Inspiring Young Writers
Author Steven Davies visits Key Stage 2
Stephen Davies, the author of ‘The Ancient Egypt Sleepover’ and ‘Survivor: Titanic’ (amongst many other titles) visited students in Key Stage 2 last week and certainly left his mark. Students in each Year group met him in an assembly, towards the beginning of the week and then had writing workshops with him where they were able to learn from a master of his craft. The writing the children came up with and the ideas they explored showed the depth of inspiration that Stephen was able to provide.
Stephen talked to the children about the importance of research in their writing; to make sure that details they used were accurate and added credence to their story, as well as that the art of writing takes time and many edits to get right! Stephen stressed the importance of ‘Show NOT Tell’ where the writer puts the details into the story without making it into a list, allowing the reader time to form their own opinions about the characters and the setting. He also taught them to ‘smuggle details’ into the storyline, so the bigger picture emerged without the reader really noticing – a very clever writing trick indeed! His last tip was to not make things easy for the characters at all. Create a problem for them and then continually make it worse, as this gives the resolution in the story so much more power when it finally comes.
At the end of the week, Stephen visited each of the Year groups again to speak to the children about their writing and provided comments, feedback and encouragement. It was indeed a great learning experience for the students with many mini authors in the making.