We told you. Summer Camp Schedule
Word Street presents ten days of FREE creative writing fun for young writers 8-18. Each day will focus on a different genre or form of writing. Camp days go from 10am to 4pm, and each week will end with a public reading of works completed during the camp workshops.
Monday, July 11: Talking Pictures
A day-long version of the popular workshop in which young writers compose imaginative pieces inspired by David Scribner 's black-and-white photographs. Learn how to generate and develop effective stories from visual art or photography. You may bring your own pictures and photographs, or choose from the many that will be available at the writing center. Written and audio versions of the resulting work will appear on the Web. NOTE: If you want to hear what a good story sounds like, listen to “Selected Shorts” on WAMC (90.3 FM), which airs from 9-10pm on Tuesdays. Taught by David Scribner.
Tuesday, July 12: Palatable Poetry
Hungry for some good writing? Sweet, sour, spicy...good poetry can be a lot like a good snack. Using a variety of stimuli, from pictures to the real thing, students will be encouraged to think and write about one of their favorite subjects: FOOD! Students are welcome to bring their inspiration with them, be it photo, fruit, or other snack. Taught by Cynthia Saunders.
Wednesday, July 13: The Long and Short of Short Stories
Would you like to write a story that that people want to read over and over again, that will captivate your reader the way a great song does? This course will teach you the skills to become a good short story writer. We will discuss key elements of short fiction—topic, characters, conflict, motivation, language, and rhythm. We will look at some examples of successful short stories and work on creating our own. Writing a short story is hard work. It takes practice and requires skills, but once you master the process you can create rich, interesting works of fiction that people will enjoy reading. Bring your ideas for short stories, and be ready to generate more ideas during the class. Taught by Mike Salerno.
Thursday, July 14: You Write the Songs
This course will encourage and assist in the process of song creation, providing beginning songwriters with a working knowledge of tone, harmony, rhythm, and lyric-writing. At the end of the course, each student will have finished and (if time allows) recorded his or her very own song. All finished songs will be included on a compilation album. NOTE: There will be some musical instruments (keyboards, guitars, percussion) available, but if you play an instrument, we invite you to bring it with you. Taught by Mike Quiñones.
Friday, July 15: The Birds and the Bees and the City
This is a course in writing about ecology. We will begin with an overview of the five basic steps to scientific writing (problem, hypothesis, procedure, results, and analysis). Then the class will travel to an area in downtown Pittsfield , where we will observe the urban ecological matrix. After recording our observations, we will return to the classroom and learn how to write down and analyze the results of our observations. Finally, we will discuss how this knowledge is important and how it might change people's perceptions of the environment around them. Taught by Susan Garrison.Monday, August 15: From Zines to Magazines
Is it your ambition to be published in a magazine? It takes a bit of research, some planning ahead, and a specific way of presenting your work. This course will show you the basics of how to write and submit articles, poems, and stories to magazines in a way that will improve your chances of having your work accepted. Taught by Jennifer Kenny.
Tuesday, August 16: Creating Minicomics
Spend a day with Tim Callahan, who self-publishes the awesome minicomics Ninja Wolf and Theosophist , and let him show you how it's done. After exploring sequential composition technique by looking at published comic-book stories, each student in this class will design and create his or her own eight-page minicomic telling an autobiographical or fictional story. Taught by Tim Callahan.
Wednesday, August 17: Writing a Free Verse Poem: From Inspiration to Recitation
Free verse isn't a free-for-all. It takes a good ear and a basic level of technical skill to master the art of the free-verse poem. Steve Dew will lead aspiring free-verse poets on an intensive one-day odyssey from brainstorming and free-writing, to completion of a rough draft, and finally on to a workshop session at which poets will exchange ideas about how to improve their free-verse poems. Poets will release their newly-created poems into the wild at a reading to be held at the end of the week. Taught by Steve Dew.
Thursday, August 18: The Masks of You: Creating a Character
When a writer tells a story—whether it's in the first person, the second person, or the third person, he or she adopts what is called a persona , or role, like an actor playing a part. This is true whether the writer is telling a true story or making up a fictional one. In this course, we will explore narrative roles by making face masks, and then writing stories from different points of view, based on the characters we've created. Taught by Vivian Dorsel.
Friday, August 19: Making a Ten-Minute Play
This course will begin by covering the fundamentals of playwriting (structure, basics of dialogue), using a combination of active learning techniques and lecture/discussion. After reading aloud three or four examples of ten-minute plays, students will work on constructing their own plays, singly or in groups. This will be followed by a reading/ workshop of the resulting plays. That evening, students will have an opportunity to present their work to the public in a dramatic reading or performance. Taught by Kelli Newby.
All camp participants are asked to bring their own lunches for each day they'll be at the camp. Campers are expected to participate for the entire 10-4 session they register for, as well as the Friday evening readings. Registration by a parent or caregiver is required. To register call 997-3307 or email camp@wordstreet.org.
