This fall we’re back with two more Saturday morning writing workshops, including our first movie production workshop!

To learn more or sign up, click on the links below:

• Graphic Novel – Saturday, December 14, 3 PM – 6 PM – $75

This fall we’ll be hosting Saturday morning workshops from 9 AM – 12 PM. We’ll have focused sessions on Science-Fiction/Fantasy, Graphic Novels, and other areas!

Look for sign-up information on Facebook or through our homepage soon!

We’ll be back with two new camps the week of July 15, an all-genre SHORT STORIES CAMP and, for the first time, a VIDEO SHORT STORY CAMP!

Our SHORT STORIES CAMP is our classic camp for young writers who want to create and publish a short story, with an open focus for genre. Due to the demands of curriculum standards, our schools often have little time for fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction. It’s not the fault of our awesome teachers or schools; it’s just the demands of our standards. This is a space for writers who want to CREATE! During the week, writers will develop a story idea, plan it out, draft it, revise it, and then publish it in an anthology of writing from the camp. Writers will receive multiple conferring sessions each day, to help provide feedback and reassurances on their decisions as writers. This session will take place July 15 – 19 from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Mayflower Congregational Church. Sign up here!

We’re very excited to offer our first-ever VIDEO SHORT STORY CAMP! Much like our writing and graphic novel camps, we’ll be focused on telling short stories. This is NOT a camp on TikTok, Instagram Reels, Twitch, or how to be a YouTube streamer. This is all about how to make a video short story. We’ll go through the steps of pre-production, production, and post-production, with an emphasis on telling stories with a beginning, middle, and end. We’ll learn about shot composition, editing, and some general theory. This session takes place July 15-19 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Mayflower Community Church. Sign up here!

All camps are intended for students in 3rd through 6th grade, but we’ll always consider a student who’s really interested in writing!

Both camps are hosted by local elementary teacher Tim Saunders. Tim is a 5th grade teacher and former instructional coach in a West Michigan public school with 20 years experience as a teacher and educator. Additionally, Tim is a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan-Flint and Grand Valley State University, past-president of the Kent Reading Council, member of the National Writing Project, Teacher Consultant of the Lake Michigan Writing Project, a four-time attendee of the Teachers College Summer Writing Institute at Columbia University, and a published writer and journalist. Prior to earning his teaching degree, Tim completed a Film and Video degree from Grand Valley State University. Tim has also worked on a few local films with national distribution, as well as hosting video clubs during his elementary teaching career.

We’re back!

This June we’re offering two summer writing camps.

The week of June 3-7 we’ll have a morning camp for SCI-FI AND FANTASY SHORT STORIES! This camp will meet 9 AM to 12 PM at Mayflower Congregational Church. During the week we’ll be writing a number of short stories in a variety of genres, learning from short stories we love, and unlocking the power of revising to make our writing as strong as possible.  You can sign up here. $250

We’ll also offer an afternoon camp from 1 PM to 4 PM on GRAPHIC NOVELS! We’ll take a deep dive into creating characters, learning some basics on illustration, creating thumbnails, and lettering. All along the way we’ll focus on developing stories with strong structures. You can sign up here. $250

All camps are intended for students in 3rd through 6th grade, but we’ll always consider a student who’s really interested in writing!

Both camps are hosted by local elementary teacher Tim Saunders. Tim is a 5th grade teacher and former instructional coach in a West Michigan public school with 20 years experience as a teacher and educator. Additionally, Tim is a guest lecturer at the University of Michigan-Flint and Grand Valley State University, past-president of the Kent Reading Council, member of the National Writing Project, Teacher Consultant of the Lake Michigan Writing Project, a four-time attendee of the Teachers College Summer Writing Institute at Columbia University, and a published writer and journalist.

Join us July 24-28 from 9 AM to 12 PM for our Short Stories writing camp!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

During the school year, our students write personal narratives, opinion pieces, and research papers, but it’s very rare that they get to write fantasy, science fiction, suspense, mythology, or historical fiction. Our camp this week will take a deep dive into crafting imaginative worlds, exciting characters, and dynamic stories!

Throughout the week we’ll learn strategies for generating ideas, creating compelling characters, learning from short stories we love, and unlocking the power of revising to make our writing as strong as possible. Campers should complete one story for inclusion in a printed, collected anthology of our writing from the week!

This camp takes place at Mayflower Congregational Church.

About Tim
Tim Saunders is an elementary teacher in East Grand Rapids. Currently serving as a 5th grade teacher, Tim has 18 years experience teaching elementary writers in Michigan and Colorado. Additionally, he’s also an undergraduate and graduate online lecturer at the University of Michigan and Grand Valley State University, former president of the Kent Reading Council, member of the National Writing Project, four time attendee of the Teachers College Writing Summer Institute, and a published writer. Of all these things, Tim loves teaching young writers.

Starting this Monday we’re hosting two separate writing camps at Mayflower Congregational Church!

The week of June 5-9, we’ll offer a morning camp from 9 AM to 12 PM on SHORT STORIES! During the week we’ll be writing a number of short stories in a variety of genres, learning from short stories we love, and unlocking the power of revising to make our writing as strong as possible. You can sign up here. $250

We’ll also offer an afternoon camp from 1 PM to 4 PM on GRAPHIC NOVELS! We’ll take a deep dive into creating characters, learning some basics on illustration, creating thumbnails, and lettering. All along the way we’ll focus on developing stories with strong structures. You can sign up here. $250

All camps are intended for students in 3rd through 6th grade.

Calling all writers!

This coming Saturday, May 20, we’ll be back at Mayflower Church from 9 AM – 12 PM for an elementary writing workshop on Learning From Authors!

How can we write more like the authors we love? How do we write with heart? How can we add humor? How can we construct a sentence that packs a wallop? This workshop will explore these questions and more. We’ll learn how add some specific craft moves to our writing, but more than anything we’ll spend time learning how to read like a writer.

Check out our sign-up here!

This spring the Grand Rapids Writing Camps are back with new spring and summer offerings, along with a new location.

Mayflower Congregational Church will be the new home for our spring and summer offerings.

On Saturday, May 13, we’ll be offering a morning workshop from 9 AM to 12 PM on FAN FICTION! This three hour workshop will give your student support in planning, drafting, and revising stories inspired by the stories that move them. We’ll take a deep dive into what makes source material like Harry Potter and Star Wars so compelling, develop meaningful characters based on their favorite world, plan and outline character driven stories, and write, write, write! Our day will culminate with a share of our progress and goals. You can sign up here. $75

The following Saturday, May 20, we’ll offer another morning workshop from 9 AM to 12 PM on LEARNING FROM MENTORS! This workshop is for ALL GENRES and ALL STYLES of writing. Writers can bring a favorite book or text of any genre, and we’ll spend the morning learning craft moves from our favorite authors and writers. You can sign up here. $75

Finally, we’re very excited to offer our very first SUMMER CAMPS! The week of June 5-9, we’ll offer a morning camp from 9 AM to 12 PM on SHORT STORIES! During the week we’ll be writing a number of short stories in a variety of genres, learning from short stories we love, and unlocking the power of revising to make our writing as strong as possible. You can sign up here. $250

We’ll also offer an afternoon camp from 1 PM to 4 PM on GRAPHIC NOVELS! We’ll take a deep dive into creating characters, learning some basics on illustration, creating thumbnails, and lettering. All along the way we’ll focus on developing stories with strong structures. You can sign up here. $250

All camps are intended for students in 3rd through 6th grade.