Wednesdays are Question and Answer days here at Teachers Write, and each week, we’ll have a different panel of official guest authors here to answer your questions in the comments. Today’s fabulous mentor authors are Ammi-Joan Paquette, Caroline Carson, and Jody Feldman.
Teachers & librarians… If you’d like to ask a question, just post it in the comments. (Don’t forget that if this is your first time posting, your comment won’t appear until it’s moderated, and that may take a little while. Be patient, please, and don’t post more than once!) Joan, Caroline, and Jody will be monitoring comments throughout the day and responding to your questions!
We’re focusing on nonfiction and research again in our Tuesday Quick-Write, and your guest author today is the brilliant Loree Griffin Burns. Loree is a scientist and a writer with a passion for nonfiction storytelling. Her next book, Life on Surtsey, Iceland’s Upstart Island, explodes onto bookshelves November 14. Previous books for young readers include Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion, Handle with Care: An Unusual Butterfly Journey, and Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard. Loree loves to share her work with writers and explorers of all ages, in all venues; visit her on the web at loreeburns.com
Tuesdays are for short writing prompts, and I promise that I’ll give you one … but only after a not-so-short introduction. Because yesterday’s post by my pal Sarah Albee? It got me pretty jazzed up, and I want to share a related idea for electrifying your writing research.
Talking to experts, as Sarah described it yesterday, is one of my favorite things to do. I’ve interviewed fifth grade experts hunting for ladybugs in New York, chemistry experts studying volcanic soils in Iceland, and a whole lot of interesting experts in between. Talking with people who know more about my topic than I do is how I “get the dirt” on my subject while, at the same time, collecting the details that will make my writing sing. A closely-related beyond-the-books research trick, a next step, if you will, to interviewing experts is what I call “getting dirty.”
What’s getting dirty? A field trip. Going somewhere and collecting rich experiences that will enhance your writing.
I know. I know. It sounds like a major way to procrastinate. And trust me, it can be. But all writers draw from the world around them. You can sit at your keyboard and tap your memories for the details you need; there’s nothing wrong with that approach. But for me, getting outside and getting dirty is critical. That’s where I find the tiny details that will help me transport my readers. More often than not, it’s where inspiration grabs me.
Let me give you an example. When I was researching The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe, I called up an expert beekeeper, Mary Duane, and asked to interview her. (Sarah would approve!) I talked with this expert by phone for a long while, and Mary gave me a lot of dirt: information on honey bees, their lives in managed hives, and even some interesting insights into their sudden and mysterious disappearance, which was the catastrophe in my book’s title. Before we hung up, though, I asked Mary if I could visit her apiary. That’s when the fun really began.
In Mary’s apiary, I watched her climb into a bee suit, and then I climbed into one of my own. That’s how I picked up on the sound Velcro bee suit tabs make when you rip-and-reset the jacket wrists in order to make triple-sure that bees can’t crawl up your sleeves. I saw Mary slide her hive tool under the inner hive cover and use it to muscle that cover off. When she handed me the hive tool, I got to feel for myself the strength of the sticky resin honey bees line their hives with. And when we finally got that hive cover off, I felt for the first time in my life the vibration created by eighty thousand height-of-the-summer working honey bees. I smelled the light scent of warm honey mixed with that of softened beeswax. I heard Mary describe what she was seeing when she whispered, with a mix of awe and glee: “This hive is just boiling with bees!”
Me, Mary Duane, and an open hive of bees. My first visit to an apiary was … nerve-wracking.
I loosened up over time. This image of a honey bee stinging a human arm appears on page 41 of The Hive Detectives. Guess whose arm that is?
How, pray tell, could I ever write about being in a beehive without having done these things? Without having showed up and gotten my hands dirty? If you read The Hive Detectives, you’ll find the details I’ve described here woven into the narrative. Individually, they’re not stand-out moments. Together, they make a more authentic reading experience.
