Elaine offers one hour to half-day creative writing workshops that introduce kids to the basic elements of fiction writing with examples from favorite books, handouts and writing exercises. Topics include:

Story genres – mystery/adventure, thrillers/suspense, romance, science fiction/fantasy, horror, westerns, historical and literary.

A good plot – beginning, middle and end

Point of view - Who is telling the story (first person, third person or omniscient)

Past tense or present tense, and how to write flashbacks

Creating the setting

Memorable characters

Show don’t tell through actions and dialogue

Details and descriptive words – strong nouns, verbs, adjectives and occasional adverbs