Along with our classroom forum for students’ stories and poems, an exciting part of WriteNOW Workshop is creating and sharing fresh new work each week in class! The selections below are quick, unedited flashes of writing done by students in several minutes during our weekly webinars. These wonderful and varied responses to writing prompts often inspire continuing stories!
In these pieces, students use rich sensory details to evoke the mood of a setting.
You step forward, bare feet landing on the soft grass. Dew sticks bright green blades on your skin, the feeling a slight discomfort.
Bright music pours through your headphones, sending a strong beat through your body. You sway your arms, a happy smile resting on your lips.
The scent of sap drifts around you, familiar and kind. You twirl once, arms out, and catch yourself before you fall. Arms still stretched, you let out a laugh.
Trees tower around your clearing, needles a sort of dark blue and flowers still small. Flowers are scattered around you, ranging from dying gray to bright pink. Your hair, cropped short and messy, flutters around your ears.
A soft breeze brushes over the ground, loosening leaves from the trees. Clouds drift across the pale lavender sky, curling around the sun’s light.
Even if you were not born here, it is still home.
Nothing could ever change that.
No amount of monsters, of strange animals.
You are happy, and that was never true on earth.
This place is yours, and you, its.
-Avis
In the dark setting, the bat didn’t like being alone. All of the little nooks in the rocks are too easy to hide in, the crag right outside the cave didn’t lift the mood at all. While the other bats were out eating, this one was stuck in the dimly lit, dry cave with so little spider-webs anyone who had any sense would know something ate them. The small opening to the cliff-face was the only source of light, and it was so very rare for any light to shine through, with even less of a change at night.
Once the bats came back, all squeezing through the singular entrance and exit to the cave, the atmosphere changed. The bats cast almost no shadows and were so hard to see. It wouldn’t seem different, but feeling the hundred tiny bodies covered in leather and fur changed so much. The floor was still untouched, with the small pool of water that was definitely not safe to drink still there. No one knew where the water came from, or how it got in, but it was nice.
-Julie
You are strolling through the harbor, breathing the salty, fresh sea air. The wooden crafts docked here, ranging from small fishing boats to gigantic cargo ships, all are tied to the cobblestone piers with thick ropes. Small blue waves break against the shore. Suddenly, under the cries of seagulls and whisper of the sea, you hear soft footsteps coming up behind you.
-Ansley
We live in a forested area, covered by plants and green all around. The ground is rocky and brown, with moss all around making it look green. The trees are so tall it’s hard to see the sky. Many of the plants are ferns. It’s beautiful.
-Jack
I walked along the ominous road, neatly paved yet still looking messy. The cold stung my cheeks as the wind passed through the maze of houses, all the same on the outside yet so different inside. The pine forest covered in a blanket of snow on the other side of the street echoed with the sounds of rabbits and an occasional owl. The moon shined through the trees, making dancing figures with shadows. The air smelled crisp like I was breathing in pure oxygen. Walking along, I noticed that something was off. Everything and everyone seemed gray. People walked by, all in their own sad world. It was quiet, too quiet.
-Ty
…So she stood there, on the sheer cliff of grey stone that dropped to the ocean beneath her. The cool damp grass beneath her feet and between her toes. The waves crashing and crumbling and foaming on the cold unmoving stone. The icy cold wind stinging her face, and keeping the tears from leaving her eyes
-Galen
The Crystal ballroom wasn’t tiny.
Chandeliers of jade and diamond hung like butterflies in the sky. The ceiling was layered with ruby and amethyst, and the floor was of gold, emerald, and sapphire. The banister was decorated with opals, and the walls had pictures entirely made out of moonstone.
“So this is where we play chess,” said Cade. “Just… wow.”
-James
The air was cold and harsh, but the scenery it swished past was warm and inviting. Crispy red leaves blew around, skittering towards the red-brick buildings and roads. The houses of the locals were beautifully designed and filled with souls of their own. However, there was no wealth in these homes. The bricks were faded and old. The grocery store’s neon lights seemed shallow and apocalyptic compared to the bright, natural light of the other sectors, and a heavy grey cloud hung over the beautiful homes. It was like a tragedy had fallen over this potentially beautiful town.
-Zoe
In peaceful valley on a peaceful fall night, the orange trees sway in the wind. The king in his castle sleeps soundly all night, In the lush fields cow sleep and there cafes curl up, wolf howls and sheeps baa. The guards on duty at the castle half awake sit a chair near the wall, fish swim in the moat next a boat with a guardsmen on patrol, The wind blows through the valley as the people sleep, all is well in the valley.
