Writing Workshops
with
Kimberly Newton Fusco
As
a children’s author, I enjoy meeting young people and sharing my passion for writing.
I love to watch the faces of students who realize that when we write from the
deepest places within ourselves we become very powerful writers. My role is to encourage, and I do that with
great enthusiasm!
I offer hands-on, practical writing strategies that directly support
school curricula and
standardized writing assessments. My
workshops are creative and inspiring and consistently receive high praise from
teachers and students.
Since I write for middle grade and young
adult audiences, I am able to present a range of programs to fit many
curriculum needs and grade levels. I
also speak with teachers and give writing workshops to adults.
Workshops:
DIGGING
FOR GOLD - A writing workshop on inspiration and the creative
process, with free-writing, imagery, metaphor, and figurative language. Students learn to shut down their inner-editor
so they can write deeply and poetically.
Students “show” without “telling,” and are often surprised at how much
their writing improves when they write from a place deep within
themselves. With group sharing and
revision. All ages.
CREATING CHARACTERS THAT LEAP OFF THE PAGE – Great characters don’t just happen,
they are planned. What makes a
strong character? What’s the difference
between a boring character and an awesome character? How do you create main characters who are
worthy of their starring role, and villains who have some depth and a little
bit of goodness to them as well? Remember,
most people aren’t ALL good or ALL bad.
This workshop will focus on creating characters that sizzle. Includes
handouts. All ages.
READY
FOR A RIDE? - A rollercoaster
is a great way to picture how to plot a novel.
In this workshop we plan the Beginning (What kind of rollercoaster are we riding?), the Exciting
Event (Getting on the Rollercoaster), Rising Action (Climbing the Big Hill) the
Top of the Rollercoaster (the Climax), the Falling Action (Speeding Down the
Tracks), and the Ending (Getting Off the Rollercoaster). This workshop (requires a 2-hour presentation) is a fiction planning
workshop and when the day is over, students will be ready to begin writing a
short story or novel on their own.
Includes handouts. Grades 4
and up.
ONE AUTHOR’S LIFE – I have written three successful novels
and love to talk about how I dreamed up each one. I talk about where ideas come from, how I
plot and plan a novel, how I created characters that would resonate with
readers, and how I kept writing when the writing got tough. Students are often
surprised how much rewriting is involved in the writing process. This is also a
workshop on having a dream and the persistence and discipline necessary to stay
on course. All ages.
A WRITER ON THE SIX TRAITS OF WRITING – Professional writers use the Six Traits
of Writing that teachers are teaching nationwide because they work: ideas,
organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. An author might call coming up with “ideas”
day-dreaming and “organization” might be a plot or scene sketch. An author might check for “sentence fluency”
and be thinking, where is the poetry in this line? An author usually calls “conventions” editing
or the final draft. But the truth is, we
use these traits every day. Find out
how an author incorporates these traits into the writing life. Includes handouts and writing/revising time. All
ages.
Additional Information
- I give up to two presentations per school visit,
plus a book signing if desired. Each
presentation runs 45 minutes to one hour. (An alternative would be a two-hour
workshop for 25 students, such as is required for the READY FOR A RIDE?
workshop.)
- Each
presentation should include no more than 25 students, and should be offered in
a classroom or similar small space.
- Teachers interested in a book-signing may order my books through Random House at http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/set-up-a-visit/
- I am also
available to speak to larger audiences, assemblies, conferences and literature
festivals. To make those arrangements, please contact Lisa McClatchy, Author
Appearance Coordinator, Random House Children’s Books. liske@aol.com
-
I have many teachers/librarians who will provide references. Please ask.
