The True Where and What of My Truthful Fiction

So, where do I weigh in on the value of research when writing fiction?

Well, for starters, I disagree with Sherman Alexie, a writer I greatly admire who so generously offered his Top 10 Pieces of Advice for Writers in a recent writersdigest.com blog:  I don’t think research is overrated.

In fact, I’d say it’s under-rated.

I know first-hand: digging up the concrete details relevant to each of my imagined stories - for example, the people, the times and places, the weather and daily living of lives, allowed me to grow my characters and puzzle out their plotlines, all while uncovering my story’s Truths.

We all know 3 is the magic number when supporting an opinion, so I’ll gladly share 3 instances when research enhanced and enriched my stories, making the fictive details incredibly credible.

I could not have written my first picture book There Goes Lowell’s Party! (Holiday House) without traveling the Ozarks courtesy of a host of books I met while reading my way through the 910 Section of the Wilmette Public Library. (That’s right! I wrote a book set in the Ozarks in May without ever setting foot there myself!)  Shelves of books offered me maps to read, photographs to study, land forms and water ways that could work their way into my text.  As for the rain proverbs (Section 398) that kept my plotline going – the skies growing red, the birds flying low, the leaves tickling Lowell’s cheeks, I came to know them thanks to Ozark folklorist Vance Randolph.  My book’s illustrator Jacqueline Rogers’ first request was for me to send on my primary and secondary research.  I also found a slew of place and character names printed on maps of Missouri and Arkansas.  By the time Lowell’s kin made it to his party, despite rain and floods and mud slides and twisters, my readers knew the wonder of familial love.

As for my delicious picture book CHICKEN SOUP BY HEART?

Well, believe it or not, I read and cooked chicken soup recipes (Section 641) from around the world.  In fact, in its first iteration, Rudie Dinkins was one of many multi-cultural characters who, so loved by their afterschool babysitter, Mrs. Gittel, wanted to cook her chicken soup when she came down with the flu.  And to counter my editor’s doubt that chicken soup could be sweet, as Mrs. Gittel liked her chicken soup, I was forced to keep digging through cook books until I came upon a Hungarian recipe that utilized sugar.   Readers came to see the crucial ingredient – the reciprocity of love.

My picture book FANCY THAT demanded time-travel, back to 1841and Berks County, Pennsylvania (Section 900).  Once again, my Wilmette Public Library served as the World’s Best Travel Agent.  Pippin Biddle, my story’s orphaned young limner, who set his heart on earning his keep traveling about painting people’s portraits, all to get his three sisters out of the Poorhouse, was a unique combination of every single limner I read about in Jean Lipman’s comprehensive book (Section 750).  Fortunately, I was earnest in my research; otherwise Pip would have returned at Thanksgiving, only there wasn’t a Thanksgiving yet; Pip’s dog would have been a breed (Jack Russell Terrier) yet created.  A Christmas return directed me to Sections 248 and 249 of the Library, so I could read about the Germans who’d brought Christmas to America in the late 1830’s, and Pip’s sisters could then save the day with their wreath-making business!  To my surprise, I’d written a book about hidden talents and how they reside in each of us.

“Fiction is a lie that tells the truth,” Stephen King wrote.  IMHO, research helps the writer tell the best lie possible.

Happy Writing and Researching!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
Don’t forget to celebrate NCTE’s Fourth Annual National Day on Writing Friday October 19 and Saturday, October 20.
This year’s theme is What I Write.
Come Friday and Saturday, tweet out your compositions of all sorts and post them to Twitter using the hashtag #WhatIWrite, and if space allows, #dayonwriting.

Since the National Gallery of Writing opened on October 20, 2009, more than 3,300 galleries were created and nearly 33,000 writing contributions were submitted. While the Gallery is now closed for submissions, it is a searchable archive and is a great resource for you to use when involving others in writing.

P.P.S.
Don’t forget to enter our Guest TeachingAuthor Book Giveaway to win an autographed copy of Eileen Meyer’s Who’s Faster? Animals on the Move.

