John Boyne and Markus Zusak Share Writing Tips and Tricks

By Maggie McGarry | Posted: Sunday May 12, 2019

Year 10 students had the wonderful opportunity of seeing world renown authors at the 2019 Readers/Writers Festival

Last Friday the entire cohort of Year 10 went to Otago Girls' High School to listen to John Boyne and Markus Zusak talk about storytelling. 

With this came an exciting and rare opportunity for our students to meet one of the authors,  John Boyne, whose novel, "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" they have been studying this year.

The other author, Markus Zusak, gave a hilarious personal story that reflected some thoughtful take-home tips for students. He highlighted that your life is not boring and that you should write about it, that it's the small details in the stories that make them memorable, that the unexpected is what makes the story, and that you should also build the back story. 

Both authors stressed the importance of editing and that you should check your writing multiple times.  Year 10 students will get to practise the tips they learnt in their Creative Writing Unit coming up.