Scott Franchuk, a summer student working at the Barrhead and Public Library, is hoping to pass on his love of writing to the youth of the community.
Starting on Tuesday, Aug. 4, for the first time ever, the library will be hosting a Youth Writer’s Camp.
The camp is open for anyone from the ages of 11 to 15-years-old.
“I’m really excited about it,” Franchuk said. “I have always been interested in writing and during our three days I hope to impart what I have learned and perhaps spark an interest in possibly pursuing writing in some form.”
Although Franchuk, a Barrhead native, just completed his second year at the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he is working towards a fine arts degree in movie production, the camp will include many forms of the written word from poetry, short stories and novels to how to write for TV, movies and video games.
The camp will also touch on the various forms of non-fiction.
The first day campers will learn the basics of writing fiction novels before moving on to non-fiction and poetry.
“On the first day we are going to set up our little newspaper,” he said. “Campers will get a chance to be reporters or columnists for the day. We will send them off to write stories about the library, the community and opinion pieces.”
And just like many of newpapers, the writer’s camp newspaper will include a comic.
In between, the journalists for the day, will be taking breaks from working on the newspaper to take part in various creative writing games, Franchuk has designed to keep camper’s creative juices flowing.
On the second day of the camp, Franchuk will concentrate his efforts on teaching the students how to write various scripts, whether it be for TV, movies or plays. Students will have the opportunity to write and perform in their own theatre production.
“This is really my first love,” he said. “Movies and TV are the art form that I enjoy the most and that I am most passionate about.”
When Franchuk isn’t studying about movies and TV production at UBC, he spends the majority of his free time thinking about how to create his own production.
“Last summer and during my Christmas break while I was in Barrhead, I made my own short films,” he said. “I used local actors from the high school or people that I knew that shared my passion for film.”
This summer, when he isn’t busy working at the library Franchuk hopes to make another short film before he returns to school.
When asked if he would be screening any of his films while he was back in Barrhead, Franchuck said he wasn’t sure.
“They’re just short movies,” he said. “I have entered the one I made last year into a few film festivals, but I haven’t heard back yet.”
On the third day, campers will get a chance to learn about one of the newest forms of writing for video games.
Franchuck has arranged for students to learn first hand from a writer from the Edmonton based video game company, BioWare. The company, which was recently bought by Electronic Arts, creates games for the PC, as well as on-line role playing games.
“They’re vary famous in the gaming world and were the creator of the Mass Effect series of games,” he said.
Due to the popularity of the topic, Franchuck is considering opening the BioWare portion of the camp to the general public.
“It is one of the most modern forms of writing and its becoming more and more popular, so I am really looking forward to see what he has to say,” he said.
As part of the camp, the young writers, will have what they consider to be their best piece submitted into a national young writers contest. Each writer will also leave the camp with a professionally bound book containing writing from everyone in the camp.
The Youth Writer’s Camp takes place Aug. 4 to 6 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The registration fee is $60. For more information or to register call the library at 780-674-8519 or email [email protected].