So, get away from your desk. Intentionally seek out experiences that can help you bring your book alive. It doesn’t matter if you are writing a middle grade photo essay about honey bee scientists or a YA dystopian novel about climate change. Sometimes, your inspiration needs to come from outside your office, outside your head. Remember that list of experts you created after Sarah’s post yesterday? Pull it out and add to it a list of places you could go to get dirty and find inspiration. Then treat yourself to a field trip.
Okay. It’s time for that Quick-Write Prompt. (You know what’s coming, right?)
Your Assignment: Go outside. Get dirty. Write about it. Have an experience, and then bring it to life for someone else by writing about it. The goal is to find the words to describe a sensory experience as fully and completely as is possible.
Do you hear a bird singing in your yard? Describe what you hear. (Is it a liquid trill? A low-pitched hoot?) Your reader is not there with you, so write a paragraph that so accurately describes what you are hearing that your reader would now recognize this sound if they heard it in their own yard.
Are you at the grocery store? Buy four different kinds of apple, bring them out to your car, and sample them, one at a time. Describe what you taste. (A tangy bite? A subtle sweetness overwhelmed by a mealy textured pulp?) Find the words that will make your reader’s taste buds squirt, that will wake their own personal apple memories.
No time for this today? Rather get in your run? Fine. Run. But when you get home, take off your shoes and socks and give them a sniff. Take a few minutes and tell me in words about that smell.
Be creative. Choose some sensory experience already in your book or article, or that should be in your book or article, and give it your undivided attention today. Choose something that has nothing to do with your work-in-progress. Whatever. It’s your choice. Just get a little dirty … and then write about it. Have fun! And as always, feel free to share a bit of what you wrote in the comments.
And our guest author today is the amazing Sarah Albee. Sarah writes nonfiction books for kids in grades K-9. Forthcoming titles include POISON: Deadly Deeds, Perilous Professions, and Murderous Medicines (September 5, 2017) and George Washington, First President (December, 2017). Other recent nonfiction titles include Why’d They Wear That?, Bugged: How Insects Changed History, and Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up. She loves visiting schools and presenting to kids of all ages. Note: Sarah is off doing research in Europe right now, so her replies to comments may be delayed a day.
Electrifying Research
If you were to play a word association game with your students, chances are “ELECTRIFYING FUN” is not a phrase you’d hear them pair with the word “RESEARCH.”
But I’m here to tell you, Teacher-Writers, that research can be electrifying fun. And not just for those of us who write science and history. Every professional fiction writer I know does some research in order to add depth, realism, and nuanced details to her writing. Many do a lot of research. For instance, I know for a fact that my friend Kate Messner is a research geek.
And while starting with a Google search is generally the way most students (and let’s face it, most of us) start exploring a new topic, there’s so much more to research than internet searches.
Today I’m going to talk about one of my favorite aspects of research. I broadly call it “talking to experts.”
What kids may not realize—what adult writers may not realize—is that an expert can be anyone with knowledge about your topic. While an expert can be an esteemed professor at a fancy university, it can also be an older member of your family. It can be a person who hails from the place you’re writing about. It can be an elderly person in a nursing home, or someone who maintains your school building. Don’t be shy about approaching these people, because people love to tell their stories.
When researching my Poison book, I interviewed many people, but I want to tell you about two “talking to experts” experiences I had in particular.
After a quick internet search, I contacted a professor there, Mary Smith, who agreed to meet with me. I drove up to Cornell on a sparkling September day. The poisonous plants were in full bloom—the garden was having a fantastic hair day. She showed me around and pointed out plants I’d been reading about in books—deadly nightshade and jimsonweed and poison hemlock and aconite and nicotine and lots of others. She spent several hours with me—we shared an enthusiasm for toxic plants. Here’s Dr. Smith showing me a castor plant…
I had a disquieting moment when she placed two castor plant seeds into my ungloved hand as I was standing in an open field, far from any emergency shower station. I knew that the plant, Ricinus communis, contains the potent cytotoxin called ricin, one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances on earth—one milligram can kill an adult. In 1978, a shadowy assassin used ricin to kill Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian journalist living in London. Markov was shot in the thigh with a ricin pellet fired from a tricked-out umbrella.
