Saturday 9 March 2024

Build a Book Workshop Gill James

 



Chapter 1 Getting organized

You probably already have some ideas about how and why you want to run your workshop. However, it might be worth working through the following questions, reading the rest of the manual and then coming back to this chapter later.

Who will take part?

Do you want to conduct the workshop with a whole class? Several classes?  A whole year group? Across several year groups? Do you want to use an identified group – such as “the gifted and talented” or “girls who lack confidence”? Will the participants be obliged to take part or will they volunteer? How will you sell the idea to your colleagues and to the potential participants?      

Enlisting extra help

Even if you are working with your own class, you are doing something a little unusual so some extra pairs of hands in the classroom are welcome. Your own teaching assistants are obvious choices. Doubling up classes can work well also – one teacher can lead and another can support.

If you invite in outsiders you school may require    them to be CRB checked. They should also have public liability insurance. Many writers who conduct school visits do have both of these. However, at the time of writing, the Government was beginning to state that CRB checks are not necessary for occasional visitors such as writers or artists. The Society of Authors has argued for a long time that they are not necessary though the National Association of Writers in Education have advised their members to get them and have also helped them with the this. The latter also provides its professional members with £10,000,000 of public liability insurances. A sensible question for your writer might be therefore “Are you a professional member of NAWE?” Note that the public liability insurance is only effective if members of your own staff are present during the visit. This would be sensible anyway.

Perhaps an obvious choice is a local writer who does school visits. Be warned, however, that the Society of Authors recommended fee for a day’s visit by a writer is £350. Nevertheless, some writers are willing to do a shorter visit for travelling expenses and the opportunity to sell their books and talk about their work. New writers who are finding their feet with school visits will often work for a reduced fee. The latter could be very useful to support your workshop; you would basically lead the workshop and they could add in valuable insights as you go along. You may find lists of writers who are happy to conduct school visits in the following places:

·         NAWE’s professional register,  http://nawe.new.hciyork.co.uk/professional-directory.html  

·         Wordpool’s Contact An Author http://www.contactanauthor.co.uk/

·         The Society of Authors’ Search for an Author http://www.societyofauthors.org/WritersAZ

You can always factor the writer’s fee into you expenses.

Obviously, one may also involve such bodies as the PTA or other support groups associated with your school.

Other good workshop supporters are creative writing students and graduates who are eager to get on PGCE courses. They are only too willing to offer free assistance in order to complete their school experience. As with the inexperienced writer, using them in this situation is ideal. They can learn from you. You retain the control. They have some expertise that you don’t have. Your school may  want to get a CRB check done, despite recent pronouncements by the Government and you must factor that into your expenses.  

In all cases, you need to allow time to acquaint these helpers with their role and to conduct any checks.   

Organizing your book

You may want to involve your students in any decision about this, but it is probably also worth having a few ideas yourself as well.  

What will you include? Do you just want to include one type of writing e.g. non-fiction or poetry? Do you want to include some work by everyone in the group? Or will you only include the very best work – even if that means that only a few students will be “published”? Will the contributions to the group be grouped by theme, type or person? Or all of these, within groups?  

Think what else you might want to include. Do you want to write an introduction? Do you want get someone else to write a foreword? Perhaps a senior person at your school or someone from the charity you are supporting or maybe your invited writer? Could you include all of these people in some way? If supporting a charity, do you want to include some information about it in the book? Could that be a project for one of your students? 

Do you want to include a contents page and / or an index? I actually advise against including an index of authors or mentioning them in the Contents; readers are likely to look only at the work of a person they know -   and could miss out on a real treat.   

Your theme

It’s actually a good idea to discuss any theme for your book with your students. Get them on board. The theme is a centralizing and motivating factor. It also allows each student to work according to their strengths and despite their weaknesses; each can make a contribution as long as what they produce fits the theme.

There are various ways of finding a theme and you can explore this with your students. Your theme may be to do with:

·         the curriculum

·         a charity you wish to support

·         something of local interest

·         what is on the students’ mind

Linked with the theme is the idea of the perceived reader. You might also like to discuss with your students who will read the book: interested adults, children the same age as the students, younger children, people who might benefit from the charity supported.

You might also like to ascertain the purpose of the book. Is it to make money for your chosen charity, raise awareness about that charity or to showcase excellent writing? Possibly it is a combination of these things.

Left to their own devices, students will conclude that they are producing the book merely to please their teachers. By providing a theme, a purpose and a perceived reader, you are providing your students with a quasi-commercial perspective on the book and replicating that balance that exists between art and commerce in the world of publishing.     

Time scale

You need to decide how much time you are going to devote to the Build a Book Workshop and how much of what needs to be done can actually be completed outside of “core” time.

