COEUR d'ALENE - Move over, Mark Twain.

Young writers are learning the tricks of the trade through the Creative Writing Club, which meets from 4 to 5 p.m. every Friday in the Gozzer Room in the Coeur d'Alene Public Library.

The brainchild of Idaho Virtual Academy 10th-grader Caitlin Klaeui, the club focuses on improving writing skills and preparing works for the library's annual writing competition, which must be submitted by the end of March. Caitlin, 15, leads the meetings. During Friday's session, she gave the seven attending club members tips on narration, theme, strategic elements and how to replace mundane words with more colorful and complex ones.

"I really love writing, so this is my chance to share my passion," she said.

Instead of taking normal classes in January, Caitlin's school requires students to complete a project of their choice.

"I decided that I wanted to do a community service project and start an event here because I have been considering doing one," she said. "This is the perfect opportunity."

One of Caitlin's favorite things about writing is getting her thoughts down on paper.

"Kind of, live in my own world, I guess," she said.

She likes to write romance, and she is in the process of writing two novels, completing a chapter a week.

Caitlin's younger sister Maia, 13, is one of the club members. She shares her sister's appreciation of writing.

"I'm not just here because of my sister. I love writing, too," she said. Maia is writing a story about kids who get transported to another world, something she calls a "cliche" story. She also likes writing about magic.

"I can make magic in the stories," she said. "Someone can make a ball of fire, and you can't do that in real life, so it's awesome."

Laura Jenkins of Coeur d'Alene is the young adult coordinator for the Coeur d'Alene Library. She assists Caitlin with the club. Although she wasn't sure what to expect, she said the Creative Writing Club is going really well. During the first session, which was Jan. 10, Caitlin put a beach scene on the projector screen and asked the club members to write about it in 20 minutes.

"As I was listening to them sharing all these stories that they only had a limited amount of time to create, I just realized that they are all fantastic writers," she said. "Even under that pressure and those time constraints, they did a fantastic job. They're all really enthusiastic and they've been writing for years."

Caitlin presents lesson plans and creates PowerPoints for the club. Each meeting includes a new focus, and next week she is planning a peer-edit session. She has been volunteering with the library since last spring.

"This is just a natural continuation of building those leadership skills for her," Jenkins said.

Although the club was mapped out for a month, Caitlin said she wants to expand it.

"I'm thinking that I'm going to continue it just as a place for people to come in and talk about their stories, share stories they've written, and different writing techniques," she said.

The Creative Writing Club welcomes ages 10 to 14. It's free and no registration is required.

Info: 769-2315, ext. 469.