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Pat B
I agree that J K Rowling's story is inspiring - it's just not my thing so I can't read them. I have seen a little because my son had a couple of the books.
I have a celebrity interview that I can talk about. The kids will enjoy finding out what the celebrities are really like.
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 3:26 PM
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Everyone likes a surprise ending...
Maybe you could talk about surprising interviews. We all assume things or expect certain things about people, done our background, planned the interview, only to have it take a totally different turn. Anything that has amazed you. The neat thing about writing -- no matter what they're interested in, there's a niche where they'll fit.
You haven't read Harry Potter? I just love rags to riches, and JKRowlings was a welfare mother who did her homework on mythology and became richer than the queen.
posted by
Pat_B
on May 11, 2006 at 2:33 PM
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Fionajean,
it turns out that it's all for kids but I am going to talk to them about writing from the perspective of someone who writes for a living and what I remember from school
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 10:21 AM
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Dave, thanks.
Yes I am leaving the fiction to the children's authors but yes all the ideas that I have put forward involve participation. I know from teaching at university that class participation makes it a lot less arduous for the teacher ;-). They are going to produce their own newspaper about the event, interviewing authors. So they'll be playing the role of reporter, photographer and editor.
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 10:19 AM
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Azur, I don't have any experience of workshops with adults, but my
experience of working with youngsters is that they don't like to just sit and listen, they like to get involved. If you spoke to the school librarian, you could find out which authors are popular in the school. You could then take one of the books and dramatize part of the opening of the text to give it four speaking parts. In a one hour workshop, you'd read them the first chapter, enthuse about the story, give them the script to work with for 15 minutes, then ask the groups to perform their work, followed by a discussion about what they liked about a) the performances and b) the book.
This is one of the activities I might do on one of my workshop days in school libraries. They love it. I have oodles more. I could even send you some ready-made scripts I've done for use with certain titles.
I only really know about fiction, drama and creative writing workshops. With non-fiction stuff though, where I'd say you'd be more comfortable, I would still say to get them actively involved in whatever way possible - there are tons of ways of doing it.
posted by
_dave_says_ack_
on May 11, 2006 at 9:21 AM
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Are a lot of these people business people?
Why not do a talk on writing business letters?
posted by
fionajean
on May 11, 2006 at 6:08 AM
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Great idea Ca88andra
particularly when there are not a lot of good bookshops around
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 3:51 AM
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Lets see... from a parents point of view - I think a workshop on what sort of books to choose for which age group and even different books for boys or girls. Maybe a workshop on how to find books online and order them - I bet lots of parents don't know how to do that.
posted by
Ca88andra
on May 11, 2006 at 3:28 AM
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JohnMcNab
Thanks, I agree it is best not to read that book until afterwards. Lighting a fire in young people is what I love about teaching
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 2:57 AM
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FactorFiction, you may find some treats I think if
you dig through those old books
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 2:35 AM
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blackcat, I have a few
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 2:34 AM
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Benzinha, yes indeed, they are going to produce a newspaper
I love the story about your grandson and the knockdown price for the book
posted by
Azur
on May 11, 2006 at 2:34 AM
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azur, I wrote a children's story about a little boy's newspaper in his
barrio neighborhood.........you might make them think about that, doing their own neighborhood paper. Interviews and advertising and special events and puppies to give away, etc....
Also, my 6 yr. old grandson just wrote, illustrated and then sold me a book about myself. I loved it. Still love it. It is titled ABUELITA.
It says author, I always point this out to him and it says illustrator and I point that out, too. Both places have his name and then there is the $70 price written on the back cover. I said that I didn't have that much and could he discount it for me and he brought it down to the 87 cents that I had in my pockets.
As for all of us writers, we need to stop talking about our books and begin setting down the chapters, one word at a time....don't read his, read yours.
posted by
benzinha
on May 10, 2006 at 9:00 PM
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I don't think you should read the book. If you do, you'll be always worrying whether you borrowed a phrase. As for the talk, I wouldn't dwell on any negative points of writing. You could put off the next Azur. Concentrate on the excitement of working for a big time newspaper and how you got there - and where your job took you. Light up their enthusiasm - they will be there because they want to be.
posted by
johnmacnab
on May 10, 2006 at 6:43 PM
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I have some of the books I read too...
actually....I forgot...I promised I'd go through more stuff at my parents' house. Well, tough. I've got my own piles of junk here now...
I am thinking about rereading some of them though...
posted by
FactorFiction
on May 10, 2006 at 6:43 PM
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I'm sure you've got a million ideas already! You'll do great.
posted by
-blackcat
on May 10, 2006 at 6:14 PM
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FactorFiction, it's a nice idea
I've not read Harry Potter but I do have some of my childhood favorites that I still love and it's because of the narrative and the writing
posted by
Azur
on May 10, 2006 at 5:54 PM
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Frankenkitty
Yes, I imagine they will ask about money and they'll probably think they can make a boatload of money.
Recently I interviewed some celebrities so I could describe that process, as Talion says too, behind the apparent glamor.
posted by
Azur
on May 10, 2006 at 5:52 PM
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Talion, very good point.
This is what I teach at college and it puts off some students ;-)
posted by
Azur
on May 10, 2006 at 5:50 PM
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Ariala, yes I'm quietly excited about it. Thank you
posted by
Azur
on May 10, 2006 at 5:48 PM
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What a neat opportunity...here are some ideas
- A Day in the Life of a Published Writer
- So You Want to Become a Published Writer One Day?
- How to Become A Writer for your School Paper or Yearbook
- Making Writing Fun and Not a Burden (lots of kids hate writing)
posted by
Ariala
on May 10, 2006 at 5:32 PM
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Azur
Behind the scenes stuff. Everyone thinks they know the process how a work is published, but few really do.
posted by
Talion
on May 10, 2006 at 5:32 PM
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Funny you should ask.
Emil presented a workshop at my son's elementary school on Fine Arts day last month about art and how it applies to the real world. He brought in some of his paintings and then some of his screen printing tools and a finished t-shirt. He did a demonstration of how a t-shirt was made, and then kids asked him questions. He also let the kids request things to be drawn, and he demonstrated how to draw those things. A funny thing about kids, they will probably ask if you are rich. Don't ask me why, but there's always one in the bunch that wants to know. Being that you're a writer, you could bring in different formats like a newspaper, a book, and maybe a magazine. You could explain the different types of writing, the different careers they could have for each of the formats, and how travel and research play important roles in writing. It wouldn't hurt to say writers get to meet and interview famous people. I love to hear about far away places, I'm sure kids would find that interesting. Maybe some cool objects or some pictures would be helpful to tie everything together. Just a few thoughts, but I bet you've got it under control. Take care and good luck
posted by
Flumpystalls3000
on May 10, 2006 at 5:26 PM
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I guess I don't really know what is usually presented at those things
But I would think you could not go wrong along the lines of "If you liked the Harry Potter books, maybe you'd like..." and present some of the books/series that are more classic. Obviously, no one should expect it to be the same , but I remember loving all of those "magical" books when I was younger too... have fun!
posted by
FactorFiction
on May 10, 2006 at 5:23 PM
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