Speaking to Students about Writing

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

When I was asked to speak to the 8th graders at the local middle school, my first thought was, “Oh cool…I can encourage young people to write.”  Then I thought, “Uh-oh.  But these are middle schoolers.  And middle schoolers are scary.”

Then there was a sense of relief that my daughter at that school is in 7th grade and wouldn’t be embarrassed by me, no matter what.

I have spoken at everything from elementary schools to retirement homes.  I don’t think anything intimidated me quite as much as speaking to this age group (middle schoolers are roughly ages 11-14…8th graders being at the upper end of the spectrum).  Let’s just say I made sure I prepared so that I looked like I knew what I was talking about. Middle schoolers aren’t known for suffering fools lightly.  It was career day and I was talking about a career in writing.  Once I focused on the writing, I got through whatever anxiety I had with speaking to this age group.

The amazing thing was how receptive the kids were.  I spoke to roughly 120 kids and found most of them very attentive.

I also heard that other people speaking at career day were a policeman, a fireman, a radio personality, and a banker.  I figured at least I could be more interesting than the banker, right?

As soon as I was asked to help out with career day, I asked my 12 year old daughter for tips in addressing the kids.  She raised her eyebrows and said, “You better use a lot of pictures, Mama.”

That’s when I put the power point together.  With pictures.  Actually, it was Prezi (I used the free version) and it worked really well.

Here’s what I learned from Friday’s presentation:

Get visual. As my daughter said, “Use lots of pictures.”  I also used physical props to illustrate points: a printed-out, marked up draft; an ARC; finished books; old notebooks I’d filled with poems and stories from when I was a kid.

Keep it relevant to them.  I talked about successful young writers, what a writer’s day is like, the future for writers and writing, and why I thought it was a great career. I touched on querying (mostly in the context of dealing with rejection), contracts, and promo, but kept that part brief.

Keep it upbeat and uncomplicated.  Obviously, some of the business aspect of writing or details of promo or even craft details aren’t going to be very interesting when you’re just generally outlining what you do.

Bring treats.  Especially on career day.  Because all those other parents had promo junk from their offices.  I brought candy. :)

Leave time for questions.  I was surprised at the number of questions and the scope of the questions.

Bring a handout/business card/bookmark/something with your email address on there.  Some kids were shy about asking questions in front of others.

Remind them there are many different types of jobs that writers can do.  We’re novelists, but there are also screenwriters, scriptwriters, songwriters, journalists, playwrights, copywriters, game writers…lots of opportunities for content creators.

Some of the questions they asked:

What about self-publishing?  Is that a good choice? (Yes, they did know about this topic!  I was amazed.)

How do you get your ideas?  (Of course.)

Do you make money when people buy books?  How much royalty do you get?

Why do you write under two names?

Is it hard to promote two different names? Do you wish you only had one?

Do you have a favorite book that you wrote?

Have you ever done a school visit?    Spoken to this age group?  What are your tips?

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