Wright Writer Training

Welcome to Writing Camp for Teens

If there’s no writing camp in your area, this program is the perfect option to bring daily, creative activities and story writing into your own home. The activity bundles contain lots of material for hours of writing and writing-related creativity. Plus, there are many extras to keep writers creating and writing for a long time to come.

In Writing Camp, you will find five activity bundles containing writing activities, crafts, field trip ideas, and Internet links. The activity bundles are organized by topics and can be completed one day at a time, or they can be dipped into at random for a variety of activities all centred around writing. Some writers will want to start with plotting right away. Others may have a plot idea already and will want to work more on their characters to start.

The activities within the bundles can also be used singly to supplement other activities that are planned for vacations or to pass the time on road trips or long flights. Writers can use the information in the modules anytime in the future, too. You have lifetime access.

Along with writing-centred exercises and activities, the writing camp provides links to librarian-selected reading lists by age and links to resources and writing tips. 

I have incorporated relevant material from my two books, Writing Fiction: A Hands-On Guide for Teens and Writing Fiction: A Guide for Pre-Teens, into this Writing Camp package. There’s no need to buy either of these books to supplement the camp material.

How to Start

Read through the introduction to each activity bundle before starting. The introduction will explain the focus of the bundle and list any materials you might need to complete the various activities. This could include writing materials, scissors, Internet access, as well as worksheets that should be printed before starting.

A note about worksheets

Yes, you can take the questions from the worksheets and type up answers on a computer or tablet. Consider, however, that most people began writing stories with a pen or pencil in hand. These early stories make us hot-wired to be creative when we return to pencil and paper. If you don’t believe me, check out this link (one of many I found on the topic of the connection between creativity, pens and paper): 10 Reasons Why Creatives Should Start Working with Pen and Paper by John Long. Consider giving this method a try.

Remember, you can work through the activity bundles in whatever order you prefer, or dip in and do activities from more than one bundle on any given day. The focus is on being creative and having fun. You don’t have to fill in your worksheets alone either. You can always ask a family member or a friend to help you brainstorm.

Here's what's inside Writing Camp:

Activity Bundle 1   

Activity Bundle 1 focuses on getting to know yourself as a writer and building a base of knowledge from which you can start building stories. The writing prompts will help you generate story ideas that can be developed into full stories as you work through the other activity bundles.

Writing Activities

Warm-up writing prompts

• Quieting the Editor
• Focus on Creating and Having Fun

Write what you know. Finding out what you know.

• My What I Know List

Where to find story ideas.

• What If?
• Pick Four Words
• Check These Online Resources
• Other Places Where Stories Hide

Flash fiction, short stories, novels

Other Activities

• Create Your Own Small Book (Perfect for flash fiction)
• NaNoWriMo
• Start a journal

Activity Bundle 2

Activity Bundle 2 focuses on learning about the characters that are going to be telling your story and deciding who is telling your story.

Writing Activities

Warm-up writing prompts

Learning more about your character

• Character Sketch
• Pictures
• Interviews
• The Secret
• Change
• Character Sketch Template

Describing your character

Show don’t tell

• Writing a Character’s Thoughts
• Emotions and Action

Point of View—Who is telling your story?

• Third Person Limited
• First Person

Other Activities

• Explore a site for young writers
• Drawing Characters

Activity Bundle 3

Activity Bundle 3 focuses on plotting and tips for starting your story.

Writing Activities

Warm-up writing prompts

Starting with conflict.

• Person vs. Person
• Person vs. Nature
• Person vs. Self
• Person vs. Society
• Person vs. Supernatural

How to begin a story

• In Media Res
• With Action

Plotting basics

• Plot Planner #1
• Plot Planner Worksheet #1
• Plot Planner #2
• Plot Planner #3
• Brain Dump

Ending a Story

Other Activities

Learn from other writers

• Drawing and Colouring
• One more plotting tip from Janice Hardy

Activity Bundle 4

The focus of Activity Bundle 4 is on writing description and world-building.

Writing Activities

Warm-up writing prompts.

Tips for writing description that readers will read.

• Keep it personal
• Keep it specific
• Keep it short
• Think about how much you really have to describe
• Use comparisons
• Get the senses involved
• Draw a Map or Use Photos

World Building

• Useful Links
• Checklist for World Building

Other Activities

• Draw a map
• Using Google to set the scene.

Activity Bundle 5

Activity Bundle 5 focuses on writing dialogue—a key to making your characters come to life and to advance the plot.

Writing Activities

Warm-up writing prompts

Tips for writing great dialogue

• Using said is just fine
• Show Don’t Tell
• Dialogue does more than just one thing
• Dialogue isn’t realistic
• Don’t have characters tell other characters what they already know
• Mechanics: New speaker equals new paragraph

Dialogue excerpt for fun and practice

• Dialogue Sample #1
• Dialogue Sample #2
• More dialogue practice

Other Activities

• Cartooning
• Cover Designs Made Easy