The Story Writer’s Handbook: Adventures in Creative Writing by Katrina Nannestad, illustrated by Cheryl Orsini

Title: The Story Writer’s Handbook: Adventures in Creative Writing

Author: Katrina Nannestad, illustrated by Cheryl Orsini

Genre: Language Arts, Composition and Creative Writing

Publisher: HarperCollins Australia

Published: 30^th September 2025

Format: Paperback

Pages: 192

Price: $26.99

Synopsis: Learn how to write with the multi-award-winning Katrina Nannestad!

There is so much about writing that I love — playing with words, scribbling freely without a destination in mind, gathering ideas, daydreaming, planning, problem-solving and, of course, creating stories.

Let’s gambol, ramble, dabble and dance in storytelling.

Just for fun.

It will get your imagination whirring, your ideas expanding and your talents growing.

Happy writing!

Katrina

From the award-winning, bestselling Australian author Katrina Nannestad comes a playful yet practical guide to creating your own stories.

~*~

Imagination is key to writing stories, and sometimes, we need a little nudge or prompt to get the juices flowing. And, of course, somewhere along the way, every writer needs somewhere to write these ideas and play with inspiration. This is where Katrina Nannestad’s new book, The Story Writer’s Handbook: Adventures in Creative Writing comes in. It goes through the writing process, inspiration, creating characters and scenes, and developing your writing in a series of prompts that have no limits.

The Story Writer’s Handbook: Adventures in Creative Writing is a new tool for young writers, or any writer, because I have been using it and slowly chipping away at ideas, and feel it will be something I can dip in and out of as I need or want to. It’s going to be a bit like my other writing notebooks, but a little bit more guided to help me, and it’s the kind of thing I’ll be dipping in and out of when I need to tinker with something specific.

This is something that is a lot of fun, and it’s great to see creativity being celebrated and encouraged. Katrina starts with ideas and gathering ideas, before moving into various writing exercises and creating characters, that could potentially become part of a larger story. Of course, you don’t have to use it like this. Use it as you want to, because it’s all about cultivating an imagination and creative practice, and it’d be a great tool to use at a writing group or in a creative writing class alongside other notebooks filled with ideas. I’m enjoying dipping in and out of the activities, slowly building to something and working on what I can or want to at different times. Which is one way of working through the book, or you can go chapter by chapter.

Some of the later chapters use things you’ve done in earlier chapters, and that is where going back and forth can be fun, because you never know which bit of the book you want to use or are going to be inspired to use at any time. I have a few books like this that I dip in and out of at times, when I need to work something out and it can be a lot of fun, and very interesting to see what I come up with, what works, and whether it becomes a story, or becomes part of a story.

This is a fun book, one I am looking forward to going in and out of this book to build on what I have done, or to just tinker with things here and there. It is one that I think that whilst aimed at kids, can be a lot of fun for all ages, because creativity is for everyone.