At Pasadena Public Library, 2015
Sometimes I like to make a video mashup of clips from these workshops, especially now that we have a digital camera that will take both photo and video. So before I go into how amazing and fun and rewarding last week’s creative writing workshop with Elana K. Arnold was, why not see it for yourself?
Elana gave the kids great exercises that were based on skills that she herself has fine-tuned in her own writing, skills of plot development and character development, of showing a character’s attitudes and feelings through their thoughts about the world around them. That’s what makes Elana’s books so beautiful, and she taught the kids how to do this very well. Kids also emerged with a stronger knowledge of other literary devices, and Freytag’s pyramid that illustrates the correct way to build a plot.
This was one of our biggest writing workshops to date, and I think a major draw was the offering of a free copy of Elana Arnold’s book The Question of Miracles. Definitely something I hope to provide again in future workshops!
We are so grateful to Elana for the work and thought she put into this. It was a workshop jam-packed with ideas, energy, learning and fun. Thank you so much Elana!!
(P.S. You can check out Elana’s books for teens here, and her books for kids here. Soon we will be adding a new book to that second list–Far From Fair, which comes out in March 2016.)
