Not Prompts—Sensory Cues! by Mary Ann Rodman

 The term “prompt” is not a favorite of writers. I know it’s not a favorite of students. I don’t know if “journal writing” is still used by teachers to keep students quiet while taking attendance. However, I’ve taught a whole generation of kids who wince at the words “prompt” and “journal” after years of having to expound on “my favorite fruit” and “what is a good friend” in a notebook that the teacher checked but never read. 

To me, “prompt” means you’ve lost your way and your memory needs nudging—like being prompted on stage. I prefer the term “cues”, but not just any cues, but sensory cues. 

Sensory cues are those aromas or textures that evoke particular emotions and memories. I keep a list of these cues. Here are a few of mine: Smells—honeysuckle, lime scented aftershave, mildew, baking bread or cookies. Textures—velvet, sand, grass, peanut butter, porcelain.

Let’s take peanut butter—which is on both of my lists. I imagine the mouthfeel of soft bread mixed with crunchy peanut butter (my favorite).  The smell of peanut butter recalls a twin aroma—that of the slightly soured milk smell of my vinyl Barbie lunchbox in second grade. Even though my thermos was washed every day, the scent of milk and peanut butter had absorbed into the soft sided vinyl. Oh, and that’s another cue —the sharp chemical smell of a new vinyl lunchbox or three-ring notebook. Suddenly, I’m back in my second grade classroom, with a cascade of cues: pencil shavings, chalk dust, hot asphalt (it was a new school and the parking lot was still being paved). This is followed by specific images, like Margaret who sat across the aisle. She wore her hair in long ringlets, wore periwinkle suede Hush Puppies and read nothing but Winnie-the-Pooh books the whole year. 

Whew! That was unexpected! See how that works? Sensory details are what makes writing come alive for me. So much of what we write in a first draft is what we see or hear. As a result my first draft often feels like a string of events—a lot of “and he went there and she said this.” It’s when I use my cues (NOT prompts), that my story picks up momentum. 

Suddenly, I want to write a second grade story. Hmmm—I wonder what happened to Margaret?

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman. 

"Just the Facts, M'am"--fiction vs non-fiction on Poetry Friday

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Howdy, Campers, and Happy Poetry Friday! (the link to this week's PF host is below.)

First: welcome, welcome to our newest TeachingAuthor, Carla!  I am in awe of your writer's journey, Carla, because when I learned that we would be discussing non-fiction, my legs trembled and my palms grew cold and damp.  Unlike you and Mary Ann, in her wonderful first salvo on this topic, I am not, by nature, a researcher.  I am NOT a "Just the facts, M'am."

Jack Webb as Joe Friday in Dragnet, from Wikipedia

But... is this really true?

Well...I DO tell my students that real details bring fiction to life, and have them listen to the following short audioclip from StoryCorps.  Talk about bringing a subject to life! The details Laura Greenberg shares with her daughter are priceless--not to mention hilarious.

Still, I struggled to write poems for The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science (Pomelo Books).  By "struggled" I mean I read science articles and wrote tons of stinky poems about rocks, astronauts, materials science, the expiration dates on seed packages,electricity, science experiments...and on and on and on.

But...I dread gettting facts wrong--my worst nightmare. (Confession: writing these blog posts scares the bejeebers out of me.)

In fiction, I can fly my fairy-self to Planet Bodiddley and make up all the materials science by myself.  But if I have to convey facts?  And then somehow bake them into a tasty poetry pie?  I get tied up in knots.  My writing becomes stiff as a board.  I'm afraid of...

But finally I stumbled on this fascinating fact, in a review of The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman:"The water coming out of your kitchen tap is four billion years old and might well have been sipped by a Tyrannosaurus rex."

Wow. Think of the water you drink.  Think of the water you take a BATH in!!!! Ten versions of "Space Bathtub" later (with considerable coaching from the ever-patient anthologists, Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell) this fact became a poem for kindergartners:

OLD WATER
by April Halprin Wayland

I am having a soak in the tub.
Mom is giving my neck a strong scrub.

Water sloshes against the sides.
H2O's seeping into my eyes.