-Wells
I stood there, dazed, at where I was. There was a tall, green blanket, covering the sun. Long, green stalks of bamboo were around me in every direction. Where was I? I started exploring the mystic forest. There were many, many unusual plants, like a flower, with petals as wide as a twig. What is this place? I explored the mystic, lively, forest, and I soon came to the end. Up in the sky the sun shone before me, and I was dazed by the bright blue sky, that the blanket of leaves was hiding.
-Avek
THE LAND OF CORTOPIA
In the mystic valley of Cortopia, the grass swayed to the wind. Green creatures lifted their heads up from the flowing grass, and looked towards the castle, a cloud starting to form around it. A little girl, around seven or eight rode on the back of a winged tiger, her hair flowing behind her. Two other girls rode winged lions behind her, and they laughed as they made their way towards the castle. Giraffes strode endlessly towards a river that had powerful red water rushing along the banks, small animals popping up occasionally to sneak a quick breath and quickly dived back down underneath the churning water. A pink unicorn-like animal was sipping from the colorful water, its paws getting wet. A young woman stood vexed underneath an overhang, as a tiny cloud poured down rain on top of her, a frown on her face. A winged person stood next to a small animal, talking to it in a soothing voice. An animal made out of glass shone like crystal as it floated across the shining water. A lake shadowed by mountains glittered like gemstones in the distance. Trees surround everything, and the sky is a bright blue. Suddenly, the cloud surrounding the castle disappeared, and the castle suddenly started shining like crazy. It glowed brightly, and a crowd of people exploded out of it, riding winged animals. animals turned towards the people. You can feel the awe emitting around the animals, and you stare too…
-McKenzie
Raeb paused, taking a breath, and examined his surroundings. He was in the center of an open-edged clearing, with jade green bushes to boisterously tall hemlocks, wary rabbits, and anxious magpies who took to the trees to get a better peek at his large wings. A small, azure creek trickled to Raeb’s left, inviting sparkling diamonds to dance on the surface, bubbling and popping over and over.
-Pippa
In another webinar writing session, an interesting image suggested mystery and humor.
This is the sign you’ve been looking for. Read the sign. Well, Blared. It was neon and green, and absolutely hideous. And, – Don’t take this as a good thing – The moment I read the sign, it disappeared: Magic. That’s always suspicious. Don’t tell me you don’t know what happens next when you see magic: You chase some mysterious being into a magical world, overthrow a tyranny, and get whisked home just when things get fun and you start to enjoy yourself.
Behind me, I heard the rest of the school parade still singing and marching. “Hail!” the sang. “Hail!”
I took a step, and the world beneath me shook. Thunder boomed.
Silver glittering ice crashed down from the sky. The meaning of the cries of “Hail” changed suddenly and actually. The sky was crashing down, and it was taking the moon with it.
-Celestine
When I saw it glowing white I knew what I had to do. I had been going over it in my head so many times. I knew i wanted to do, but should I? I asked that if I really should, for fate to give me a sign, and it did, so now it’s decided. I’m going to buy a cupcake.
-Galen
In WriteNOW, we play with poetry as well as prose! Students chose a terrific variety of subjects for odes in response to a humorous poem.
“Ode to a Roadrunner”
In the desert southwest
runs a small bird
thirty miles per hour
this beautiful brown bird
with a crest like a cardinal
brown streaks like a sparrow
long legs like a heron
running like an ostrich
a type of cuckoo
(though it doesn’t look like one)
a diet of lizards
and insects
and snakes
and rodents
(and occasionally small birds )
an icon of the desert
a roadrunner
-Jack
“Ode to a Pencil”
Weaving art on the page
Lines, dots, colored, plain
Firm wood grip and rubber
To erase your every error
Beautiful variety
Of tools to wage love and war
On paper
-Zoe
“An Ode to a Mushroom”
twisting through soil,
stretching ever so far
a beauty laid on the ground
for all to see
dangerous and lovely
a bright warning
death’s angel
or perhaps dressed in mellow folds,
laid in wicker baskets
tossed into muddy stews
a blessing to the hungry
a reaper of the foolish
a growth between rotted spines of trees
lacey feathered dresses
a ragged suit of brown
bright red sunhats dotted in white flowers
a king of your realm.
-Adeline/Avis
“Ode to the Mango”
A mango is a sweet
soft
fruit
which exhibits
a bright
orange.
In summer, when I want
something
that is sweet
I look to the
delicious, sugar-filled
Mango.
When I see a mango,
I cannot resist
eating a piece.
How thoughtful
Nature was
to give us
this exuberant fruit,
the mango.
-Avek