For example, you might complete the whole workshop in a single day, over two days or a week off timetable. You might use it as an extracurricular activity conducted during lunch-times or a part of an after-school club. You might make it a part of normal lessons – perhaps as a joint activity between English, IT, Citizenship Art.

Incidentally, it may be easier to find funding if this is conducted as an extracurricular activity.

You need to accommodate the following tasks:

·         Negotiating theme, purpose and reader

·         Setting up writing tasks

·         Writing and word-processing work

·         Editing

·         Designing

·         Illustrating

·         Marketing

·         Launching and selling book

It may be possible to complete core tasks – e.g. setting up writing tasks, writing, editing, designing and illustrating during a designated time – for example on a day off timetable, and to complete the other tasks before and after the event. In this case, the setting up writing, writing and editing would take up about half of the time available.

Whatever you do, there will be some delay between when final version of the work is ready and when the book comes out. You or someone with technical expertise needs to get the book uploaded to a printer.

In any case, you will probably want to launch the book at a suitable time in the school year which may be at some distance in time from when your book is camera ready. You can factor that into your time plan.

It may also be possible to have a day off timetable to kick-start the project. The project could then carry on in further curriculum or extracurricular time.        

           Word-processing, collecting and collating work

Logistics are so important here. There will come a point when you need all of the work in two places – on a memory stick or similar and backed up somewhere else.

You might achieve this by rushing around at the end of the session and collecting everything onto the stick or by getting the students to save to a shared area. The first method is stressful and the second is safer but requires some effort on your part later.

And there are some unfortunate certainties:

·         Some students will fail to save their work or will save it to somewhere so obscure that neither you nor they will ever find it again.

·         Some students will fail to finish. 

·         You will have to do the final edit, no matter how well students have edited before. 

Getting all of the work in and ready to become a book can be quite a challenge. Whilst it is reasonable to say that many students will prefer to write straight to a computer, and that asking them to do this or word-process their work later offers them the opportunity to enhance their IT skills, there is no certainty that they will actually finish the work no matter how much time you allow.

You cannot possibly take on this work yourself and getting paid help with it would make your book’s price prohibitively high.

You have to think of a way of getting this word-processing completed. You might enlist the help of parents, or of students and graduates who are anxious to get some school experience or you might appoint a group of IT or design experts from amongst your students. The latter may work particularly well if you are conducting the workshop over several weeks.

If you do not give this matter enough attention, you risk losing your book. Factor your decision about how to get the word-processing completed into your planning.  

Finance

If you make your Build a Book Workshop an extracurricular activity, you may be able to obtain some funding e.g. Arts Council Small Grant. However, application processes are time-consuming and applications are not always successful.

You may be able to tap into some funds at your own school – for instance, is there a special fund for the Gifted and Talented, for Special Needs or for Activities Week? Or is this workshop so much part of what you normally do that you can use part of your normal budget to fund it?

It may not be possible to get any help. But the good news is that the book can be self-funding – more or less. For example, if you use a Print On Demand company, such as Lightning Source, at the time of writing, each book costs 70p plus 1p per page to print. It costs about £48 to upload your book and cover. You will probably want a proof copy at about £21.00. Each print run costs £1.39, and you do have to pay shipping. The latter starts at about £5.00 for five books but rapidly becomes a lot cheaper the more you order. Discounts are usually given on print runs over 50. It would probably be easy to sell a hundred books if you worked with a whole year group. So, if you retail your book at £4.00, and sell 100 you cover print costs, set-up costs and shipping and have quite a bit left over for your designated charity. If your marketing campaign flops completely and you don’t sell a single book, you’ll have a nice book for the school library and you’ll have spent about £70 on a worthwhile workshop. But actually, you’re likely to sell at least as many books as there are participants in the workshop. If you put your price up to £5.00, you are some way to covering the cost of a visiting writer even if they charge full price.

We actually offer a package where we provide a visiting writer, set up the title for you, and guarantee £1.00 profit per hard copy book sold and 50% of profit on the e-book that comes automatically in the package. We do ask, though, that you pay the writer’s travel expenses.

Of course, if your budget runs to it, you might consider providing each student with a free copy of the book.

And if all of that still remains unaffordable, consider creating a web site instead. This can be done without spending a penny. You can still link to a charity. You might, however, want to consider purchasing a domain name – at about £10.99 for two years. How to do this is explained in Setting up a Web Book.    

Some post-workshop tasks  

Whichever way you time your workshop there will be some rather tedious tasks to complete afterwards. The excitement will be over, and a book can fail at this point because a busy teacher cannot find the time or motivation to complete the tasks.

Delegation, diarising and critical time planning are important here. The next chapter deals with critical time-planning. Here is a list of what needs to be completed after the workshop:

·         Word-processing of students’ work  

·         All work to be given a final edit

·         Camera ready Word document to be produced

·         Book to be prepared for uploading to the printer (See The Technical Stuff) 

·         Market book

·         Order copies

·         Have a book launch

Allow about ten hours for each of these activities. Remember, it doesn’t need to be you that does the work and it needn’t be done at one sitting. Your book launch, for instance, will probably last about two hours but may need up to eight hours preparation.


