Year 7 to 9 Secondary students at St George's International School in Luxembourg got an insight into the creative process on Wednesday with a visit from award-winning novelist and dramatist, Nicky Singer.
The visit formed part of Ms. Singer's current tour around schools in the Grand Duchy as a means of sharing her work, knowledge of writing and experiences an author to inform and inspire students.
The Brighton-based author's first children's novel, 'Feather Boy', received the Blue Peter Book of the Year Award in 2002 and was later adapted into a children's series by the BBC, going on to win a BAFTA for Best Children's Drama.
Secondary students in Years 7 to 9 received a creative writing workshop, topics of which included global warming and man's responsiblity in nature, with Ms. Singer encouraging the students to consider their roles, actions and responsibilities towards the planer. She also explained how authors can use their own experiences to make fiction, giving the example of when she was in the initial phases of writing her novel 'Knight Crew', a contemporary take on the Arthurian legends. Around 150 pages in, she was invited to visit a prison to provide further research for the gangland violence evoked in her book. There, she met an inmate who, to her surprise, showed all the characteristics and nature of her main character OG.
"This was OG, the leader of my gang, who I thought I'd made up," she explained. "What clinched it was that the man [called Khaine] was wearing a cut-off baby-blue T-shirt - the colour I'd chosen for my Knight Crew gang."
The encounter turned into the first of many as she went on to see Khaine on several other occasions over the course of the next four years, even integrating a line he had said into the novel: "the sun is so bright you think there can't be darkness anywhere in the world."
Ms. Singer also spoke of her theatre work, after her play 'Island' opened at the National Theatre in 2012 and which is has recently reworked as a novel featuring illustrations by UK Children's Laureate, Chris Riddell.
Although Ms. Singer explained that everyone is a born storyteller, she claimed that often it is a specific life event that triggers an individual's path towards becoming a writer. This was the case for her, after her father died unexpectedly when she was just 14 years old. This enabled her to tap "into emotions" and understand "the importance of empathy" - qualities she insisted were vital to being a writer.
During a subsequent Q&A session, Ms. Singer revealed that she is currently writing a book on migration and that it usually takes her around 18 months to complete a book. When asked how she began writing, she replied: "I started writing from the age of 6 and won a chocolate bar. This is easy money, I thought; I'll do this again", leading her to enter competitions sponsored by Cadbury's chocolates."
Head of Secondary, Mark Fleet, thanked the author on behalf of the students and staff for her visit, which was seen as an example of the importance of students gaining interaction with, and inspiration from, exemplars of their field, particularly in the creative arts.
Photos by St. George's International School