Celebrate October 20th the Write Way: Write a Thanku!

Once again, we six Teaching Authors join writers everywhere in celebrating NCTE’s October 20th National Day on Writing.

Which prompts this Teaching Author to invite writers of all ages to celebrate, too – by contributing an original piece of writing to NCTE’s digitally archived National Gallery of Writing.

You could try writing something easy, like, say, a Thank You note.
The writer of a Thank You note knows his audience; he knows the purpose of his words; writing in first person allows his voice to ring true.
Also noteworthy: according to a recent study at Kent State University, people who composed short letters of gratitude reported a significant increase in their overall happiness.

Or, you could try writing something short, like, say, a haiku.
The three-line poetic form is so very doable. The first line has 5 syllables, the second 7, the third 5. Together the three lines paint a picture often associated with nature, but not always
Bob Raczka wrote Guykus.
Andrew Clements wrote Dogkus.
Last April, the American Library Association created Twaikus, or twittered haikus.

Even better, though?  You could write something easy and short.

You could write an original Thanku!

(I know, I know: it’s not even Friday! I apologize sincerely to my fellow TeachingAuthors and stellar poets, April and JoAnn.)

Googling “gratitude-themed haikus that go by the name Thanku” revealed none exist…

’til now, that is.

And the Good News is: a heartfelt Thanku can make (at least) two people happy – the writer and the reader.

Here’s the Thanku I wrote for My Writers - those I teach, those I coach and those who visit our TeachingAuthors blog.

             My teacher’s heart kvells*
             like any Jewish Mother’s.
             Such storied treasures!
            
                *rejoices

Why not try your hand at writing this original poetic form, then post your three appreciative lines at NCTE’s Gallery of Writing.

Happy National Day on Writing!

Esther Hershenhorn

Why I/We Write: Last But Not Least

I’m a veritable caboose today, bringing up the rear: the last TeachingAuthor to close out our two weeks’ worth of Why We Write posts.
Learning where my fellow TeachingAuthors’ hearts lie didn’t surprise me.
At the end of each post, I found myself borrowing Leslie Helakoski’s delicious Big Chickens (Dutton, 2006) refrain, declaring,
“Me too!”
“Me three!”
“Me four!”

Like JoAnn, I think better with a pen.
Like Mary Ann, I write to figure out life.
Writing serves as my life preserver, as it does for Carmela.
April’s “What if’s?” and Jeanne Marie’s need to remember are staples stored in my writer’s cupboard.

I can’t imagine a day in which I don’t write something – a letter, a blog post, manuscript comments, a grocery list.

Years of writing across all formats, across all genres, enabled me to uncover and recover the first person singular pronoun “I.”
I found me….and the voice I’d closeted long-ago.
Now I speak loud and clear, on the page, often to the world.
My ordered words express a mind-set, a heart-set, a viewpoint – all mine.
Sometimes, I am the only one listening.
Other times, listeners come a-knockin’ at my door.

This past week, children’s book author Jacqueline Jules, the Coordinator of North Arlington, Virginia’s Nottingham Elementary School’s Exemplary Project, emailed to share her students’ S is for Story-based stories posted to the National Gallery of Writing on October 20.
The principal, Ms. Pelosky, with the help of Exemplary Project PTA funds, had purchased my book as a welcome back gift for every K-5 Nottingham student as a way to commemorate a new year of the Exemplary Writing project.

Could there be a better closing to end our Why We Write posts?

The Nottingham’s students’ National Gallery of Writing stories offer Show, Don’t Tell proof of why we six TeachingAuthors choose to write.

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
Hurrah!  We have two (count 'em) Show, Don't Tell items of proof.  Sit A While blogger and TeachingAuthor reader Callie Feyen emailed to thank us for inspiring her Why I Write post and pass along the link.

Happy National Day on Writing!

