April 17

Principal’s Writing Competition

Inaugural Principal’s Writing Competition

Prompt: “What lies beneath”

  1. The competition is open to all creative pieces of any style and form.
  2. Students are allowed one entry in the competition.
  3. Entries can be a short story, poem, lyric, informative essay or discursive piece.
  4. This is a school wide competition and is inclusive of both Bayview and Pasco campuses; however, each campus will have different prompts and categories.
  5. Absolutely no plagiarism of any kind; previously submitted entries or any plagiarised work will automatically disqualify entrant.
  6. Pieces are allowed an open word limit, but should not exceed a 50 word minimum and a 2500 word maximum.
  7. Prompt can be used as the starting sentence or overall theme.
  8. All entries must be submitted online via email to writingcomp@willihigh.vic.edu.au with the subject as: [Your Full Name: Title of Submission] or by another negotiated source (such as in hardcopy, in person to Mr Catalano).

The winners of the Semester One Principal’s Writing Competition will be given the opportunity to attend the Melbourne Writer’s Festival, which is from the 24th of August to the 2nd of September.

 

The Judges panel will consist of three teacher judges and two student judges.

 

All students must submit their entries by the 11th of May 2018.

February 11

Flash Fiction 88

Read our first Flash Fiction contribution.

lightning 88

By Anonymous

‘You disgust me’, I thought angrily. What can I do about it anyway?

I stare hard at the face in front me.  Concertinaed forehead, mouth twisted into a grimace with corners turned down, the eyes, ocean blue and pleading, are demanding something of me.

To my horror I see fat, hot tears gathering in the corners of those pleading eyes.

‘Stop it!’ I scream. ‘Don’t think a few tears will get you anywhere.’

I look again into those pleading eyes, revulsion growing.

OMG!

It can’t be!

It’s me.

 

 

February 5

Flash Fiction 88

Want some tips on writing flash fiction? For 13 pieces of good advice click HERE.lightning 88

This is tip 1:

1. Take out all unnecessary words. Practice on Twitter. I kid you not, and I speak from experience. Nothing shows you how to whittle down a sentence to the key elements better than Twitter. Pretend you only get one single solitary tweet to get the idea across. Can you do it?

Let’s practice and redo this sentence:

Pretend you only get one single solitary tweet to get the idea across convey your idea.

Pretend you only get one tweet to convey your idea.

Look, I just saved 3 words by editing that sentence. That’s GOLD in flash. It adds up, people!

December 16

Flash Fiction 88

lightning 88Write your own Flash Fiction 88 and win a book.

Write a story in 88 words.

Email your entry to: carrington.janie.w@edumail.vic.gov.au, make a post, or give a hard copy to Library staff.

Visit Pasco Library for more information.

Read some Flash Fiction HERE.

Go to the end of this article from The Guardian for 6 tips on How to Write Flash Fiction.

For even Flasher Flash Fiction check out these two sentence winners and read the judges comments about why he liked them.

Or take some advice from: Stace Budzko, writer and Instructor of “10 Weeks/10 Stories” at Grub Street:

Start at the flashpoint – By definition Flash begins at the moment of conflict, when all the action is nearly complete. Think: the final gesture of a love affair, or the start of a good old-fashioned gang fight. All of this is to say we need to avoid preambles or introductions (unless working on a specific conceit).

Focus on the powerful image(s) – Find one or more powerful images to focus your story on. A wartorn street. An alien sunset. A Going Out of Business sign. They say a picture worth a thousand words. Paint a picture with words. It doesn’t hurt to have something happen inside that picture. It is a story after all.

Hit them where it hurts – Go for an ending that offers an emotional impact. As flash writers, we are in the punch-in-the-gut business. Play against expectations with a sense of narrative mystery or devastating twist, a poignant implication or declarative last sentence that leaves the reader breathless, and going back for more.

 

February 3

ENTER NOW! Writing Competition – $1000 in Prizes

Summer Writing Competition 2014-2015

Do you have a piece of writing you are proud of from last year..or have you created something already this year?

Click HERE to enter this local competition and share in $1000 prize money.

The Friends of Williamstown and Newport Libraries 2014 – 2015 Summer Writing Competition kicks off for the thirteenth year.

Young writers are invited to enter their short story and/or poem into the Friends of Williamstown and Newport Libraries 2014 – 2015 Summer Writing Competition. If you are a member of the library, go to school or live in Hobsons Bay, embark on your creative journey to ensure your original story and/or poem makes it onto paper.

Over $1000 worth of cash and prizes to be won!
Winners’ prizes generously donated by the Rotary Club of Point Gellibrand, Williamstown.

Entry forms are available at any library branch or can be downloaded here.

This year, teachers are invited to enter their students’ writing pieces for the chance to win an author visit for their school. With a minimum of 15 entries constituting a class pack, celebrate and encourage your student writers by entering the competition. Download entry form (class)

Competition opens: Monday 1 December 2014
Competition closes: Monday 16 February 2015
Awards Night: Thursday 19 March 2015

May 22

Williamstown Literary Festival 31 May – 1 June 2014

Williamstown Literary FestivalClick the image to book tickets for sessions and see the full program.

Dozens of writers, illustrators, publishers, journalists and academics are presenting sessions to inspire and assist all of those who want to write, draw or publish.

Why use social media for book marketing? Saturday 31 May, 2.45 to 3.15. $5

Facebook, Twitter, GoodReads, LinkedIn – so much social media, but is anyone still reading books? Author Sherryl Clark will discuss how writers and readers can connect in the nicest possible way via social media today.

Three Designers, One Book. Sunday 1 June. Full $15, Concession $12

Ever wondered how a book is designed? Designers Sandy Cull, Josh Durham and Chong Weng Ho all work on the same design brief for George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Chaired by Donna Ward.

Visit the website for the full program and to book tickets.

May 6

Make a Bibliography

Some subjects require you to produce a bibliography listing all resources you have used to complete your assessment task.

There are many sites you can use to help you compile your bibliography that can save you hours of work. A simple cut and paste is turned into a properly formatted citation in seconds.

Here are some websites that do this job.

Cite This For Me was used to compile the following list of references. (Click to see a larger picture.)

biblio image

August 16

2013 Schools Writing Competition

Write4Fun

Writers Wanted 2013

There is no theme!! Entrants are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild and get their creative juices flowing to write on ANY TOPIC and in ANY STYLE. Students from ALL GRADES are welcome to enter – Kindergarten to Grade 12.
Entry is FREE and all entries must be in by September 13, 2013.

Write a poem or a short story. Winning entries may be published in the next anthology.

Click the image above for more information and entry form.

July 29

My Sister’s Keeper

My Sister’s Keeper is known as an emotional and loving story that revolves around the Fitzgerald Family. The main character, Kate, known as the eldest child is diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia at the age of 2. Kate’s parents fail to find her a suitable donor until they finally decide to have another child that can donate a kidney to her. However, the child, Anna, decides not to give up a kidney for her sister and instead she files a lawsuit to be medically emancipated.

My Sister’s Keeper expands across 2 weeks and focuses on many different characters and how their relationships with each other change. I believe that it was easy for me to lose focus in this novel as it jumped from one thing to another, but the author did a good job of reminding me of Kate’s medical condition as she included many flashbacks of when she was the happiest. The author gave her a much more human side by doing this.

The novel makes the reader feel very alarmed and interested in Kate and her condition. The main two themes in this story are hope and love as Kate struggles to find both but in the end finds her way into both worlds by each character. The sensitive issue causes a few drops of tears but overall it leaves the reader wanting more.

I highly recommend this story to anyone if they are up for an emotional journey.

Ms Ferretti’s class.