Artist of the Week: Patrick McFarlane

Warwick Valley Middle School sixth-grader Patrick McFarlane has had a passion for creative writing since before he was even in the fourth grade. McFarlane really started turning his hobby into his craft during his first year at middle school, taking his writing more seriously in ELA class and even joining the WVMS Literary Magazine. Coming off a great year of being published in the lit mag and working diligently on his writing in class and at home, he decided to enter an original short story into the “Katherine Applegate Color Your World Writing Contest” sponsored by Macmillan Publishing’s Mackids School & Library division.

His story “Escape!!!” was selected from a nationwide pool as a runner-up winner.

“I just found out, like, not that long ago that I was selected,” he said. “So, I won signed copies of four of her books and I get to be in an online writing workshop with her.”

Entries were judged by librarians in the Collaborative Summer Library Program, representatives from Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, and by the NY Times best-selling author and Newberry Medalist herself, Katherine Applegate (whose titles include “Wishtree,” “Willodeen,” “Odder” and “Crenshaw”).

“...You almost never catch Patrick without a book in his hands,” WVMS associate principal Christopher Radon said. “He’s always reading something, and it shows in his great creativity.”

McFarlane jumped at the chance to write a submission the moment his mom told him about the contest. A lot of the writing skills he applied to write the story were developed during his fifth grade ELA class with WVMS teacher Kitty Lowry.

“One of the most rewarding parts of being Patrick’s fifth grade teacher was witnessing his passion for writing,” Lowry said. “He is a dedicated and imaginative writer. Patrick’s love for writing shines through in everything he creates.”

Patrick wrote “Escape!!!” specifically for the contest. In it, a Robin Hood-style hero named Anzati finds himself imprisoned by a tyrannical and greedy despot, from whom he has been, let’s say, re-appropriating wealth. In an action-packed five pages, the hero manages to spring himself and a fellow prisoner from the king’s dungeon and flee to freedom.

“One of the contest rules was that [the story] had to be about someone making someone else’s day better, and it was supposed to be around 1500 words,” McFarlane said. “The way I was first thinking about it, it was originally going to be way longer than that.”

He shared some insight into his creative process, including how he likes to work with a setting in mind as he develops his plot and characters.

“I just thought of a good place in my head, and Anzati just kind of came with it,” Patrick said. “I knew that it would kind of look like medieval villages spread everywhere, along a beautiful coastline.”

Having a deeply imagined setting in mind helps Patrick picture the place and time in which his characters act, and that conceptual world building – even though not all of it makes it onto the page – helps him put everything else into words. “Escape!!!” was also inspired by actual historical events.

Historical and realistic fiction are both among the genres that Patrick enjoys reading. He also loves fantasy and sci-fi. He draws a lot of inspiration from books like the “Harry Potter” series by JK Rowling, and “The Thief of Always” - a young readers book by horror master Clive Barker.

“But my favorite is probably Rick Riordan, I just love his books,” he said about the popular author of the “Olympians” series. “Especially the Percy Jackson books!”

McFarlane, who enthusiastically joined the WVMS Literary Magazine club again this year, is currently working on the second installment for the upcoming Fall/Winter edition of the lit mag. He’s already begun a plot outline for the finale, which he is going to publish this spring. And he’s got long term aspirations for his writing that stretch way beyond that.

“Actually, I want to be an author,” he said. “A children’s author.”

Having already shown a knack for imaginative storytelling and dedication to his craft, it is particularly notable that McFarlane has also already embraced one of the most important lessons a creator can: While it’s important to listen to your teachers and mentors, never listen to the critics.

“Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what other people think,” he said. “It’s more important to do what you like and what you think is going to be good.”