Helena Pielichaty's Diary of a children's writer

I woz ‘ere: The Marriott Hotel, Northampton (photo from www.lodging-world.com)

Saturdays are usually for football and shopping in the Pielichaty household but instead I got up at 6.00 am (ouch) and drove in fog for two hours to Northampton on this particular Saturday. For it was there the National Association of Writers in Education (NAWE) were holding their annual conference. I’ve never been to one of their conferences before but as I’m being asked to do a lot more creative writing workshops in schools these days so I thought it would be an opportunity to ’skill up.’  After I’d arrived, grabbed my name badge and a quick coffee, I had to decide what to choose. There were three sessions with six choices of topics per session. Too much already. Catching Words or Wrestling with Angels? (prose poetry). Disabled Characters in YA novels or the Universal Appeal of Film?  In the end I chose a talk by Liz Cashdan, who teaches creative writing at Sheffield University and Kelly Connor, an author and dramatist.

Liz Cashdan’s workshop was called ‘Storytelling – the Real Thing.’ Liz  talked about how the art of storytelling is something we should all nurture and develop. Using a selection of  ’Real Life Stories’ from a well known Sunday magazine (so well known I’ve forgotten which one) we worked in pairs to re-tell the story. Only we weren’t allowed to tell the main character’s story; we had to choose one of the other characters. We were given five minutes to read and make notes then another five to think about our character.

My story was about a 16-yr old girl who had fled from Iraq in 2007. She’s overcome all kinds of odds to arrive in England. Her journey took her, along with her brother, from Iraq to Turkey (car) France (back of a truck) via Greece and Italy then to France. In France she stayed in a detention centre where she met someone/got pregnant/had a termination/fled from her outraged brother. At a camp in Calais a smuggler took all her money in exchange for a lift in the back of a refrigeration lorry to Dover. At Dover the driver, ‘an old man who didn’t speak much English, put me in the front with him. I am guessing he felt sorry for me, because at Croydon he pointed me to a building and said I could claim asylum there.’

Of all the people the girl had met, the lorry driver was the one I felt I could ‘do.’ He ‘didn’t speak much English’ so I made him Polish.  ’What is your name?’ Liz asked me when it was my turn.

‘My name is not your business,’ he said and began:

‘I often wonder what happened to her. Skinny little thing she was, huddled there in the back of my lorry. Not another one! I thought. I would kill Marek when I got home. He is always doing this; smuggling people with my gherkins and Polish product. Typical Marek; still the little black marketeer from Communist days. If he wasn’t my son-in-law I’d spit on him. Then again if he wasn’t my son-in-law I wouldn’t have my little Anya. Anya is my grand-daughter. Beautiful girl. Going to be something special when she grows up, unlike her father… Anyway, this girl reminded me of Anya. Same wide eyes. Same intelligent gaze. ‘What you doing in my lorry?’ I asked her. She just stared. She didn’t understand. My English is not so good…’  To be continued as they say.

I liked Liz’s idea of having multiple narrators to tell the same story. It’s similar to what I do on school visits with my newspaper clippings. Having it as an oral story and role play is also good for less confident writers. There’s a speed to it and it allows the voice to portray emotion and that whole thing of being in someone else’s shoes is bread-and-butter for writers/storytellers. Kids might be less confident though unless they’re used to drama and role play in the classroom. Sadly, many aren’t these days. All the more reason why Liz’s Storytelling ideas are needed.

Kelly Connor’s workshop Telling True Tales was terrific. Kelly was one of those people that you look at and you instantly know, just from her appearance, that the session’s going to be good. That sounds shallow but if I’d had my camera and taken a photo you’d know what I mean. Her head was swathed in a plum coloured turban and she just had that ‘I’m interesting’ aura about her. I’d chosen Telling True Tales because of the opening sentence in the programme synopsis ‘Adolescents crave truth.’ Boy, did Kelly tell the truth. In the workshop  she takes round schools and colleges, she asks students to begin with ‘Once upon a time, when I was fourteen, I took a risk…’

The word ‘risk’ is such a loaded word, isn’t it? What would a risk be for a 14 year old?  No, don’t answer that – there are many, I know, but how would you get them to tell you what they were? Most 14 year olds would just stare back at you in stony silence thinking ‘Like I’d tell you!’  Kelly does it by telling them about her risk, the one she took when she was 17. ‘Once upon a time when I was 17 I took a risk and I killed someone.’

Woah! Jaws dropping round the circle time. Yes, when she was 17, Kelly borrowed her dad’s car without asking (the risk) and killed a pedestrian. Beat that for drama. Her book ‘To Cause a Death’ re-tells the event and the impact it has made on her life.  If you go on her website (I’d not advise it if you are under 12) to the ‘Your Stories’ section you’ll find moving true stories from other people who’ve had similar experiences.

Kelly develops the workshop further. After the 14-year olds have told about their risk they are asked to begin again. ‘Once upon a time when my mother/father was 14 she/he took a risk…’  There’s a massive leap here as the students can’t imagine their parents ever being 14. It often leads to the children actually speaking to their parents. Now that’s a miracle in itself.

After Kelly’s talk it was lunch (chicken in a cream sauce – v. good) where I talked football with two poets Ken Cockburn (Raith Rovers) and Roger Stevens (Liverpool).  I didn’t manage a third session. My 6.00 am start was catching up with me and I was flagging, lightweight that I am. I pinched a handful of jelly beans from the hotel sweet bar (nice touch) and headed home thinking I’d stay for the whole conference next time.