All great works of writing start with one word.  But before the word is written down, an idea is formed.  Ideas are hidden everywhere.  They are based on anything from a simple object to a complex and thought provoking idea.  But all writers start out with one.  Dasha Kelly, the woman in charge of the Milwaukee branch of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, came to talk to the seventh grade about the awards and ideas for writing.  She taught a small workshop about how to start a story, and told us briefly about what makes a plot.  This was very helpful to me as a writer and I know I will use it in the future.

The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards is a nationwide program that receives submissions from teen writers.  They can enter pieces they wrote in many categories such as poetry, flash fiction, short story, and nonfiction.  Awards are then given to stories written by middle and high school students under their specific writing categories.  Each seventh grader is required to submit a piece that they will edit and revise with the guidance of Mrs. Riepenhoff, the sixth and seventh grade English teacher at St. Robert.  Eighth graders at St. Robert are also allowed to submit their work.  Our first rough draft was due in October, and the final pieces will be sent in before Christmas.

Ms. Kelly started off her workshop with energy.  She walked into the classroom with lots of enthusiasm about writing.  Her first step in the idea process she described was asking us to think about something yellow.  Not something that was always yellow, like a banana, but something that could be yellow, like a t-shirt.  She had us write five examples of something yellow on loose-leaf paper, and helped us by giving examples.  Then she asked us to pick one.  After this, we proceeded to go through different categories that provided us with other parts for starting a story.  Ms. Kelly asked us to choose a place where our yellow object would be found, to establish the setting of the story.  She also asked us to choose a time and a season.  Then we wrote down three feelings and picked one for a character to feel in the beginning of the story.  We also chose a name, but instead of choosing it for ourselves, we passed it to the person next to us.  After all these details of our story had been established, then Ms. Kelly gave us a few minutes to write out the first few lines of our story.

My brainstorming went something like this: My yellow object was an iPhone case.  The character would find this in a taxi.  The time of the story would start at 9:11 pm, and the character would be feeling rushed.  My friend to my left passed the name Robin to me.  I cobbled all these details together and started a story.

Although I didn’t use this story for my submission to the program, I found the brainstorming technique extremely helpful and I know it will help me find ideas in the future.  Brigid Jurgens, a seventh grader who enjoyed Ms. Kelly’s workshop, says, “I think that Ms. Kelly was very enthusiastic and taught some very important points. I liked the way we started with one word and came out with the perfect start to a story.”  Brigid also will think to use the technique in the future.  She stated, “I think that if I am ever confused on what to write I will use her way of thinking and the exercise we did in class.”  Ms. Kelly also told us that lots of writers that have won awards in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have started out with something yellow.  And so we can use simple ideas to develop longer stories that can possibly lead us to prestigious awards.

Dasha Kelly also donated some books of award winning writing to the classroom.  Another topic she briefly touched on was how plot is simply: “Objective+Obstacle=Plot.”  She responded in an email about her thoughts on the Scholastic Awards:  “Writing is such a solitary triumph.  The Scholastic Writing Awards of Milwaukee gives the community an opportunity to celebrate our local young writers.”  Overall, Ms. Kelly’s visit, even though it was short, was an effective workshop about coming up with ideas for writing.