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Calling all kids: Martian into the Sydney Story Factory

7/28/2014

If you are a kid with an imagination, or even if you think you don’t have much of one, the Sydney Story Factory is likely to generate plenty of it for you as soon as you step inside, and that is inside an alien carcass!

Don’t believe me, here’s the proof. The whole store is decked out like an extra-terrestrial’s skeleton. All classes take place at the back of the store, right at the alien’s heart.

Sounds great, right!

Who can come?

The programs suit upper-primary and high-school students who have learnt some of the basics of writing. It doesn’t matter if you find writing a bit hard.

Reasons to go

The tutors make writing fun. You get to write all kinds of stories about zany things. It’s not boring.

You only have to share one volunteer tutor with two or three kids. So much better than school where you have to share one teacher with what, like 20 something other students. They will help you write something really cool.

You leave with a published piece of your work after each session to show whoever you want. Total bragging rights!

You will make new friends.

Reasons not to go

There are none.

Even if English isn’t your strongest, that doesn’t matter. Any young people are welcome, whether you are Indigenous or from a non-English speaking background. The tutors are great and they are there to help you.

Staff and tutors with one of the great writing workshops you could do

Types of programs

There are after-school programs and programs run on Sunday’s and in school holidays.

You can even get your school teacher to bring your class on an excursion for a two-hour workshop in school time.

Reasons to convince your parents, caregivers or teachers to bring you

You will develop your language skills.

You can communicate your thoughts and feelings better. Happier kids = happier parents/adults.

You start to like writing.

It makes you more confident in yourself and at your school work.

You enjoy having your opinions heard and being able to express them in your own writing.

For parents and adults

You can support the Sydney Story Factory by purchasing any of the alien related paraphernalia in the front of the store while you are waiting. The money raised goes straight back into helping run the place and helping more kids.

Why can’t all classrooms be like this?

The Sydney Story Factory is a not-for-profit and is located at 176 Redfern Street, Redfern, Sydney. For more information visit their website www.sydneystoryfactory.org.au.

I visited the Sydney Story Factory when I went to Sydney for the SCBWI Conference in July 2014. Even adults don’t want to leave, like me!

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My Love/Hate Relationship with The Fault in Our Stars: Okay, Okay

7/19/2014

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I have to admit, I cheated. I saw the movie before I read the book. The movie, is an excellent and very close adaptation of the book, and yes, I cried a lot. Although seeing the movie first did not prepare me for the onslaught of constant tears streaming down my face, while I read my way through the book in the middle of the night. Be prepared to stay up late with lots of tissues!

Now if you don’t know what The Fault in Our Stars is, it is today’s equivalent of Nicholas Sparks’s book A Walk to Remember, also a movie starring Shane West and Mandy Moore, which I watched endlessly when it came out. I have to say, John Green, I prefer your version. It is less schmaltzy and saccharine, seeming to be a more realistic romance story.

Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley in The Fault in Our Stars

Mandy Moore and Shane West in A Walk to Remember

What I loved:

The character names ─ Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters.

The characters are as cool as their names. Hazel is slightly jaded, yet a realist and Augustus is charismatically cocky, yet completely lovable. They both have a unique voice that is carried throughout the book. The actors are perfectly cast and live up to the characters, especially that crooked smile.

The romance between Hazel and Augustus seems true. Like all real couples they have highs, lows, they have blue days and happy ones, they don’t put up with each other’s excuses, they support one another, they laugh, they cry and they love each other despite everything. John Green beautifully and slowly unfolds their love story.

The vocabulary. John Green peppers his book with wonderful words from the English language like ghettoization, contemporaneity, anomaly, eviscerated, ontologically, numinous, vitrines. I don’t know any teenagers who talk like this, and I certainly didn’t, but if it makes them pick up a dictionary, great. It doesn’t seem forced or highbrow, these words naturally form part of the character’s discourse.

The universal love story transcends its YA audience and is something all people should read.

What I hated:

I didn’t want the inevitable to happen to my beloved characters. I sobbed because John Green made me fall in love with them. I didn’t want Hazel and Augustus to face the same ending as the book, An Imperial Affliction featured in the book, The Fault in Our Stars.

