We were fortunate to have the popular and award-winning Australian author Tristan Bancks visit Whitefriars virtually for a ‘Vision Boarding’ workshop. Students who had achieved in this year’s ‘Shared Stories Creative Writing’ competition had reserved seats to the workshop, as well as students who were simply interested in injecting their creative writing with some fresh tips and strategies.  It’s always intriguing how the journey to being a writer begins, and we were given special insight as to how Tristan melded memories from his own life and sparks from his reading, watching, and listening. As a writer of stories for books and screen, Tristan took us through practical activities on how to investigate and collect ideas in a multitude of formats. Inspiration in abundance, using soundtracks for visualising scenes, Google Maps for imagining the details of settings, and advice about how to just ‘start’ and not be too concerned about perfect beginnings. All in all, the students were provided with a rich experience they can apply to their own creations going forward.

Workshop participants were keen to share their feedback:

Tristan encouraged us to just keep going, even if it doesn’t make sense

Through the workshop activities we were reminded to listen to music that resonates with your writing when you get stuck… and use Google Maps for story ideas.

I was able to understand and learn new things that would help me in future writings!… You don’t have to have a starting point in the story, you could start anywhere you want. just get your thoughts down! 🙂

The Shortis Library Team