The wet stuff running down my face?
She says it came from outer space!

The water washing between my toes
was born a billion years ago.

from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science
(c) 2014 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved

If you're a K-5th grade teacher, this science/poetry anthology is so immediately useful, you'll cry with relief when you open it. Trust me. For details, and to watch under-two minute videos of poets (Bobbi Katz, Kristy Dempsey, Mary Lee Hahn, Susan Blackaby, Buffy Silverman, Linda Sue Park and me) reciting our science poems from this anthology, go to Renee LaTulippe's No Water River.  Again, trust me. (A little foreshadowing: Pomelo Books' newest anthology, Celebrations! comes just in time for Poetry Month this year--stay tuned!)

Here's a terrific vimeo of "Old Water" produced by Christopher Alello:

And thank you, Linda Baie, fabulous friend of TeachingAuthors, for hosting Poetry Friday today!

posted safely and scientifically by April Halprin Wayland wearing safety goggles

Working Those FOUR Senses: A Wednesday Writing Workout

     As writers, we try to be conscious of using all five senses in our writing.  Those of us blessed with all five in working order actually have a tough time doing this. Why?  Because most of us perceive the world through what we see, with what we hear coming in a close second.  I have scanned a page of my writing, highlighting the use of each sense with a different colored marker.  Whatever color I use for sight winds up being the predominant color.

     So how do you sharpen up the use of other ways perception?  Well here is this weeks's workout.
                     
   

Wednesday Writing Workout

    This is a fun exercise I do with my writing students. If you are doing it with your students, do not tell them in advance the purpose of the exercise.

     Write down your favorite food. Be as specific as possible. Chicken noodle soup?  Is it homemade or  canned?  Mac and cheese?  Boxed or a special combination of noodles and cheese and something else that your family eats.  It can be anything.  (No nutrition police permitted commentary on this one.)

     Next, close your eyes.  Imagine you are eating your favorite food.  After a minute of thoroughly imagining, open your eyes and describe your food...without using any visual details. Don't list ingredients.  Here are some suggested prompts.

      1.  Is it hot or cold?

      2.  What is the texture?  Hard, chewy, soft, gummy, slippery, stringy, crunchy, crispy, slushy, squishy?  How does it feel on your tongue?

     3.  Does it make a sound when you eat it?

     4.  If it is something you eat with your hands, how does it feel in your hands?  Dry, crisp, greasy, soft, firm.....?

     5.  Is there another sensation you experience? Steam in your face? Is it so cold your teeth hurt?  Or so warm you can feel it go all the way down your throat to your stomach?

     6.  Taste? Sweet, sour, salty, savory? A combination? (You can not use an ingredient to describe taste...chocolate-ly, tomato-ish, fishy.  (One of the best description I have heard for "fishy" is "tastes like the ocean.")

     7.  Smell is tough without saying it smells like one of the ingredients.  You could say it smells sweet or spicy or

   Depending on the skill level of the student (or yourself) this should take between five and ten minutes.   Pencils down.

    Ask for volunteers to read their descriptions. The groups tries to guess the food.  The best descriptions are the ones most quickly recognized.  Every now and then I run across someone  describing an obscure dish.  I allow hints (culture of origin, whether it is eaten and home or in a restaurant).  If no one guesses correctly within a reasonable (couple of minutes) amount on time, I allow the student to go ahead and tell the group the answer, and then to go on and tell something more about the food.  Is it an everyday dish or only eaten at a certain season or holiday.

    Here is my example of my favorite food:

      It is sweet and salty, crunchy but soft, yet sometimes sticky.  Well mostly soft. Sometimes parts of it are hard enough to chip a tooth.

    Answer:  Kettle corn.

    Now get those other senses working!

    Posted by Mary Ann Rodman  

Research: The Devil is in the Details...and Happy Poetry Friday!

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Howdy, Campers!  Happy Poetry Friday!

This week Poetry Friday is hosted by
Linda at TeacherDance--thanks, Linda!

