Launching Dormant Stories #001
Monthly story starters, writing ideas, and part-works for teaching writing at KS12.
Hi friends,
Welcome to this first newsletter for my Dormant Stories project. If you've not seen the site yet Dormant Stories is a collection of story starters for young writers, lying dormant (yep, went there) until one of them is picked up and continued. The story beginnings are all written by me and the site is a fun way to collect them in one place for anyone to use. I've been writing them on and off for about twenty years because I often found it easier to write an example of the technique I wanted my pupils to experience and emulate rather than have to search for one from scratch. I've decided a newsletter would be a fun way to share them and it also gives me a chance to talk about other tools, sites and books I love. I hope you find value in some of this too - I'd love to hear from you in the comments or by hitting reply.
✍️ Featured Story Starter
Here's this week's story starter from the collection…
The Frozen Wilderness
I looked back at the battered wreck of our aeroplane. The giant 747 lay at the end of its makeshift landing strip, like a fallen dragon; its last breaths forming plumes of smoke, which rose into the cloudless sky, even after defeat. A tell-tale passage of crushed and broken trees led away towards the distant mountains, signalling the direction where just minutes ago we had tumbled from the sky and sliced a path through the tall trees.
Around me the shocked and fragile passengers clung to one another, trudging slowly through the dense snow. The captain had insisted we were within a day’s walk of a weather station, and that with not a single working radio this was our best option.
Read the complete opening and support material on the website
✍️ Quick Idea
A quick idea that might spark interest…
One day you wake up and you have shrunk to the size of your dog. What will you do? How will you work out how to get back to normal?
📚 Hitting the Books…
Start With Why, by Simon Sinek
"Very few people or companies can clearly articulate WHY they do WHAT they do. By WHY I mean your purpose, cause or belief - WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?"
This week's focus book has helped me many times when choosing what projects to focus on, and which to decline. The book is a great start in defining your real purpose and seeing how your personal and professional choses can be led by this overarching mission and value. Take a look, you won't regret this one.
Check out Start With Why, by Simon Sinek | View other book reviews | Captured with Readwise
❤️ This Week's Favourites
A few links to interesting writing based content I've been thinking about recently.
🔧Tool: Microsoft Office Lens (App)
I love this scanning app - when I find a great passage in a story or book I want to keep, Lens is my go-to app for grabbing a scan and filing it. The lens tool is now amalgamated into lots of other Microsoft apps, including the Office iOS and Android apps.
🔧Kit: Logitech iPad Keyboard Case
Love this keyboard case! Half the price of the official Apple keyboard case, and great responsive keys and trackpad. Looks great and fits really securely over the entire iPad. Keyboard half comes off easily for tablet use, but as a keyboard completely changes the way I can use my iPad. I type more on this than my Mac these days, because of this keyboard.
https://geni.us/logitechcombiipadkbd
🎞 Video: TED Ed Talk: What makes a hero?
Great TED video by Matthew Winkler about crafting a hero in your story, and the common traits that we can use in our writing to bring them to life.
📜 ICYMI:
A few things from previous newsletters that I thought you might appreciate reminding about :-)
Yea, so this is episode one, so let's do this next time 👍🏻
What else can I share with you…
🎞️ Featured Course: OneNote Course on SkillShare!
I've published a number of courses on SkillShare! Take a look at 'How to Organise EVERYTHING in OneNote'. It's my complete guide to the awesome organisation and teaching app that I use to organise everything in my life.
You can get two weeks free access to view this and any of their other courses https://geni.us/everythingonenotess
📒 Affiliate Disclaimer
Some product links in this newsletter are affiliate links which means if you buy something I may get a small commission. There is no additional cost to you.