Someone help me!!!

[Christine N.]

Next weekend (Dec. 9-11) I'll be at Philcon (http://www.philcon.org)... (if you live in the area, hope to see you there!) I have an hour all to myself in the kids' room, touted as me reading from my book. Yeah, I know, I can't read for a whole hour. So what do I do with these kids? I have a school program, it's about the steps of creative writing, but I don't know if I should use that or not.

I need some seasoned con-attendee advice. Or seasoned kid entertainment advice. Or some advice at all.

Thanks!

[Aconite]

What's the age range?

[Jamesaritchie]

It's an individual thing, I believe. I've given talks and read to kids from the first grade on up, and I find the younger kids are easier to entertain. Let them ask questions, talk to them about their favorite books, etc. Small kinds often don't understand that those books they love were written by real people, and that maybe they can write one, as well.

[Christine N.]

It's from ages 6 and up, but there could be younger or older kids there.

Thanks, James, that's what I was thinking, just let them ask questions. I'll have a few 'starter' questions, in case all I hear is crickets. I have picked out two passages of my book to read, so that'll take up a good ten minutes :)

[Bufty]

Interaction is the key, and it may help if you are a just a little wacky or off the wall occasionally - in other words more like the kids than their usual picture of an adult.

[Avalon]

This is going to be very garbled, I'm afraid, because I can't remember who or what or where, but...

I read an article or a passage in a book by I /think/ Orson Scott Card (somebody please please correct me if I'm wrong!), who had to present something to his son's class. They were little kids. He actually "wrote" a story with them, or coached them through the storytelling process. He started by asking them for a character. They came up with a babysitter. Then he asked them for a situation that might cause the babysitter trouble. If they said something like "The house is on fire," he shut it down by saying "Someone would call the fire department. End of story. How about something else?" And finally, they came up with "The baby won't stop crying." Then they went through a series of things that happened because of that. If there was a logical answer that would end the story right then and there, he made them come up with something else. When they complained "You won't let us do anything!" he said, "Oh, but you /are/ doing things... what you're doing /is/ the story."

They got to the end, and the last question was, "So, will he babysit again?" And the kids said, "Not for /this/ baby!"

Anyway, just something I read a long time ago and that I still remember. Might be useful. I wish I could remember where I saw it!

[scribbler1382]

Interaction is the key, and it may help if you are a just a little wacky or off the wall occasionally - in other words more like the kids than their usual picture of an adult.

This is good advice. When Robert Munch came to my daughter's school and read, he acted like a total loon...and he became the kids' hero.

[jules]

Avalon: I know that that's a technique OSC teaches in his writing workshops, so I suspect you are remembering correctly.

[Old Hack]

I've given a few talks at junior schools (slightly older--children range in age from 7-10). I usually hand out apples then get the children to write about their apple: how it looks, tastes, smells etc. then we combine bits of the writing into poems. Works well, takes half an hour or so and the kids are busy eating so they are relatively quiet!

[RubyRoo]

What is the book about?

[Christine N.]

Well, it's a SF/F con, and my book is a fantasy. It's about an eleven year old girl who accidentally winds up in a magical world outside of her own. Dragons, elves, fairies, all that good fantasy stuff.

I've got two good pieces picked out to read. I think I'll do the 'let's make a story' thing, and Q&A.. that should take up the better part of an hour. I think I have to cut it a bit short, to make sure I get to my next panel on time.

[blisswriter]

Smaller kids do like adults who act childlike. One that always works for me is to ask a small child their age and then respond with, "I'm _______ years old too!" For some reason, they seem to like that one. http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/images/smilies/EmoteShrug.gif

[egem]

If you're speaking for an hour go with a lot of backup material. I teach and talk often, and sometimes one activity will go for an hour and other times that same activity will run 5 mins. You'd be screwed then, so I would have a lot planned even if you don't get to all of it. Too much is better than not enough.

If you are talking about dragons take some props that will show the "history" of dragons. There are a lot of books like that out right now, I'm sure you know. The kids would love that. You can talk about the kinds of dragons and the myths, ask why they think people made up dragons, stuff like that. Or pick the most interesting thing about your book that you think they'll like and give background on that. Just a suggestion.

[Tish Davidson]

I do a writing program with 4th graders where talk about how writers write stories and then write the outline for one. First i ask them to give me a main character. Then I ask them to give me a problem. Then we find some characters that are part of the problem (the bad guys or the mom or whatever). Next we look at possible ways to solve the problem and what obstacles might prevent them from working (actions by the antagonist). Finally we find a solution. That kind of gives them both bare bones story structure and also gives them some idea how writers get their ideas (always a question kids ask). If the kids are old enough, you cold read some of your story and then have them write an alternate story using your main character.

[Christine N.]

Yeah, in my school talk I touch on fan fiction. Asking "what's your favorite book?" Or
who's your favorite character?"... I leave the teacher with the after program assignment of the studients writing a new story for their favs.

Good idea!

[Avalon]

Hey, Christine-- How did the thingy go?

[Christine N.]

LOL... after all that worrying. I had two kids show up. Hey, they enjoyed the reading (so did the parents and the girl who was monitoring the room - she bought a copy :) ) but they weren't much for discussion. It all worked out, just not the way I pictured it.

The con was fun too.