Ultimate Hook”… Sabrina Britton
Asked about her passion for writing, Ms. Britton who is offering a class for rising 6th graders entitled “Stories Matter: What Makes a Good Story” said, “I love writing! I have found writing to be a good outlet for telling stories to my audience. I find that stories are a great way to draw people into a topic, and stories are the ultimate hook.”
“I want my students to know that their stories are important and writing isn’t always about the audience. Sometimes, writing and telling stories is about the writer. My goal is to teach students the elements that make a good story: conflict is a necessary part of any story: stories need antagonist and protagonist: although not everyone lives happily ever after, stories need a physical and emotional end” explained Ms. Britton.
Writing is A Skill That Improves with Practice
Learning to write well is kind of like learning to drive a car, the more you practice the better you get at it. Before you can learn to drive, you have to learn about the parts of the car; how do you start the engine, where are the gas and brake pedals, how do they work, as well as what the rules are that need to be followed while driving. Learning these elements together, along with driving practice helps develop our driving skills and confidence. And just like driving, the more you write, the more your writing improves and the better you become at communicating your ideas to others.
“I Still Feel Joy When I Write”… Sara Quintero
Ms Quintero’s writing courses have been a popular and in-demand part of the DPIE Middle School Summer Academy for several years now, but this is the first time she has offered her Exploring Oddities Through Fictional Writing course which promises to be fun for her students. Everyone in the class will have the opportunity to read and listen to several examples of horror stories before authoring a five-part horror story of their own. A perfect course for the Stephen King wannabe in your home.
When asked what inspired her to offer the course, Ms. Quintero said, “DPIE has allowed me to really dive into what I love most about writing. I fell in love with the genre of horror when I was in 8th grade when I learned about Edgar Allan Poe. My English teacher encouraged us to explore the many different genres of Literature and since then I’ve grown to love authors like HP Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Brom Stoker and Mary Shelly just to name a few, so I figured why not share this genre with students like me and inspire the “monster storyteller” in each of them in a fun way. Teaching this class allows me to share my love of writing with them” she explained.
“When it comes to writing, you may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are".
Maya Angelou – American Poet, Memoirist and Actress
“Bad Ideas often teach us as much as good ideas”…Kyle Voeller
When discussing the idea of “writer’s block” and the struggles many writers face when trying to tell a story, Mr. Voeller said, “I try to turn my writing class into a science lab for writing rather than a testing center. Writer’s block can often stem from setting your expectations too high and not wanting to waste time trying with a bad idea to begin with. I believe we are here to try out ideas and the first idea is rarely the best one. We can learn just as much from a bad idea as we do from a good one, that’s what the writing process is about.”
Mr Voeller, who is teaching his Aspiring Author's Workshop course this summer, explained his perspective this way, “Creative writing is especially important because it can be a place where we try out new and unconventional ideas or share parts of ourselves that we don’t share anywhere else. I love seeing how something small, like a personal story, can turn into a fully developed fictional world that might even inspire others. In my classes we spend time on descriptive writing by using the 5 senses to enhance the readers ability to picture when or where the story takes place.”
If you are interested in developing the budding author in your home, why not enroll your child in one of DPIE's writing courses this summer? To learn more about the courses and enroll, please click on the titles below.