Wednesday Writing Workout: Six Brilliant Words

Today I'm happy to share a guest Wednesday Writing Workout from Illinois author Melanie Weiss that's perfect for National Poetry Month, which begins today.

Melanie and I connected last fall after attending an SCBWI-IL Food for Thought meeting. Melanie is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and worked as a journalist for newspapers and magazines for 20 years. She began writing her debut novel, Spoken, shortly after she became an “empty nester.”

Spoken received the Bronze Medal for Young Adult-Social Issues in the 2019 Readers' Favorite International Book Award Contest. Here's a one-sentence summary of the novel:

When high school freshman Roman Santi discovers the Spoken Word Club, it leads him on a journey of new friendships and finding the dad he never knew.

You can read more about Melanie at her website and follow her on Facebook.

Today, Melanie shares a Wednesday Writing Workout on using six-word stories/poems in the classroom, but the exercise is appropriate for writers of all ages.

Wednesday Writing Workout:
Six Brilliant Words
By Melanie Weiss

Flash fiction is a genre of fiction that involves telling a story using between 5 and 1,500 words. Today, we are going to focus on the smaller side of that scale, the six-word story:

Flat tire.
New job.
No job?

This example is just six short words but it says everything you need to know. Writing a six-word story can be fun for every age and makes an excellent creative writing assignment that encourages students to use precise, concise language. It's wonderful, isn't it, how six little words can be strung together to say something so much BIGGER?

Six-word stories are a great way to help students (and adult writers) get more comfortable with writing short stories and poems. Since April is National Poetry Month, this is the perfect time to work on six-word stories. They can be a starting point before moving into haikus and other forms of free verse poetry, such as spoken word poetry. Prompts for six-word stories are endless. You can find countless sources online, including these at Page Flutter and these art-themed prompts.

In the classroom, adding the six-word story to your curriculum offers students an interactive exercise in thinking creatively as they share these stories with their classmates. The stories are often goofy, usually fun, sometimes serious or head-scratching, but always entertaining.

I knew I had to work the six-word story into my young-adult novel, Spoken, because the novel takes place partly at a fictionalized version of Oak Park and River Forest High School in Illinois. Not only does the school have a robust Spoken Word Club, it's the high school Ernest Hemingway attended and graduated from in 1917. Hemingway has been credited with writing the first six-word story, though this is one of those myths that continues to live despite being debunked.

The weight of connecting six well-thought-out words cannot be denied. We ALL have it within us to unleash that power and create our own six-word masterpieces.

I thought it may be easiest to borrow from Spoken and allow the novel's Spoken Word Club Teacher Patrick Collins to explain:

     Mr. Collins walks in the room and strides up to the white board at the front of the classroom. He turns to us and bows slightly. “Today we will be writing flash fiction. Does anybody know what that means?”
     Mr. Collins points to a student in one of the front rows who has her hand straight up in the air.
     “It’s telling a story but with not a lot of words.”
     “Yes, that’s pretty much it, Gina,” says Mr. Collins.
     He turns to the whiteboard and writes:

     For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.

     “This has been attributed to Ernest Hemingway. One of the greatest writers of the 20th century. It’s an extreme example of a story packed into just six words.
     “Your mission today is to write just six brilliant words that tell a story. Think about the message you want to convey and what imagery you want to represent.”
. . .

     “Now let’s spend about ten minutes and I want each of you to write your own six-word story,” he says. “Make each of your six words shimmer, like a brilliant piece of art.”
     “No pressure, right Mr. Collins?” jokes Jordan.
     We bend over our desks, pens in hand, diving down into our thoughts. The room is pure silence except for the scribbling, the scratching out of phrases, a few toes taping.
     After the ten minutes, students start sharing their stories with Mr. Collins as he captures the musings on the whiteboard.

There are ways to stretch this assignment further. Students could illustrate their short stories. A student could pass the story to another classmate and that classmate could draw what the story is telling them. Take a look back on Carmela Martino's popular TeachingAuthors' post Getting to Know Me--Six-Word Memoirs, which offers students the opportunity to find a concise way to share who they are with their teacher and classmates.

The beauty of the six-word story is simple: One classroom, countless stories, students soar.

