Bring on the Boys...

This session of Inkreadable Kids promises to be very interesting indeed. I have six students, four boys and two of my returning girls from last session. I am offering two different classes this time around. The four boys are taking my short story module, and so is my nine year old girl. The other girl has opted for my Scene Stealer class. 

I've known for a while that the genders write very differently. I've seen it time and again in the adult groups. I saw it, very clearly, in the Friday evening session, where I am teaching three boys. Instead of using the story starters prompt machine from Scholastic, two of them have opted to make up their stories on their own. They are brothers as well, and it makes for an interesting dichotomy. One brother is writing a story that focuses on a young man who invents a new sort of train system. The other brother has opted to blow up the world using warplanes and nuclear bombs. I am a little leery of the violence but am likewise leery of stifling creativity. Apparently, this will come right in the end. I am going to have to seat them separately because they seem to want to copy each other's story, and that simply won't do.

My third young man opted for a Story Starters prompt and is writing a story about a young boy who spends the night in the zoo. What was interesting here is that the prompt asked us to humanize an animal and that proved difficult for this young man. So, I had him switch the animal to a human boy and off he went. While less violent, he promised plenty of danger as the only escape route is  through a cage of snakes. I'm glad it's fiction as I am already shuddering. Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes? As for my last boy, he is doing a story starter prompt, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is. I'll have to get back

to you on that.

In the meantime, my girls are prolific as well. On Thursday, my student has chosen her favorite book, and we are working on creating dailogue. Specifically, we are working on giving them a two and a half year backstory that the author leaves to the imagination. It promises to be an interesting few weeks. Also, this particular student likes my writing, and has asked that I read to her as well. Which I love as it allows me to fix the issues in my novel with my target audience.

Lastly, my other returning student, aka the girl who fixed Haiti, is now writing a series of stories. Her main characters are off to Thailand, and planning on rebuilding tsunami damaged places there. On a ship. I am finding that suspending disbelief is proving difficult. But as always, I will persevere. That's all she wrote. Stay tuned for the next Inkreadable installment.