Nine young people were invited to Story Factory in September for the Novella Kitchen, a two-day, bite-sized, book-writing bootcamp that gave them a taste of Story Factory’s Year of the Novella program – and the challenge of writing an entire novella in a single weekend.
Sisters Amelia (Year 6) and Ella New (Year 9) took on this challenge together, brainstorming, drafting, editing and typing their way to victory. With the help of professional Storytellers (the educators facilitating the workshop), their completed novellas, The Things That Fall from the Sky, and Monster, are due to be published and launched by Story Factory this month.
“Novella Kitchen was a really creative workshop; I loved the atmosphere and the set-up,” said Amelia. “It had everything young writers might have needed, like snacks. The Storytellers were really supportive and overall it was just really great.”
“It was good to have an outline of what we needed to do and goals to work towards, but it was also flexible at the same time, which I found really worked for me,” said Ella.
Both big fantasy fans, Amelia and Ella took inspiration from the books they love to read, and wrote two different stories set in other worlds.
“My novella is about a teenage boy who has the ability to pull down and throw stars,” Amelia said. “There’s a connection between him and the stars, but his powers start to go wrong – all the stars start falling and exploding on impact.”
Ella said: “My novella follows the main character, Takari, who has been a pirate all her life. When her crew runs into trouble with monsters behaving weirder than usual, it throws her whole identity and way of life into question.”
Amelia and Ella love to write, and found Story Factory’s Novella Kitchen a great place to explore all their ideas. They have many more stories on the horizon.
“I loved the whole weekend; it was just all so good,” said Amelia. “I have lots and lots of story ideas and am planning on continuing to write for as long as possible.”
“There was something so cool about Novella Kitchen, especially at the end,” added Ella. “No one was talking, everyone was just getting down to it, trying to finish their novella.”
With a plethora of programs running in 2025, Story Factory is looking forward to welcoming Amelia and Ella back, along with any other young people out there who love to write.
An excerpt from The Things That Fall from the Sky by Amelia New:
I should probably introduce myself before continuing. I’m Valmin Kingson, and I’m 17. Is that too young for a villain? Absolutely.
I didn’t ask for my powers, and I don’t know how I got them.
This is the story of the biggest and probably scariest day of my life. Most of you probably picked this book up thinking: Fiction!
I wish it was. But if that’s good for you, keep reading. It’s fine if you think this is a work of imagination.
So go ahead, enjoy my stress and near-death experiences.
Happy reading.
An Excerpt from Monster by Ella New:
When I woke up this morning, getting thrown 10 metres in the air by a giant tentacle was not on my to-do list. In my defence, the kraken attached to the tentacle snuck up on me. You’d be surprised to find how stealthy a monster that big can be …
Alright, time for introductions. My name is Takari Thalassa and I am a pirate.
On board the most magnificent ship of all time, The Siren’s Bane, we were facing a rather … tricky situation. Our boat had a lovely gaping hole in its dark blue sail, everyone was madly chopping at anything tentacle-esque, and the deep-green kraken that had just burst up the side of our ship was opening its gaping maw wide – man, do those things ever brush their teeth?
