The strength of any workshop is in the extent to which participants feel they have been empowered and inspired by the work they have been able to create. We gather feedback after every workshop. We do this to measure the impact of the work, and to make sure that we are listening to ideas that the young writers themselves have about future developments.

Here is a selection of responses of past writers on our workshops in the South of Scotland, the East of England, the Isle of Man and Cornwall.

What was the most striking thing about your day today?

• Being able to walk around freely to get inspiration (and I was inspired!).
• Being inspired by flowers (one lilac flower gave me the whole idea/plot).
• The hands on experience of the artefacts. The stories that were told and the knowledge of the experts.
• How much there is to it, the beauty in every room and in the smallest details.
• Being able to see inside [a] life. The house and the rooms…amazed me and made me more curious…

What surprised you about your writing today?

• I started to plan to write a piece that is in a complete different style to my usual writing
• It was difficult to write in my usual style while retaining the historical atmosphere
• I didn’t know I had this type of idea in my head
• I could come up with any idea from something I had no knowledge about at the beginning…
• I was surprised how much I could be influenced by these facts – that I was able to come up with my own story…
• I had some great ideas about history which I don’t often get. I really wanted to finish my story…
• I managed to come up with ideas and feel stories coming to me when I usually find it hard to write…
• …quite a bit…my ideas had ‘story’ and were somewhat developed…
• That I was able to take in the lifestyles of back then and add them to my story
• How one basic idea gave me a whole plot and story.

What have you learned that will help you in your writing in the future?

• Take inspiration from your own surroundings and make a story from it…
• Instead of sitting in a room, surround myself with outside stimuli while writing…
• To take inspiration form the tiniest details and make it your own thing you can work with…
• How in small details you can tie in history…
• That my writing can be based on real things, even when it is supposed to be fictional…
• How to take one idea and make a full story from it…

Now read the comments of some of the adults who have accompanied and witnessed the kinds of things that we do…here