All five of my fellow bloggers have weighed in on research and now it's my turn.  Jeanne Marie talks about research avoidance, Esther walks us through the research behind three of her books, Jill is adamantly in favor of research ("put a sock in it," she tells us if our inner voice downplays its importance), Mary Ann argues the importance of research like a lawyer fighting for her client's life, and Carmela gives us a terrific trio of research resources.

Since I seem to be confessing sins lately, I'll get this out of the way fast: does anyone else ever get scared because you know that deep, down, you're really a fraud?  Here are two worries in the whispery-thicket of my mind, keeping me from that research phone call or email:

• What do you mean, call the zoo and ask the herpetologist my question?  Who am I?!?!?  I'm nobody!
• How can I interview a group of seventh grade girls? What if this never gets published?  They'll feel betrayed!

I can't tell you how many books I've done copious research for, most of that research saved on my computer.  I've interviewed rock and mineral experts, my 91-year-old Uncle Davie about flying bombers in WWII and pitching sparkling strands of tin foil out of the fuselage to mess up enemy radar.

This is my favorite photo of Uncle Davie, taken when he was 85.

I've emailed middle school girls and their mothers about body image, I've researched compulsive overeating, anorexia, alopecia, snakes, floods, tashlich, Passover food, Hawaiian hikes, foods that have holes in them (Swiss cheese, olives, bagels, dried apple rings, red and green bell peppers, pineapple rings, bundt cake and cherry lifesavers for dessert.) and so much more--oy!

Research, for me, comes down to the beauty of finding that one defining detail.

In researching Girl Coming in for a Landing, I spent a day at Magruder Middle School in Torrance, CA on the first day of school.  

Throughout the day I was allowed to interview individual students in each grade about how they prepared for the first day, how scared they were, etc.

Here is the pair of poems that made the book:

BACK TO SCHOOL
LAST YEAR

Last year
I worried about where the rooms were
and all     those      kids. 
                   
I didn't know
what kind of binder to buy (three ring?)
or how much lunch money to bring.

Last year I got my hair cut the day before school started.
Dumb me. 
It was way    too    short that first day.

And last year I didn't know if I should buy new jeans
or if my comfortable overalls would be dorky…
or even if anyone cared.

Last year I wasn't sure what time to set my alarm.
Last year
I was scared.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *  

BACK TO SCHOOL
THIS YEAR

This year
I've got the perfect organizer
with pockets for every subject (except PE).

This year                                        
I ironed my lavender shirt three days ago
and laid everything out last night.

This year
I set the alarm for six forty-five:
just right.

This year
I got my hair cut two weeks ago
so that it is exactly the right length today.

This year
I have Mr. C for science
Mr. Barton from Tennessee for language arts

and Ms. Konigsberg
for chorus.
Again.

Last year I worried: Who was I?  What did I know?
This year
I put on glitter ChapStick and go!

poems (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland.  All rights reserved.


So...besides the alternating inner turmoil and confidence the kids expressed, what was that one defining detail I discovered that day? 

Glitter ChapStick. 

Who knew?  It didn't exist when I went to school.  How would I know about that? And of course, that's precisely the point--I wouldn't.

Writing Workout: The Devil is in the Details


 Here's today's assignment:

1) Choose a topic you're working on or pull one out of the sky: cats, schools in Croatia, comic strips, how to grow asparagus--it doesn't matter.

2) Now, give yourself a reasonable amount of time to research it--30 minutes? A day? Two months?  It depends on the project--you decide. 

3) Google it, email a friend who knows the field, go to your local dog park and talk to owners, ask to speak with the woman who runs your school district's vegetable garden program.

4) Your goal is to find one killer detail.  Something that sparks you, as glitter ChapStick ignited me.

5) Now, write a poem or start a picture book with this detail in mind.

Write, my children, write!  And remember to breathe.  And to remember to write with joy!

drawing (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland. 
If you use this drawing, please give credit.  Thank you!

Something I Learned this Summer

We often blog here at TeachingAuthors about the value of "Reading as a Writer." (If you've missed those posts, you'll find them here.) Well, this summer, while reading a historical novel set in 18th-century Europe--the same setting as my current work-in-progress (WIP)--I noticed a writing technique worth imitating. My desire to share that technique here inspired our current TeachingAuthors blog topic: "Something I Learned (or re-learned) this Summer."