Today is the second annual National Day on Writing. Sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), it's a day to celebrate writing in its many forms. Why? According to the NCTE flier:

"Because we, as a nation, are writing like never before—through text messages and IMs, with video cameras and cell phones, and, yes, even with traditional pen and paper. Whether it is done in a notebook or on a blog, writing, in its many forms, has become daily practice for millions of Americans."

As part of the celebration, we TeachingAuthors are addressing the question: "Why do I write?" In the series kickoff post, JoAnn shared how she writes "to remember and to uncover the truth—not only in stories but also in me." Then on Monday, Mary Ann described how she writes "to figure things out." I write for the same reasons. But when I thought about my answer to the question "Why do I write?" the first thing that came to mind was a quote from novelist Padgett Powell:

"I knew I was supposed to be a writer; I had made that declaration in the closet of my soul." 

When I first read these words, they struck an immediate chord in me, in part because my earliest writing was done in a closet. Literally. I was around 12 or 13 years old at the time, and struggling with the turbulence of adolescence combined with family discord. Something deep within told me I needed to write, but I had to do it in secret. Since I shared a room with my younger sister, I had very little privacy. So after she fell asleep at night, I sat on the floor of our bedroom closet with the door shut, writing under the light of a bare 40-watt bulb. I wrote page after page, trying to make sense of my feelings and my life. Writing became my life preserver.
 

Over 25 years after my closet-writing days, I came across Padgett Powell's words in Susan Shaughnessy's Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers. Like books of spiritual meditations, each page of Walking on Alligators contains a quote followed by several paragraphs of reflection. At the bottom of each page, Shaughnessy shares a suggestion for action or a question to ponder.

In her reflection on Powell's words, Shaughnessy says:

"You don't 'become a writer' because others say that you have written well.
You become a writer when you tell yourself that this is what you are.
If you have fundamental self-honesty, you will then write. You will carry out the activity you have linked with your deepest identity."

And that is, at least in part, why I write: because it is an activity that I have linked with my "deepest identity." What started out as a way to deal with adolescent angst has evolved into a creative outlet for me. I admit that there are times when I get frustrated with the publishing world, and consider giving up fiction writing. But I can't imagine living without writing. It's too much a part of me.

What about you? Why do you write?

Writing Workout

Celebrating National Day on Writing

Why not celebrate today by writing your own piece in honor of the National Day on Writing? Then contribute it to the National Gallery of Writing. Perhaps you'll share your own essay on "why I write." Or you can submit a story, poem, recipe, email, blog post, even audio, video, or artwork. See details here for instructions on submitting your piece. After your done, please come back and post a comment about it.

 

Blogosphere Buzz

• Want to keep the celebration going? Check out the National Day on Writing Live Webcast today between 9:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. EDT. The event "will highlight local celebrations and compositions from the National Gallery of Writing. A wide range of authors and writers will be featured during the webcast."
• In an interesting coincidence, blogger Catherine Denton also talks about Padgett Powell's quote this week on her blog, Winged Writer.
• This week, Newbery-medalist Sharon Creech talks about how she uses her writer's notebook on her blog, Words We Say. She even shares photos of her doodles!
• Our thanks to blogger Christie Wright Wild for honoring the TeachingAuthors with the "The One Lovely Blog Award" on her Write Wild blog today.

Happy National Day on Writing and Happy Writing!

Carmela

The First Book I Ever "Owned"

Ever since I was a girl, I've dreamed of living in a house with its own library. You know-- the kind of room wealthy people in movies always have, with floor-to-ceiling-built-in bookshelves and a rolling ladder to reach the top shelves.

The fantasy was inspired not only by my love of reading, but also by the fact that we had very few books in our house when I was growing up.  (One of the few I can recall was a light blue softcover my father studied to prepare for his "citizenship" test.)  For my working-class Italian-immigrant parents, books were a luxury we couldn't afford.

Then one day when I was around ten years old, a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman rang our front bell. You can imagine my amazement when the salesman managed to convince my father to buy a brand-new 20-volume set of the World Book Encyclopedia. I don't know how the salesman did it, but he was my new hero! And since my younger sister and brother were too young to read at the time, I considered the set mine.

