We’re running a virtual summer camp for teen writers.

hi everyone I'm melor franka and if you don't know me I write books with morally great characters and gloomy Vibes and as of last summer I'm the fiction instructor at a virtual summer camp called exceptional Pursuits so how did I end up teaching uh it all started in 2022 when a fellow writer emailed me introducing herself as Emily Ericson Emily Ericson is here to talk about her book I am so impressed by you I'm just fascinated okay you graduated from high school to years ago you published in March what we had something in common besides just writing though we were both published as teenagers and that experience completely changed our lives so the following summer in 2023 Emily and I ended up launching exceptional Pursuits today is a really exciting day content wise because you're going to actually see the process of taking the words that you've written and formatted and the fancy cover that you've either designed yourself or paid someone to design for you and actually getting it online so that people can purchase it and so that you can get our goal was to help our students plan and write their first draft over the course of8 weeks and this year we are running the camp again but before I dive into the details and how you can join us here's a quick introduction from Emily hi everyone I'm Emily Erikson I published two non-fiction books as a teenager the first I Learned was about education reform in the United States and the second the art of Thea was about earning Straight A's in middle and high school without sacrificing your sleep social life or sanity getting a good score on a standardized test may feel good but nothing compares to the feeling of writing and Publishing a book of having it come in the mail and holding it in your hands it's providing this lifechanging experience to teens that motivated Mel and I to start exceptional Pursuits last summer was so much fun we were so impressed by how much progress everyone made and how much they grew in first place with 8,198 words we have Aiden coming up very very close to that 8,198 words with 8,032 words man that's close we have Danny let's talk about what our camp is like the first week is called kickoff week and it's the most intense period of instruction we're going to meet everyday on Zoom for 2 hours from Monday to Thursday to prepare for a group writing Sprint that weekend then as you work on your first draft after kickoff week we'll meet on Mondays and Wednesdays for 30 minute classes to cover various writing editing and Publishing related topics during kickoff week we talked about the big picture kind of stuff breaking the entire story down into beats and then on Monday we went over breaking up the individual chapters into Parts but now we're diving a little bit deeper into the actual writing itself kind of going paragraph by paragraph and analyzing what makes a good chapter not just structure-wise but when it comes down to the emotional aspect you want them to not only know what's going on but feel invested and actually care about what's going to be happening next so I I want to drill this into your guys' heads today you are the Puppet Master you control absolutely everything everything comes down to the execution there will also be opportunities for one-on-one coaching with Emily and me additional writing Sprints and extension activities writing a book is a daunting undertaking but you can do it if you go in with a plan and work diligently day after day you will write a book and you will be an author some of our classes will include the entire group taught by both Emily and Me While others will be divided and taught separately depending on whether you chose the fiction or non-fiction track I'm the fiction track instructor so I'll mainly be working with students who are interested in writing a Nolla or a novel if you choose to participate in the fiction track you'll learn how to develop a vague book idea into a comprehensive story Outline by using the plotting system I've developed over the last few years by the end of kickoff week you'll have everything you need to dive into the drafting process I'll help you set a word count goal for the summer and as you work toward reaching it you'll attend classes to learn about the beta reading editing and Publishing processes of course there will be plenty of opportunities to ask questions along the way so what can you expect if you choose to participate in the non-fiction track VP the first thing you should know is that writing a non-fiction book is nothing like the essays you write in middle or high school it's not just five paragraphs and an introduction and a conclusion it's an adventure you get to be a detective and lead your readers through thinking about your topic in a way they never have before and by being a detective I really mean being a detective you'll get to conduct research and synthesiz information from a variety of sources this can mean reading historical documents scientific literature talking to experts in the field or just people with really cool life experiences you can even use writing a non-fiction book as an excuse to put yourself in a really cool situation and reflect on the experience regardless of which track you choose and I hope you'll join us on this adventure this summer The World is waiting to hear your story and this is the summer you become an author anyone between the ages of 13 to 18 can apply and because our classes are held online we welcome students to join from anywhere in the world no writing experience is required the tuition cost is $800 for the full 8 weeks and we have a limited number of partial scholarships available you can learn more about that on our website under the FAQ section to join our interest list or apply now visit exceptional Pursuits tocom and if you have any questions please drop a comment below or send us an email thank you for watching this video and we hope to work with you this summer