Florence just shared this great site...

The Writing Exercises Site

It generates:

Random Subjects to Write About

Random First Line Prompts

Random Scenarios

Random Plot Generator     and more ... check it out.

Ext Writers vs Parents: Debate

Congrats to Lokyee, Dan, Phoebe and Hannah S for your outstanding prep and presentation of a debate against staff and parents...

Link to video

How is this for a competition?

Oscar recently entered a competition where he had to write a story up to 500 words BUT had to include these 10 words:

                          hibiscus              interactive                 asparagus
                          bugle                  yonks                        photon
                         elucidate            Galapagos                  tendon
                         bittersweet

Did he meet the challenge?  

Go to the Students' Writing Blog to find out!

We all need one of these! Thanks, Bianca!

Want to see Derek Landy?

1) Skulduggery Pleasant author Derek Landy will be speaking at Scots College at 5.30pm on October 3rd.

$10 adult or child or $33 for copy of The Dying of the Light (normally $28) + ticket.

All profits to Save the Children.

To book contact The Children's Bookshop, Shop 26 Kilbirnie Plaza, Kilbirnie , Wellington. Phone: 04 387 3905 or  email: books@thechildrens bookshop.co.nz

Gary Crew at Raroa

 Australian author Gary Crew visited Raroa last week. He has won Picture Book of the Year several times and his newest Book of the Year was First Light. He also likes to write non-fiction books like The Lost Diamond of Killiecrankie.

We were lucky to go and workshop with him. He talked to us about the types of books he writes and how he researches a lot before he begins. He showed us pictures and then had us write about them. Then he modelled how to write a short story by using a guideline to help sort our ideas.

We really enjoyed Gary Crew coming to Raroa to talk to us about his career and about writing.
By Quirine Goossens and Maia Jackson

Writers Go Speed-dating

Recently a group of Raroan writers went to a NZ Book Council event at Te Papa called Speed Date an Author, where they got to spend time with different New Zealand authors and illustrators to help develop their writing craft. In one of the sessions with writer, director and actor Jo Randerson the students were asked to sit with their eyes shut and listen to the sounds of the building around them, then to study some museum artifacts on a table - a variety of preserved animals and human mementos. They were then given 15 minutes to create some writing.

This is Oscar's piece of writing from this experience:

The crackle of the long grass whistles through the air concealing the subtle pad of my leathery paws. The deer’s ears prick. My body freezes. Its ears swivel as the mournful cry of the wind blows through the valley. A grin slowly spreads across my face revealing sharp pearly white canines. My muscles tense and I fly.