Writers conference

Hamish and Ben had the opportunity to attend the Writers Conference held this year at Port Chalmers School.
At the start they listened to a speech and then they were split into groups. At first the groups went to different work shops. One group went to Ella the, writer of the book Thieves. Ben learnt a motto; every story has to be cool people doing cool stuff. Meanwhile, Hamish was in room 6 with Raymond Huber. He told him that there was something called the three p’s. Person, place and problem. Then after that, everyone went back to the hall. There they all went to Port Chambers school library. They met someone called Sandy McKay. “I have written about nine books” she had said. Hamish identified some of the areas that he finds difficult in his writing. It is when he needs to add or extend his stories. Ben says that the hardest bit for him about writing is when a story is ending. Making the end have a good twist was something he wanted to have in his writing.
They both felt that they enjoyed the day and that many of the ideas shared would help their own writing back at school.

Hamish Ben