Young Writers Fest 2006

Megan Bell, the Newspapers In Education coordinator for The News Herald, and I led two sessions at the Young Writers Fest 2006 at Gulf Coast Community College today. The program brought fourth- and fifth-graders from all over Bay District to the college to learn about writing and storytelling in all its forms, from oral tradition and mime, as told by folks like Pat Nease and Renee Black, to children's literature and even newspapers.

I talked about the "5 W's and an H" and used a police incident report to get the kids to help me identify the information they'd need to write a police brief. Then we talked about the difference between "hard" news, features, and "opinion" writing, and I talked a little about fiction writing (and rewriting and rewriting) and answered questions about my career.

Megan then read to them from the book "The True Story of the Three Three Little Pigs," which is the story as told from the point of view of the wolf, who claims he was framed by the yellow journalists.

Using what they'd supposedly learned from me, the kids were asked to write either straight "hard" news reports of the incident, a feature or an opinion piece. A couple of them came up with their own fictional take, not based on anything they'd heard, but others added nice extras --- jailhouse interviews, interviews with neighbors who saw the whole things transpire, that sort of thing. I'll be back here Feb. 11 for the library's annual Books Alive. Don't miss it.
Peace.