1995 School Magazine
6irls' 6r'ammar Scloot Grrsbane 1995
GARY CREWAT BGGS (- ary Crew is big news! To add to his already impressive Ucollection of awards, Gary has just won the Children's Book Council Picture Book Award for "The \il/atertower". This book is one of a new genre that Gary has created of picture books for older readers. Gary lectures in creative writing at QUT, tours as guest speaker and rWriter-in-Residence at schools and universities across Australia, and of course continues to research, plan and write the next book.
Gary emphasised the need to extend an idea for a narrative by, not only drawing from personal experiences, but also researching the story. He showed us the "flying wedge" diagram (a basic stl-ucture for narrative), and shared with us the many ideas, notes, and bits of research which he has collected lor his stories. I had a fantastic time at this workshop, and, as a result, have started research for my own story, something which I would not have otherwise done. NAOMI SEARLE Sitting in the classroom on the morning of Sunday, August 28, I was beginning to regret my eagerness in applying for a place in the writing workshop conducted by Gary Crew. The potential embarrassment that could occur working with a popular and successful author was daunting, but as soon as Gary entered the room, introduced himself and outlined his plans for the two days he would be with us, I began to experience some of the excitement that he obviously feels working in his chosen profession. He began the two day workshop by using stimulus material to provoke descriptions and stories from us, of both the literal and abstract variefy. He went on to discuss the methods he used for getting ideas for stories, and the combinations of personal experience and fantasy needed forwriting fiction. During this time we were able to look at some of Gary's research notes and journals he used while writlng books such as Angel's Gate. Finally, we moved into a more detailed look at writing fiction, studying models for short stories and eventually deconstructing some of Gary's own short stories. Gary was ideal in the way he ran the workshop, combining humour and enthuslasm to stimulate both ideas and aspirations among us. KATE PALMER Friday 26th May \995,Paul Keating and the Head of \Jsrn,., from Canada, Jamaica, South Africa and other Commonwealth countries met in the Conlerence Room of Parliament House in Brisbane. Theywere attending a Common- wealth Heads of Government Meeting which is held every two years in a different host country. None of this was so unusual, apart from the fact that Paul Keating was wearing a dress and was a student at Ferny Grove State High School. Students from twenty schools had been selected to take part in a Student CHOGM and to discuss "The Future of the Commonwealth in a Global Society". Each school represented a different country with Brisbane Gids' Grammar School as the representatives of the tiny group of islands known as Tonga. Sheridan Emerson was the Head of State of Tonga with Rebecca Nissen and Anna McElrea as her ministers. The advisors were Alison Tranberg, POIIDER ON TONGA: STIIDENT CHOGM'95 /\n
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This year we have been fortunate to have Gary at BGGS to share his ideas at a staff workshop, give a talk about "The Writing Task" to our Year Twelve students, and most recently to conduct a \flriter's \(orkshop with Year Ten and Eleven students. The \Triter's \forkshop was well received and prompted such comments as:..."he helped me extend my lateral thinking processes...and realise that structure is an essential element of any story"...."I discovered that I think and interpret things in an obvious way. The workshop extended my thinklng so now, I hope, I look past the obvious"...."...he showed us how to follow through an idea with research, and how to distinguish ideas that will probably work..." and "It was an extremely helpfr-rl work- shop which I enjoyed more than any other I have attended." Two lurther pieces follow in more detail: \fhen I heald that my favourite author was coming to B.G.G.S. to conduct a workshop, I started writing my applica- tion! On27th and 28th August, around twenty Year Eleven girls, and one frorn Grade Ten, attended a \(riters'Nforkshop, 1ed by acclaimed Brisbane writer, and author of the multi-award winning pictr-rre book, The W'atertower, Gary Crew. Over the two days, we acquired a number of different techniques which could be used to write a story or novel. \7e used a variety of different objects as stimuli to create a basic story, and many bizarre ideas emerged. Throughout the work- shop, Gary provided examples from his books and stories to iilustrate his ideas. He also or-rtlined the number of different stages which need to occur before the final product is produced.
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