But Dr. Smith reassured me that the tough seed coat would protect me from the ricin. “Might want to wash your hands before you eat lunch, though,” she said casually over her shoulder as she marched off toward the next specimen.
Also in my Poison book is a section about the dark chapter in our twentieth century history when watch-dial-painting factories sprang up and employed young women to paint glow-in-the-dark numerals on wristwatches, using …radium based paint. These so-called “radium girls” were hired for their keen eyesight and nimble fingers.
Above: Radium girls at work
They were taught to lick the end of their paintbrushes to get a nice pointy tip. At the time, no one knew radium was poisonous. But soon these young women began falling sick with devastating illnesses. As I was researching this chapter, I stumbled across a reference to a watch-dial-painting factory in Waterbury, Connecticut, four miles from where I live. I’d had no idea there had been a factory here. After scanning some old newspapers at my library’s database and making a few phone calls, I found myself interviewing two grown children of two different radium girls. They were both in their 80s and still living in Waterbury. Our conversations were powerful and emotional, and both shared poignant stories about their mothers’ illnesses. I’ll never forget these conversations.
So here’s your assignment, dear Teacher-Writer-Researchers: Brainstorm five people you know, or know of, or know slightly, that might help deepen your understanding of the topic you’re writing about. If you don’t yet have a work in progress, then just pick a person, any old person, and ask her to tell you something about her life. Ask a lot of open-ended questions, and then listen. You’ll be amazed. Because everyone, everyone has a story to tell. Note: tomorrow my good friend, Loree Griffin Burns, is going to carry on with a related post about electrifying your research!
As always, feel free to share a little about your experience and continue the conversation in the comments!
Most Fridays, we’ll be focusing on revision here. Many of our Wednesday Q&A session questions were on that topic, so I hope you’ll find this helpful. Beyond Teachers Write, those who have a novel draft – or pieces of a novel written – and want to take the next step when it comes to revision may want to spend some time with Linda Urban and me on Lake Champlain in the fall. We host an annual weekend revision retreat called Time to Write, with craft talks, workshop and critique sessions, and quiet revision time. It’s held at the Valcour Inn on Lake Champlain, which is pretty much the loveliest place on earth to write and learn. I just got back from a retreat there…
Today’s guest author is Gwenda Bond, whose work includes the Lois Lane series and the Cirque American series, about daredevil heroines who discover magic and mystery lurking under the big top. She also co-write the the Supernormal Sleuthing Service with her husband, author Christopher Rowe; book one, The Lost Legacy is out now. Gwenda has also written for Publishers Weekly, Locus, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. She’s joining us today to share some favorite revision strategies!
I’m one of those writers who loves revision. For me, first drafts are usually at least a little painful (and sometimes tragically awfully so). I fight every draft, usually because I’m so eager to get to the revising part. But sometimes it’s possible to be too eager, for me anyway, and I try to revise before it’s time to revise and just end up–in the words of writer friend Justine Larbalestier, who might have been borrowing them from someone else–”moving around deck chairs on the Titanic.”
So these days my watchword for revision is distance.
A couple of years ago, I realized that my best revisions have all been done at a very specific emotional and psychic distance (bear with me, sometimes it’s impossible not to talk about writing with terms that sound vaguely magical…because so much of the time when it’s going well it feels that way…even if that is a deceptive side effect of hard work). The best way I can describe it is that arm’s length feeling, where I don’t feel like I’m clutching the story to my heart anymore, it’s far enough away that I can see it more clearly–but not so far away that my heart and head don’t feel a strong pull to it. It’s when the story starts to feel flexible. Like I won’t just be breaking it or bashing against it, but see how to mold it–finally!–where I want it to go to make it better. (I also try to get into this frame of mind for outlining, sometimes easier than others.) In a perfect world, time would always or usually do this on its own. But, alas, in the world of deadlines and reality, sometimes you have to speed your brain along as best you can.