Find the book here. 

Monday 4 March 2024

Clara's Story

 

 


8 October 1918, Berlin: The end of a phase

Clara shuddered. It was one of those strange uncontrollable little movements. Her mother used to say it meant someone was walking over your grave. What did that mean, actually though? They were walking over where you were going to be buried? How would you know now? It was nonsense really but she had no better or even any other explanation for it. It wasn’t as if it was cold in the kitchen: the Kackelofen was lit and the sun was streaming through the window.

She put the rest of yesterday’s birthday cake away. Ernst had insisted she should celebrate her birthday despite his illness. She’d baked one of her special cheesecakes but nobody had had much appetite for it. It would keep a few days, she guessed. Perhaps when he was feeling better they would all appreciate it more.

 She looked at the clock. He should have called for his tea by now. It was half an hour past the normal time. She’d looked in on him earlier. He’d been sound asleep. Doctor Friedrich had said it was good to let him sleep. Perhaps she should go and look in on him again.

The doctor hadn’t really given a clear diagnosis. “It’s a combination of things, Frau Lehrs,” he’d said. “His worry about this war has weakened him. The rickets has got worse. And now this chest infection…”

“That shouldn’t kill a man, though, should it, Herr Doctor? He will recover won’t he?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say. He’s still quite young but you know this terrible war has taken its toll. It’s made men even younger than him want to give up. I’m sorry I can’t give you any better news.”

Damn men and their wars.  Clara made her way towards her husband’s room. So many men killed on both sides and so many left with half-lives. And now they were all so poor. It wasn’t so bad for them as for some of the people who worked in Ernst’s factory. But they had had to cut Imelda’s hours in order to pay for the nurse.

The door to Ernst’s room was flung open. Schwester Adelberg rushed out. “Frau Lehrs, you must come quickly,” she cried.

Clara hurried into the bedroom.

Ernst’s breathing was laboured. His chest was rattling.

“Should we send for the doctor?” said Clara. But she could tell from the look on the nurse’s face that it was too late.

“You must say your goodbyes,” Schwester Adelberg whispered guiding her gently towards the bed.

Clara knelt down beside her husband and put her face next to his. She took his hand. He was trying to speak but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Yellow bile streamed from his nose and seeped from the corners of his mouth and his eyes. He tried to push the sheets and blankets away.

“Does he have a fever?”

“It’s the blood rushing to his vital organs, trying to save them. His lungs are filling. That sound you hear is them working to expel the fluid but it has gone too far now.”

“Is – is he in pain?”

“He’s probably not comfortable and he’s very likely afraid and lonely. Talk to him.”

“Ernst – Ernst, my love. Don’t leave me yet. It’s too soon.”

Schwester Adelberg touched her shoulder. “There’s nothing more we can do,” she whispered. “Try to comfort him.”

Clara stroked his arm. “I’m here my darling. It will be all right. Sleep gently. You’ll soon have no more pain.”

He looked at once like a child and a man forty years older. Her father had not looked this frail when he’d died. Ernst’s poor body was a twisted wreck. But it had been like that all of his life and he’d done so much despite his disability. She stroked his hair.

He relaxed a little. He took one final breath and the rattle in his chest stopped. His faced changed and he looked peaceful. Yet at the same time he looked like a piece of paper. His lips and cheeks were grey. Yes, the life had gone out of him. That wasn’t her Ernst anymore. Even so she leant over and kissed his forehead. “Goodbye, sweetheart,” she whispered.

She knelt for a few more minutes holding his hand and then she stood up. “We’d better get the doctor here to sign a death certificate,” she said.

“I’m happy to stay and lay him out properly after the doctor’s visit,” said Schwester Adelberg.

“Thank you.”

“And would you like me to help with the arrangements?”

“That would be very kind. Now, I’d better go and let the children know.”

As Clara made her way down the stairs she realised that another phase of her life had ended.

Find your copy here. 

 

Friday 16 February 2024

Build a Book Workshop

 

Introduction

The Build a Book Workshop is about getting your students to create a book in a limited amount of time. They look at the whole process of how a book is made: writing, editing, selecting, designing, illustrating and marketing. This workshop enables students to see what is involved in producing a book and motivates them to start and to complete a piece of writing. 

They actually produce a book. It becomes a tangible object that sits on a shelf. You may also opt to have the book as an e-book and a web site if you wish. 

This process is very adaptable and can easily be used to build a book in a day, two days, a week, a month, a term or a year.

Some work needs to be carried out behind the scenes, some of which is quite technical, and this guide shows you how. If the technical work is too much, we also show you ways of getting help with that as effectively as possible.

