On January 25, Katherine Arden gave an author talk to our Middle School Book Club and to the sixth grade students from the Prosper Valley School. This was a really exciting opportunity for the sixth graders and eighth graders to ask questions and interact with an accomplished author who lives in Vermont. The Middle School Book Club is reading
Small Spaces and a number of the sixth graders have read all four books in the horror quartet.
Arden explained that the "What if..." question is the starting point for her writing process. For Small Spaces it was, "What if this bus broke down right now?" followed by "What if something came out of the fog to get us?" She also explained that her inspiration comes from many things including Stephen King books like The Shining and fall in Vermont.
There were so many great questions about her writing process, character development, finding her voice as a writer and how she gauges what is too scary for kids. When asked for her reaction to Arden's visit, Grace Perrault said, It was extremely interesting, and I learned a lot about character development and what it is like to write a book."
Arden also gave some great advice for young writers conveying the importance of reading a lot of books, always being prepared with pen and paper to jot down ideas and she stressed the importance of writing and rewriting. When asked what they found inspirational about Arden's presentation Tegan Miller and Zara Paczkowski were in agreement. Tegan Miller, stated, "Her perseverance. I myself struggle with commitment with books, so I think that was a real inspiration." And Zara Paczkowski concluded, "I was inspired to continue writing because she worked on a book for four years before it got published."
As we wrapped up, students were asked to share words that describe Arden's books and some of the adjectives they chose were, "enthralling," "horrifying," "exciting" and "fun." All high praise for Arden's work from our students!
