Spooky stories, real writing
Three free 30-minute creative writing lessons, built from our Shifting Schools conversations with authors Kara LaReau, Tiffany D. Jackson and Ryan La Sala. One for every age group. Students listen to a real author, then write like one.
Short author clips
Each lesson plays three 1–3 minute clips from the episode, each with one listening job.
Borrow the author’s move
After every clip, students try the craft move they just heard in a short writing burst.
Feedback with trust
Partners give feedback the way authors and editors do, then students reflect on their choices.
Character Casting Call
Kara turned a stern housekeeper into a gray parrot and a nervous secret-keeper into a squirrel. Students cast their own character as an animal, give it a flaw, and find the reason behind it.
- Cast a character as the animal that fits its job in the story.
- Find the hidden why behind a not-so-wise choice, the way Kara imagines a rude driver is “probably really late for work.”
- Edit like an editor with a partner, giving feedback only as questions.
“I really love imperfect characters because they’re real.”Kara LaReau
The Last Page of the Tour Guide
Savannah’s guidebooks lead with ghost tours, while much of the city’s Black history barely makes the last page. Students write a scene set in a real place they know, where a young narrator notices what the official story leaves out.
- Make a place a character, “silent” yet “incredibly loud at the same time.”
- Notice from the corner of your eye what adults assume kids miss.
- End on a page-turn where no adult swoops in to fix things.
Adults “drastically underestimate what kids can handle.”Tiffany D. Jackson
Teacher note: the book deals with grief and a murder, and one clip mentions burial grounds under Savannah’s squares. Preview the clips; the guide has a care note.
Through the Prism
Ryan passes familiar horror tropes “through the prism” of lived experience. Students treat the interview as a text about craft, write a countdown opening built on dread, and analyse a peer’s writing like an unseen text.
- Bend a trope through a perspective they know from the inside.
- Trace the ripples one character trait sends through safety, trust and survival.
- Write “Two days before”, then analyse a partner’s opening and write a rationale.
Horror “always tells us what matters to us” and “who’s worth saving.”Ryan La Sala
Teacher note: the interview touches on a sibling’s death and a parent’s cancer. Students are never asked to disclose an identity; any lived perspective works as a prism.