Since I had this realization, I’ve worked on perfecting getting into that mindset and have developed a few different strategies to do so. These work in combination or on their own, so try mixing and matching if you’re struggling to wrap your head around a revision. These are all things I do when I’m stuck on a draft too.
1) Work on something else. Especially if I’m expecting notes back quickly or will have to don the revision gloves and slice back into a project right away, one of the most effective things for me is to write something, anything else, as long as it’s fiction. A short story, a fragment, jumping to another novel, whichever. Immersing myself in another project–as long as it’s fiction–decouples my brain from the one I just finished drafting. At least a little.
2) Give myself a reading vacation. Sometimes I’ll give myself a week or two off from writing and just inhale as many good books as I can find. Sometimes they’re in my genre, sometimes they’re as far from it as possible, sometimes a mix, but reading fiction is a great way to let your story brain both work out and relax at the same time. I almost always come out of these stretches ready to work again.
3) Get feedback. Often seeing a story through someone else’s eyes is the best way to get perspective on it and distance from it. Notice your reactions, what resonates and doesn’t, what makes you excited to get back to work and what makes you feel hopeless. Take the helpful stuff and get back to work. Leave the rest on the table.
4) Trust your gut. Let your subconscious work on it. The longer I write, the more intuitive about the process I become. One of my favorite screenwriters is Ernest Lehman, who famously struggled to put the script of North By Northwest together, because he was largely stitching ideas for scenes and moments from himself and Alfred Hitchcock into a story. I’ll just share this anecdote in his own words:
(blockquote)
“So I kept pressing forward, and Hitch, confident that I now knew what the hell I was doing, moved over to MGM from his home base at Universal, and started storyboarding the script with his art director, and casting the roles. And all the time, I’m sitting there in my office sweating the fact that I have no idea whatsoever why the hell they’re all going to Mount Rushmore! Why were these people heading to South Dakota? I had no idea! So, the last act of the script was blank. Actual blank pages! Then Cary Grant came on the picture with some astronomical salary, and I was still sitting there in my office with nothing but a partially-completed script. So I called up Hitch, and I told him we were in big trouble. He came rushing over to my office, sat across from me, and the two of us stared at each other. Finally, he suggested that we call in some mystery novelist to help us kick around ideas, but I didn’t like the idea. After all, I was getting paid by MGM to write the thing, and I felt that it would make me look pretty foolish. I kept saying, “God, what’ll they say about me upstairs?” and Hitch would say, “Don’t worry, I’ll tell them it’s all my fault. I’ll tell them I should’ve been able to help you, but I couldn’t — or something like that.”
“Then we went to his office — it was about six o’clock in the evening — and we kept talking about his idea, even discussing which mystery writer we should get, and, all the time, the right side of my brain was working, and suddenly, as I was listening to him — not really ignoring him — I said, “She takes a gun out of her purse and shoots him.” So where the hell did that come from? It just popped into my head. That’s the way it works sometimes: you’ve got a problem and, no matter what else is going on around you, the right side of your brain keeps working on it and then, suddenly, it pops out of nowhere. And Hitch took it right in stride. Even though I’d completely changed the subject and suddenly blurted out, “She takes a gun out of her purse and shoots him,” he didn’t miss a beat and responded, “Yes, the Polish Underground sometimes killed their own members, just to prove they weren’t in the Underground.” And I said, “Yes, but these are fake bullets. That’ll convince Vandamm that he has to take her away with him. Now that she’s a fugitive, he’ll decide to take her on the plane.” And, instantly, I had the whole last act.”
(end blockquote)
Now this was a drafting problem, but it’s the same kind of question that happens in revision and can make it hard to approach. Particularly if you’re too close to the story still. It’s the “but I don’t know how to fix it” problem. The “I don’t know what happens” problem. Your subconscious will work on it while you’re doing other things, and sometimes you just have to let that happen. Sometimes you have to walk away from your desk that day and say, “I may just have to abandon this. I have no idea how to fix it.” And voila, the answer usually presents itself as soon as you give yourself permission to walk away or give up. (Tricking our brains into cooperating is so much of the writer’s job.) Long walks are one of my favorite things to abandon desk and do to tackle story problems.
