Our focus for June was SUPERPOWERS! We had a short writing exercise followed by a conversation with special guests author Amy Tintera and writer Kimberly Cooper, who answered writing and publishing questions posed by the teens.
Writing prompt
We started out with brainstorming on various superpowers. There are usual superpowers as well as not so usual ones, powers that are supernatural versus powers that are more realistic.
Choose a superpower for your character
Write the rules of your superpower; there must be logic behind these rules
What are the strength/weaknesses of the power?
Can you use the power on specific people?
Are there times when the power does not work?
What are the political/social ramifications of this power?
Build the world
Politics of this world
What time period is it in?
How do people react to the supernatural?
Write the origins story
How does your character obtain the power?
What does having this power cost the character?
Conversation
Amy, Kimberly, and I answered various questions about writing and publishing. Various questions were posed about how to find agents, querying, education, self publishing versus traditional, and the process.
Instead of recounting our exact conversation, Amy has recently posted an extensive recount of her experience on her website. Check it out: amytintera.com
We also had giveaways of Amy’s books.