The novel I read was for adults, but the technique would work in any kind of novel--from beginning chapter books on up--that includes a scene where a character is eavesdropping. Note: I didn't know the historical novel I read would also include sexually explicit scenes. For that reason, I'm not going to mention the title here, in case any young writers are reading this post. :-) Instead, I'll refer to the novel by its initals: TAGD. If you really want to know the title, you can contact me via Facebook.

Untitled photo by uhhhlaine (cc) *see note

 The eavesdropping scene in TAGD caught my attention for three reasons:

1. It's the novel's opening scene;
2. The scene really hooked me and made me want to read on;
3. I'd been considering revising my young adult WIP to open with an eavesdropping scene.

I should mention that I already had an eavesdropping scene in my WIP. I was trying to decide whether to move that scene to the opening of the novel.

So what hooked me about the opening of TAGD? The use of details to flesh out not only the environment surrounding the main character, but also to help readers visualize the people she was listening in on. It's a simple technique that reaps great rewards.

Let me show you what I mean. Here's an excerpt from my WIP's eavesdropping scene BEFORE I revised it to add details. Note, the narrator is 13-year-old Emilia, and Maria is her older sister:    

     One day in early December, I overheard Mamma arguing with Father—something she never did. With the Sardinian occupation over, Father was planning to resume his academic meetings. He’d also decided to hire another tutor for Maria, to teach her philosophy and mathematics. As usual, Mamma did not approve.
     “What need does Maria have for another tutor?” Mamma said. “She already spends too much time with books. Haven’t you noticed her pallor? She did not recover from the throat illness the way her sisters did. Maria needs fresh air and physical activity, not more studies.”
     “Very well, then,” Father said, “We will increase the frequency of her dance lessons. And I will instruct her to keep a window open in her study. Come spring, I’ll have her tutors move her lessons to the garden.”
     “They will simply stuff her head with more book learning,” Mama said. “What of her real education, the one she would have received at a convent school? Maria should be learning practical skills, such as sewing and embroidery, and how to manage a home—skills that would make her a useful wife and mother.”
     “There will be time enough for that,” Father said. “She is still young.”
     “Young?” Mamma’s voice was shrill now. “Perhaps her modest demeanor has led you to forget that your eldest daughter is now 14! It is time to think of her future. Of her betrothal, and Emilia’s, too.”
     I started at the mention of my name. While I fully expected to marry one day, it had always seemed something in the distant future. 

After reading the opening of TAGD, I reread this scene and realized I hadn't provided any context for readers. There's no mention of where Emilia or her parents are when she overhears their argument. In fact, the scene is almost entirely dialogue. See if you can spot the changes in this revision:

    I was on my way to the harpsichord salon when I heard angry voices coming from Mamma’s sitting room. Drawing near, I realized Mamma was arguing with Father—something she rarely did. And something she should not be doing now, for she was heavy with child.
     There were already seven children in our family, and my youngest brother's birth had been a difficult one. Mamma had been bedridden for months afterward. She’d barely regained her strength when she was with child again. This time, she complained constantly of fatigue. And she grew more short-tempered with each passing day.
     Standing outside Mamma’s sitting room, I heard the irritation in her voice. “What need does Maria have for another tutor? She already spends too much time with books. Haven’t you noticed her pallor? She did not recover from the throat illness the way her sisters did. Maria needs fresh air and physical activity, not more studies.” I pictured Mamma seated in the high-backed armchair near the window, her tired legs atop the footstool cushion she herself had embroidered. No doubt her normally calm blue-gray eyes—eyes I had inherited—now flashed steely gray.
     “Very well, then,” Father said, “We will increase the frequency of her dance lessons. And I will order her to keep a window open in her study at all times.” His voice was calmer than Mamma’s. I leaned in closer and felt heat at the top of my head. The candle burning in the sconce beside the door was closer than I’d realized. Jerking my head away, I heard Father say, “Come spring, I’ll have her tutors move her lessons to the garden.”
     “They will simply stuff her head with more book learning,” Mamma said. “What of her real education, the one she would have received at a convent school? Maria should be cultivating practical skills, such as sewing and embroidery, and how to manage a home—skills that would make her a useful wife and mother.”
     “There will be time enough for that,” Father said. “She is young.”
     “Young?” Mamma’s voice was shrill. “Perhaps her modest demeanor has led you to forget that your eldest daughter is now 14! It is time to think of her future. Of her betrothal, and Emilia’s, too.”
       I started at the mention of my name. While I fully expected to marry one day, it had always seemed something in the distant future. 

