Write a Book in a Day

From Head of Library Services, Mr William Roberts

This year, three Waverley teams participated in Write a Book in a Day, The Kids’ Cancer Project’s national story writing competition. Students work together to craft a story in one school day and each team receives a set of parameters that they have to incorporate into their writing.

We thank the following boys for their efforts and commitment on this special day:

Archie Godby, Kayden Baker, Thomas Jackson-Whitlock, Axl Igra, Nick Zanapalis, Dominic Schofield, Oscar Danta, Oscar Wilson, Fox Stapleton, Kobe Jones, Dexter Craddock, Jay Briggs, Max Court, Jonty Booy, Chris Snelling, Luka Zonich, Max Van Buuren, Michael Richmond, Noah Mather, Eddie Beswick, Logan Mcauliffe, James Kort, Malo Morrisey, Matis Jos-Rolland, Rocco Moustacas, Jay Palm and James Peate.

Here are three reflections on the day from Year 7 students James Peate, Kayden Baker and Oscar Danta.

From Year 7 Student, James Peate 

It was a challenging day this Tuesday for the student authors and illustrators participating in Write a Book in a Day. We had one day to write a book under the following criteria. 

Characters

• Superhero
• Rugby player
• Librarian 

Special words

• Light 
• Hungry 
• Whistle
• Gold 
• Bubbly 

It also had to have distinctive Australian elements, so we set the story at a Bunnings. This was both a blessing and a curse. It’s much easier to write a narrative with criteria rather than someone giving you a pen and saying, “Please write 3,500 words in just under six hours.” However, when you have a great idea for two of the characters but you need a way to incorporate the third, it can be difficult.

You can read the blurb for our story below.

The clock is ticking for Reggy the retired rugby player and a squad of workers trapped in a vault. A clumsy move from Reggy caused the construction site around him to collapse. It is up to Mary Sue, an 80-year-old, bubbly librarian, and Super Shawn, an incompetent hero, to save the day. 

Will they be able to overcome challenges and arguments that tear them apart? Will Reggy be able to redeem himself? Or will the day end in disaster?

Once we came up with the idea of the story, we had to divide the work evenly across the team. We decided to write a chapter each. 

We faced one major problem. Most of the people in our team were illustrators. While this did lead to a great variety of artistic input and a greater variety of pictures to accompany our book (as shown by the two depictions of the vault the characters are trapped in), it did mean that the authors had a lot more to do. 

To make sure that they didn’t have to do everything, everyone wrote a chapter and the two authors then expanded on the ideas. One person then went over it to edit out inconsistencies.

All in all, it was a fun experience. Working with so many other people really gives you a new perspective on writing. The teamwork skills we developed will help us to be better collaborators and creators going forward. I definitely recommend participating in Write a Book in a Day if you get the chance. 

From Year 7 Student, Kayden Baker

As we were told the parameters of the 2020 Write A Book in a Day Competition, we were jumping out of our skin! Ideas came flowing into our minds like streams. We all explained and expressed our ideas and knowledge as a group, and worked cooperatively. As the day went on, we wrote and our teamwork flourished. Not only was this experience extremely informative and enjoyable, however, it also allowed us to develop new relationships and strengthen ones we already had. This day was absolutely incredible and I will clearly remember it as one of the best days of my schooling life!

From Year 7 Student, Oscar Danta

I found that the day was an enjoyable learning experience. It was a perfect way to practise cooperation and writing skills. An issue that we faced that would inevitably happen was the problem of cooperation. But it still was one of my favourite events of the year and is something to look forward to next year!