Writing

Catherine Duffett characters that would make for a great story and were then randomly allocated

During the School’s Writer- one of these characters to in-Residence Program held in write about. The participants Term 2, some students from were also asked to include a Years 5 & 6 attended a day- kitchen table in their setting. long workshop with fiction The following are extracts writer, Lenny Bartulin. from those stories as chosen They brainstormed different by the Focus editorial team.

Hot summer air drifted through my window, waking me up and finally I managed to gather the motivation to get out of bed. I took the elevator down to the bottom level of my penthouse and I slowly sat down at the well-loved wooden table from my family’s farm. Nostalgia slapped me in the face and a comfortable and safe feeling flooded over me… I caught the first train an hour after breakfast and as I passed the landscape around me I said goodbye. Goodbye to all the comments, goodbye to all the fake fan friends, goodbye to the loud city and overwhelming noise and goodbye to Charli, the one and only pop star. After the train arrived I took a bus on a familiar route home and there it was—my childhood home.

from ‘The Winter Scare’ by Dorje McQuillen

It was a castle. The most majestic castle Amelia had ever seen. The University of San Francisco was huge, with grads milling around and orientation groups looking around with brochures in their hands. This was it. It was only September but snow was falling on Amelia’s pink beanie. Warm air greeted her as she walked in the main door. “Welcome,” said a man with a Golden State jumper and a crew cut. “Amelia, right? I’ll be your homeroom teacher this year. Call me Jamie. We’ll give you the best opportunities here in San Francisco. Biking, orienteering… Anything! We also have a stunning view of the bay area, and Oakland is just across the water. I have a feeling you’ll settle in perfectly.” He walked off with a casual wave to a woman across the hall, presumably a teacher. Amelia felt a surge of suspicion. She had a sixth sense, the ability to be able to read insecure or abnormal body language. Amelia made a mental note to be aware of the homeroom teacher.

from ‘The Bestest of Friends’ by Freya Karlsrud Diano

“No!” Chloe shouted, “Wait!” The bus driver didn’t even glance at her. Chloe ran along beside the bus banging on its side. It eventually gained too much speed, forcing Chloe to stop her desperate pursuit. She sighed in dismay. Her very first day in Year 5 and she was going to be late. Chloe started to walk back to the bus stop, dragging her feet. In truth, she hadn’t actually wanted to go to school. The kids there weren’t fond of her at all, just because she was four years ahead. She didn’t ask for it, it was just the way her brain worked. Sometimes she felt as small as a mouse, the other kids were like giant cats. Always ganging up and always hunting. Picking on her tiny mistakes. Telling others her faults. Then watching her to see if she would falter. Or fall. They all hoped she would fall.

Table by ElÖd May (Year 4)

“BARCA TAKES IT DOWN TO GREEZMAN AND PINGS IT TO NISH. NISH RUNS TO GOAL AND TAKES A SHOT AND THE KEEPER SAVES IT. MARCELLO GOES DOWN TO THE WING AND A CROSS FAR INTO THE FAR LEFT AND A HEADER AND SCORE!!!!” shouts the commentator. Only 20 minutes in and a goal is scored. However, moments later, Barca made a come-back. “MESSI TAKES IT UP AND PASSES IT THROUGH TO NISH. NISH IS FAR FROM THE BOX. HE DOES A BEAUTIFUL STEP OVER AND SPRINTS TO THE LEFT SIDE LINE AND SHOOTS. GOAL!” The crowd went wild calling it a goal of the league. Nish felt really excited. His heart was pounding 24/7, probably 30 times per 10 sec. “REAL MADRID ARE STARTING OFF AND PLAY CENTRAL, TAKING IT TO LEFT WING. REAL MADRID ARE HUNGRY FOR GOALS. REAL MADRID HAVE A SHOT FOR GOAL BUT BARCELONA MANAGES TO CLEAR THE BALL…THE BALL GOES UP AND A PING BY GRIEZMANN AND SHOT IS MADE….GOAL! WOW! SO QUICK – ANOTHER GOAL FOR BARCELONA!.....IT’S TME UP AND BARCELONA HAVE WON!” Nish felt proud but he knew he needed more. When the opportunity came up next season and he was offered a contract with Juventus, he took his chance.

WOLFBANE SCHOOL For Extraordinary Werewolves

“I have a report for the watch,” I told the principal quietly in the hall. “Someone saw me last night while I was searching for Lara.” I explained the entire situation to her. “You can go tell them yourself,” she said. “This is very concerning news,” she murmured, her brow furrowed with concern. I rushed off towards our secret base in the Tree of Blood, feeling the winter air chill me. This tree was the biggest tree in the woods, said to have been the first tree in the forest. I licked a slab of bark that was sticking off of the tree that was a cleverly disguised DNA scanner that detects the deformed cells integrated with humans’. This time it tasted like a mixture of beef jerky and chicken. “Yum,” I thought. “ACCESS GRANTED” a computerised voice said from inside the tree as a large door concealed seamlessly within the tree opened and I slipped inside, going down the winding stairs to the main room.

from ‘Picking Locks’ by Eli Swan

“Just pick it already, we’re sooooo close.” I jabbed the paper clip into the lock hesitantly. I pushed it in further and then I twisted it. I kept moving the paper clip around until I heard a faint click sound, almost too small to hear. But at that moment, I knew that the door was unlocked. John turned the doorknob around then pushed the door open. Then at that exact moment, an alarm went off. I knew John’s plan wouldn’t work out. We were going to get caught then taken to jail. John seized the opportunity. He ran into the room and began speedily stuffing his pockets with stacks of money. I, on the other hand, ran. I ran and ran and ran.