In the revision, readers can now picture where the argument is taking place and where Emilia is standing as she eavesdrops. They also learn why Mamma is uncharacteristically irritable, and they can even visualize her through the eyes of Emilia's imagination:

I pictured Mamma seated in the high-backed armchair near the window, her tired legs atop the footstool cushion she herself had embroidered. No doubt her normally calm blue-gray eyes—eyes I had inherited—now flashed steely gray. 

These details not only help readers better "see" Mamma, they add clues about her personality, and Emilia's, too. The end result--I hope!--is that readers are more engaged in the story so that they'll be more likely to keep reading. I'd love to know if you agree. Do you think the revisions make the story stronger?

By the way, the above argument goes on for a few more paragraphs. At its conclusion, Emilia learns something that has profound implications and leads to an important decision on her part. Because of that, I decided not to open the novel with her eavesdropping. I felt readers needed to understand more about Emilia's character, and her position in the family, to understand the motives behind her decision.

Now it's your turn. Try the Writing Workout below to see how details can enhance a scene. And don't forget: You need to enter by 11 pm (CST) TODAY for a chance to win an autographed copy of Mary Ann Rodman's wonderful new picture book, The Roller Coaster Kid (Viking). See her post for details.

Oh, and I almost forgot: We've got an extra-special blog post lined up for Friday: A Writing Workout from a SURPRISE guest TeachingAuthor!  Be sure to stop by!

Writing Workout:

An Eavesdropping Scene

For this Writing Workout, you'll need a scene in which a character is eavesdropping on someone else's conversation. If you don't already have such a scene in a current WIP, you can create one using the above photo as a prompt. Start out with just the dialogue that the character overhears. Then go back and add sensory details that show exactly where your character is in relation to the people he or she is overhearing, and have your character imagine what the people are doing as they speak. Can you find a way to incorporate details that also provide clues about the characters' personalities?

Happy Writing!
Carmela Martino
* Note: If you use photos online, whether on a blog, Facebook, Pinterest, etc, I suggest you read "Bloggers Beware: You CAN Get Sued for Using Pics on Your Blog" by author Roni Loren . The eavesdropping photo above was posted by uhhhlaine on Flickr. The designation (cc) is to indicate that its Creative Commons license allows sharing. Our Writing Workout logo is clipart.

It's Still Summer!

In our household, time-telling is a big deal.  "It can't be Tuesday," my four-year-old said the other day.  "It's still summer." 

Indeed, it is!

Seeing all of the back-to-school displays at the store this morning, my daughter was very worried.  "Is August fall?"  She has been having nightmares about her first grade locker, and in all honesty, I'm having nightmares about my husband going back to work and leaving me with all of the household chores he's been doing all summer long. 

But... while those of you in the south are savoring your last moments of summer vacation, we've got a month to go (not to rub it in).  I just finished teaching and taking my summer classes.  I'm sorry, but I'm not quite ready to think about going back to school.

While our vacation plans have paled in comparison to April's, we've had a little beach time and a little NYC time and this coming week, Hersheypark (and a chocolate martini!).  I was working while we were at the beach, so now I've been doing my "beach reading" from the comfort of my recliner -- the divine Jennifer Weiner for my grown-up book club and some great "boy books" for me.  Since all of my favorite kidlit authors are women, I made a concerted effort to branch out, and as a consequence I'm now in love with Dan Gutman, Anthony Horowitz, Rick Riordan.  I also can't wait to meet Zachary Ruthless.  (Have I piqued your interest? Don't forget to enter our current book giveaway contest.)

