Ross Sayers

Join Scottish YA author Ross Sayers as he takes us through some of his best writing tips and discusses why he writes in Scots and why representation of young Scottish voices in contemporary fiction matters. Ross also shares an extract from his latest Glasgow-based YA novel Daisy on the Outer Line and answers pupils' questions about creative writing.

A full transcript of the event is available to download below.

If you only do one thing...

We know time is tight, so here is just one activity you could complete before or after watching the event with Ross Sayers.

Dialogue and narrative choices (LIT 3-20a, ENG 3-27a, ENG 3-31a)

Because Ross Sayers has his central character, Daisy, tell the story, his narrative language is in Scots as well as the dialogue. What difference does it make, if any, by having one or both in Scots?

Write a short paragraph, using Scots in the dialogue, or narrative, or both. Write it as you might speak or hear it around you. You might imagine a breakfast scenario like the one above where two people are speaking to each other in Scots. Write it just as you might speak or hear it spoken around you. The main task here is to try writing in Scots, not to worry too much about creating a terrific piece of creative writing!

If you just want to practice your Scots, without creating a new piece of writing, choose an English book in the classroom with dialogue and narrative and translate a few paragraphs.

For more activities to support writing in Scots, see our creative writing in Scots resource below.