Will The Next Agatha Christie Please Step Up?

By Nancy K. Crevier

For young people with “Who dunnit?” in their blood and ink in their pens, the C.H. Booth Library and Newtown resident and WestConn humanities instructor Julie Stern, along with Dr Philip Kotch, have just the workshop coming up. The Young Adult Creative Writing series will feature five consecutive Mondays of Mysteries and Adventure Thrillers writing, beginning January 26. This session will be the third time that Ms Stern and Dr Kotch have led the writing group for sixth to eighth grade students.

“I love mysteries,” said Ms Stern, who reads mysteries voraciously and has written two mysteries herself for her own grandchildren. “Mystery writing is more structured than narrative writing, so I think that makes it easier,” she said. “The kids seem to have a lot of fun with it.”

The class has evolved since the two leaders first introduced the workshop. “The first time, we let the kids come up with their own ideas and we spent a lot of time that was not too productive. The kids also kept veering into fantasy, which I didn’t have much patience with at the time,” admitted Ms Stern.

Since then, Dr Kotch and Ms Stern have learned that just as a good mystery is well structured, so too, is a class about writing mysteries. “Now, we come with situations for the kids to think about and build on,” said Ms Stern. For example, “Two generic characters, let’s call them Jody and Molly, are selling Girl Scout cookies and come to a house they are a little nervous about approaching. A scary man opens the door, and they see a body on the floor behind him. What do they do?” asked Ms Stern. Or the characters are shopping at Target and see an unpopular teacher shoplifting a CD. The situations give the children a jumping off point for writing, said Ms Stern, as do other techniques that she and Dr Kotch use in the workshop.

Suggesting the title for a mystery, such as “Take Me Out At The Ballgame,” can help young writers visualize a setting and come up with characters that can then be worked into a mystery. Or the leaders may throw out motivations for the writers to build upon. “Write about someone who is jealous. Write about someone who wants revenge, or is fearful. These ideas can get the kids writing,” explained Ms Stern, as do the exercises in writing dialogue that the two leaders throw into the mix.

While they have fun during the two hours they are together each week, the five-week session is geared toward serious, committed young writers, Ms Stern pointed out. “The kids have to be willing to write, to share, and be willing to be critiqued by each other. I am constantly amazed, though, at how constructive and positive their critiques are,” she said.

Dr Kotch, a former library board member and retired surgeon, had been involved in several library programs when young adult librarian Margaret Brown asked if he would assist in the young adult programs. “She put Julie and I together, and we’ve been a team ever since,” said Dr Kotch.

He agreed with Ms Stern that structuring the mysteries writing class has greatly improved the format. “The kids have such imaginations, it is amazing, but without structure their imaginations can go a little wild,” he said.

Along with the ideas to stimulate writing, Dr Kotch said that it helps the young writers to have the adults there to talk to when they get stuck. “Sometimes in just a few minutes of talking through the problem with me, they are back on track. It’s gratifying to see the results. It makes it worth my small contribution,” Dr Kotch said.

The weekly sessions offer youth the opportunity to draw upon the experience of the leaders, develop their own voices, and plenty of time to write with purpose. Each week the writers have the option to continue to work on the previous week’s writing or to start all over with a new exercise, said Ms Stern. There is no assigned homework, but the enthusiasm for the writing exercise is often carried home by members of the class.

The class seems to draw a wealth of talented young writers each time it is offered, said Ms Stern. “I am amazed by the imagery, the observations, and the plots that these kids come up with each time.”

The hardest part about mystery writing is pulling it all together, and that is why Dr Kotch and Ms Stern constantly circulate the room, offering assistance. “Knowing how to end a mystery is the hardest thing for them. Philip has a great ability to articulate to the kids what we are doing, and is a great help to the writers,” she added.

Because the ideas offered change each time, and because the writers themselves have grown, the class continues to appeal to even young people who have previously taken the Mysteries and Adventure Thrillers workshop, said Ms Stern. “It’s like tennis lessons. It’s exercises. I’m giving them a chance to do it and that seems to be what they want.”

The Mysteries and Adventure Thrillers writing group will meet from 6 to 8 pm, on five Monday evenings, January 26, February 2, February 9, February 23, and March 2. There is no class during school break. There is makeup date of March 9, if needed. Participants are expected to attend all five sessions, and preference is given to Newtown students and residents.

The group is limited to ten students in grades 6 through 8. There is no fee.

The YA Creative Writing program is funded by the Pitney Bowes Employee Involvement Fund and Danbury Community Investments Committee, as well as the Friends of C.H. Booth Library. For more information, speak to Margaret Brown, YA librarian. Sign up at the main floor desk or call 426-4533.