Okay, guys, so I'm getting the opportunity to run a teen writing program
ALL summer every week for approximately the same kids every week (I'll
get some who come every week and some who come occasionally and some who
come most). Now I've already run 6 weeks worth of programming with
this crowd prior to this and we've played games and brought in work for
critique and the like but I'd like to keep it different and interesting
and that's where all of you come in!
I'm looking for writing
related games (or ice breakers that can be adjusted for a writing
element) as well as long term sorts of games/events/things I can do with
them. I know some of them have long-term stories and some have short
stuff so it's definitely a mix.
Also, looking for suggestions on
how to get them to critique stuff well, more than just 'I like this'
sorts of things. I want them to be critical but nice (woo constructive
criticism).
All thoughts are welcome!
(Closing thoughts on the cruise and such coming early next week, I promise!)
A buddy and I did an exercise on facebook, wherein one of us would write 500-1000 words and leave off with a cliffhanger. The other would then pick up, resolving the cliffhanger in 500-1000 words, and ending with his own. And so on and so forth. We did a noir-type story in first person and it worked great.
ReplyDeleteAs for critiquing, teach them how to workshop: the rules are that every comment must contain both a positive (something they liked) and something that could be improved. They're also required to suggest the means to accomplish said improvement.
Just my $.02
Ooh, I like the facebook idea - I could use that in multiple ways because the teen center actually does have a facebook group, but I could also do it from week to week...
DeleteI like the addition of that they have to make sure they suggest a way to actually make the improvement too rather than just 'you need to improve this'.
Thanks a lot, Jason!
Casey, for writing prompt ideas, you might want to check out the site Figment Fiction. They have a bunch of prompts of varying lengths!
ReplyDeleteFigment Fiction! Got it, thanks! :)
DeleteFor fun writing games: Exquisite corpses all the way! Like the ones we did in library school! Also, Barns and Noble sells a tiny dice game called story cubes. It's just dice with different images/objects on each side. You have to come up with a story with all the images/objects in it, or you can go around telling a story with the objects in it! So much fun! You could probably even make your own images and glue them to dice if you want too.
ReplyDeleteThe other fun writing game I did with teens was super short stories. Try writing stories in 100 words. Then 50 words. Then 25. then 12. then 6!
I've done a lot with writing workshops (all through college), so if you ever want to talk more about it, call me! I'd love to help!
I do Exquisite Corpses with them all the time and they love it! I'm sure we'll continue to do them because I for one don't want to stop!
DeleteOoh, the story cube idea sounds good! I probably won't buy it (unless they have room in the teen budget for it) but making my own is an interesting idea!
I like the shortening short story idea too! I do 100 word ones all the time, but shorter would be a real challenge. Cool!
I'm gonna start taking what suggestions I got and what I already know and working out a schedule and then I might well call you! also just for chat times!