If you want to be a writer, it'll be because you enjoy reading books. That means you enjoy the written word, other people's writing. Reading and writing go together.
Patricia Grace
Use these activities to help you learn more about reading and writing.
Comic strips
Both text and illustration can be used to tell a story. Have a try at writing a text for an existing cartoon, or drawing cartoons for an existing text. After this, you may even want to have a go at your own comic strip, where you make up both the text and the illustration.
Write your own CV
Why not have a try at writing your CV (curriculum vitae). When you do this, your purpose for writing and your audience are quite different to when you are writing a story or comic strip. Writing your CV gives you a chance to focus on your own life and achievements.
Writing about things you know
People collect ideas in different ways. Some people get ideas from pictures, some from reading other people's writing, and some from dreams. Other people think of a word or a saying, and that is all it takes to give them an idea. Most of us get ideas in a number of ways. However you get your ideas, keep a notebook and write your ideas down. Make a scrapbook of pictures that make good story-starters, write or draw some ideas, or keep a notebook beside your bed at night.
Innovation
"Innovation" means making changes. The example of innovation you have on the CD-ROM is to change the ending of The Kuia and the Spider. To innovate in a text, you first need to have read the text carefully to make sure you understand how it is put together, and then you will be able to make changes to it. For instance, you could use the same characters but write about them in a different situation; create a storyboard and rewrite the text as a film script; change the setting; or change the personality of the main character. This can be a fun way to start writing stories. The only thing that you have to remember is that the original idea was someone else's. If you do carry out an innovation, make sure that you acknowledge the title and author of the original story and state its publication details so that other people can find it.
