1. How to Write an Awesome
#8WordStory

2. What’s #8WordStory all about?
At QWC, we love stories!
You love stories too– reading them and writing them.
Let’s write some stories together, and challenge ourselves by using only eight words!

3. What will QWC do with the stories?
Most of the eight word stories people send us live on our special website: It looks like this:

4. You can read thousands already!

5. What will QWC do with the stories?
Some of our favourite stories will end up on the goa billboards all around Brisbane! Our guest judge Nick Earls helps us decide which ones go up.

6. The goa billboards are huge!

7. Eight handy tips! Keep it simple! Themes: love, play, home and change
What is the main point of the story?
Who is the story about?
How does the story affect your reader? It should make them feel something.

8. Eight handy tips!
Describe using one of the five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.
Write it long, make it short. Edit!
Make every word count. Choose the right word.
Keep it inclusive!

9. What should go in the story?
Eight words doesn’t give us much to work with, but these things help make our sentence/s more like a story:
A character, or several - Beginning
Something that happens - Middle
Consequence: a lesson, a feeling - End

10. Let’s look at some examples:
“Twenty-first century love story. Girl meets bot.” - Tom Doig “Garlic bread? Sold out!” The sorrow was immense. - Claire Christian “… a time loop. The professor was trapped in …” - Gary Kemble

11. Let’s look at some examples:
“The cat was scared, so I hugged him.”
character/s something happening consequence?
“A scared cat doesn’t give great hugs. Claws!”
character/s something happening consequence

12. Let’s do one together!
Brainstorming – let’s think about characters, something to happen in a story. Think about consequences.
Then, we’ll try to edit these three things into only eight words. Let’s get writing!

13. Things you’ll need for #8WordStory:
The How to Write an #8WordStory factsheet,
Something to write with and an adult to help you share your story with QWC, and most importantly...
A willingness to bit a little bit silly, a little bit dreamy, and a whole lot creative!

14. Thank you for sharing your
ideas & stories!