Cliff McNish - Writing

Cliff McNish

AIM High Writing

Summary

Age range - KS1 - KS5
Books KS2 - KS3
DBS Checked Yes

Booking
Contact
+44 (0)1535 656015
aimhigh@caboodlebooks.co.uk

Cliff is a multiple-award winning and Carnegie-nominated writer whose fantasy novels, ghost stories and animal tales have been translated into 26 languages worldwide.

About Cliff

Armed with twenty years of teaching experience across all key stages, Cliff loves bringing his passion for writing to inspire children.  

Cliff’s fantasy Doomspell trilogy was a best-seller internationally, and his ghost novel Breathe was voted in May 2013 by The Schools Network of British Librarians as one of the top children’s novels of all time.

Educationally, he’s trained teachers and taught MA creative writing students, but his central passion when he’s not writing his own fiction is spending time with children of all key stages. He’s been a Patron of Reading many times, and his 5 Steps to Creating a Story was used in a master’s thesis to explore children’s writing styles.

Librarians and teachers always report enthusiastic responses to his visits, but just as importantly to Cliff those visits leave students with lasting skills improvements.

Cliff’s AIM High Writing Days

Years 3-4

Create my own special puppy! Create my own Witch! And make me smile, please!   

This day offers enormous fun for younger children while at the same time sharpening their descriptive skills. Initially Cliff talks about the rescue dogs he has worked with. This is followed by a session where children draw and write about their own special puppy.

In part 2, Cliff talks about his fantasy novel The Doomspell, a starting point to open up all the cliches about witches in story books, followed by a writing challenge for children to create their own much more original one.  

Finally, in Can I smile please, the day is rounded off by giving the students a chance to create their own comic witch or wizard and place them in a story.

Cliff keeps this day highly interactive, and aims to leave students feeling that writing is genuinely fun!

Year 5 and 6

Constructing a story and creating great characters.

The day begins with a session where Cliff talks about his own books and gets students to talk about the problems they have when writing fiction. So many struggle to structure and complete their stories, and in part 2 Cliff offers a powerful 5 step method any student can use to craft compelling stories from start to finish.

This is built upon by exploring what makes for memorable characters readers will truly root for or against – heroes, villains and everything in between.

Finally, elements are brought together and the group explores how to build tension through the example of a ghost story. As part of this the students write and share their own tale.

Year 5 and 6 (alternative day)

Creating an original fantasy story.

 Cliff’s speciality is fantasy writing, and the day begins with him discussing his best-selling fantasy The Doomspell.

The group moves to a series of class participative and written exercises where students experience the essence of fantasy writing.  Participants construct their own story, creating a gateway to take them to a new world of their own devising. To make this world feel real, the group practises all the elements that make fantasy writing authentic: the use of telling details; techniques for describing unusual creatures; and the element of the quest.

This day is based on 20 years of teaching these themes at primary and secondary schools, and is enormously satisfying for students who love their fantasy. 

Secondary Schools  - Years 7 and 8

Both of Cliff’s Year 5-6 AIM High days above are also suited to year 7-8 students. The examples used are simply more varied and the challenges set more stretching.  In addition, for year 7-8 and year 9-10 students, however, Cliff also offers the following:

 The Four Great Stories

Cliff originally wrote this one-day workshop with creative writing MA students at Winchester University in mind. Over time he has realised that younger students love it as well!

During this day, the group explores the four themes readers respond to most deeply in fiction – The Dream Come True, Overcoming the Monster, The Consequences of Loss and Character Transformation – and how we can use them to create powerful stories of our own. Sounds dry, but it actually works fantastically well because students are encouraged to link the themes to their own lives.

No written story is produced at the end of this day, but students will have explored in detail not just the key themes at the heart of all storytelling but why these archetypes, so embedded in our own lives, are the central ones in all literature.  

Some of Cliff’s Feedback

‘It was great having you in school to discuss fantasy writing. The students have all been talking about your books. I would love to invite you back next year.’ Headmistress, Marner Primary School, Tower Hamlets

‘You visited our school recently and we loved it so much we were hoping you might be interested in coming again.’ Librarian, South Hampstead Junior School.

‘A big thank you for working with the class of year 7’s on creative writing skills last week. They have come up with some wonderful pieces of work since your visit.’ Librarian, Downsend School, Leatherhead.

‘The whole year have had follow up lessons in story construction, which have been very effective with good outcomes. Quite frankly, we all enjoyed the day so much. You were wonderful.’ Head of English, Guilsborough School, Northampton.

‘The workshops you gave the students were inspiring. The children loved every moment of it.’ Head of English, St. Michael’s Primary School, Highgate.

A Selection of Cliff’s Books

'Gripping, racy, children have been fighting to borrow it.' The Guardian

'By turns funny and touching ... a must for all dog lovers.' BookTrust

'Breathe is a brilliantly inventive ghost story, compellingly written.' Booktrust

Bookings
To book Cliff please contact us now at aimhigh@caboodlebooks.co.uk