smugglers Worth writing about!

Hello all!

We just spent a weekend at Leeson House investigating Smuggling Stories. It was good to see a few familiar faces - we love it when students come back to our courses again and again so that we really get to know them, and we can see them enjoying developing their writing skills.

On Friday night we looked at the historical facts about smuggling - who was involved and why, what kind of things they would have eaten and worn, what items they would have smuggled in and how. Do you know that ladies helped with smuggling by stuffing bags of tea leaves or pig bladders full of brandy up their dresses and pretending they were pregnant? And that children may have helped as look-outs (keeping an eye out for Revenue men)? We even went out in the dark to see how a single match could be used to signal 'the coast is clear', and to hear an exciting story from the days of smuggling.

Saturday morning was spent investigating tales from close by - we visited Worth Matravers and walked to Winspit, where quarries in use at the time would have been used to hide goods. Almost everyone in the village would have been involved, and there is an old story about how the landlord of the local pub Square and Compass was caught by an ingenious Revenue man. The excursion was used to kick start descriptions and ideas for stories, which we started planning and writing when we returned to the classroom.

Everyone got to design and make their own book, which had a secret compartment to conceal their adventurous stories from prying eyes. The covers were styled in all different ways - mostly as boring books so that people wouldn't want to bother opening them - we wouldn't want to risk them discovering the compartment and learning all about our smuggling escapades!

It's really fun learning about a period in history and using this to write a short story. Why don't you give it a go for our current short story competition? Pick an era your interested in, eg. Victorian or Georgian, or some people from the past that you want to know more about eg. Pirates or First World War Soldiers / Nurses, then get a book on them from the library or try 'Googling' them. Once you've read a bit about them think up a character and just start writing! Don't worry too much at first about the historical accuracy, you can go back afterwards and check whether the clothes and technology that you've written about fit the time. Then send your finished story to us! See the competition page of our website for more information (http://www.creativecreatures.moonfruit.com/).

Our next course is Funtastic Fairies at Kilve in March, so we're going to start thinking fluttering thoughts to prepare ourselves! Hope to see you soon,

Jennifer and Rosie

- X -

Spring is in the air!

Well we've finally got a bit of sunshine and some fresh air drifting in today, making us feel that spring is at last on its way! I just hope the brighter weather lasts, for a few days at least!

We've had a couple of courses at Kilve Court: Smuggling Stories and Creating Creatures. Both were great fun - if a bit cold on the excursions!

On Smuggling Stories we investigated local tales of 18th Century rebellion - when ordinary people started defying the law by bringing brandy, lace, tea and dried fruits into the country without paying tax on them! There was a chance to dress up in clothes from the time, and we saw the site of an old lime kiln and port that would definitely have been used to sneak things in under the noses of the Revenue Men. These tales and settings helped to inspire the students to write their own adventurous stories, which they then hid in secret-compartment books they created. Historical facts of smuggling goods and punishments were copied into the 'aged' pages that hid the secret part of the book:

The books were disguised as useless or boring tomes on the outside so that people would be discouraged to open them! I particularly liked 'Trees of the North Pole' by Oliver.

I think everyone enjoyed thinking about the past and inventing characters to write about!

The weekend of Creating Creatures was cloudy and wet, but we still discovered lots of amazing fantastical creatures and saw evidence of habitats and food sources for them on our walk into the Quantock hills. Here are some students risking the wrath of the Puddlemunch Monster:

We also played games in the classroom and moulded models of creatures to help give substance to imagined animals or people. Here's a sculpture of a Gunicorn - a creature that's a cross between a goat and a unicorn:

The creatures were then slipped into stories of quests and discoveries. Some students wrote in a diary style of a 'cryptzoologist' - an investigator of unexplained or unknown creatures, we liked the way Katie's story had the explorer asking the choco-angel a series of questions, which revealed that without chocolate the world would have no happiness!

On Saturday night some of us watched the film 'A Neverending Story' about a boy called Bastian who reads a book that seems strangely alive... if you haven't seen it try and rent it! Good films like this one help keep ur imaginations stretched.

Everyone went home with a model, some creature facts and an exciting story - and hopefully lots of ideas for more stories to write in the future!

Now me and Rosie are preparing for Smuggling Stories at Leeson House this weekend, if you're booked on we look forward to seeing you there!

Jennifer (and Rosie)

-x-

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! We hope you had a fabulous Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sorry it's been such a long time since our last blog. Christmas was hectic as always with families, food and festivities! We had a great time, although Rosie was busy with lots of copyediting and proofreading work so she was a bit tired! There wasn't much snow where we live - just a light dusting, but we managed to go out and play in it anyway, having mini snowball fights and building a snowman about 30cm tall! Did you have much snow?

We are now getting things together for our upcoming courses: Smuggling Stories and Creating Creatures are the first two weekends, both are at Kilve Court in Somerset. Check out http://www.kilvecourt.org/ for more info.