At the SCBWI retreat I attended last month, one of the speakers was well-known boy-book author John Coy.  He gave us a number of writing-intensive workouts, which probably work just as well at school visits with fifth-graders as they do with writing conference attendees.  I am not, as I have mentioned before, typically a fan of such exercises.  However, these were helpful to me in noodling on a new character/premise, so I will (thank you, John Coy!) share them here.

Writing Workout
1) Picture your main character in a scene that involves a conflict.  Now... describe what he/she is wearing.

As an aside, I am not a visual thinker.  I rarely describe much about my character's appearance, and I can't get through a book that goes on in detail about Jimmy Choos or Juicy Couture. 
I hadn't given a thought to what my character was wearing -- nor would I ever stop to describe it in this particular scene -- but I definitely had a better mental picture of her when I was finished.

2) Describe what she's wearing on her feet.

I'd already done this, down to her nail polish, so I was amazed to find how much more there was to say about her feet.

3) Describe her hair.

Ditto!

4) Describe the sounds your character would notice in the room.

5) Describe the smells.

6) Describe tastes. 

Adding sensory detail to scenes is, we all know, what makes them come alive.  I am much more apt to add smells and tastes to my descriptions than I am visual details, but I am strange! 

When my students write descriptive essays, I typically have to do a great deal of prodding to get them to move beyond cliches and to use strong, evocative sensory details.  The specificity of this exercise was helpful, and I look forward to repeating it with my Comp 101 students.   Oh, no, I'm thinking about school!  --Jeanne Marie

Confessions of a Reformed Mindless Reader

   If you have been following this blog, you know that I am compulsive reader. As a kid I read everything...cereal boxes, shampoo bottles, a newspaper scrap on the floor of a taxi...everything. Restricted to a two-books-at-a-time limit on library books (bad library, bad!), I usually had read one of them by the time I got home.  The happiest day of my life was when the librarian at the Jackson (Mississippi) Public Library said, "Honey, you can take home as many books as you can carry." This became great training for my future career...librarian!
    To say that I was an uncritical reader would be a vast understatement. If I found an author I liked, I would every single thing the library had. To me, Authors (I always thought of them in capital letters) were Deities.  They thought up stories, wrote them without making spelling mistakes, and then zillions of kids all over the world would read their books. Authors were perfect.
    Towards the end of elementary school, I started to notice something; I never read a book with a character who was even remotely like me. (This was pre-Judy Blume). None of them had braces, or glasses, or had to take allergy shots every week. My fictional soul mate was Harriet the Spy, right down to (lensless) glasses, hightop sneakers and notebook. But even Harriet lived in NYC, where cool things happened.  I realized that Authors were really authors, who sometimes wrote books that I really hated (me hating a book?!)  but I didn't know why. Literary criticism was not encouraged in my school. Book reports were for re-hashing the plot in 350 words. My opinion of the book was unimportant.
     I learned to "read like writer" in my MFA program.  My usual approach to reading was to dive in, and if the first page didn't grab me, it was on to another book. But I had a reading list of books that I had
to read. And analyze.  Even if I hated the first page. After finishing, I re-read it, line by line and to figure out what worked and what didn't.
   Next I would take a highlighter to the book (yes, I cringed!)  Using different colors, I  underscored action, dialog and description. Then I would go back and re-highlight the individual characters, and sensory details  Was it all visual, or did the author engage all five senses? Now, my book was a quick visual chart, the colors showing the balance and flow of dialog, action and description.
    I learned that every character, action and detail should "move the story along." Every scene should build on the previous scenes. I outlined action. I made web-like drawings connecting the interactions of the characters.
    By the time I had gone through that process with two books, On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer,
and Becoming Abigail by Rachel Vail, I had absorbed the process into my subconscious.  I could be reading along, really enjoying a story and a little voice in my head would say "That dialog doesn't doesn't sound like two ten-year-olds talking; they sound like adults."
    Even though it has been years since I highlighted those books in oblivion, the lessons I learned stayed with me. True, I can no longer dive head first into a book and let it wash over me in pure pleasure. But there are no perfect authors, there are no perfect books. In the end, I decide whether the flaws are outweighed by the strength of other components. (Sometimes I ask "Did this book
even have an editor?") Do I read on, or not?
      Wait.  I was wrong.  There are two perfect books...Charlotte's Web and Harriet the Spy.
       All literary opinions are purely those of Mary Ann Rodman and do not represent those of any other
Teaching Author!