5) Talk it out. I’m a big believer in describing stories and story problems out loud, especially if I’m trying to figure out a revision. First off, you have the distance of being away from the page. Second, there’s something about articulating a problem out loud that often leads you to the solution. I use my husband for this most often, but a dog or cat will work. Because you don’t even need another person to be listening (although it’s a bonus; hit up your writer friends). Just forcing yourself to say the issue out loud can reveal solutions and give you new perspective; it helps create that ideal distance to be at for fixing a story.
I hope some of these are helpful for you — happy revising!
Good morning, writers! Today’s guest author for your Thursday Quick-Write is the brilliant Hena Khan. Hena is the author of GOLDEN DOMES AND SILVER LANTERNS; IT’S RAMADAN, CURIOUS GEORGE; and AMINA’S VOICE.
The Name Game
A friend and I recently overheard a conversation in which a little girl was asking her mother, “but HOW did you KNOW my name BEFORE I WAS BORN?” As we laughed about how cute she was I was reminded that even though a name is something we don’t pick ourselves, it defines us in so many ways.
When I was growing up, my best friend changed her name when we were in elementary school. It left me feeling like I lost a piece of my friend, and that she was deciding to become someone else. I wondered if my own uncommon name was less worthy than I thought it was. And I feared that part of what my friend was choosing to discard, along with her old name, was our relationship.
Maybe because of that experience, the idea of our names and how they shape our identity is something I still think about often. As a kid I often imagined how my life might differ if my name was Melissa, or if I had a really cool nickname (I didn’t). I never changed my name, and kept my last name after marriage. I randomly ask my kids if they like their names, or if they wish they were called something else. And I explore the theme in my newest book, Amina’s Voice, when Amina’s best friend Soojin considers taking a new name, much like my friend did.
Today’s Assignment: Imagine that could go back in time and name yourself before you were born. What name would you choose?
Take a few notes about why you picked that name. Does it have a special meaning? Does it evoke a certain emotion? Can you describe the way it makes you feel—powerful, beautiful, distinguished, quirky, brave, something else? Do you think you would be a different person if you had grown up with that name? Who would you be?
Now, write yourself a short 4-5 line bio—the fun and lighthearted kind that highlights your personality and personal achievements, not a professional bio—using your imagined name. If you think you’d be exactly the same person you are today no matter what your name was, that’s great too! And I’d love to read your name choices and bios in the comments section below.
Teachers & librarians – Feel free to ask your questions in the comments. It’s fine to ask a general question or to direct one directly to a specific guest author. Our published author guests have volunteered to drop in and respond when they can.
Guest authors – Even if today isn’t a day you specifically signed up to help out, feel free to answer any questions you’d like to talk about. Just reply directly to the comment.
Note from Kate: I’ll try to be here for Q and A most Wednesdays, too. Please be patient with me if you’re a first-time commenter – it may take a little while for me to approve your comment so it appears.
Good morning, writer friends! Tuesday and Thursday are Quick-Write days at Teachers Write, so our guest authors will be coming by with some writing prompts to try out. Do as much or as little as you’d like with each mini-assignment, and feel free to bookmark those you’d like to use with students later on. Teachers Write posts don’t go anywhere after the summer ends. They’re always here for you to use and share with student writers.
Today’s guest is Phil Bildner, the author of numerous children’s picture books including Martina & Chrissie, Marvelous Cornelius, and Twenty-One Elephants. He’s also the author of A Whole New Ballgame,Rookie of the Year, and Tournament of Champions, the first three books in the middle grade Rip & Red series. A former middle school teacher in the New York City public schools, Phil spends much of the year visiting schools around the country conducting writing workshops and talking process with students. He lives in Newburgh, New York with his husband and dog.