How I survived:

I am someone who likes to read ahead to see everything will work out just fine. However, I already knew how this book would end. A major disadvantage of seeing the movie first.

Strategy: Find your favourite parts, bookmark and re-read them every day to make it through the book.

Favourite passages

“’Mother’s glass eye turned inward,’” Augustus began. As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind, Hazel Grace. It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”

Page 206

“Everything tastes like pennies. Aside from that, I’m on a rollercoaster that only goes up, kids,” Gus answered.

Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.

My favourite romantic leads

Mr John Green, this is how I know you really captured my heart, despite breaking it. My favourite romantic leads of all time choose feisty, intelligent women, they don’t put up with their rubbish and they love them with such loyalty. Here are my top three:

1. Gilbert Blythe, Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Gilbert dearly teases Anne Shirley. They match each other through teacher’s college. In the end she could not resist her kindred spirit, Gilbert.

2. Mr Darcy, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. After all the respectable barbs and long walks, Elizabeth Bennet falls head over heels when the truth emerges and Mr Darcy is revealed as the true hero. I also love Mark Darcy (mainly because he’s based on the Austen version and is played by Colin Firth) in Bridget Jones’s Diary. However, I will never come to terms with what Helen Fielding did to him in Mad About the Boy.

3. Augusts Waters, The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. The quintessential love interest teenage girls deserve to date.

Mr John Green, The Fault in Our Stars, has made it to the top of my classics that I will re-read again and again. No doubt it has won you numerous fans forever, including me (or should I say infinities).

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Writing is a marathon

7/7/2014

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I have decided that with my writing, while I want it to be career, it is all about the long-term game called endurance.

The last week and really the last year has felt like a sprint. I’ve felt rushed to finish manuscripts, read everything I can about writing, maintain an online social presence and go to as many writing events as I can all because I know what I want, I want to be a writer.

Wendy Orr

Last week I was in a race. I applied for a dream writing-related job, I attended a book launch for Wendy Orr’s latest book, Rescue on Nim’s Island and I went to my second CYA conference. I’ve spent so many months preparing for this wonderful conference. I networked, I had three editor pitches, caught up with old friends and made new friends and I absorbed all I could from workshops. The conference was fantastic, exhausting and all over in a blink of an eye. I can’t wait for next year!

In the workshops with new and old friends at the CYA Conference

While I don’t regret any of the things I’ve done on my holidays, I need to keep things in perspective.

The plain simple truth of it is I already am a writer. I already have a career. I already passionately love what I do.

So after a year of sprinting, I’ve decided to slow down.

I had three great pitches all of which felt like the fastest and longest 15 minutes of my life. Some of my writing group friends had wonderful successes from these and some disappointing lows. It has been a long time coming for some. While your dreams seem so close sitting in front of an editor instead of in the slush pile, writing heartbreak inevitably comes to all true writers.

But true writers remember the marathon and forge on in spite of what seem like impossible odds.

Here’s some insights I took away from the conference:

- You are allowed description in picture books.
- Each editor has preferences for layout and what they like in manuscripts.
- Remember the one true heart of your story. Don’t lost sight of it!
- Ask to resubmit. (They all said YES.)
- Turn the internet off so you can have quality writing time. Thanks Isobelle Carmody.

So here is what I’m going to do from these appointments. I’m going back to the basics to reformulate some of my picture book manuscripts:

- Brainstorm.
- Know my main character’s intent inside and out.
- Lay my action out over 32-page spread picture book dummy. I’ve already made my worksheet and begun my work.
- Follow the basic rules of writing and trust you know them, but don’t be afraid to try something new. I’m going to try middle-grade for a while.
- It’s okay to be stuck and let your work rest. Sometimes you both need a break from each other.
- Surround yourself with writing people who support you. My friends and I have been through writing highs and lows in the last couple of weeks. You need to ride the writing rollercoaster together. THANK YOU!
- There are many roads to publishing success―traditional, self-publishing, e-books and more. You will find your own way. Here are some success stories from my own writing group Write Links.
- It is okay to spend less time online to do more of what I love, WRITING.

Some of my Write Links rollercoaster buddies

I’m listening to my own advice and I’m off to write. Back to the marathon.