_____
 

Thank you, Melanie, for today's Wednesday Writing Workout. Readers, I hope you'll try this exercise on your own or with your students. If you do, please let us know how it works for you.

Posted by Carmela

Book Giveaway To Celebrate Our TENTH Blogiversary: The Magic Words by Cheryl Klein!

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly--we're getting ready to celebrate the TENTH blogiversary of TeachingAuthors! In honor of this momentous milestone, we'll be giving away a signed copy of The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults (W.W. Norton) written by book editor and author Cheryl B. Klein. You'll find the giveaway instructions at the end of this post.

Our Tenth Blogiversary is actually on April 22, 2019. We're starting the celebration early because we've invited our former TeachingAuthors to participate in a special series looking back at our favorite posts over our blog's history. As it turns out, that series will feature TEN posts, starting with this one. You'll hear from the six current TeachingAuthors: April Halprin Wayland, Bobbi Miller, Carla Killough McClafferty, Esther Hershenhorn, Mary Ann Rodman, and me, Carmela Martino, as well as our "retired" TAs: Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford, Jill Esbaum, JoAnn Early Macken, and Laura Purdie Salas. TEN TeachingAuthors in all! (If you're new to our blog, you can read bios of the current and former TAs on our About Us page.)

I have to say, I was having a terrible time choosing just one from the over 200 posts I've written as my "favorite." Should I pick a post I especially enjoyed writing? Or should it be one that seemed to resonate most with readers? Finally, I "cheated" and looked at the blog statistics to find which of my posts has had the most page reads. Turns out, it was one from our very first year of blogging! On August 12, 2009 I shared a post called "Getting to Know Me--Six-Word Memoirs" that is still among the top 5 most-viewed TeachingAuthors posts of all time.

That post was not only fun to write, it also led me to incorporate a new activity into the summer writing camps I teach. The post includes a Writing Workout intended "To engage students in thinking about their lives and to show them how to write concisely." This exercise has proven to be a great hit with my young students. Even reluctant writers can manage to find six words to describe themselves, and often quite eloquently.

When I introduce the topic in my camps, I share the example of one of my own six-word memoirs:

Published author who enjoys teaching writing.

I also share examples from other students their age, like these:

I love soccer, so so much.

I am growing. I am learning.

I wish I had a panda.

The young writers catch on very quickly!

We've written about 6-word memoirs here on TeachingAuthors several times over the years. You can read more about them in posts grouped under the tag Six-Word Memoir.

I loved that one of our TeachingAuthor readers shared my August 12, 2009 post with her 7-year-old daughter who came up with this as her 6-word memoir:

"I like to draw...a lot!" 

Seeing the ripple effect of our posts has been part of the joy of writing this blog and has helped keep me at it all these years. Thank you, readers, for your continued support and response!

Image courtesy of Pixabay's qimono

And, speaking of your support, I have a special request:

We'd LOVE to know some of YOUR favorite TeachingAuthor topics. You don't have to look up the actual post, but we'd appreciate if you would share a comment about a favorite or helpful topic we've addressed. Or, if there's a topic we HAVEN'T addressed that you'd like us to, please share that.

And now, here are the Book Giveaway Instructions:

To enter our drawing for a chance to win The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults by Cheryl Klein use the Rafflecopter widget below. You may enter via 1, 2, or all 3 options.

If you choose option 2, you MUST leave a comment on TODAY'S blog post or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page. In your comment, please mention a favorite or helpful topic we've addressed here on our blog, or a topic you'd like us to address in the future.

(If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.)

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA THE WIDGET BELOW. The giveaway ends April 26, 2019 We've extended the deadline to
May 7, 2019! The contest is still open to U.S. residents only, though.

P.S. If you've never entered a Rafflecopter giveaway, here's info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway and the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

Don't forget to visit today's Poetry Friday round-up hosted at Carol's Corner.

Finally, remember to always Write with Joy!

Carmela

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Describing the Indescribable in Six Words

OK, I admit it.  I’m an over thinker.  I can’t help it.  It is how I arrived way back when.

