Students Explore the Creative Process at Young Writers Workshop

Michael NorthropMichael Northrop knows how to command a room – even an auditorium filled with squirming eight, nine and ten year olds. Speaking at the opening of the Young Writers Workshop on Saturday March 7, Northrop, who also has experience as a stand up comedian, told the kids that as a child he was dyslexic and had to repeat second grade. He learned to read by reading poems which have fewer words per page and were easier to master.

Writing seems like an unlikely choice of career for someone with reading challenges but Northrop’s books have sold more than one million copies, and he has spanned genres from YA classics like Trapped, to four graphic novels, including the best-selling “Dear Justice League.” Next, he told me, he his coming out with a “cozy adult mystery” – nothing too sordid!

He gave an animated presentation explaining the elements of a story line, from the “what, why, where, when and how” to the “would and could” to create a plot. explained how he works with an illustrator in Brazil to produce his graphic novels and had everyone in the room entertained.

Northrop gave the students great tips to begin the creative process before they participated in two workshops with authors, artists, songwriters, poets, video game designers and comic creators.

I was fortunate to be invited to host a workshop on writing news stories, called, “Breaking News, You’re the Editor.”

I learned about what’s really going on in school from two groups of elementary school kids who were wonderfully expressive.

They drafted stories and opinion pieces about school happenings that would make a great issues of Scarsdale10583.com.

I had not heard about the “Valentines Dance Disaster” at Edgewood, or the “hold in place” order at Quaker Ridge after a pack of coyotes on the grounds made it too dangerous to leave the school. Beyond news, kids had opinions too. Why, asked one girl, could she not get up from the table during lunchtime to speak to her friends in other classes? And why wondered another, could she not stand up during lunch time at all? What if her foot fell asleep? Another young man had opinions about Reveal Math and a young lady felt that the hot lunch program could be improved after they found some creepy crawlers in the food harvested from the school garden. Still another objected to a read-a-thon at Greenacres that requires students to find sponsors to underwrite reading time, with the proceeds going to the school.Sharon Chesler and student volunteers

No one was at a loss to say what they believed, and many of the kids demonstrated strong writing skills which are a testament to their teachers.

I am not sure if I had more fun than they did, but overall the event was a big success, thanks to the parent organizers Alicia Bowman Sharon Chesler, Danae Farkas and Lena Wang and the presenters who hosted the workshops.

See below!