Fiction Author Returns to Spark Street
Last spring, Emily Sun Li visited students during their literary lunch to discuss her process and her latest book, Mr. Chow’s Night Market. Now returning for a full day of workshops, Li joined seventh-grade classes to delve deeper into the writing process, building on their recent personal narrative writing unit.
Li began by explaining her process for creating a narrative and a character, emphasizing that while not all characters have to reflect your personal beliefs and feelings, it’s sometimes easier to include tidbits from yourself in your story. Her book, Mr. Chow’s Night Market, draws on her time studying in Taiwan, and Mr. Chow is motivated by food, “much like myself,” Li quipped.
After exploring her published work, Li led the students in a group exercise creating characters and backstories from random items, such as a giant acorn or a bell. One part of the group made a character based on positive associations with the object, while the other crafted a character who had a negative experience.
Thanks to the expert teaching from Li, students left the session with some more hands-on experience to take to their English classes for the rest of the year.
