Creativity was flowing at Moree Christian School on Tuesday, July 2 as nine students from years seven to 10 got together from 8am to 8pm to write and illustrate a book from start to finish, as part of the national Write a Book in a Day competition.

The annual competition, run by the Kids' Cancer Project, challenges teams of up to 10 to write and illustrate a book in just 12 hours. And, to make it even more fun and challenging, unique parameters must be included in the story.

At 8am on Tuesday, the Moree students were given a brief to include two human characters, one non-human character, a setting - in sand dunes, an issue - when gravity goes wrong, and five words - community, skipped, magic, canvas and sings. They then had the next 12 hours to write and illustrate their story, which has to be between 4000 and 5000 words.

All books must also have an Australian element, so the Moree Christian School's story was set in the Simpson Desert.

Their story centres around a mysterious person, a scientist (one of the human characters), who has captured a wolf (the non-human character) to do tests on. However, the wolf is magical and escapes and eventually controls gravity, which causes a plane to crash in the sand dunes of the Simpson Desert. On board the plane was Samantha (the second human character), a photographer who has just taken a great photo of Uluru, which she was going to enter into a photography competition.

"It turns into a bit of a survival story, as Samantha is low on food and water and has to travel to find her camera and photo, which she lost in the crash," team leader Jordan Briggs said.

"She meets the mysterious man and they form a team, all the while, he's being controlled by the wolf. The wolf wants Samantha's the camera because he's in the background of her picture and doesn't want anyone to know who he is."

Teacher Lesley Barklay said there was a flurry of ideas flowing and brainstorming happening in the morning before the students came up with their story plot.

"The competition encourages collaboration and teamwork and gets kids to work together," she said.

"I'm really impressed, they've been working really well together and have been really encouraging each other and offering constructive criticism."

Once they'd come up with their plot, the students divvied up the workload, so some of the seven writers worked on a chapter each, while others did the epilogue and prologue. Meanwhile, the two drawers, Joshua Henley and Matthew McLane, worked on the illustrations.

Each of the students said the day was a lot of fun.

"It's been fun working as a group," Michelle Dunlop said.

"It's nice to sit in a classroom and relax and just write," Jaylee Auld added.

"Everyone gets their ideas heard and we can go crazy coming up with ideas," Talitha Mitchell said.

"I enjoy the feedback we can give and get," Eden Mitchell said.

The students had to submit their finished book electronically at 8pm and then print and bind a copy to send away for judging the following day.

There are prizes for the best book overall, the best story, the best illustrations, individual fundraising and team fundraising.

So far the Moree Christian School team have raised $655 - a minimum of $240 had to be raised for their book to be judged - but students still have until September to raise money, all of which will go towards childhood cancer research through the Kids' Cancer Project.

The students also have the option to produce copies of their book to sell for fundraising.

The finished book will be donated to a paediatric ward, for children undergoing treatment in hospital to read.

Ms Barklay will also be taking part in the adult section of the competition, for the second time, with other members of the 1000s writing club.

To donate to the Moree Christian School team, go to https://writeabookinaday.com/teams/?id=63