 

So to distill my life into a six word memoir is harder than I thought it would be.  There are so many different directions it could go.  And the thought of casting my six-word memoir out into cyberspace—where words never disappear—became more and more daunting the longer I thought about it.   Yes, that is the “over thinking” thing popping up again.

I tried to come up with a memoir that was lighthearted and meaningful that I could connect to something in my life.  Hmmmm . . . what could it be?  But memories are an unruly thing.  Lighthearted is not where my memory train stopped.   Instead my mind turned to another moment in my life when I had to decide on just a few words to describe the indescribable. 

 

Corey Andrew McClafferty

9-16-87 — 11-24-88

Corey, my fourteen-month-old son, had just died from a head injury after falling off the swing in the back yard.  I picked out a tombstone.  I didn’t want a tombstone, and I sure didn’t want one with my son’s name on it.   They asked if we wanted to add anything besides his name, birth and death dates.  How could a few words possibly capture what my son meant to me?  Finally I mumbled “Our beloved son.”  Three words that can never scratch the surface of the love I still have for my son, and the devastation of his loss.

How does this melancholy memory connect to writing this blog?  I began writing only after Corey died.  If he had not died, I would never have written a single word.  After his death I knew I was supposed to write a book about my experience.  My first book titled Forgiving God is a Christian inspirational book about the Spiritual battle I faced after Corey’s death and how God brought me through it and back to Him.   After that, I began writing nonfiction books for young readers.

Cover for my first book, Forgiving God

Corey’s death has taught me many things about my God, my work, and my life.  One of those things has been that life is short, sometimes very short.  Every day costs me one day of my life and I don’t know how many days there will be.  So I have a very simple six-word memoir:

Life’s a gift, treasure each day.

Carla Killough McClafferty 

Starting the Year with Good News

Hello, all!

I'm happy to share some Good News in this, my first post of 2017:

I finally have a new novel coming out! 

My young-adult historical romance, PLAYING BY HEART, will be published by Vinspire Publishing this fall. The novel is set in 18th-century Milan and was inspired by the life of Maria Teresa Agnesi, one of the first women to compose a serious opera. The story grew out of my research for a biography of Maria Teresa's older sister, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, who is considered one of the first female mathematicians of modern times. (To learn more about her, see this website I created. You'll find a link on this page to a video featuring the music of Maria Teresa Agnesi.)

At its core, PLAYING BY HEART is the story of two sisters struggling to follow their true callings at a time when women had little autonomy. This is the same novel I blogged about in 2014. In that post, I shared about how the manuscript had done well in several writing contests, and even took first place in the YA category of the 2013 Windy City RWA Four Seasons Romance Writing Contest:

Isn't this the coolest plaque? Thanks Windy City!

Unfortunately, the editors and agents who read it all told me historical fiction is a "tough sell" in the young adult market. I set the manuscript aside and hoped the situation would change, as it often does in publishing.

Then, last March, I had the opportunity to pitch to an editor from Vinspire Publishing as part of the 2016 Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference (CWCO). The editor liked the pitch, asked to see sample chapters, and eventually offered me a contract. I'm currently editing the manuscript to prepare it for publication. (To read another Vinspire success story, see my Guest TeachingAuthor interview with A.J. Cattapan.)

While this post's title, "Starting the Year with Good News," happens to contain six words, it is not my six-word memoir for our current TeachingAuthor series. But my six-word memoir is closely tied to my good news, as you'll soon see.

Inspired by the forthcoming release of PLAYING BY HEART, I've decided to explore some new endeavors this year. These include:

