First, I did a big assembly with Years 6, 5, 4 and 3 about reading and books. Then I did a creative writing workshop with Year 6, in which they produced some absolutely fantastic stories! And finally, I had the pleasure of signing a book for everyone who wanted one at the end of the day.
It was hugely inspiring for me as an author to see so much enthusiasm for books in this school. Before the assembly, I was shown the school library by two Year 6s, who pointed out all the books they'd read, and the ones they wanted to read next; and after the visit, I was very moved to receive some lovely letters.
So thanks to everyone again – and if anyone from Pooles Park would like to ask another question, or say anything about about the visit or my books, just leave me a comment below!
34 comments:
Mr SF Said, Did You Enjoy Your Visit To Our School? ( Pooles Park Primary )
-Jaydon
Hello Mr SF Said, Did you enjoy your visit to Pooles Park primary school? Was there anything you enjoyed seeing?
I hope that you liked visiting our school.Did you like the visit?
Canuud yr 6
Hi Mr Said, I would just like to say how amazing you are and thank you so much for taking your time to come visit us, we really enjoyed the workshop and assembly, I hope that Tyger comes out. We are currently reading Varjak the Outlaw and I am just mesmerised
Dear Mr Sf Said, I would like to say that a big thank you for coming to Pooles Park Primary school.
Questions:
How did you cope with haters saying that you would never succeed, what do you do?
How do you never get board of writing a book that is over a 150 pages long?
Hi Mr Said,
we really enjoyed your visit. Why did you think that the publisher
were all rejecting your books?
I really loved the book varjak paw.
I'm also enjoying the book outlaw varjak paw.
What Inspired You To write Varjak paw, Phoenix And Outlaw Varjak Paw?? I Like Varjak paw because its Good. My favourite characters are Varjak Razor and Jalal Paw
-Joseph Year 6
I got inspired by what you said it was a great opportunity for me to get new tips to use in my writing. I also read watership down after your suggestion , and it is a great book. I also like phonex and varjack paw
Questions:
How did you cope with all the negative feedback and people that rejected your work?
How were you able to cope with redoing your work 90 times?
hello mr sf said.I have a question. how long does it take you to write books? I hope you answer the question. I'm from pooles park primary school and when you visited our school I wasn't there,but there's alot of photos around the school so I know what happend ok I hope you read my comment.
what inspired you to write about Sally bones Holly Tam Razor and Lugar.
Hi,Mr Said
I deeply thank you for your visit to our school. We are all very grateful. I would like to tell you that we have successfully finished reading the first book of Varjak Paw. We are now on the second book about him. I was wondering if you could write another book about him
because I really enjoy reading about how he manages to constantly escape from the dark grasp of Sally Bones and we would like to find out more about what happens next to him.I hope that you will get my comment.
It's been a pleasure, thank you for taking your time to come to our school.Thank you for giving advise.
Hi SF Said ,thank you for coming to our school at pooles park. It's been a pleasure to have you here.
i just want to say a big thank you because you have been very generous to come to our school and you have inspired us a lot this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and it came true. i want to ask a question if you had not been a writer what would you have been
Dear Mr Said,
Thanks for coming to our school. We had a lovely time with you.I would like to ask you some questions.
How did you feel when you're first book was published?
Do you like being an author?
i am happy that you came i couldn't stop writing at the work shop it was very fun.
Dear Jaydon,
Thank you - I enjoyed my visit to Pooles Park very much!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Dear Anna,
I really enjoyed meeting everyone at Pooles Park - and especially visiting your fantastic school library!
With best wishes,
SF Said
Dear Canuud,
Thank you - I enjoyed visiting your school very much - I hope you all enjoyed it too!
With best wishes,
SF Said
dare sf said we thank you for coming to are school we love you viziting my favrert book is varjack par and out law vajack par.
Dear Yasser and Sarah from YR6,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I'm really glad you enjoyed the workshop, and are enjoying The Outlaw Varjak Paw! And thank you for your kind wishes about TYGER - if you want to know more, here's a blog post I made about it:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/01/i-had-amazing-message-from-reader.html
Keep the Way alive!
