How long
is too long? This was on my mind this week as I prepared for a trip to
Bedfordshire for a whole day visit to a secondary school.
The
lovely librarian had booked me in for a three sessions. A two hour slot with
the whole of Y9 to talk about my books. Another two hour creative writing
workshop, with selected pupils from Y9 and 10. And then (after lunch) an hour
with the school’s reading groups, spanning Y10s who had all read my first book,
When I Was Joe, Year 9s, some of whom would have spent the entire day listening
to me, and Y7s.
I have to
admit that I was nervous as I drove up the M1. Two hours seemed a long time to
fill. Did I have enough to say to keep the pupils interested? How many writing
exercises would fill two hours? Would the Y9s who saw me three times be bored
solid by the end of the day?
I’m used
to speaking for an hour at a time. Roughly 30 minutes speaking, broken up by a
video trailer for my ‘Joe’ trilogy. Then the rest of the session spent in
Q&A. I try and involve pupils in thinking about the themes of my books.
‘What would you buy if you won the lottery?’ is a good way of filling time.
‘What would be the most difficult thing about going into witness protection?’
Similarly,
a writing workshop for an hour starts with a ten minute chat about writing
processes, and getting started. Then half an hour on a writing exercise. Ten minutes talking about the results of the
exercise. Then a ten minute Q&A or discussion about the session.
For this visit, I thought I’d do something a
bit different, so I prepared a talk based on true or false statements. Was it
true or false that I’d once jumped out of a helicopter for work (true). Had I
really got a £50,000 advance for my first novel (sadly false). With twenty
statements, I thought I’d be talking for at least 40 minutes, but involving the
pupils too. Then I’d show them my trailer, and also a nine minute video of
clips from the musical that I’m working on, adapted from my book Lia’s Guide to
Winning the Lottery. And then questions, with a prize of a book for the best
question.
Session
one went well, and actually I think I’d have been fine just talking for 40
minutes without the True or False statement - with just a little bit of
interaction. I was ready for a break in the middle, and the videos gave me
that. We had half an hour of good questions, and then we ended the session,
with 15 minutes to go. One hour, forty
five minutes was fine, we agreed, although I’d have preferred one and a half
hours ideally. Carolyn, the librarian,
said she thought it was important that children learn to concentrate for two
hour sessions. Their exams are two hours long at least, she pointed out, they
should be able to sit and behave and use their brains.
For the
creative writing session, two hours was perfect. The pupils had time to think
and discuss their ideas, as we did a plot planning exercise and a character
creation/plot creating one too. They asked questions, read out their work,
seemed to have fun. It was a more relaxed atmosphere than the one hour workshops
I’ve run. At the end there was time to reflect, ask questions and think about
how they’d take their ideas forward. To my surprise I ended up convinced that
two hours is perfect for a writing workshop.
The hour
at the end of the day with the reading groups was just magic. All of the pupils
were avid readers, none of them had met an author before, they were interested
in everything from differentiating voices in a split narrative, to cover design
to my favourite books. I felt that I was in a school that valued reading for
pleasure for its own sake, and also for the many benefits it brought its
pupils. I would not be at all surprised if Manshead School in Dunstable
produces some fabulous writers of its own in years to come, I met so many
articulate, interesting and talented students.
One hour
sessions are still my comfort zone. But I wouldn’t be worried about two hour
slots again. One thing I would make sure though, is to have breakfast first.
Domestic crises meant that I arrived at the school having eaten nothing, and I
did the first four hours of the day with just a chocolate chip cookie to
sustain me. By lunchtime my blood sugar was so low that I could hardly speak.
From now on I’m taking nuts and raisins everywhere I go.
4 comments:
Facing a critical audience of youngsters I would have been nervous too. How to keep their attention and keep it going as well. You seem to have done very very well. Congratulations.
I'd have been nervous doing 2 hour long sessions as well - it seems like a VERY long time for one activity. But by the sound of it, you broke the time up really creatively and everyone had a good time. Especially impressive powered only by one biscuit... The interesting wider question for author events is - should we always insist on doing what we know works for us, or should we agree to step out of our comfort zones, for good reason?
I'm doing workshops of two hours in a primary in a few weeks time - I'm also a bit nervous, so it's good to hear it can work. And in fact I do find the hour workshops I do can feel a bit rushed at the end! Sounds as if your day was about as perfect as they come!
That was really helpful to read. Thank you.
Post a Comment