A book in a week by Paulet Students – From students to published authors
A group of Year 9 students at Paulet High School & 6th Form College have just proved that when it comes to imagination they wrote the book – literally!
This week the students have been taking part in an exciting project called White Water Writers. Run by Keele University and funded by Higher Horizons, the project gives young people the opportunity to collaboratively write and publish a novel in a single week.
On Monday, the writers were handed a story brief. They brainstormed ideas, developed characters and by the end of the day had plotted the entire story. Then they started writing. Without giving too much away, their sci-fi story follows a group of aliens who are escaping a war torn planet but accidentally crash on Earth and seek refuge. The trouble is, the first living thing they come across is a dog called Boris, which they assume to be the planet’s dominant species. A pair of young friends discover the crashed ship and are kidnapped. A retired police officer is on the case, but he’s more interested in finding the dog to impress its owner, Mildred for whom he holds a flame. Will he ever worm his way into Mildred’s affections? Will the lost girls escape? And what about of the fate of planet Earth?
If you want to know the answers to these questions and more, the as yet untitled book will be available to buy on Amazon soon.
The experience left Ashton, one of the group members nothing short of amazed. “The book is a sci-fi book about aliens. My character is a leader of an alien invasion against earth. His name is Zargo. I have really enjoyed this week. I especially enjoyed the writing part – it’s an amazing experience”.
Ahsan Ashraf a teacher at the school who organised the project felt proud “Our students have worked very hard and have had a brilliant opportunity to be able to write and publish a book in a week. They have made their school, parents and peers very proud”.
Claire McArthur the school’s head of English was astonished “It’s amazing to see such close collaboration between the students. They have worked together non-stop all week and built up a real momentum to get the book published. I think we have made some upcoming famous authors”.
And Richard Seymour from Keele University, who worked with the students throughout the week, added: “The writers from Paulet have really impressed me. We don’t give them any ideas. They have complete ownership of the book. It’s totally their achievement. It’s been wonderful to see them organise themselves and grow in confidence. The support from the school and staff has been fantastic too.”