Story Sports™ takes the concept of a writing workshop and turns it into a competitive sport.
It's a little like theatre sports, except that the emphasis is on writing skills. Students compete in quick-fire games that test their creativity, imagination, and story-writing skills to win prizes.
The concept was developed after Brian noticed that students who would not normally express any interest in writing workshops, would participate enthusiastically when the same workshop was presented as a competitive sport.
| Teams |
Story Sports™ teams have three to four members, and six to eight teams can compete at one time. Spectators are welcome!
Teams need to elect a captain to read out their answers. Preferably someone with a strong, clear voice.
Brian will act as commentator and referee, scoring the results as the game progresses.
If possible, a panel of impartial judges will take on the job of scoring the answers. This panel will consist of Brian, plus two teachers.
Tables and chairs should be provided for the teams, along with pens and writing paper. |
| Audience Participation |
| Audience members are also invited to participate in some simple and fun games, with prizes, while the teams are working on their answers. |
| Heats and Finals |
| If a school has many teams keen on entering the Story Sports™ competition, these can be arranged in heats, with the winner of each heat going through to a final round. |
| Inter-school Competition |
Story Sports™ can also be run as an inter-school competition. Please contact Brian to help co-ordinate plans for such a competition as this requires a lot more organisation.
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Key Points:
- Length: 60-90 minutes
- Audience: Any size, from a single class
to an entire school.
- Ages: 10 years and up
- Teams: Up to 8 teams of 3 to 4 team
members
- Requirements: Whiteboard, Whiteboard
markers, whiteboard eraser
- Seating: A table and chairs for each
team, facing the audience
- Other: A table and chairs for the panel
of judges, if required
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| Prizes |
Prizes should to be provided by the school.
An appropriate prize for each member of the winning team would be a copy of one of Brian's books, or alternatively a book voucher from a local
bookshop.
In addition it is good to have a number of spot prizes for the audience. (mini-chocolate bars make good spot prizes.)
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| Example Games |
Here are a couple of examples of the type of game that will be played
in Story Sports: |
1. Opening Lines
Write the opening line of a romance novel in which at least one of the
main characters is a duck.
Length: maximum two sentences
Time: 2 minutes
Points awarded for Brevity/Imagination/Hooking the reader into the rest
of the story |
2. Points of View
Rewrite Little Red Riding Hood from the point of view of the wolf.
Length: maximum 200 words
Time: 5 minutes
Points awarded for Originality/Imagination |
| Information and Bookings |
| For more information, or to book a Story Sports
competition, please contact Brian. |