As nerdy as it may sound, I loved reading those books. We didn't have the Internet back then, and a trip to the public library meant taking two buses each way. So having my own encyclopedia was indeed a luxury. I used it not only to research class assignments, but for recreational reading, too. I never read a volume from front to back as you would a novel. Instead, I flipped the pages until something struck me as interesting.

I tell students at school visits that my favorite volume was the letter "B," and it's true. As a girl, I pored over the color photographs of Birds and Butterflies from around the world. I studied the rules of Baseball and memorized the stats of many of the record-holders. (I believe Joe DiMaggio still holds the record for the longest consecutive hitting streak at 56 games.) I learned the hand signals for right and left turns on a Bicycle.

Those books held more than information for me. They took me places I could only dream of visiting. They introduced me to presidents, poets, and painters. They sparked my curiosity in mathematics and music.

As I grew older, I became more interested in reading fiction and drifted away from the encyclopedia.  But every so often, I still went back to my old World Books. And every time, I inevitably learned something new and interesting from their pages.

I'm happy to say I still own that set of encyclopedia--you can see it pictured here:

Now, whenever I pull out the "B" volume, I'm reminded of how it felt to be ten years old and own not only one book, but a whole set of 20. I was the richest girl in the world!

* * * * *

This is the last in our series of posts for the National Day on Writing, sponsored by NCTE. I will be submitting this entry to the "A Lifetime of Reading" Gallery of the National Gallery of Writing. I hope you'll use the following Writing Workout to inspire your own contribution to the gallery.

Writing Workout

The first book I ever owned . . .

What's the first book you recall as your very own? Was it a picture book, a reader, a novel? Was it brand new, or a hand-me-down? Who gave it to you? What memories are evoked when you think about that book?

Post the title of the book as a comment here on our TeachingAuthors blog, then write a 250-500 word description, essay, or anecdote about the book. When you're done, I encourage you to submit your piece to the gallery called "A Lifetime of Reading," curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, who blog at A Year of Reading. You can read more about the gallery at their blog.

Happy writing!
Carmela

Living Inside the Story

     From the time I taught myself to read, I have been an obsessive reader. My mother used to joke that the first time she saw me without a book was at my wedding. (Little did she know that one of the things that worried me the most that day was knowing that I didn't have a "good book" to take on my honeymoon!)
    As a child, I was an undiscriminating reader. I read in the book aisle at E.J. Korvette's while my parents shopped. I borrowed books from friends, relatives, the neighbors. I read newspapers left in busses and cabs. Cereal boxes. Anything.
     Finding reading material when I was in elementary school was not that easy. Public libraries in the 'burbs were either non-existent or meagerly stocked. I never knew that schools were supposed to have libraries until I moved to Mississippi in the fifth grade. There was the school book club catalog, but once you'd ordered the five or six books you wanted to read, that was it for the year. A book store was an exotic destination, found only "downtown" in large cities.  I spent a good chunk of my day finding books to feed my habit. (Yes, this does sound like something from Intervention.)
     It was during those years, that I found the four books that formed me as a reader, a writer, and as a person. I didn't just read these books. I read them to shreds. I climbed inside them and lived there for weeks at a time. And when I finished the 515th reading of one of these books, I would read it again. And again. They have followed me to college, into marriage and motherhood, and are on my shelf today.
      Three of these titles are Charlotte's Web, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Diary of a Young Girl. The fourth was the first to show me how writing could transcend the printed page and become a part of my life. This was a religious experience for a fourth grader.
     Fourth grade stunk on ice as far as I was concerned.  I had managed to run afoul of my teacher the first week of school, and things grew progressively worse as the year wore on. My saving grace was the classroom copy of Depend on Katie John by Mary Calhoun. As an adult, I can see how the fourth grade me could identify with the tomboyish-always-in-a-jam Katie John.  What made the book memorable was that it made me laugh out loud.
     Unfortunately, this happened during arithmetic.  I was supposed to be listening to my teacher explain the intricacies of long division, not reading a book tucked under my open math text. This didn't happen once; it happened over and over until my teacher confiscated the book, for the rest of the year.
    I felt as if I had lost a friend. Not just a friend, but one who could always cheer me up and make me laugh. If fourth grade had been a long slog so far, without Katie John, it threatened to turn into a death march. Losing the book certainly didn't improve my attitude toward my teacher. My school day was already an eight-hour tightrope walk, trying not to tick off The Teacher. Without Katie John, I found it hard to keep my balance.
     Life took a turn for the better when my father gave me my own hardcover copy of Depend on Katie John for my tenth birthday. I didn't know that regular people could own hardcover books; I thought they were something special only for libraries and schools.
     "Don't take that book to school," my mother warned. She didn't have to worry. No way would I risk my precious book and friend falling into the clutches of The Evil-Math-Loving-Book-Hating Teacher. I really did depend on Katie John. That book was the flotation device that kept my head above water until the end of fourth grade.
    I had always loved books, but the power this book held for me was something magic. How did this Mary Calhoun person put those words together in a way that made me laugh every single time? Even though I had been writing for several years already, I began to wonder could I ever be that kind of writer? One who could make a kid laugh, could create a character more real to me than my best friend?
     I have spent my life so far, trying to live up to the challenge of Mary Calhoun and Katie John.
     And speaking of reading...
  