SF
Dear Andre and Bilal,
Thank you very much! I think if you really want to do something, then you have to persevere and keep trying to improve, no matter what anyone else says. Sometimes it can help to motivate you, just to prove them wrong!
And on your other question, I think the key to writing long stories is the same as for any other kind of story - you have to write a story that YOU really want to read yourself. That way it will stay interesting to you. Here's a blog post I made with some more writing tips, if it's helpful:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Angela,
Thank you very much, I'm really glad you're enjoying The Outlaw Varjak Paw as well!
Looking back, I think those publishers were right to reject my first two books, because I had only done one draft of each of them. I hadn't yet done all the work you have to do to make a book as good as it can be. Varjak Paw was the first time I did all that work, and so that was the first one that was good enough to be published.
Keep the Way alive!
SF
Dear Joseph,
Thank you very much for your comment! I really like Razor as a character too - I think he's the one who changes most across the two books.
As I said when I visited, I was inspired to write Varjak Paw after watching my own cat climb the garden wall. And here's a blog I made about all the inspirations behind Phoenix - I hope you enjoy it!
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/whats-happening/blogs/2017/august/bookbuzz-author-blog-s.f.-said---the-epic-story-of-phoenix/
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Katie Holloway,
Thank you so much - that's an amazing thing to hear, and really means a lot to me. And I'm so glad you enjoyed Watership Down too!
I think rejections are always hard to take, but sometimes they can spur you on to improve your work. I think the most important thing is to keep trying to get better, any way you can. So keep writing, keep editing your work, and keep reading other people's books, because those are the best ways to improve.
Good luck with your writing - here are some tips you might find useful:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
With best wishes,
SF
To the person who wasn't there when I visited - thank you for your comment! Varjak Paw took me 5 years to write, The Outlaw Varjak Paw took 3 years, and Phoenix took 7 years.
And if you want to know why each book took so long - this blog post might help to explain it!
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/01/i-had-amazing-message-from-reader.html
With best wishes,
SF Said
Dear Ben,
I think each character is different, and has different inspirations, but with all of them, I was trying to make the characters as interesting and distinctive and memorable as I could. I hope you liked them!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Aimee,
Thank you so much for your lovely comment! I'm really glad you enjoyed Varjak Paw, and are reading The Outlaw Varjak Paw. I will definitely write a third book about him one day, but not for a while yet. If you'd like to know more, here's a blog post I made about the third Varjak Paw book:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2016/07/will-there-ever-be-third-varjak-paw-book.html
Keep the Way alive!
SF
Dear Jamal Y6,
Thank you very much - and good luck with all your dreams and ambitions!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Anas year 6,
Thank you so much - it was a pleasure to visit your school and to meet you all! I thought Year 6 wrote some amazing stories while I was there, so keep writing, and keep reading!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Daiyaan (y6),
Thank you - that's very kind indeed. It was a pleasure to visit Pooles Park!
I think if 90 rejections didn't put me off, I would probably have keep writing anyway, even if I never got a book published! I think I would have kept trying to improve, just because I love stories so much. If you're writing a story you really want to read, then you will do everything you can to make it as good as it can be. So I would have still been a writer - just an unpublished writer!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Khoula yr 6,
Thank you so much! I was very happy when my first book was published. But then I realised that I was going to have to write another book, and another one after that! So in a way, the work never stops, and it never gets easier. But it's always worth it in the end, because I'm writing books I really want to read myself, and trying to make them as good as I possibly can. And when they're finished, they really are as good as I can make them, and that's a rewarding thing to feel about your work.
So being an author is harder than I ever thought it would be - but it's also more rewarding, especially when I hear from readers that they've enjoyed my books!
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Zak yr6,
Thank you, that's brilliant to hear! I'm really glad you enjoyed the writing workshop. I hope you keep writing - here are a few tips you might find useful:
http://www.sfsaid.com/2017/01/three-steps-to-writing.html
With best wishes,
SF
Dear Logan year 6,
Thank you so much for your comment! I'm really glad you enjoyed the visit, and my books. I hope you might try Phoenix next? Here's the book trailer again to get you started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5yQjwqDFXA
With best wishes,
SF
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