Deborah Abela is an Australian author of children's books, most notably the Max Remy, Super Spy series, Grimsdon and Teresa A New Australian. She came to give a writing workshop to the Year 3 students. She talked about what made her a writer, saying that from an early age she always thought, "I wonder what would happen if...." Deborah has written 24 books and talked about writing a story being like making a cake with a blank piece of paper in front of us and we need to start at the beginning (before we pick up a pen). The secret three ingredients you need for a story are complication (the problem), characters and a setting. You can then work out an exciting start, the title and an ending.
The students were extremely engaged as she talked them through how she decided on the plot for Grimsdon. Just as The Lorax is Dr Seuss's cranky book about the destruction to environment, Grimsdon came from her concern about the way the planet is being treated. The question Deborah asked which started this story was - "I wonder what would happen if something big went wrong with the planet?"
Year 3 students thoroughly enjoyed working with Deborah and are very keen to get started writing their own stories.
Mrs Emma Harris
Stage 1 Coordinator