1. Trying out a new software app for my e-newsletter. I sent out my first 2017 e-newsletter two weeks ago using MailerLite. I love all the great features I can take advantage of with MailerLite, but I'm having some compatibility issues with my website. I hope I can work those out. If you're a subscriber but didn't get the newsletter, please check your Spam folder. If it's not there, please email me via my website.
2. Expanding the content of my e-newsletter. In addition to publishing news and info about my writing classes, the newsletter now contains creativity tips. I hope the bonus materials will inspire my readers in their own creative endeavors. You can click here to read the first issue online. If you'd like to subscribe, see the right sidebar of my website.
3. Learning to use Twitter to connect with fellow writers and readers. I've been on Facebook a long time, and even have an author page there, but I've resisted Twitter because I didn't want another social media distraction. I finally broke down and activated the Twitter account I created years ago. You'll find me @carmelamartino. 
4. Presenting at an online conference. Last summer, I gave the presentation "Coping with Your Inner Critic" at the Catholic Writer's Guild Live Conference (CWCL). On Friday, February 17, I'll repeat that presentation for the 2017 Catholic Writers Guild Online Conference (CWCO). Fingers crossed that the technology will work the way it's supposed to! By the way: I recently learned (via Twitter!) that Vinspire Publishing, which usually accepts only agented submissions, will be open to pitches again at this year's CWCO. If you have a manuscript you think might fit their list (be sure to check them out first), consider attending the conference. For a detailed schedule and presenter bios, see the links on this page.
5. Trying out voice recognition software. I've been struggling with a painful wrist injury for months now that has been slow to heal. I recently bought Dragon Dictation in the hope of reducing my keyboarding. If any of you already use it, I'd love to know any tips/advice you have.
6. Making new writing friends. Since PLAYING BY HEART crosses multiple genres, I'm finding it helpful to connect with writers in a variety of organizations. I recently attended a local Romance Writers of America (RWA) chapter meeting. I'm also looking into the Historical Novel Society and American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). If you belong to any of these organizations, or have others to recommend, let me know.

Given all these new endeavors, I'm a little worried about getting distracted from my writing. And that leads to my six-word memoir, which is my personal intention for 2017:

Staying rooted while sprouting new branches.

Here's to a successful year for us all!

Don't forget--it's Poetry Friday. This week's roundup is over at Violet Nesdoly/Poems.

Remember to always Write with Joy!

Carmela

Family is More Than Blood

Beau and Becca, 36 years apart

Numbers take on a really wibbly wobbly effect once you reach a certain age.

Now in my sixties – a number that carries all sorts of weirdness – I have been an orphan over half of my life. In one year’s time, a mere 365 days, I went from one of five to on my own. I am now ten years older than my mother on her last day. I am three years older than my father. I am over twice the age my brother would have been, and my eldest has been gone longer still.

These are unsettled times, as volatile as ever I remember from way back then. The fear that everyone feels now is thick as San Francisco fog. Worry about jobs, losing health insurance, paying the mortgage, student loans – it’s overwhelming.

There is a palatable grief as we witness the changing of the guard in Washington.

This is why I’ve enjoyed this series of six word memoirs so much. April spoke of moving fearlessly forward, keeping hope alive. Recently Robert Hardies (Washington Post)  offered three ways to cultivate hope, even when it seems hopeless. Of hope, says Hardies, “start where you are and take one step at a time.” You do the best you can with what you have.

Esther spoke about finding the silver-lining.  It’s not always easy, says Esther, because silver linings play hide-and-seek. But she keeps going because she knows – she has faith – that they are there.

Faith is always easier said than done, especially in the face of fretful times. For over twenty years (there’s that number thing again), I have been a writer. But like most writers, and artists, I’ve had plenty of hope, plenty of determination, plenty of ideas, just not enough money to pay the bills. I worked as a journalist, as an editor, as a bookseller. For over twenty years, I’ve worked as an adjunct. An adjunct’s life, like the life of an artist, is uncertain. There are no guarantees. You live semester to semester, month to month. You pay for your own health insurance, your own retirement. At one point, I was teaching at five colleges, twelve classes a semester. And all the while I sent out hundreds and hundreds of CVs and resumes for a full time job. Some I got as far as the interview process, but it always came to three reasons why I was rejected. One, I had the wrong degree. Two, I had the wrong experience. Three, I lived in the wrong location. Eventually, a fourth was included, though it was implied between the lines, I was too old.

Eventually, most of the programs where I taught closed or moved elsewhere. Still, for most of this time, I had two colleges – five classes over the school year -- that were steady.

Until it wasn’t.

So, now what?

I am more than a ridiculous old woman who lives in the woods. I am a statistic. I am one of 5.6 million involuntary part time workers, those of us who prefer full-time work but can’t find it. I am one of the 14.1 per cent who is an older American, and one of 28 percent noninstitutionalized – and isn’t that a glorious word. Not.-- older Americans living alone. Did I tell you how much I hate numbers?