Summer Reading

What I've read so far (school has been out for three weeks here Atlanta):

Countdown by Deb Wiles
Take Me with You by Carolyn Marsden
Three Rivers Rising by Jame Richards
The Best and Hardest Thing by Pat Brisson
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (I think I am the last person in the world to read it)
Tell Us We're Home by Marina Budhos
The Girl in the Green Sweater by Krystyna Chiger
Party by Tom Leveen
Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman
The Year of Goodbyes by Debby Levy
Borderline by Allen Stratton

Reading right now:

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (late again!)
Sprout by Dale Peck
Under a Red Sky: Memoir of  a Childhood in Communist Romnia by Haya Leah Molnar
Mockingbird by Katherine Erskine
Saving Maddie by Varian Johnson

In my beach bag for July (some of these are late June releases)

Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill
Glimpse by Carol Lynn Williams
Word After Word After Word by Patricia MacLachlan
The London Eye Mystery by Siobahn Dowd

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

Freshman English

I was hired to teach English 101 at a local community college last summer, a week before class was to start. My primary qualification was my long career as a semi-professional student. Of course I had no clue what I was doing.

On the first day of class, I asked the students to split into pairs, perform cursory interviews of each other, and then make introductions accordingly. Mode of transport apparently ranked as one of the most important biographical details, at least among the males in the class.

I also asked the students they were taking English 101 and what they hoped to gain from it. Because the course was a requirement for all students, I received the expected answer from nearly everyone – they were taking it because they had to, and what they hoped to gain was a passing grade and college credit.

Because this particular course was added to the schedule in the week before school started (thus my last-minute hiring), my students had also been those who were still figuring out their schedules, for whatever reason, at the very last minute. Many were dealing with serious financial and personal issues, illnesses, multiple jobs, etc. Some were in high school. A few were older than I.

I had no idea what to expect, but I certainly didn’t expect what I got. One of my students, an excellent writer, explained that he had gotten through 2/3 of the class in the previous semester but had had to drop out upon being sent to prison. He further explained that he had recently developed a case of severe writers’ block which he attributed to the cessation of recreational drug use.

Another student was a professional plumber in a technology AA program. He was well-muscled and tattooed. His writing was breathtaking, and he shared with me that he sometimes wrote poetry in his spare time. The following semester, he became an English tutor, and he has since received a scholarship to pursue a four-year degree.

I did not experience many of the issues I had been warned to expect from my students with plagiarism. Missing assignments (and highly creative excuses) were more the norm. But those students who did adhere to the butt-in-chair rule and took the work seriously turned out to be generous sharers, both with me and with one another. They talked about what mattered to them. They confided intimate details of their personal crises, dreams, desires, fears, secrets – not just to me but in their online workshops, as well.

In an essay on role models, one student wrote about Britney Spears and Martin Luther King, Jr. And, God love her, she actually made it work.

I honestly have no idea whether I taught them anything, but they taught me so very much, and I am grateful to all of them.

Writing Workout

During one of the earliest class sessions, I asked my students to describe a place that was meaningful to them, choosing details carefully to evoke a particular mood. After they wrote for fifteen minutes, I asked them to go to the place and write the description again.

I expected that most of them would say they were able to write a more fleshed-out essay with more vivid sensory detail when they were in the place rather than just imagining it. Indeed, a few did. Many said that quite the opposite was the case – that their imaginations were hindered by the presence of the actual physical environment. Some said that their essays were merely different – that they wrote about the crowded cafeteria at lunchtime and then, while there, wrote about the cafeteria empty.

(Then there were those who got lost looking for the place and those who never came back – the dangers of ever letting students escape the classroom, even at the college level.)

