Description
Preface from the author, Naomi Kinsman:
Hey there!
Welcome to Society of Young Inklings.
The big ideas in your head matter. At Society of Young Inklings, our goal is to help you shape those ideas on the page, and to provide opportunities for you to share those ideas with the world.
Society of Young Inklings is a community of writers, illustrators and story-creators. We offer publishing opportunities, resources, book recommendations, and most importantly, a place to learn from other creative thinkers who love to create just as much as you do.
This binder is a place to collect thoughts, to build skills, to brainstorm, and to learn.You’ll want to complete some of these pages many times, for different stories. Others, you might choose to skip over entirely. With your mentor, you’ll decide which pages you need now and which to use later. Your mentor might even ask you to print an additional page or two for you to add to your binder. Keep in mind, this isn’t a workbook to be completed page by page. These worksheets and templates are thinking tools, here to help when you need them.
Mentorship is an important part of the Society of Young Inklings, but being an Inkling goes far beyond this binder and your sessions. We are a real-live community that inspires and encourages one another. On days when you’re stuck, times when you want to celebrate and share your work, when you’re starting a new story, when you finish a story, when you need a spark of inspiration, when you’re looking for an excellent book recommendation, come on over to visit us at www.younginklings.org.
We can’t wait to hear from you.
What’s Inside:
The Attic: A Place of Your Own
Each story you write is unique because your ideas, your thoughts, your dreams, are uniquely yours. As you begin your journey, take stock of the life experiences in your Attic. Writing is a way of communicating who we are and what we think of the world. By looking inside your Attic often, you’ll know just what you want to say next.
The Studio: A Free Thinking Place
Every writer and illustrator needs a place to brainstorm, play around with ideas and create messy first drafts. In The Studio, you’ll find pages for collages, mind maps and brainstorms. Add your own style and flair, and use The Studio to play and think freely. Your journal is an extension of the Studio. Remember, first drafts aren’t meant to be perfectly neat. The best way to get your creativity flowing is to write and draw fast, to ignore your inner critic. Play first, save the revising for later.
The Workshop: A Structured Thinking Place
As you write or draw, you make a series of choices, large and small. What will my character look like? What will happen next? At the beginning of the drafting process, storytellers need to step away from their projects once in a while to think. And remember how we saved the revising for later? Those are important thinking moments, too. Whether a thinking moment comes early in the process or later, the Workshop’s activities, questions and ideas will help you play your way through unanswered questions that might otherwise block your way.
The Library: A Learning Place
Other than writing or drawing, the best way to build storytelling skills is to immerse yourself in great books! When writers read closely, and when artists look closely, they can learn from what other authors and illustrators have done. As particular books or images catch your fancy, look closely at the writing or drawing style. Record what you learn in here The Library.
The Cafe: A Sharing Place
Storytelling is an art form, and like all art forms, it is meant to be shared. Some writing or drawing is private, of course. However, one important way (and reason!) to build your storytelling skills is to share your thoughts, ideas and perspective with readers. In the Cafe, you’ll find helpful strategies for giving and receiving feedback.
