STORY STARTERS

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CONTENTS
1. STORY STARTERS
my life as an elephant
the door knocker
how it all began
SEND IN YOUR STORY TO APPLY FOR THE STORY OF THE
MONTH

2. BOOK OF THE MONTH
the philosopher's stone
READ THE REVIEW BY HOLLY MONROE `

3. AUTHOR OF THE MONTH
robert scanlon
READ UP TO SEE WHY THIS AUTHOR IS SO GREAT

4. TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE
write like morris gleitzman in a day
IMPROVE YOUR WRITING IMMEDIATELY

5. HOW TO WRITE A SCARY STORY
write a story to give yourself goosebumps
SCARE EVERYONE WITH AN AWESOME SCARY STORY

6. SURPRISE ACTIVITY!

7. SPECIAL PAGE for the FIRST EDITION
Hello everyone and welcome to the rst
issue of Writerz! I am the writer and editor
of this fantastic new Kid's Writing e-
magazines. I have been inspired by my
mother and father, both writers, to make
this magazine for kids. I was also inspired
by my grandfather who was a fantastic
man, who always encouraged me,
whether I was playing with play dough or
doing maths, to do my best. I love writing,
and have always wished to share my love
of it with the world. I hope you will enjoy
the rst edition of Writerz!

Isabelle Raiz-Scanlon,
Writer and Editor
STORY STARTER 1
My feet are thudding along the ground. I swing
my head gently, feeling the wind along my trunk
and ever sensitive ears. I draw in a huge breath,
and keep going in my search for water.
Think about:
Who is this?
How did they get into their
current position?
What are they?
Why are they feeling the
way they are?
STORY STARTER 2
THUD, THUD, THUD. The door was caving in
with the heavy thumps of the person, no, THING
on the other side of the door. No human could
do that to a door, let alone knock it hard enough
to make the whole house tremble. Let alone
make me tremble.
Think about:
What is the position this person
is in?
What are they feeling?
What type of person are they?
See How to Write Scary
Stories.
STORY STARTER 3
I sat in my room that fateful day, watching
youtube. I watched community channel, buzz
feeds and all sorts of stuff. I can't believe I was so
ignorant of what was happening in the real world.
That was how it all began.
Think about:
What position is this
person in?
How do they feel about
themselves?
What is happening?
When is it set?
Send your finished story to
[email protected] to enter the
competition. If you win, your story will be the
Book of the Month next issue.
Harry Potter: The Book of the Month!
Read Holly Monroe's book review of the
book of the week, the Philosopher's stone.
Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone is a
book of thrill and and excitement, mystery
and curiosity, love and hate. It has so many
great twists and turns that you won't want to
put the book down! The book takes you to
another world. The world of wizards,
witches, Dark Lords and Hogwarts. Harry
Potter is so amazing and J.K.Rowling has
changed so many young children's lives with
her amazing book - Holly Monroe

Rating - ! - Innity
Author of the Month!
Robert Scanlon
Who is he? How does he write?
I write science-fiction adventure stories for young readers aged
8+, though I want all my books to be enjoyed by any ages!
including adults!

Currently I have two books in a series called 'The Dreamer
Chronicles': Sarina's Nightmare and The Dream Killer. The
third is well underway, and should be released in late August/
September 2014. It will feature Sarina and Nathan facing the
very destruction of our universe ... but who will save it?

This series features two protagonists, Sarina Metcalfe and
Nathan Goldberg, though Sarina is our hero throughout. I
came up with the idea quite casually while wondering what
fiction I could try my hand at (I have never written much at
all before, except lots of non-fiction - reports, training
programs, how-to self-help materials etc).

The initial idea was actually a boy, not a girl, who was an
accomplished artist, and he had discovered a parallel world in
his dreams and had superhero powers in that world. That was
the extent of it!

I wrote a brief 'prologue', which I later changed to Chapter One,
and when I wrote, I was inspired by my daughter
(unknowingly to her) to make the young artist female.

The series has elements of fantasy that appear in the parallel
world, but I also try to make these as grounded in real science
as possible (in fact, Nathan, who has a famous scientist great
great grandfather, is always trying to explain the science to
Sarina, which she finds occasionally annoying!).