Coming and Going
Today’s Quick Write isn’t an entirely original one. I’ve seen variations of this prompt a number of times. The one I’m sharing is a technique I use more and more to help jump start and layer my own writing.
Watch people come and go. When you’re at the coffee shop, the supermarket, the cleaners, the gas station, the gym, the doctor’s office, or wherever, watch the people as they enter and exit. But don’t only focus on their appearance — what they look like and what they’re wearing. Think about the how. How are they coming and going? And think about the why. Why are they coming and going, Think of their story. Think of their purpose.
Today’s assignment: Whenever you’re in a public place today – the grocery store or coffee shop or picking up kids from camp – spend a few minutes writing about who comes and goes, and how. Choose someone and imagine their story, and spend a little time exploring that in words. As always, feel free to share a bit of your writing from today’s prompt in the comments!
A quick note about blogging your Teachers Write experience: There will be daily opportunities for you to share and interact with one another in the comments section of each post. Usually, our guest authors will stop by to be part of the conversation, too (though not always – some will be on deadline or traveling for book tours or research). In addition to commenting, it’s great if you also want to set up a blog where you share all of your writing from this summer. One important request: Our guest authors have given permission for their lessons & prompts to be shared on the Teachers Write blog only. Please do not copy and paste any mini-lessons or writing prompts – publish only your own writing on your blog. If you’d like to reference the ideas shared here, providing a link is the best way to do that. Thanks!
Four quick things before we get started…
1. Teachers Write is an online summer writing camp with author-mentors who donate their time to work with us. It’s free. There’s no charge to participate, but we do have a request. Kate, Jo, and Gae all put many hours into preparations for this summer camp. Much of the time we’d normally spend on book promotion is going into Teachers Write instead, so we’re asking that everyone who participates try to purchase one of each of our books this summer. That’ll run you as little as $25 – which is the cheapest professional development around (and you get to keep the books!) We also ask that everyone try to buy at least one book written by one of our daily guest authors. We don’t check on this – it’s all honor system – but if you can, we’d truly appreciate it if you’d support our books in this way. If you truly can’t swing the expense right now, we’d still love for you to participate and would ask that you support our books in other ways – by requesting them at your local library, borrowing them, and writing online reviews. Thanks!
2. Our weekly schedule will look like this:
Monday Mini-lesson, and a Monday Morning Warm-Up on Jo’s blog (check it out!)
Tuesday Quick-Write
Wednesday is Q and A day – authors will be here to answer your questions! We’ll have some other Wednesday features, too.
Thursday Quick-Write
Friday Feedback on Gae’s blog, and some great Friday revision features here, too.
Sunday Check-In on Jen Vincent’s blog – a chance to check in with everyone, reflect on the week, and share encouragement.
3. I’ll be popping in to comment, and I know many of our guest authors will, too, but since this community has grown so much (we’re more than 2500 teacher-writers strong now!) you’ll also need to commit to supporting one another. When someone decides to be brave and share a bit of writing in the comments, or when someone asks for advice or feedback, please know that you are welcome (and encouraged!) to be mentors to one another as well. Watching this writing community grow is one of the best things about being part of Teachers Write.
4. The first time you comment, I will have to “approve” your comment before it appears. This is to prevent us all from being besieged by trolls. So when you comment, it will not show up right away – sometimes, it may be later in the day when your comment appears. THIS IS OKAY. I check in regularly to approve comments, but I also spend uninterrupted writing and family time in the summer months, so please be patient with me, and resist the urge to post more than once if your comment doesn’t appear right away.
Now…let’s get started!
Looking Through Someone Else’s Eyes
One of the best ways to share a character’s heart and soul is to let your readers see how that character perceives the world. And our perceptions of the same setting can be wildly different, depending on who we are, what our past experiences have been, and what’s going on with us right now.
Imagine, for example, a rainy night in the country. There’s thunder and lightning and water pouring down from the clouds. Can you see it? Can you feel it?
