Story Blasting.

In the afternoon I was happily sitting in the back of The Hub at the Bendigo Writers Festival waiting to hear what a few High School students from the area have come up with. All I can really say is - wowsa.

There were stories revolving around the devil, gang violence, stalking, running away, cults, forbidden love - you name it.

One story was a classic vampire story which was something to admire and others had twists and turns and suspense, it just gave me a sense of happiness that this was all coming from a young group of kids.

Seeing the creativity in the minds of these students and the motivation and excitement gleaming from their faces filled me with the feeling that writing will never die out.
It also made me so happy to see that this is being encouraged by teachers and they are getting that little push to follow what they think is right. 

A few notes I made from the panel discussion showed that these students, even if they appeared young, had a sense of understanding on what they were speaking about. 

Some of them were just writing to a point where they were seeing how the story played out, others had the endings planned and just had to find out how to get there.

It also showed that they had an understanding of teasing their readers and not giving too much away all at once. 

The most important thing I found was that one point a majority of them agreed on was that the encouragement from schools helped them want to write.This is something that should be encouraged more at schools because it is a great way for someone to express their creativity and emotions with words and sentences, not just terrible stick figures.

My first day at the festival had just made me more excited for what is to come. So far it has inspired me to do so much. I can't wait for the rest of the weekend.

The Struggle of Beginnings and Ends.

I love the idea of writing a story. Sometimes I have so many ideas running through my mind at once and I just hope I can write them all on paper and have a story magically appear. But when the time comes and I'm sitting down either at a laptop or pen in hand ready to write, I am hit with this wall. The wall just stares me down and says, "How are you going to start? Where do you even begin?", and all of a sudden everything disappears. The first few lines of anything will make or break the text. The words introduce you into this new world full of people and places and things that I just want to explore and dive deep into.

But then another problem occurs. I get too deep into the world that I can't get out and finish. I'm caught in the web I created. It just makes me appreciate the end of a story more knowing that someone was able to do it. I also feel jealous that they can do it.

Speaking of beginnings and ends - I will be beginning my adventure at the Bendigo Writer's Festival this weekend and I am excited. The next few days I will be filling your eyes with Festival goodness and enthusiasm.

If you're interested in any information about the weekend full of writing and reading and fun (oh my) check out their website and have a look around:

http://www.bendigowritersfestival.com.au/