Third-graders write world-saving story
March 30, 2009
By Chantelle Lusebrink
Derek Munson, author of ‘Enemy Pie,’ helps Apollo Elementary School third-graders brainstorm ideas to write their own stories. By Chantelle Lusebrink
With help from award-winning author Derek Munson (“Enemy Pie”), Apollo Elementary School third-graders gathered in the library to help their character Billy Bob save the world from space aliens in February.
The school PTSA sponsored the author session, which helped students learn how to write their own story, from brainstorming to a riveting end.
“It was cool that we got to meet an author,” student Hans Bennett said.“The goal is to get kids excited about writing,” said Munson, of Redmond. “If there’s no excitement in writing, then they’ll never do it. What I try to do is build that enthusiasm by letting them run the show.”
And run the show they did. From evil Halloween aliens who wanted to turn planets into pumpkins to a hero who had to learn to swim to dismantle a bomb to save the world, students came up with a plethora of ideas from which to build a story.
In the end, the students learned how to formulate a hero, give the hero personality traits, think of an enemy who presents a problem for the hero and come up with a solution that saves the day.
“I learned about the hero’s journey,” Hans said. “It’s about the start of the main character’s life and how he finds a problem he has to solve, but his weakness gets in the way and he tries and tries to solve it. In the end, the hero finds a solution and the good side wins.”
The students gathered close as Munson shared secrets to his success and told them how he came up with the idea for his next book, “Alien All Stars,” about alien baseball players.
“Quantity creates quality,” Munson said. “Quantity teaches you how to let go and let your creativity go. It’s not about the process of logic or reason.
“If you want to be a good writer, you have to write a lot of stories, many more than you would ever publish,” he added. “For me, nine out of 10 are horrible, but then there’s one that is great.”
“It was fun,” student Madison Gholston said, adding that she enjoys writing her own stories. “He is a really good author who gives really good descriptions and details.”
On the Web
Go to www.enemypie.com.
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