Kōkiri Learn

Week 3 of 5

Craft the story and meet other sci-fi voices

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

Session 1 · AUTHOR: Techniques

Show, don't tell

  1. 10 minCompare: 'The city was futuristic' versus a paragraph full of specific, strange details. Which pulls you in?
  2. 20 minScene zoom: write one scene in your world using all five senses and one invented object.
  3. 15 minCharacter with a want: who is your main character, what do they want, and what's in the way?
  4. 5 minChoose your opening: start in the middle of something happening.

Session 2 · AUTHOR: Hear Voices

Voices from many futures

  1. 10 minBook-box speed date: read the first page of three sci-fi books, from Aotearoa and overseas.
  2. 20 minCompare openings: how does each writer help you understand a strange world quickly?
  3. 15 minTalk: whose futures are shown in sci-fi? Are people like you in them? Why does that matter?
  4. 5 minNote one technique from a published writer that you will borrow.

Getting started

Write your scene as a diary entry by someone living in your world.

Stretch

Rewrite your scene from the point of view of a non-human character, such as a robot or an alien.

Checkpoint

Each student has a sensory scene, a main character with a want and a problem, and an opening idea.

Activities for this week

  • Museum of the future: What everyday object from your future world tells its story?
  • Scene zoom: How do sensory details make an invented world feel real?

Useful this week