By ANN PIERCEALL

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

HANNIBAL, Mo. -- Twelve youngsters spent last week trailing in the footsteps of Mark Twain and learning from one of America's greatest authors how to master writing.

Six boys and six girls were part of the second annual Mark Twain Young Authors Workshop. Each was selected from 400 applicants from 27 states. They earned spots at the workshop with creative writing submissions to the High Achieving Talents Students program.

For Samuel Weitzman, 11, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the workshop spent in Mark Twain's boyhood hometown exceeded all expectations.

"Mark Twain just comes to life," he said.

Weitzman said he loves Twain's books, and seeing the spots mentioned in Tom Sawyer emphasized to him how Twain crafted real elements from his own life into his famous stories.

"It was so interesting. You can feel history ... you can just imagine," he said.

"It's like visualizing the book, all the adventures that went on when he was a kid. It's like glimpsing into the past," agreed Richard Plunkett, 13, of Thornwood, N.Y.

Plunkett applied for the workshop at the encouragement of a teacher and has enjoyed "the whole experience (of) staying in a dorm, being out on your own, in addition to developing your writing."

The participants spent last week taking part in tours of Hannibal landmarks, taking part in writing exercises designed to develop their skills in character and plot development, exploring who Mark Twain really was and writing pieces of their own.

Other participants were Cassidy Alexander, Orange City, Fla.; Cullen Burling, Monroe, Conn.; Haley Johnson, Platte City, Mo.; Jordyn Pair, Milford, Mich.; Emily Schwenneker, Princeton, Mo.; Claire Sincox, Barrington, Ill.; Max Sopher, North Hampton, N. H.; Rachel Thornton, Portage, Ind.; Dave Wang, Hinsdale, Ill.; and Adam Williams, Jonesboro, Ark.

The workshop was offered through Stetson University in DeLand, Fla., in collaboration with the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & amp; Museum.

Program director Cindy Lovell is a former Stetson professor in teacher education who now teaches at Quincy University. She admits to loving the works of Mark Twain and believes there's no better writer from which to learn.

Lovell said the kids in the workshop are already talented writers.

"We want them as writers to develop. We want them to learn to use their life experiences. That's why we chose Mark Twain," she said.

Bringing the kids to Hannibal drives home the point of using one's life experiences, "to write what you know" in order to tell a story like Twain did.

"He wrote about his own life and did it in such a way that after all these years it's still (fresh)," Lovell said. "Basically, it's using Twain as a model to develop their own writer's voice.

"They're little Twain experts when they leave here. That's exciting, too. I call them Twainiacs."

For more information on the program go to www.stetson.edu/hats/MarkTwainYoungAuthors.php.

-- apierceall@whig.com/(573) 221-5879