Our next newsletter is underway, we have changed the title and format to make it more magazine-like, so let us know if you'd like to be on the mailing list (email us at creativecreatures@hotmail.co.uk), we'll put more info up when it's ready. We'll also let you know the winner of our last competition whose work will be published in the new magazine.

On another note I've just finished reading a good book - Knife by R J Anderson (Orchard 2009), which came out last January. I got very hooked into the story of Bryony, a fairy with attitude who knows there's something wrong with the way her people are living, but she's not sure how to fix it. Dare she approach the dangerous human house to find herself a weapon, and risk the wrath of Queen Amaryllis? Of course she will! And it leads to discoveries about fairy history that she would have never believed possible! I thought the character of Bryony was really good - I wanted to travel with her as she was adventurous, but she was also realistic because she wasn't perfect! The only problem I had with the story was the ending - I wanted to know a bit more about what was going to happen next, but I've just found out that the sequel came out a couple of weeks ago (titled Rebel) so I shall have to get hold of a copy! If you'd like to see more about the book and R J Anderson, see her website: http://www.rj-anderson.com/.

Well that's all for now! Hope to see you all soon - check out the upcoming courses page of our website (here) if you'd like to know where you can come and work with us!

Bye,

Jennifer x

Christmas is coming...

Well, December is upon us and it seems like only yesterday that Jennifer and I were setting up this blog page and I was writing my first post about Cornelia Funke at Bath Children's Literature Festival. I can't believe it's been over a year.

It's been an unusual year for us at Creative Creatures. We have smuggled stories with over a hundred children at Ferndown Middle School, we have explored countless wonderful worlds, created numerous creatures and enjoyed reading all the many stories students have come up with.

Our courses are winding down now after a hectic November of dashing about from Leeson House in Dorset to Kilve Court in Somerset and back again. Our latest course was Funtastic Fairies at Leeson House, and we had a fabulous time. We discovered all sorts of fairies fluttering about including a Lose-It Fairy (the sort that always steals your house keys when you most want them), Thought-stealing fairies, who fly into your ear and extract your thoughts just when you're putting your hand up to answer a question (apparently these thoughts are then used to generate light for the fairies) and we also met plenty of Leaf Fairies, a Mud Fairy and a Sparkle fairy (her wings are pictured below).

It was a wild and windy weekend and we all got covered in dirt on a rather sloppy, mud-soupy walk over the hills to Dancing Ledge where inspiration and ideas seemed to be carried in on the sea breeze. All the students exercised their description muscles when they were asked to come up with 'sense' descriptions. Including senses (Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch and Smell), is a great way to make your writing zing with excitement and life.

On Saturday evening we even managed a night-time fairy hunt, although it was really too wet for all but the toughest Mud and Rain Fairies.

We have another course this weekend called For the Love of Books. We'll be writing some sensational stories as well as making books to keep them in. We're also visiting Corfe Castle, one of the many places in Dorset that inspired Enid Blyton. We're really looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

We've got more courses running next year, so make sure you check our website for details. Our Winter Festivities competition is open until January 8th, so make sure you send us you non-fiction stories, poems or reports about your Winter. You can email them or post them; see our website and newsletter for full details.

That's about it for now, don't forget to send us any book reviews, news or writing and they might be featured in our next newsletter.

Bye for now!

Rosie (and Jennifer) x

Building wonderful worlds!

We've just come back from a weekend at Kilve, creating Tall Tales and Wonderful Worlds. We had a great time making stories come to life with storytelling, maps and models.

On Friday we played story consequences which was a good giggle and is a great way to get ideas for plots and characters. We also chatted about the history of storytelling and how to perform tales to an appreciative audience!

Saturday morning was grey and drizzly but that didn't stop us setting off as a tribe in search of a new home. We explored the surrounding area for suitable areas that would provide food, water and shelter, as well as provide cover against invading armies! We discovered a perfect wooded area next to a stream and began building dens to protect us from the wind, rain, and the possibility of dangerous creatures lurking in the woods.

We walked down the steam on the way back - which was wet and cold and muddy! But all these experiences just help us to think of really great descriptions when our characters have to face similar situations!

When we returned to Kilve Court we began planning maps and models of fantasy worlds, eventually building them 3D out of junk, tissue paper, glue and paint. It really helps when you're writing a story, especially if it's set in a fantasy world, to have a model like this so you can work out the terrain your characters will be passing through and what obstacles they'll meet. Below is a photo of Freddie's world, where a large city is trying to expand into the territory of a smaller city, causing conflict across the mountains.

After the maps and worlds were almost finished we started to write stories about them, remembering to include lots of description and giving the characters good problems or challenges to face. In the evening we watched a film to see a fabulous fantasy story with intriguing characters and settings - 'The Labyrinth'.

Rosie and myself were making books whilst watching the film - we often have these little notebooks for sale on our courses and you could win one if you enter our quaterly writing competition. Each one is unique because we make them ourselves from scratch!