from ‘Centre Stage’ by Charlotte Hoyle

On the hottest day of summer, Jake was daydreaming like normal while Mrs Grey was talking endlessly about her holiday in Russia last winter. The classroom was stuffy and hot even though the windows were opened and the fan was on. “And remember children, the auditions for the school musical are tomorrow after school.” This caught Jake’s attention because he was as much a theatre kid as you could ever imagine. The only problem was that none of his friends knew that he liked musicals, singing and acting. They all thought he liked soccer and basketball and video games and stuff like that. When Jake got home from school he practised his audition like crazy, running through his lines and singing his songs, putting as much emotion into each word as he could. Suddenly, his phone started beeping loudly. He stopped the music and picked up his phone and when he saw what was on the screen his heart sunk. Someone, somehow, had leaked a video of him singing at his old school last year.

“Mum!” Maddie screamed in delight as she entered the dark cellar in the desolate hut. Her mother was sitting on the floor with her head in her hands. “What happened?” “Maddie,” her mother said, “You can’t be here! Get yourself out of here!” “Mum,” Maddie asked, “What’s going on?” “Maddie!” her mother repeated, “Listen to me. There are bad people here. Get out!” “Mum, I’m not leaving without you,” Maddie insisted. “We can get out together!” Maddie’s mother sighed. “You’re stubborn, just like your father was.” “He was?” Maddie questioned. “What do you mean, ‘was’?” “They killed him,” Maddie’s mother said, fighting back tears. “He’s dead.” Maddie was holding back tears as well. “Who killed him?” Maddie asked. “Who are these mysterious people?” “Treasure hunters,” her mother said, with a look of pure disgust on her face. “Treasure hunters!?” Maddie exclaimed. “But I thought you were mapping out the unknown places in Africa!” “We were looking for the lost city of Hatshepsut,” her mother said. Loud voices suddenly came into the cellar. “It’s them,” Maddie’s mother said with a panicked expression. “We have to get out of here!”

from ‘DOUG’ by Charlie Malbarry

Doug slammed his trowel into the tree with furious velocity. He watched the small sapling splinter over the fence into the next door’s carrot patch. He turned to his family’s own small field that he had been tasked with hoeing. He scowled at it. There was a small red beetroot with a red-green flowering top. He picked it out of the turf and looked at it. There was a bug crawling across it. He flicked it off. He put the root in his pocket and stumped off. The reason for his temper was the fact that his school had held him back for the whole year. His class would move on to Year Nine this year and he wouldn’t be joining them. And he’d be in with the little kids. His mate, Tori, had told the principal that Doug had been harassing the rest of the class. As if he’d do that!.... Doug sat down with a huff on a mossy stump at the side of his grandparents’ vast property. It was mostly fields of wheat, but by the house they also grew potatoes, carrots and beetroots. There was a small patch of forest in the corner of the property too. Doug was in it now. He took out his beetroot and stared at it. He admired the vibrant reds, tinges of pinks and purples and oranges. He loved the colours that you could see from a plant. Despite his mostly rough behaviour, he liked plants and exploring. He shoved the root back into his pocket and walked towards the fence. He looked at it and put a foot on the bottom post. Then he was over, and into the main part of the forest.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a writer? At lunch-time on Wednesday 2 June, there was a Meet-the-Writer event in the High School Library with our 2021 writer-in-residence, Lenny Bartulin.

A writer-in-residence is a writer who spends a period of time in one place in order to share their professional insights. We were lucky to have Lenny Bartulin at our school for the week to share his time with students and teachers. Lenny is an experienced novelist and poet and is the author of the Jack Susko trilogy as well as his recent historical novels Infamy and Fortune.

The Meet-the-Writer event had a friendly, relaxed atmosphere where we all had a chance to ask questions about what it is like to be a writer. It was a great, informal way to learn outside a classroom environment and an amazing experience to be able to talk with a writer and ask them anything about their process, their inspiration and being a writer as a real job.

Whether you want to be a writer as a career or whether you just love telling stories for yourself, Lenny taught us how to improve our writing skills in creative and valuable ways. As an example, if you have trouble making your writing punchy, he taught us about not repeating ideas and finding ways to make a word Writing enthusiasts with Lenny. L-R (Back): Jasper Poole (Year 9), Else OLeary Year 7), Caityln Cooke (Year 7). Front: Bailey Cyngler (Year 9), Essie Rapley (Year 7), Agatha Harrison-Narraway (Year 7). Photo: Nicole Parums.

more impactful. Lenny also taught us about dealing with criticism and planning, both useful for writing and many other things in life.

Here is what some of the students who attended the event thought of meeting Lenny:

“The experience was very fun. Lenny gave us lots of helpful information that can help us become better writers!” (Agatha Harrison Narraway, Year 7).

“It was very interesting and nice to meet Lenny Bartulin because we got opinions from an actual writer on how we can improve our own stories.” (Caitlyn Cooke, Year 7).

“I got to find out that when you are writing a narrative you don’t have to focus on the word count. You can write you whole story and then improve it and cut down on words.” (Esperance Rapley, Year 7).

This event was for everyone who wanted to harness their creative side and uniqueness to express themselves. If you’re interested in meeting talented and creative Tasmanians then I highly recommend events like this which are part of the writer-in-residence program! I’m happy I came along!