Half-day author visits for middle schools
One half day. A school-wide assembly, small-group writing workshops of up to ten students, and a Young Author Certificate for everyone who takes part.
Cynthia Barbera, author of Secrets from the Sky
The morning runs in two parts. Every student in the building sees the assembly. A smaller group then sits down and writes.
Part one
A high-energy session for the whole school, built around Secrets from the Sky and the idea that started it. Students hear where a story comes from before anyone asks them to write one.
By the time the assembly ends, the room has already argued about what should happen next in somebody else's story. That is the part the workshops build on.
Every story starts with one idea. What will yours be?
Part two
Up to ten students per workshop, so nobody sits at the back. Hands-on writing activities, and time to read work out loud to the group.
What they keep
Every participant leaves with a certificate, the piece they wrote, and the part that matters more: the belief that their ideas are worth putting on paper.
Author and creator of Fiction Factory Workshops.
Cynthia wrote Secrets from the Sky, the first book in The Youngest Arrivals series. The concluding novel, Beneath the Falling Sky, is due in December 2026. She also co-authored the graphic novel Area 51: The Beginning.
The workshop grew out of the same question she gets asked at every school she visits: where do you get your ideas. The honest answer takes about forty minutes and a room full of paper.
Students walk into the workshop with nothing written down. They walk out with a story of their own and a certificate with their name on it.
Drag the handle to see what changes in a single session. Teachers tell us the students who surprise them are rarely the ones they expected.
The Fiction Factory
Every story starts with one idea.
What will yours be?
The Fiction Factory
Every story starts with one idea.
What will yours be?
The lights went out on Tuesday
and did not come back on
Wednesday. Mom said it was the
storm. I knew it was not the
storm, because the birds had
stopped three days before that.
So I packed a bag.
Young Author Certificate
Both packages are a half-day visit. The difference is how many students get into a workshop.
Any combination of assembly and student workshops can be arranged.
There is no checkout on this website. A school sends a request, agrees a date, and receives a written quotation before anything is confirmed.
Travel, scheduling and invoicing are confirmed in writing when you send a request.
Orders go to the retailer, not to this website. Every title links out to where it is sold.
The Youngest Arrivals, Book One
The novel the school assembly is built around. Published under the name C. Barbera.
Graphic novel, with Jane White
A graphic novel co-written with Jane White. Useful for readers who reach for pictures before they reach for chapters.
CoverThe Youngest Arrivals, concluding novel
The book that closes the series. Due December 2026.
Retailer links open when the book is released
Five steps, and none of them involve a credit card.
School name, grade levels, how many students, and the dates you have in mind.
Cynthia checks availability against the dates you gave and confirms one.
A published package or a custom combination, written down before you commit.
Paperwork follows the route your district already uses for outside vendors.
Assembly, workshops, certificates handed out before Cynthia leaves the building.
Both packages, what is included, the workshop group size and the extra-workshop rate, on a single sheet you can forward or print for a principal, a librarian or a PTO meeting.
Up to ten students per workshop. The cap is the point: at ten, every student reads their work out loud and gets a response.
Middle school students. The assembly is designed for a whole school audience, and the workshops are designed for small groups within it.
A Young Author Certificate and the piece of writing they produced during the session.
Yes. Extra workshops are $150 each, and any combination of assembly and student workshops can be arranged.
Nothing is paid through this website. Once a date and a package are agreed, the booking is invoiced so your district can process it the way it processes any other vendor.
Send the dates you are considering and the grades you want in the room. No payment is taken on this website.
