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Dads, Lads & Daughters

Bumper turn out at fun writing workshop!

On Monday 11th November, we held the latest in our series of very successful creative writing workshops for Dads and children. This time we invited along the girls to join with the boys in an engaging, fun and creative evening of writing inspired by our love of books. Well over 70 people attended and some fabulous learning took place.

We started with some fun word games to extend vocabulary. Our Dads and children were tasked with creating 'wow' words inspired by the letters from 'Reading is Great'. We then took some of the more interesting examples generated and stored them away for later use in our wonderful written adventure. These gems included: inconceivable, iodine, elephant and assessing to name but a few. We then watched a short film titled 'Origins' about a lone robot and had a quick discussion about the importance of asking questions and being inquisitive when reading stories...then we set to work to name the robot. We used a map of Cornwall to help inspire a suitable name choice for the little robot, his lost friend, the factory where he was made ...and his evil arch enemy. Very soon we had settled on our main characters: Maxworthy, Minion, the factory Warleggan and the arch enemy Siblyback. Yes, these are are places in Cornwall.

To watch the short film clip featuring 'Maxworthy and the factory of Warleggan, please click on the following link:

www.literacyshed.com/inspiration-shed.html  and scroll down the page to 'Origins, the story of a lone robot'.

We then took our special words generated in the word game starter and inckuded these in Episode One of our story 'The Adventures of Metal Maxworthy, aged 436.6'. You can read Episode One below:

The Adventures of Metal Maxworthy…aged 436.6

Episode One

Maxworthy wearily hauled his battered metal body out of the thick, spiky branches of an enormous thorn bush. The impact of the crash had catapulted him out of his tiny space capsule bringing his vitally important secret expedition to an abrupt, and rather painful halt. He scanned the scene before him from left to right and swiftly back again. All was silent. Nothing else moved in the forest clearing except the rustling golden leaves clinging to the tired branches overhead.

Maxworthy shivered; he could feel the ominous, evil presence of Siblyback all around him, his fear anchoring him to the spot. A tiny tear escaped his eye and trickled down his metal face before abruptly freezing as solid as an icicle on his cheek. Maxworthy gazed up at the sky; the night was rapidly drawing in, the forest was becoming darker and it was inconceivable for him to remain out in the forest once the silvery moon appeared. Under the blanket of darkness the forest would become hostile and Maxworthy knew he must reach the safety of Warleggan before sundown. He delved into a small pack secured on his belt and withdrew a tiny iodine capsule. The capsule would provide strength and Maxworthy knew he would need the strength of an elephant to make it home. He swiftly popped the capsule into his metal mouth and began to step gingerly through the golden-brown carpet of leaves strewn across the forest floor.

Maxworthy suddenly felt a sharp pain of anguish as he thought about his trusted companion Minion . He had not seen him since the very moment before the crash and he desperately hoped that Minion had survived and they would be re-united at Warleggan. Moving determinedly onwards, Maxworthy arrived at an iron rail track glistening in the rays of the sinking evening sun. Suddenly out of the murky, gathering haze a massive train began rumbling towards him. The earth shook beneath his metal feet and the tremors vibrated through his metal body, seemingly targeting and intensifying the pain from every little injury he had sustained in the crash. With all his remaining strength and courage, Maxworthy clambered up into an empty carriage of the halted train, rolled over and collapsed unconscious on the dusty wooden floor…

To be continued in Episode Two…