The Ink Splat is our monthly activity letter filled with inspiration sparking challenges and resources guaranteed to inspire your creativity. In this Ink Splat, the book and author spotlighted is The Magic Seekers by Kaitlyn Penchina along with an author interview! Submit a response to a challenge and you may have a chance to be published online! What are you waiting for?
The Challenge:
Imagine the future, 100 years from now. What would it look like? If you were a kid, would you go to school in a flying car? Eat real food at meals or take nutrition pills instead? What would future fashions be? How about the weather on earth—has the planet been changed by natural disasters like tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods? Would things be better or worse in 3012?
Try using this new word in your writing: utopia
Utopia is a noun that means an ideal or perfect place, where everyone lives in harmony and everything is for the best.
Submit your response HERE!
Check out this month’s featured responses!
Life in 3012
“Greetings. My name is Tripnethia. I am a kid like you, but maybe not so much like you, and I live in the year 3012. Right now in the earth, it isn’t exactly a utopia like you know it. The earth is covered in a thick, gray layer of smog and chemicals from cars and jets. We can’t spend too much time outside, and when we do, we have to wear air filters so we can breathe. At school, we learn how to drive when we are in 1st grade, and in High school we learn technical programming and how to build electronic devices. We drink protein-infused energy liquid and nothing else for meals. We often have volcanic eruptions, and an occasional tsunami, but we haven’t had a tornado sinceI was young. And by the way, we only live to be about 30. Even though earth the way we know it isn’t the most pleasant place to live, we all have a great sense of responsibility and do everything we can so save the earth. Goodbye!”
–Audrey, age 14
“Hi. I am Alice. I am a kid from 3012. I am sending this letter with pastmail, so I could send it to you. How is it in the past? In the future, everything is a utopia. Now the earth looks as though it was when there were dinosaurs. I mean that the earth got really, really, really healthy with ‘the drop of nature.’ Oh right, you don’t know ‘the drop of nature.’ It is kind of like medicine for the earth. If you drop a drop on the ground, all the earth becomes healthy and stays healthy even if we use a lot of gas. I go to school by a flying school bus. We take pills instead of meals, and we could even take a liquid instead. We wear a shoe machine that makes us fly, and have a shirt that sucks the sweat off you when you are sweaty and has a fan. We vote one time a day for the weather. Finally, there are no disasters.”
–Yoonbin (Elly) 4th grade
“In the year 3012 La Entrada is a utopian place. There are flying cars everywhere and they run on air. There are also jetpacks. They float on clouds. The sun rotates around us now. We are so close to every planet. We are able to fly!”
–Austin 4th grade
“The. World. Has. Changed. The world is a whole different place. Fashion is odd. Everybody wears a type of jacket called a pod. Transportation is by hovercrafts.”
–Sydney 5th grade
“In the future, people will feel like they’re in heaven. No, not just heaven! A utopian place. Kids will fly to school in flying backpacks! Your clothes will change at your will, and your shoelaces will tie themselves. Junk food will have lots of nutrition! Delicious, right? You won’t need cars or airplanes anymore. With a snap of your fingers, you can move from the salty ocean on Napili Bay in Hawaii to the utopian hot tub. Obviously, the future is definitely going to be a utopian time.”
–Rachel 4th grade
“For fashion, everyone walked around with banana peels on their heads or dresses made of meat. Apparently, the meat people were big Lady Gaga fans. For food, watermelon was really big. People also ate large amounts of candy that were very healthy for you and very sour. Because of this, many people got mouth sores. The world was a utopia with no wars, murderers, thieves, or terrorists. Disneyland actually served good food, and car gas didn’t cost so much.”
–Alexandra 4th grade
The Magic Seekers by Kaitlyn Penchina
- What inspired you to write The Magic Seekers?
I knew that I wanted this book to be a fantasy. So I started thinking about possible types of fantasies (for example fairy tales, stories about witches and myths). In the beginning, I was writing a story about a completely different thing, but when that didn’t work, I decided I would use witches and elemental power. I think that because my first story idea didn’t work, I knew what to do when writing The Magic Seekers.
- What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
One thing that is really important is to write about something you want to write about. If you don’t have any motivation to write, you probably won’t end up writing.
Also, when you start writing, it helps to know where you want your story to end up, or at least have an idea to guide you, otherwise your story can get kind of random.
- Where do you like to write?
I like to write on my playroom couch or on my bed, because they are soft and comfortable. Being in those places inspires me.
Get The Magic Seekers at the Inklings Bookstore or the ibookstore HERE.
