Comic-Con: Catching Up with the Winner Twins

One of my favorite moments at Comic-Con each year is my chance to catch up with the brilliant and beautiful Winner twins, Brianna and Brittney, whose astonishing mastery of story and vocabulary has produced an extraordinary body of work.  The mirror image identical twins published the first volume of their science fiction series at age 11 and now travel to schools to encourage other young writers.  This year, they conducted a panel for would-be writers and I was very impressed with their advice on everything from getting started (it works best if you start from the end!), working with a partner (they use a pen as a “speaking stick” to make sure they both get a chance to talk), overcoming writer’s block, and finding an objective but constructive third party to provide feedback.  I especially liked their emphasis on the fun of writing, which is, as they reminded the group, the reason to do it.  I highly recommend their booklet on how to write.  And their Strand series is a great book for tweens and teens, and even for adults.