We are all so afraid of what lies ahead.

As Hardies says, we “need a horizon in our lives that is larger than today’s headlines.” Faith – however you define it – provides that larger perspective that spreads across the horizon. Lift your eyes to the hills, he says. Keep your eye on the horizon and keep moving forward.

Mary Ann spoke of puzzles,  that works in progress are long haul projects. Isn’t that the definition of life itself, a long haul project? She reminds us that “it will all come together, somehow.”

Hardies tells us of Rumi, and “There is a secret medicine given only to those who hurt so hard, they cannot hope. Look as long as you can at the friend you love.”

Fearless. Faith.

Family.

So we come full circle to my six-word memoir: Family is more than blood.

“This is my family. I found it all on my own. It’s little and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good.” (says the wise alien, Stitch)

For most of my life, and all of her life, it has been just the two of us. We were the Gilmore Girls before the Gilmore girls. And recently, my little, broken family welcomed two new people. My little, broken family grows!

But I have learned over the many, many decades that blood is not as strong as togetherness. Family is not always defined by shared ancestry, but rather by a shared life.

Those who hold you up.

Those who show you the pieces of the puzzle.

Those who point to the horizon, and walk with you.

And if all this is true, then I have a really, really, really big family. Thank you, Monica, for believing in me. And Cynthia, for all our TARDIS larks. And Eric, and Marion, for holding me up. And Karen, for taking my hand. And Vera, for the hearts. And Emma, for your Dumbledore wisdom. And Jo, for the years. And Bonny and Bette, for all the hugs. And Bruce and Joanna, for your journeys and stories and inspirations. And for Teaching Authors, for bringing me into the sisterhood.

I could go on, but you get my point.

Indeed, these are scary times. You have every right to be afraid, feel betrayed, and be angry. But just remember, you are not alone, and therein lies your courage and your hope.

Take care,



Bobbi Miller
P.S. Yes, it's actually a five-word memoir. But I have always been a bit wibbly wobbly with numbers.

Six Word Memoir: It Will All Come Together, Somehow

     Everyone has a secret guilty pleasure.  Chocolate, Hallmark movies, karaoke.

     I have a secret geeky pleasure. Puzzles.  Jigsaw puzzles.

     When I lived in Wisconsin, where winter seems endless, lots of families kept a permanent "puzzle table" in the Great Room. Some of these could really mess up your mind: 2500 pieces of a Jackson Pollack painting. The cover of the Beatles' White Album.  A two-sided, round pizza puzzle; each side a different pizza. I put puzzling down as something for People Who Needed to Get a Life.

    Then I found the Beach Puzzlers.

    Several times a year, my family and friends meet at our beach house at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina. I don't remember who started it, but one year, along with the family-sized bags of M & M's, gallons of margarita mix and toilet paper, someone brought a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. We dumped the pieces on the dining room table (never used for dining), and singly or in groups, put it together during our stay. Some of us spend hours at the table. Some of us stroll by on our way out to the beach to add a piece or two.  Tradition is that it MUST be finished before we leave.  One year, the Saturday morning cleaning crew arrived to find that The Renters (us) had not left at 10 am, so they could ready the house for the New Renters, coming in at 3.  The cleaners waited on the other side of a locked screen door, as  my husband yelled, "Two more pieces. I just have to put in two more pieces." (That was the year of the infamous swan-shaped puzzle.)

Daughter Lily, age 5, learns that no matter how hard you pound, you can't make a "wrong" piece fit.

     No, I haven't forgotten the six word memoir. Hang in there.

     I am terrible at meditation. I have a gabby mind that never shuts up. On sleepless summer nights when I hover over the puzzle, adding a piece here, searching for a piece there, that is a kind of meditation for me. Chanting "Blue piece, red piece" as a mantra, calms me, empties my mind of all the "outfield chatter."

   A tranquil mind leaves room for deep thoughts of life...and puzzling. How puzzles and life are a bag of jumbled bits, that come together to make a Big Picture. Only life is more like an old puzzle that has been in the house for years. When you finish it, five pieces of sky are missing, and you have ten pieces that definitely do not belong to this Big Picture.