What you experience in that moment depends on who you are and what situation you envisioned. Are you someone who loves storms? Or does thunder make you want to hide under the bed? Some of you probably longed to be on your porch with a cup of tea, watching the lightning. Some of you probably thought of a child or dog who might be scared.
Were you imagining the storm from the point of view of an observer who’s warm and safe inside? Consider how that same thunder might sound to someone whose car is disabled at the side of a quiet road. Or someone who’s trying to sleep on a cardboard box in a park. What if you were someone whose farm has been struggling with drought? Or someone living on a river that’s likely to flood? Someone who just lost a loved one? All of those elements can change how we see our setting.
When I was writing THE SEVENTH WISH, I spent some time out on the winter ice of Lake Champlain, where I live, writing about it from different perspectives. One of my characters in that book is an experienced ice fisherwoman. One is a twelve year old who’s always felt a little nervous about walking on frozen water, even as she sees its beauty and magic. I took my notebook out on the frozen lake on several cold January and February mornings and spent time in each of their boots, experiencing the sensations and sounds of the ice and reflecting on that in messy mittened handwriting in my notebook.
The same character can see a setting in different ways, depending on the day. The magical frozen lake that Charlie experiences when she’s out searching for “ice flowers” with her beloved older sister Abby changes completely by the end of the story, when Abby is struggling with addiction and Charlie is desperate to catch the wish-granting fish that she wants to believe can fix everything.
That’s an example of a person’s emotional state affecting their perspective on setting, but this is a writing exercise that can have a lighter touch, too.
When I was writing FERGUS AND ZEKE, the story of a classroom mouse who stows away in a backpack to go on the school field trip to the natural history museum, I spent a day wandering around the American Museum of Natural History in New York, notebook in hand, imagining how everything would look if I were a mouse. I’d still be impressed with the huge dinosaur skeletons, but instead of simply staring up at them, I might be able to scamper up one and climb around those T-Rex teeth!
When I was teaching middle school, I liked to take my students on setting-writing field trips. We’d either go out back to the soccer field, or on rainy days, simply stand at a long row of windows in the hallway to write for a few minutes about what we observed. Then, I’d give each student a slip of paper with a new identity.
“You are a lost five-year-old who can’t find her mom.”
“You have just robbed a bank and are searching for someplace to hide the money.”
“You are a hungry seagull.”
“You are a 90-year-old visiting your home town after 70 years away.”
We’d write for another five minutes or so, and then share our reflections aloud, noting how point of view and perception change the way we see a place and what we choose to notice and share. This is an incredibly powerful way to explore your character’s state of mind and to write in a way that does double-duty – using setting descriptions not only to paint a picture of a place but to reveal character as well.
TODAY’S ASSIGNMENT: Go outside or look out a window. You can do this at home in your neighborhood, or you can go somewhere else – the park, the farmers market, the mall…whatever you like. Spend a few minutes writing what you observe – everything you notice. Write down what you see, hear, smell, and feel.
Then, look through someone else’s eyes and spend a few more minutes writing from that perspective. If you’re working on a story right now, take on the role of your main character during a particular point in the story. How are they feeling in that chapter? How might they observe the same setting differently than you did? What details would they notice? What would they like? What would bother them? And based on that, what kind of language might they use to describe it? We choose our figurative language based on the world we know, so a modern-day figure skater will choose different words and metaphors than an 18th century farmer.
If you’re not working with a particular main character in your writing life right now, here are some identities to try on for this assignment…
An elderly woman with limited mobility
A teenager who’s being bullied
A dog (Be sure to choose a particular breed before you write. Dachshunds don’t see the world from the same perspective as Greyhounds.)
A dragonfly
An imaginative and energetic five-year-old
In the comments today, feel free to share a snippet of what you wrote, but please also write a few lines introducing yourself. Let’s get to know one another – we’re going to be writing together for four weeks, starting right now!
It’s almost time for Teachers Write 2017! Our free online summer writing camp for teachers & librarians kicks off on Monday, July 10th here on my blog. Sign up here if you’d like to join us! If you’d like to know more about Teachers Write, you can learn all about it here.
