Earlier this year I ran a writing workshop at Prestatyn High School with about twenty Year 7 and 8 students. The session was built around my book THE SAPLING METHOD, starting with a reading, and then an activity to invent and describe a time-machine that was made out of an object. Some of the ideas that came from the students were incredibly inventive. In THE SAPLING METHOD the time machine is a tree, but these kids came up with mobile apps, headphones, a trinket chest and a mirror, among other things. I wanted to know how it worked and what it felt like to use it. How did they stop others from using it?
After a short break I set a task to write a short piece of fiction incorporating their newly invented time machine. Where did they go? Who did they see? What happens when they get there? With a bit of help from AI, I provided a word bank of fifty nouns and fifty adjectives around the subjects of TIME, FEAR and EXCITEMENT.
Honestly this was so much fun. It was a blessing to meet kids that thought about writing in the same way I did, with minds wide open and willing to explore big possibilities.