What I've Been Reading
Adult memoir: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen; The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker; Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (technically this is fiction, but it reads like a memoir)
Adult non-fiction: The Most They Ever Had by Rick Bragg
YA fiction: Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher; The Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka; The Sniper by James Riordan; Love is the Higher Law by David Levithan, Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan. The Goodbye Season by Marion Hale; Liar by Justine Labalestier, Crossing Stones by Helen Frost; Death on the River by John Wilson; Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Graphic novel:  The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan
Middle grade non-fiction:  Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge; Eleanor, Quiet No More by Doreen Rappaport
Picture Book: You and Me and Home Sweet Home by George Ella Lyon; Subway Ride by Heather Lynne Miller; Crow Call by Lois Lowry

National Gallery of Writing Now Open for Your Viewing!

JoAnn is unable to post today as planned, so we will continue our series in celebration of the National Day on Writing next week. Meanwhile, I want to remind everyone that the National Gallery of Writing is now open for viewing. I invite you to visit the Gallery called "A Lifetime of Reading," which features entries by members of the Kidlitosphere. And don't forget to contribute your own work, be it a story, poem, recipe, email, blog post, or even audio, video, or artwork, to the Gallery--NCTE's goal is to collect 100,000 pieces of "writing" by next June!

So get writing!

Carmela

Write? Right!

Write? Right!

And, especially today, October 20, our National Day on Writing as declared by the National Conference of Teachers of English (NCTE).

TeachingAuthors joins other Kidlitosphere bloggers in submitting this, our third post, to The Gallery A Lifetime of Reading, curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, two teachers who blog at A Year of Reading.

Let’s hear it for Story, both written and read.
It’s a technical wonder every bit as marvelous as any GPS; in fact, maybe even more so, to my way of thinking.
Not only can story help pinpoint the reader’s and/or writer’s location in Life, determining where he is at any given moment; it can help illuminate where he’s been and might be going.
Printed and bound, story is there for everyone to use, hand-held, heart-held, impervious to storms. Signal-sending story characters from time in memorial compute important date, cover to cover.
No, not for me, the alluring, beckoning Gypsy-like voice of today’s GPS.
No siree.
I prefer the voices of my tried-and-true story favorites.