And now it’s time to introduce our amazing guest author mentors for Summer 2017! These writers are all volunteering their time, so we ask that you support Teachers Write by purchasing guest authors’ books when you can and requesting them for your school and public libraries. Please spend a little time checking out these writers’ websites and books…
Kate Messner That’s me – I’m your Teachers Write hostess & will kick things off with the first mini-lesson on Monday, July 10th.
Gae Polisner Gae hosts Feedback Friday on her blog and is the most amazing writerly cheerleader you’ve ever met. Gae wrote these great books.
Jo Knowles Jo will kick off each week with her Monday Morning Warm Up. Here are some of Jo’s amazing books.
Additional guest authors will be stopping in throughout the summer to share strategies, wisdom, and inspiration. Check out their websites now and get ready to write with them starting next week!
Every time I look at this lineup, I get more excited about the summer to come. And it’s almost time to get writing!
For now, please check out the links above. Buy some books. Get to know your guest authors. Follow them on Twitter & find them on Facebook if you like to hang out in those places, too. We’ll be back Monday, July 10th to get started!
This week at NCTE, I had the honor of presenting a session called “Get Writing! A Hands-On Workshop Celebrating the Transformative Power of Writing Communities for Teachers,” along with Jen Vincent, Jo Knowles, Kekla Magoon, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Mike Jung, and Karen Romano Young. It was inspired by Teachers Write, our free, online summer writing camp that serves teachers & librarians. We had an amazing group of enthusiastic & brave teachers who participated in a pile of writing activities. (And our authors wrote, too!)
One of those quick-writes involved jotting down two ideas to share as part of a collaborative poem. What do you wish for your students? And then: Finish the sentence “I want my words to…” Here’s our poem.
Wishes and Words: A Collaborative Poem from #NCTE16
by the participants of Sunday’s “Get Writing!” session with Jennifer Vincent, Kate Messner, Kekla Magoon, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Jo Knowles, Mike Jung, and Karen Romano Young
I wish for my students to feel safe and calm in a world that is often out to get them. I wish for them to have conversations that help them process their thoughts, feelings, and emotions, To have confidence in their abilities and feel empowered in their everyday lives, To have more academic confidence, To know their value and feel like they have time to read and write for fun. To gain a love of reading and to love it long after they leave my classroom. I wish for a library full of interesting books calling to my adolescent readers.
I wish for my students to have learning opportunities that lead to confident, capable, competent, citizens. I wish for them to have a feeling of belonging in the world. Open minds, open ears, kind hearts. I wish for my students to experience teaching without being constantly evaluated So they have room to grow. I wish for them to understand writing is for everyone, To have compassion, tolerance, and kindness for all. I wish for compassion And action.
I wish for my students to ask “Why not?” instead of always asking why. I wish my students love and joy in life and that curiosity will bring them there. I wish for my students to believe the world is not against them. And I’d like that to be true.
I wish my students wisdom. I wish for them to know that they matter, To recognize each other’s humanity on a daily basis. I wish for them not to be faced with the choice between being safe and doing the right thing, and when it comes, I wish for them not to fear.
I wish my students resilience. Courage. Stamina. I wish for them to internalize the power of their voices, own their stories, and share them with the world.
I want my words to bring light to places that are right now in shadows, To share my story and help others grow. I want my words to hit someone’s heart, To make myself whole and help heal others, To further causes of social justice, And to tell you that you’re not alone.
I want my words to show my readers we have shared experiences, To help people understand themselves and have more empathy for others. I want my words to encourage kindness, To make kids stronger, so they value themselves and have courage. I want my words to find a place in the world.
I wish for my voice, dissenting as it is, to be heard. I want my words to save lives.
To change the course of history. I want my words to make people feel happy, nostalgic, and touched. Appreciated. And loved. I want my words to encourage others to believe in the impossible.
I want my words to reach. Stir. Move. Change. All across the world.
