Insights from The Book Thief Author

Markus Zusak, author of the Year 10 text, The Book Thief, made a quick visit to Year 10 on Tuesday 10 September, to share his insights into the craft of storytelling. He also spent a period with Year 11 Extension as some of them prepare for English Extension 2. 

Some comments from the students:
Lucy Aitken: From now on I will be focusing on practising parallel narrative which involves using backstory to influence and fill in the empty gaps in the main story. 

Eliza Bodkin: When I first started creative writing I was always finding it hard to come up with a story to write about but Markus’ suggestion of thinking of memories and picking little bits out of your life to help come up with ideas, I think will really help me to make my writing more interesting and personal. 

Sienna Mackey: I loved having Marcus Zusak come in to talk to all of us. I think he really pointed out that nobody is perfect and that your first draft will always have mistakes. A good piece of writing is one that is drafted, re-read and re-written over and over. 

Katie Spinks: Zusak made me feel more comfortable with creative writing as he explained to not overthink the situation you are trying to write about in a narrative.