Super Cool Books: 100 WRITERS _____ LEROY LAM the INKredible creative writing coach teaches children to make up stories about monsters and spaceships and stuff

NOTE: This post is part of my 100 WRITERS project, which is a support group for fiction writers currently hosted by StoryCode Singapore. Find out more here.

Photos from Monsters Under The Bed

When children are taught to write in school, they are given grammar tips and composition exercises. But when it's time to write creatively, to use their imagination, to express themselves through a story, they need more than just language skills. They need enthusiasm, inspiration and a community of generous supporters. Which is what the people at local creative writing school Monsters Under The Bed (MUTB) are trying to provide with their INK workshops. Here's a short interview below with their main writing coach Leroy Lam, about the fun story camp they'll be organising later this year. Monsters Under The Bed also helped launch my Sherlock Hong Adventures book a few years back, here's the story.

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MEET LEROY LAM
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Please introduce yourself!
My name is Leroy Lam, I'm the Principal Trainer and Curriculum developer at MUTB. I also write short stories and I've published an anthology called Saga.

What's your holiday writing workshop about?
This coming workshop is part of our INK (Imagination n Knowledge) series, a signature workshop at MUTB. It's called INKcredible Creatures and How to Catch Them! It's a 1-day creative writing workshop that teaches your child to craft a fascinating story about incredible creatures and how to tame them.

What's an INK workshop?
INK is an MUTB specialty, and it's where we immerse kids in an environment that hopefully inspires them to write, no holds barred. We have done some incredible workshop themes, from HauntINK (supernatural stuff), to detective stories in InvestigateINK, to our very, very big one last year about scifi stories, INK to the Void, which was inspired by Star Wars.

Why is storytelling important for children?
My son (and sometimes my eldest daughter) would refuse to sleep without me telling a story at bedtime. Storytelling brings a world of imagination to children, takes them to fantastic lands and lets them experience harrowing adventures they may never experience in real life. It is important because it teaches them. Values, morals, how to fight off pirates ... everything. It inspires them to become someone larger than life, bigger than the world they live in.

Leroy and his team with their young writers

How can parents sign up for your workshop?
Parents can email me to sign up at leroy@mutb.com.sg, or drop by our center at 261 Waterloo Street, Waterloo Center, #02-19, S180261, and fill up a registration form. They can also sign up on our Facebook event page and we'll get back to them asap.

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