My take-away lesson for next time was to make sure to plan adequate time afterward for discussion of differing writing styles, habits, preferences, and methods. This exercise was a big eye-opener for me.

Children's Book Week--Reading as a Writer

Posted by Carmela Martino

Most writers I know are avid readers. I have been for as long as I can remember. I read so much as a child that my mother often scolded me, saying things like, "You spend too much time sitting around with your nose in a book. Get up and DO SOMETHING!"

But I was doing something. I was learning how to be a writer. Without even realizing it, I was studying how writers use language, create tension, bring characters to life, etc. All that reading expanded my vocabulary, refined my literary tastes, and taught me genre-specific conventions. And the best part? My education-by-osmosis was not only painless, it was pleasurable.

When I eventually went to Vermont College to work on an MFA in Writing, I learned a more direct approach to my education as a writer. At the beginning of each semester in the program, I was required to create a personal reading list pertinent to my writing goals. The list included books on craft as well as children's/young adult books in the genre I was writing. Each month, I then had to write two critical essays discussing what I had learned from my reading.

Often, it wasn't until I sat down to write those essays that I recognized what I had absorbed.

I know the essays were the bane of many of my fellow students. But for me, the process of organizing my thoughts about a book I'd read and then putting those thoughts into writing led me to new insights--insights I might never have discovered by osmosis alone. (For an example of how this works, see the Writing Workout below.) Perhaps this is one of the reasons so many writers are also bloggers--the web has become a place to organize our thoughts and share our insights about both reading and writing.

Earlier this year, I wrote at length about the benefits of reading for writers of all ages in "Reading as a Writer," an article for the SCBWI-Illinois online newsletter. In a follow-up to that article, "More on Reading as a Writer," I shared feedback from other writers on how reading influences their work.

In case you don't have time to check out the articles, below are the books on "reading as a writer" that I mention in the first column. These books include specific strategies for getting the most from reading.

• How to Read a Book: The Classic Guide to Intelligent Reading by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren
• How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas Foster
• How to Read Novels Like a Professor: A Jaunty Exploration of the World's Favorite Literary Form also by Thomas Foster
• Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them by Francine Prose

"Reading as a writer" has become second nature to me, even when I'm reading "for fun." I also continue to choose books that will help me learn specific techniques. Just yesterday, I finished reading the young-adult novel The Vanishing Point: A Story of Lavinia Fontana by Louise Hawes. Fontana was a Renaissance artist who lived in 16th-century Bologna, and the novel is a fictionalized account of her adolescence. My current writing project is a historical novel set in 18th-century Italy, and is also based on the life of a real woman of the time. While reading Hawes's novel, I studied how she wove in setting details specific to the time period along with known facts from Lavinia Fontana's life. The book taught me a great deal!

Next time you (or your students) practice "reading as a writer," consider trying the following Writing Workout to deepen your experience.

Writing Workout: Reading as a Writer

In preparation for "reading as a writer," decide what aspect of writing you (or your students) will study. For example, you may choose to focus on characterization, dialogue, description, plot, setting, use of flashbacks, etc. When I started at Vermont College, I knew one of the shortcomings in my own writing was a lack of specific detail. So, in my first two semesters, I read to study how authors incorporated details into their writing.

Ideally, you will read the book you are studying more than once. The first time is to simply enjoy the story. However, if you're pressed for time, you can read for pleasure and analyze at the same time.

If you are able, purchase a paperback copy of the book you've chosen. With a highlighting pen, mark occurrences of the technique you are studying. For example, while studying the use of details, I highlighted every use of sensory detail that I found. (If you're working with a borrowed book, then take notes describing each occurrence of the technique. Make sure to include the corresponding page numbers.)

Doing the above alone will likely be an eye-opening experience. But to take this exercise a step further, write a 300-800 word essay or blog post discussing what you learned from your reading. [Classroom teachers: instead of a written essay, you could have students give an oral presentation.] Your essay should include some of the examples you highlighted or noted in the text. Important: be sure to discuss how you will apply what you learned to your own writing. And don't forget--you can learn as much, if not more, from a book you don't like as from one you do.