At the C.H. Booth Library a group of young adults are spending the summer vacation, a time of reprieve from classes and schoolwork for most, to improve their writing skills in Creative Writing Summer Camp.More information about the library's summer programs and events is available at its website .chboothlibrary.org

The students meet for two-hour sessions each week. The Creative Writing Summer Camp is running for five weeks, under the direction of Aimee Pokwatka, who has an Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing and who has served as the editor of Salt Hill Journal and The Newtowner. The camp began on July 6 and will run until August 3.

"We generally focus on one core craft each week and do a variety of exercises that focus on that aspect of craft," Ms Pokwatka explained on July 13, while the camp was meeting.

One week, the students focused on story plots and the shapes of stories, which Ms Pokwatka described as "how a character's fortune rises or falls." On July 13, the students chose pictures of characters for another writing assignment.

Student Daniella Guerrieri practiced writing a story in the shape of infinite depression, which she said means things keep getting worse and worse for the character.

"My character was an actor and they were very scared for the movie they acted in," Daniella said.

Another week, the students learned about character development.

"If you don't know who the character is, it is hard to get invested in the story," Ms Pokwatka said.

The camp started off the session by discussing some of the group's favorite characters. Victoria Bambino said her favorite is Gus from John Green's book The Fault in Our Stars. "He was always positive and then he wasn't, and it made me sad. Then he was positive again," she said.

The students said they hoped to improve their writing abilities through the summer camp.

"I'm practicing writing for next year because, let's just say, last year I didn't do too well," admitted student Shreyas Potnuru.

According to Young Adult Librarian Kim Weber, the session for rising sixth and seventh graders has nine attendees, and the session for rising eighth and ninth graders has four attendees. The camp is limited to only the students who are already signed up, according to the library's website.

"I like writing and I feel like this focuses on everything about it and helps you get better at it," said Kayla Wadell.