For instance, the poignant heart-ful tones of Brave Irene, William Steig’s Heroine who braves wind, snow and cold, not to mention steep terrain, to deliver to the Duchess, (in the nick of time, of course!), the dress Irene’s mother had sewn for the ball.
I re-read this classic picture book whenever I’m lost, accompanying Irene on her obstacle-strewn plotline.
The burdensome box she totes provides her ticket out.
Her foe, the wind, becomes her friend.
Once again I pinpoint where I am on my journey. Once again I see where I’ve been and might be going.
In honor of our National Day on Writing, let’s hear it for Story, the ultimate Global Positioning System!

Esther

(A quick addendum: NCTE is holding an all-day webcast today in honor of the National Day on Writing. To take part, see the link on their page.)

Joy, joy, joy! Writing about reading ~

Happy Poetry Friday! 
Today's poem and writing exercise are below.

Today begins our series of posts to commemorate
National Day on Writing.Yay!

But first, as the West Coast representative of TeachingAuthors, I have an announcement to make.  Something miraculous happened yesterday: it rained!  Real “I’d better hide my book under my sweatshirt as I sprint to the car” rain!  Usually when rain is predicted in Southern California, we roll our eyes and put on sandals, because by the time the storm comes panting down the coast to LA, it’s spent.  All it has left is one pathetic cough of drizzle.

The last time I actually remember it raining substantially was February.

I just had to share that because the rain is gone now and though the sky is sparkling blue and the streets are scrubbed clean, I wonder if it really rained here or if I imagined it.  I have to nail it down in words to know it happened.

  

Okay, back to our topic.  I’ve written a poem to post on the National Gallery of Writing.  You can, too.  In fact, there’s another one of TeachingAuthors’ famous Writing Workouts below to get your juices going.

As Carmela wrote in the last post, the National Day on Writing, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English, is meant to celebrate all forms of writing. In conjunction with the event, NCTE has created a National Gallery of Writing, a digital archive of writing samples showing how and why Americans are writing every day. The Gallery will be unveiled on Tuesday, October 20^th.

Teaching Authors will join other Kidlitosphere bloggers by submitting our posts to the Gallery called A Lifetime of Reading, curated by Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, two teachers who blog at A Year of Reading. The details about their gallery and the process for submitting a piece of writing can be found in this post on their blog: http://tinyurl.com/nc4zga

TeachingAuthors offer no prizes if you post a comment on our blog this week, but we really, really want to hear that you’ve gone to the links above and hung up your own work of art—your own writing—in a gallery.  Report in!

*  *  *  *  * 

Years ago, when my golden boy was young, I went to pick him up from kindergarten and found the teacher and a few children reading a book under a tree.  That’s when I took a lovely deep breath and s-l-o-w-e-d down.

Then I took out my notebook.

I found the rough draft of the poem I wrote and today I reworked it.  Here it is. For you.  For the National Day of Writing.  For being outside.  For yesterday’s blessed rain.  For the holy goddesses of reading.  For all of it.

READING OUTSIDE

by April Halprin Wayland

She reads us a story,

just me and Theodore

under the sycamore.

Her voice surrounds,

we swim in her sounds,

she’s our very own troubadour.

We laugh on the grass

when the silly giraffe

gets the long words all wrong.

Under this sycamore,

just me and Theodore,

my toes in this grass,

my head on her lap,

listening…

I know I belong.

© April Halprin Wayland

WRITING WORKOUT: Writing about reading

1) Look at the ideas that Mary Lee and Franki of  A Year of Reading listed to get our juices flowing:

~ an anecdote from childhood,

~ a recent experience around books or reading,

~ a memory from school (good or bad),

~ a vignette about learning to read,

~ the impact of a particular book,

~ your life as a reader.

If the list doesn’t bring up anything, observe children reading or someone reading to them.  Take notes.

2) Now—circle the topic that opens you up, that pulls you in.

3) Go outside or find a cozy spot and write as many ideas as you can about that topic.  Cover the page.  Write for ten minutes.  Or more.  Free associate.  Keep your pen moving.  Include vivid images, smells, textures—all five senses.

4) This is your compost, as Mary Ann calls it.  Your rich soil. 

5) Go now—work in your garden.  See what grows.

April

drawings by April Halprin Wayland