Everything described in this manual for teachers is based on the experience of producing anthologies of children’s writers with schools. All of the books have supported a charity – in two cases this was the schools own library - and in all cases students’ confidence in their writing has increased.    

The Build a Book Workshop can be extremely cross-curricular and offers your students opportunities to:

·         improve their writing

·         understand the world of publishing

·         work collaboratively

·         understand the wider community

·         support the wider community

·         understand how businesses work

·         improve their IT skills

·         take part in an enterprise activity

 

This manual contains a step-by-step guide to setting up a Build a Book Workshop and making sure that a book is produced at the end of it. There are several choices at each stage of the process. It is probably a good idea to read it from cover to cover to start with and then work through it section by section when you have a clearer idea of your workshop shape. 

You may also order a book containing photocopiable resources from our web site. You may purchase this as a hard copy or as a PDF file. Also a template for formatting your book is available from our web site. 

 Find your copy here

Tuesday 30 January 2024

The Tower, Landquake

 


“It’s a landquake!” shouted Nazaret. “We have to get into the safebox! It’s a landquake.”

“What?” asked Kaleem. What was a safebox? What was a landquake for that matter?

“This way, quick,” called Nazaret. He was passing a laser key over what Kaleem had never even realised was a door. 

“It’s not working. Come on, come on!” He kept passing the key over the panel. “We’ve only got a few seconds.”

The whole building shook again.

“Stand in the doorway, at least,” called Nazaret. “Quick. The big one will happen in a minute.”

Kaleem did as he was asked.

Nazaret continued to fiddle with the laser key.

The building carried on shaking and rumbling. Kaleem had heard about earthquakes on Terrestra but although they used to do a lot of damage, they wouldn’t do now because the buildings were made so well. And there had not been one for over a thousand years. Since all of that activity in the early twenty-first century it had been relatively quiet. Even then, though, the quakes had only lasted a few seconds.

“Thank goodness,” called Nazaret as a door sprang open. “Come on. Get in. Quick.”   

As soon as they were in the box and Nazaret had sealed the door the shaking and juddering stopped.

“What’s going on?” asked Kaleem.

“It’s a landquake,” said Nazaret. “It hasn’t happened for nearly two thousand years.”

“So, what is a landquake?” asked Kaleem. “Is it like an earthquake on Terrestra?”

“Same effect, different cause,” said Nazaret. “It isn’t something happening underneath the planet’s crust, like on Terrestra. It just happens up on the surface. It’s sort of rippling caused by sudden changes in temperature.”

“What causes that?” asked Kaleem.

“Sun spot activity, massive storms….,” Nazaret went pale. “By Zandra, I hope it’s not all the new plantations that have done it.”

“It wouldn’t be, would it?” said Kaleem.

“Who knows?” said Nazaret with a shrug.

The safebox suddenly started to vibrate.

“What’s happening?” asked Kaleem.

“We’re almost down,” said Nazaret. “The box is preparing to land.”

“How does this work, then?” said Kaleem.

“The box has very strong shields, sensors and stabilisers,” replied Nazaret. “It finds its way through the falling debris and finds a place to land where no building can fall on it.”

“So do all buildings have safe quake boxes?” asked Kaleem.

“Yes, they have to, by law,” said Nazaret.

“Nobody ever told me,” said Kaleem. Huh! Look well if he’d been in the house on his own.

“Well it’s more of a superstition now really,” said Nazaret. “We’d begun to think it was never going to happen again.”

“Box landed,” said an electronic voice. “Doors opening in twenty seconds”

“Oh well, here goes,” said Nazaret. “Let’s hope your mother got out okay.”

Kaleem and Nazaret stepped outside the safebox. Their building looked quite damaged but not destroyed. I suppose they must build everything to resist landquakes, thought Kaleem. There were several other safeboxes on the ground. Already builder droids were clearing the rubble. People were milling around looking dazed but not hurt.

Kaleem suddenly remembered Edmundson’s panic. Had he known about the landquake coming? Was that why he’d told him to get home quickly? What would have happened if it had started on the way home? 

Nazaret’s personal communicator buzzed.

“Darling, thank goodness you’re okay,” Kaleem heard Nazaret say. There was a pause while Marijam said something. “Yes, yes, he’s fine. He was in the apartment and came down in the safebox with me.” Another pause. “Yes, yes, you’re right. And I need to find out how the plantations are.” He turned to Kaleem. “Let’s go and find a public dataserve centre.”

They didn’t have to go far. They found a centre with only a small queue. Kaleem held his breath as his father called up the plantation centre.

Nazaret went pale again. “No!” he gasped. He slumped in his comfisessel. His hands were shaking. Kaleem thought he was going to pass out.

Kaleem looked over his father’s shoulder at the screen. Two thirds of the plantations had been destroyed.        

Find your copy here