
DATE: Friday, August 8, 1997                TAG: 9708080629

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   75 lines

THE POWER OF THE PEN PROGRAM FOR YOUNG WRITERS UNLEASHES DETECTIVES, ALIENS, ADVENTURES

Twelve-year-old Piere Wilson already had the ultimate murder mystery: the tale of ``The Killer,'' a man who literally talks people to death until the sly detective, Agent The Bomb, jumps the killer, covers his mouth with masking tape and saves the day.

During Piere's second year in the Young Writers Workshop, a year-round writing program for students, he's excited by new story angles, new vices for the killer, more adventures for Agent The Bomb.

``I just have so many ideas now,'' Piere said Thursday, flipping through his small notebook during the last day of the four-day workshop. ``I might change the characters. I don't know.''

It's enthusiasm like Piere's that fuels the workshop, a program that hopes to engage students in writing so they can become better writers now and envision possible literary careers for the future.

Tidewater Community College professor and Norfolk author Linda Goss designed the program three years ago after working in schools and seeing students struggle with writing.

The workshop is open to all South Hampton Roads students, but 28 of the workshop's 30 students attend Norfolk schools; the others live in Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.

In the past, Goss catered to middle- and high-school students, but shelooked for elementary and middle-school students this year. Goss particularly targeted students in Norfolk's nine community schools, which often log some of the lowest reading and writing scores on standardized tests in the district.

``From my own personal experience, I know the community schools need resources,'' said Goss, who volunteers in the schools and is a former public school teacher. ``The students are needy, and they often come to school with so many needs the schools can't meet them.''

Goss receives many of her young writers on the recommendation of teachers or through word-of-mouth.

The students meet for summer workshop classes, which were held at the Hunton YMCA and Norfolk campus of TCC this week. The writers work with volunteer mentors on a theme - this year it's a story or poem about the Hunton YMCA - study writing techniques and meet with guest poets, authors and journalists.

Students are encouraged to keep journals, write stories and poetry throughout the school year and enter their work in contests. The young writers meet once during the winter and in the spring so that Goss can monitor their progress. Goss, founder of the Maya Publications, a publishing company, said the students' Hunton work will soon be featured on a Web page.

Students stay in the program as long as they want, and the group is limited to 40 participants. Writers are accepted into the program after someone leaves. Six-year-old Fernando Skinner was already an accomplished author when he signed up for the workshop this summer. The rising second-grader at Crossroads Elementary School said, ``I don't know how I do it sometimes,'' as he talked about his work dealing with aliens, riding his bike, a trip to the dentist, and his mother.

But he gushed even more as he typed his work into a computer: ``Hunton YMCA is the oldest building. They help kids learn to read and write. . . '' and bubbled about writing and what he has learned.

``I just asked people questions and they told me stuff,'' Fernando said of learning how to interview. ``It's so much fun, knowing what stuff is.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Wheeler Wynn, left, Piere Wilson, center, and Venite Dean listen and

take notes during a writers workshop for young people at the Norfolk

campus of TCC.

Color Photo

MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/The Virginian-Pilot

Allison Bland and Franklin Taylor follow the words of a speaker

during a writers workshop for youngsters at the Norfolk campus of

TCC on Thursday.