Sunday was spent finishing off maps and worlds and improving the starts of stories, ready for the presentation. Everyone went home brimming with ideas - their maps and models can always be turned to when students are struggling for a story start!

We're getting ready for 'Funtastic Fairies' and 'For the Love of Books' at Leeson house, if you're coming we look forward to seeing you there!

Bye for now ~ Jennifer (and Rosie).

Autumnal activities

Hello all,

Sorry it's been so long since we last blogged but we've been working hard running courses and creating the latest newsletter. Well done to Ellie Bilsland and Lucy Robinson who won our july/aug/sept story beginnings competition. Extracts from their stories can be seen on our website and in Issue 4 - which will be emailed to you soon (if you're not on the mailing list please contact us at creativecreatures@hotmail.co.uk for us to add you!).

The courses we've been running have been great fun, including discovering a World of Wonder at Bournemouth Library, building Tall Tales and Wonderful Worlds at the Lighthouse Poole, Smuggling Stories into Leeson House with Ferndown Middle School and creating atmosphere for Sensational Seasons at Wareham Lady St. Mary First School.

We also had a great weekend running So, you want to be a writer at Kilve, working on in-depth editing techniques and researching facts for new story ideas - everyone worked really hard and Rosie and I were very impressed by the way their stories improved.

Now we're preparing for Tall Tales and Wonderful Worlds at Kilve this coming weekend, and we can't wait to be looking at fantasy landscapes - including constructing our own in the forest and in the classroom. If you're coming on the course we look forward to seeing you there!

Bye for now

Jennifer and Rosie.

Busy, busy, busy!

Hello everyone!

We hope you've all had a wonderful summer!

It's been a very busy time here at Creative Creatures with a week long course at Kilve called Bound by Words and a Pirate course at Walford Mill Crafts called Tales of the High Seas.

Bound by Words was a course for 11 - 13 year olds and it was all about writing and making books. We had 5 students (after one sadly had to go home ill - we missed you Jack!)

We started the week thinking about words and language and how to present them on the page. We wandered about the grounds of Kilve collecting similies, metahpors, onomatopoeic words and any other interesting descriptions we could think of. These musings were then turned into class poems. The boys' poem was called Small Worlds: 'The tree is a huge, many armed giant, so sleek, so silent. The bark has fissures, the tree is weeping. It's heart is broken.' The girls' was called Garden of Dreams: 'A firecracker of colour, sugar lilac bleaching to dainty pink, the whoosh of a breeze.'

We spent Tuesday afternoon at Cleeve Abbey, soaking up some wonderful sunshine as well the peaceful and beautiful ambience of the site. Students let their imaginations fly free. What was the old ruin - the shattered shell of a bombed cathedral? A fantastical castle hidden in the Somerset valleys? Or maybe not a ruin at all but a grand palace decorated with rich tapstries and painted walls? We all took our time writing up descriptions and imagining characters from our stories arriving. What would they do here? What would bring them to such a place? Jennifer found this exercise so inspiring that she ended up writing a whole new segment to her book!


Students had all brought stories with them that they had been working on at home. We spent the rest of the week working on these, writing, workshopping and editing until the stories were honed and polished - sparkling prose.

Next step was to design and create books to keep the stories safe. Jennifer and I were really impressed with the huge variety of covers and stories. William had a suitably frightening cover for his gothic ghost story Hide and Seek, with boggling eyes peeping out between blades of grass. Ellie however opted for an elegant black cover with the sun being consumed by darkness for her book Shadows and Zak went for a battered journal look for his story set in an alternative World War Two.

Once the covers were done, students had to think about the insides as well. Marbled end papers, illuminated lettering, illustrations and borders were all used to wonderful effect by everyone. I particulary love William's charismatic ghost and Rowanne's beautiful illuminated lettering.

Thanks to everyone that joined us there, we had a brilliant summer week being creative and enjoying the sunshine!

I had a great day thinking of devilish piratical tales on Tales of the High Seas at Walford Mill in Wimborne. The day was spent making log books, flags and writing adventurous stories. Students learnt about the different characters that would have lived on board, from boatswains to cabin boys, and everyone had a chance to dress up and imagine themselves as a pirate character! It was a fun and fast paced day, with wondeful weather to help dry out tea-stained pages!

Now the summer holidays are over we are gearing up for the autumn term. On Saturday 19th we will be in Poole town centre making wings of words and flags of fables with anyone who'd like to join us. The event is completely free so if you're near Poole just drop by between 10-12 or 1-3, we'd love to see you. (It's part of the Street Arts Festival - see Borough of Poole website for other events!)

In October we have a few day courses: World of Wonder, Grisly Grimm and Tall Tales and Wonderful Worlds. We'll be discovering stories from across the globe, making fairytale puppets and discovering fantasy settings. For more information please see the 'upcoming courses' page of our website.

Don't forget to send us entries for our 'story beginnings' competition on the latest newsletter. Deadline is the 30th September.

Hope to hear from you all soon,

Rosie (and Jennifer) x