Marcus Zusak Masterclass
Exam preparations took an exciting turn for our Year 12 students yesterday, when internationally best-selling author, Marcus Zusak, dropped in for a visit.
Mr Zusak’s most acclaimed work is the global hit, The Book Thief, which has been adapted into a blockbuster film.
He launched his talk with an engaging, convoluted tale from his childhood about the uproar he caused as a 10-year-old by forgetting to turn off his alarm late one Christmas night. Based on his “crazy” parents, he used it to outline five simple yet effective strategies that he uses in his own storytelling, which could also be employed by the students. “It also serves to illustrate why our worst stories are often our best stories," he said.
The five strategies that Mr Zusak shared were:
1. Understand that no life is boring – use your own experiences as inspiration. The mundane details of everyday life can be fascinating when seen from a different perspective.
2. Incorporate small details – they add authenticity and make your story more believable.
3. Create the unexpected – surprise your readers by subverting their expectations.
4. Edit relentlessly – Mr Zusak recounted how he edited the first half of The Book Thief between 150 and 200 times to get it just right.
5. Establish a backstory – understand your character's past before you begin writing about their present.
Mr Zusak credited his parents with being wonderful storytellers who have greatly influenced the course of his career. He said his childhood was coloured by their re-telling of family stories, including the tale of how his paternal grandfather's life was saved during World War II due to his neat handwriting, when he was redeployed from the Front to an administrative role.
“We were all extremely grateful to benefit from listening to a writer of this calibre, which was made possible by Head of English, Ms Therese Turner,” said English teacher, Ms Rebecca Rogerson. “It was the sort of rare and exceptional opportunity that can change the direction of a student’s life,” she said.