  Hmmm. Maybe puzzles aren't like life after all.  Maybe they're more like writing. You start off with a jumble of ideas that you know are going to come together, some day.

    There are two ways of putting together a story/puzzle. Most people look first for all the straight edged border pieces (assuming it's not a swan or pizza). I look for pieces of a similar color that just look like they should ft. I write novels the same way. Some folks start with an outline.  I start with the scene that is the most vivid and fully formed in my head. I rarely start with Chapter One, and never with an outline.

   After awhile, I'll have a bunch of little puzzle patches that go with each other, but need to be connected to the Big Picture. The same with writing; my first draft will have scenes missing. What chapters and scenes I do have, need to be connected, to flow seamlessly one to another. When I stand back and look at a puzzle/novel (after working on it bit by bit), my head mysteriously now can find that weird-shaped black piece that goes with a bunch of other weird-shaped black pieces, that connect all the patches.  With a novel, I can see that this character should have gone here, not there.  All the transition scenes are waiting for me to insert them, so many tiny bridges of time and space, moving the reader through the story.

Puzzle two days ago

    And now...get ready for it...is where my six word memoir fits in.

     When I first started submitting stories, my husband worked at an Alabama pulp mill. If you've never lived downwind of a pulp mill, I don't recommend it, unless you like the smell of sulphur 24/7. The upside of the mill was it's by-product: wood chips, which make great ground cover for the parts of the yard that would not grow grass.

    I was sitting on the front steps of my house, opening mail, when the wood chip truck arrived one day. I waved to Wayne, the driver as he backed up to his usual dumping space. The chips rattle-roared  down the dump slide as I opened a letter. A letter from an agent.

    An agent who had read my first three chapters and wanted to read the rest. My heart shot to my throat. And then back to my stomach.  You know it's not going to be a good letter when it begins, "I took your manuscript with me to my mother's funeral." You just know it's downhill from there.  And it was. Not only a rejection, but a nasty one. (I later learned that agents tend to be much more blunt than editors.)

    I slumped against a porch pillar, letter limp in my hand, and blinked away tears. Not only was I not good enough for her to represent, I apparently wasn't good enough to call myself a writer.  (Everyone's secret fear, right?)  This wasn't my first rejection, but it was the first to be up close and negative about my writing. (Although I did think that judging a work at a loved one's funeral was hardly fair.).  Maybe I should give up writing.  Maybe I should go work at  Barnes & Noble at the mall.

   Footsteps on the driveway made me raise my head.  The Wayne the Truck Driver had walked away from the enormous pine chip pile, stopping about twenty feet away fro me.  I pulled myself together and stood.

    "Would you like some water, Wayne?" I asked. "Hot day, huh?"

     As if he didn't hear me, he looked at me and said. "Don't you worry about whatever is worrying you."

     Did I look that depressed, even at a distance? But before I could speak, Wayne said, "It will all come together, somehow." To make sure I understood, he held out his hands and laced his fingers into a triangle. "It will all come together."

    Then he got back in his truck and drove away. The whole moment was so weird...almost as if I'd been visited by Yoda...if Yoda had been much taller, and wore overhauls and a John Deere cap. Sometimes I see signs and messages. I knew that this was a sign for me to keep writing.

    I remember Wayne's Words whenever my work-in-progress looks like an unfinished puzzle. It will all come together, somehow. If I work long enough, the missing scenes and connections will come and feel right, just the way you know the instant before you set it in place, that this puzzle piece belongs just there and nowhere else.

Puzzle this morning. Yes, there IS a missing piece.  Maybe the dog ate it.

   This is why there is always a puzzle-in-progress on my kitchen table (the one we never use for kitchen-like activities). It reminds me that puzzles, like novels, are long haul projects.  When I have a Bad Writing Day, or just hit a brick wall....I spend a moment or two with the puzzle. A piece will suddenly look different to me. I know where it goes. It snaps into place. A bit more of the Big Picture is revealed.  In my head, the brick wall crumbles. When I get back to the computer, the rubble will be swept away, a bridge forming in it's place.

Because, it will all come together, somehow.

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman