In our webinars, students respond to in-class prompts with spontaneous drafts that often turn into new stories. Students collaborate to inspire each other and produce short (or not-so-short!) pieces of in-class writing. Here are some of this semester’s exciting starts!
It’s fun to see how each writer takes some of the same story ingredients in very different and original directions!
Hi, my name is Princess Aquatic of the Tide Dragons. It’s not as fun as it seems, being a princess. Mother never lets me out of her sight, so I never get to have any fun. Today is one of the rare occasions when she lets me out of whirlpool palace, the secret home of the Tide Dragons. I dash through the sea, not a care in the world. When I’m out here, I’m free. An eel pokes its head out of its coral cave home, then darts back inside as soon as it sees me. Colorful nudibranchs inch across the rocks peppered with holes, just like the eel's.
-Julien the Pokemon Enthusiast (he/him)
As I swam through the coral reef, I gazed upon its almost luminescent beauty. Through the large, eroded rock tunnel and leaping above the surface, life sprawled across every possible inch of the beautiful, vibrant, underwater paradise. Tropical fish flitted around my legs, and a bright yellow eel slithered across my hand; slipping out of the large gray rock to my right and snapping a small, iridescent fish from the water and diving into a small hole in a scarlet piece of brain coral. I floated there, still looking. Still taking all of it in. A dolphin flashed across my vision, then a school of flame angelfish.
-Julia
I stood outside in the evergreen forest, trying to find two perfect trees to set my hammock in-between. I saw a strange looking rock on the side of the my house. “That’s a goofy looking rock.” I said, but then it looked at me with big green eyes. I got nervous and skedaddled back in my house.
-Arlo
Marlene did look different, even from across the long room. She looked happier, her peppermint eyes brighter. Her hair was black now, with a wash of aqua across the front, and the troubled lines across the summit of her brow were gone. Her goofy, girlish smile was back in full force, beaming at us in the way only her smile could. Marlene was back, back and better than ever. When she walked toward us, her evergreen skirt swayed around her knees the way trees flow in the wind. She gave Maxe a hug. He almost buckled from the force of her tall body. But it was all happy, he didn’t care, we didn’t matter. Marlene mattered, and she was happy! The world was happy with her.
-Zoe
Peppermint had never known any other living creatures except for Basil. Basil always brought her food, and answered her questions, and told her stories, and gave her anything she could really want. He brought her books and news from the outside world, not just from his own words but also newspapers and magazines and more jewelry than she could count. Up in their little evergreen tree home, Peppermint had everything she could ask for. When she asked about his heritage, that was the only time he really clammed up, but he still told her a lot. Apparently he was a creature called a “Basilisk”. She thought that made his name a tad bit unoriginal, but that was okay. She had asked him before what she was, but he said that he didn’t know. Peppermint was aware that he might be lying, but...
-Julia
We looked up into the sky and saw the moon. It was bright red. As red as a Valentine rose. The foot long icicles dangled down. It was absolutely beautiful. If only my friend saw it that way. I think that he was more worried about being on time then about enjoying the magic.
“Where are the northern lights?” My brother asked, interrupting my enjoyment.
“We have to be patient!” I whispered. “Can’t you just enjoy the view? We would never be able to see something like this at home! Especially without Shammy.”
We turned to look at our friend who was now staring at the red moon.
-Alessandra
"Come with me," said the voice. "Come to me." It was the third time Sebastian was having this dream, but this time, it was different. This time, instead of standing in a black void, he was being pulled to the church. Not in real life, of course, but in the dream, he had just entered it when he saw something. The door on the coffin of Judge McKinley, who had died the day before, was open. At that moment, Sebastian woke with a start.
-Julien the Pokemon Enthusiast (he/him)