And...action.
Hi, I'm Geri.
You might know me from the Spice Girls.
And today, I'm your Celebrity Supply Teacher.
# Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want. #
This is Celebrity Supply Teacher.
We've assembled a staffroom of superstars
to share their knowledge with you.
And today, we're spicing up our lives
with iconic pop star Geri Horner.
Geri has sold over 90 million records...
..and was one fifth of the Spice Girls - the biggest girl group
of all time.
But alongside smashing the charts,
Geri has also been a best-selling children's author.
The stage is yours, Geri - take it away!
I've had some amazing experiences in my life.
I've sung in front of the Queen, at the Olympics,
sold a few records,
and I've written children's books.
Thing is, you might be at home thinking "I'm bored."
And I've felt that, too, in my life.
And that's why I want to share with you the power of words.
When you write, you can make anything happen.
You can be the boss.
You can... you can have amazing adventures.
You can create characters, people you like, people you don't like.
You get to decide, and you can have a whole load of fun.
We're all ears, Geri!
In order to make a good story, you need a character
that you really care about, or you connect to,
otherwise it's going to be boring!
So, sometimes we need inspiration,
and we just need to look around.
Aw... OK.
So, sometimes we can use a pet to inspire us with a character.
OK, this is Hugo.
And this is Margot.
OK, both very different characters.
Margot, she always wants attention.
She's a bit of a show-off, but she's very loving.
And then there's Hugo, who is obsessed with food,
especially cake.
I think I'm just like Hugo - I love a bit of cake!
You could describe Mercury as...
..beautiful, kind, loving, with silky black fur or...
..evil, with a black heart.
That was cunning...
..and that wanted to steal what you had.
That's the power of words.
You get to decide whether Mercury is a villain...
..or a heroine.
So these are my horses - Beauty,
who was named after the character in the story Black Beauty.
He's got the same markings.
And then this is Stormy.
The name says his character.
Sometimes he can get a little bit grumpy.
Stormy, come here. Stormy!
I think he wants food!
To develop your character,
you can give them a job.
Let's say, Beauty...
..you could be a catwalk model,
obsessed with having good teeth.
But unfortunately he had really bad breath.
And then there was Stormy,
who had a really big heart,
and his job was...what could you be?
You could be a builder.
Yeah, a builder.
Whatever you give them will change how you feel about them,
how you see them.
Look, totally wants to be on the camera!
This chicken is my favourite.
She's Ginger.
A lot of Gingers get to be the favourite, don't they?
In stories...
..bands.
And as we're here with one of the most famous gingers
of all time, the actual Ginger Spice,
let's take a moment to celebrate all things ginger.
Starting with the ginger biscuit.
The crunchiest of all the biscuits,
and the perfect dipper.
Next up is ginger beer.
The ideal refresher on a hot summer's day.
And then I bring you gingerbread men.
Run, run as fast as you can,
because I could eat you in one sitting.
And last but not least, my favourite of all,
is my old mate Jennie McAlpine,
aka Fizz from Corrie.
Once you've got your character for your story, you need to think
about how you're going to describe them.
OK, for example, we had Biscuit,
who was really, really clever,
clever and naughty.
But then...
..there was Sparkle, who was brave, silky, elegant.
By using really good describing words,
it really changes the character in a story.
It's up to you how you want the reader to feel
about your character.
Sometimes, you might have more than one character in a story.
For example, three sisters.
Three sisters that argued about what they were going to do that day.
Maybe one was...
..in the police force.
One was a rapper - eeyore, eeyore.
And the other one, she just doesn't want to do anything.
She was like, "Whatever."
Giving your character different roles really changes
who they are in the story.
OK, characters at the ready...
..what's next, Geri?
Once you've decided your characters,
you've got to decide where the story takes place.
This is called setting.
Maybe your story is set among bluebells, where the fairies live.
It could be set in your shed, which was actually a time machine.
The setting is really important to your story.
I'm going to go and time travel!
SOUND OF THE TARDIS
Make sure you come back, Geri - we're only half way through!
I want to tell you something really important.
Wherever you are, whatever you're doing,
you have one superpower,
and that is your imagination.
For example...
..I'm sitting below this very tall tree.
I tell my son the Goo-Goo monster lives in this tree.
And when we go past it, we say, "Goo-Goo, where are you?"
And these pine cones?
They're not pine cones.
That's Goo-Goo poo.
FARTING SOUND
But you don't have to be outside. You can get inspired by anything.
For example, this cup - on my cup,
there's a little red squirrel on there.
We could put the red squirrel in the story.
It could be anything.
You've got the power.
Once you have your setting and your character,
you need something to happen.
That's called a plot.
Every story needs a plot.
Now, chickens are meant to lay an egg once a day,
but maybe your chicken isn't laying an egg at all,
and is really upset about it.
Or maybe it's laying chocolate eggs, and everybody is really jealous.
It's up to you.
You get to decide, right?
So you've come up with a really good plot -
what happens in the story.
But the most important thing is, how is it going to end?
Is it going to be a cliffhanger, a twist?
You could really surprise the reader.
Some of you have sent some great questions about writing stories.
Here's one from Nancy from Sheffield.
Hi, Geri. I love to rhyme, but can I put rhymes in my stories?
Rhyming is a brilliant thing to do.
So think about some other stories, like Wonky Donkey,
and the Cat in the Hat.
It's really good. It makes things come alive and really fun.
The next question is from Will from Glasgow.
Hi, Geri. I like writing adventure stories.
What kind of stories do you like writing?
I like writing stories that make you feel better,
that make you feel like anything is possible.
Or if you have a problem, you can overcome it.
Because when I was little, I used to read stories
and they'd make me feel better.
There's another question from Amelie from Warrington, and she's asked me,
"How can I make my stories funny?"
Now, what I think is a really good thing to do is write things
about what has happened to you, whatever it is.
Whatever makes you laugh - I think making people laugh
is a really important thing.
Do you know what always makes people laugh?
When you write about poo!
FARTING SOUND
See?
Stop right now Geri, thank you very much.
So just to recap,
the three essential things for storytelling are:
great character - you've got to love your character.
Care about them.
Great setting.
And a really exciting plot.
Actually, one more thing.
It's your imagination, it's your voice.
That's the power of it.
OK, so get a pen and paper ready,
because now it's your turn.
Now I have an assignment for you.
I'd like you to write a story for someone special,
whether it's your grandparent,
your friend, a parent,
just anyone,
and a story that means something special to you.
I really hope you enjoy writing your stories,
as much as I enjoy writing.
I'm Geri, your celebrity supply teacher.
And let me know if any of the other teachers are not up to scratch,
because I'm the head teacher.
Yes, Miss!