There is more about me, including some jobs I have had, and
where my love of reading came from here:

http://robertscanlon.com/bio/

I believe to be a half-decent writer, you must first love to read,
and second, you must love to learn what elements make up a
great story!

I usually write a skeleton outline first, then I will think about
each scene in that outline and what each characters' goal
might be in that scene, then I will start a rough draft, which
no one will see.

Editing and revising is my favourite part, because that's
when you take your story from 'just okay' and shape it into
something that readers will love (and for that, you need your
reader hat on, not your writer hat).
Good luck!

Robert
FIVE AWESOME TIPS ON:
HOW TO WRITE LIKE MORRIS GLEITZMAN
Hi everyone! Here are some tips on how to write like Morris Gleitzman in a day!
tip number 1 tip number 2 tip number 3 tip number 4 tip number 5
Know what you
are writing about.
If you don't know
what you are
going to write at
first, thats ok. But
after you do
know what you
are doing,
research it,
discover more
about it, if you
can, go see a
museum about it,
do anything to
help you write a
better story with
more information.
Make problems
worse. Don't make
your character
solve problems
too easily.
Sometimes, more
problems are
better because
they make your
story more
interesting.
Making things
hard to solve is
the perfect thing
to put into your
story to bulk it up
a bit.
Put yourself in the
character's
position. Doing
that helps you to
understand what
you would do in
their situation,
instead of making
them do something
really heroic that
you know you
would not do.
Using what you
know you would
do, change it and
twist it a little so it
isn't you anymore.
Keep simple
words. Don't use
too many loooong
and posh words if
it is a kid's book.
Even if you are
writing an adult's
book, don't use
too many long
words. Especially
ones you don't
know. Don't
forget to use
words for how the
character is
feeling, too.
Remember to
use imagination.
Stories aren't
real life! You can
do more things,
more exciting
things, such as
making blowing
your nose a
terrible crime,
so everybody
walks around
sniffling. Gross,
but there can
be much better
ones, such as
fairies, or
unicorns.
SCARY STORIES
Here's how to write a scary story to scare your friends!
Write a sentence in which your character has
had something happen that they don't know
why it has, such as the paragraph from Story
Starter 2. Add in words that make it scary, then
embellish it more, adding more sentences. If you
started with, 'The washing machine moved
across the room', turn it into something like,
'With a metallic clang, the washing machine
staggered across the room menacingly, leaving
behind a trail of destruction' which sounds much
better. If you wrote this paragraph, 'My heart
was fast. The washing machine moved across
the room. It walked to me. I shouted. The room
went dark. I blinked. My heart went faster. I
blacked out.' I would change it to this,
'My heart thumped hard against my chest and
threatened to burst up into my throat. With a
metallic clang, the washing machine staggered
across the room menacingly, leaving behind a
trail of destruction. It squared itself and clanked
across the room. Towards me. Suddenly, the
lights flickered. I was plunged into complete
darkness with a maniacal washing machine
chasing me. My heart beat marathons against my
collarbone. I frantically scrambled to get out of
the room. The door slammed shut. I couldn't
cope anymore. I fell to the floor and lost
consciousness with a jolt.'

Also, if you would like to make your story extra
scary, main characters dying is an excellent way
to make a scary story scarier!
SURPRISE!
The Napkin Flower
This is how to make a rose out of a plain white
paper napkin!

What you will need:
A paper napkin
Your hands
Watercolour paint (optional)
What you do:

Twist about three quarters of your napkin.
Fold up the bottom of your twisted bit and twist it.
Un-twist the top of the second twisted bit and fold it
into a leaf shape.
Fold out the top of the un-twisted part and gently
twist it to create a rose shape.
Done!
FIRST EDITION
SPECIAL
I will describe something in a paragraph. Draw
what you think the scene or character looks
like, and send it to our email,
[email protected] or comment it on our
website.
With bulbous, slimy, purplish eyes,
the beast was ugly. Very ugly. Its fur
was caked with brown mud, and its
four paws were thin to the bone. Its
claws were slimed browny green and
it had undergrowth stuck all over it.
Its muzzle was long and gaunt, yet it
seemed kind.
FOR READING THE
Write to [email protected] to
answer and add.