Wonders All Around

Learning Alongside My 5th Grade Wonders

Jul
23

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White Page Day

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from Teachers Write

My task for you today, on this White Page Day, is to find a blank page and make a list of what you know about your project, and the reasons this particular one is important to you. Just start listing each little piece, no matter how seemingly insignificant. Write everything you know so far. Everything you hope for. Everything you see when you close your eyes and think about this particular story.

As you make your list, watch how your words turn into a poem of promises to yourself. Then keep your list somewhere near, so that when your energized days start to wilt, you’ll remember the spark that got you started.

 

Jul
23

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Flamingos Found

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from Teachers Write

Today I’m going to send you on a path of discovery. Last week I asked you to tell me what you know about your project/character. This week, I want to help you discover something that you don’t know.

The following writing prompts are real subject headings from my town’s e-mail list. I am a big fan of believing that there are stories all around us and these subject headings are certainly proof!

So, pick from the list below and write a brand new scene in your work-in-progress beginning a paragraph with one of the phrases. HAVE FUN. Remember, you don’t necessarily have to end up using this scene. It’s meant to help you change course momentarily, which often leads to unexpected surprises. I especially like these kinds of exercises when I’m feeling like my work needs something fresh and unpredictable thrown in.

 

Jul
23

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Getting Into Characters’ Heads

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from Teachers Write

Today’s Assignment:

Think up a character with a different way of looking at the world (and a different way of talking) than “you” (as narrator) have. Your character is thinking about something. What is s/he thinking?

1. Show us using Quoted Monologue.

2. Tell us using Psycho-Narration.

3. Sneakily bring us into his/her head using Narrated Monologue.

Jul
23

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All the Feels

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from Teachers Write

To start off the week, I’m going to challenge you to practice marrying senses with emotion. Often how we experience a particularly strong sensation (eating a chocolate ice-cream cone, being stuck outside in the rain, sitting at a baseball game in the hot, baking sun), depends on our mood/emotional state. In writing, showing your character experience something that you would expect to elicit a certain emotion but behaves or experiences it surprisingly different, can reveal a lot about him/her without you having to tell the reader. And, I would argue, it does so far more powerfully. Think of it as another lesson in showing, not telling.

 

Jul
23

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The Protagonist Must Protag: character and Action

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from Teachers Write

The protagonist is one who acts.

Who are some of your favorite, memorable characters in children’s literature? In what ways are they protagonists who protag?

Now look at your own work. In what ways are your characters protagonists? In what ways do they act in the world?

 

Favorite protagonists:

Charlie, who visits the chocolate factory

Milo, the blackjack who gathers clues in the Greenglass House

Marty McGuire, who loves frogs, raises worms, and wants more pets

Hermione, who helps her friends with their magic lessons

 

Jul
23

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Opening Scenes in Nonfiction

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from Teachers Write

Writing Exercise:

Try writing an opening scene to a nonfiction story.

First, look over your story outline, if you have one, or just think it through. Make a list of maybe three or four scenes—little bits of action that involve main characters. Then, think, “What is my story about? What sort of mood do I want to set?” Pick a scene that lets readers know what sort of book they’re about to read.

Ask yourself: “Do I have good enough sources to really make this scene come alive?” And “Can the reader jump right into this scene without needing a ton of background info?” I try to find scenes that meet these conditions.

Write the scene. My opening scenes tend to be about 600–800 words, but that’s just a loose guideline.

Jul
23

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Creating Compelling Characters

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from Teachers Write 

Knowing Your Characters: 

You should know a myriad of details about your characters. Not every fact will make its way to the page, but knowing these particulars will inform the way you present your characters.

One way to learn about your characters is to write about them, creating scraps and scenes that have little to do with your plot, but much to do with exploring the character.

For example, give them pretend job interviews, “What would you say is your greatest strength? Weakness? How would others answer this question?”

Play get-to-know-you party games with them. “What is the furthest you’ve travelled? What is the last book you read? What do you have in your pockets/purse?”

Celeste: 8 years old. Loves to swing and ride her scooter.  Always wears a helmet!  She would say that her greatest strength is learning to climb, and down, the tree in the circle across from their house.  Her older brother would say that she always wants things her way.  She has lots of questions and is curious about how things are made. Loves art and wants to be an art teacher when she grows up.  Just finished reading Flora and Ulysses.  Wonders if her cat might write a story as she walks across the keyboard.  She has a straw wrapper from a Slurpee in her pocket.

Jul
16

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Writing with Humor

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from Teachers Write

Today’s Assignment:

#1: Write down five favorite funny passages, scenes, sections of dialogue, etc. from books, TV, movies, etc. and take note of how the humor worked.

#2: Create a scene of short dialogue between two characters when they each think they’re talking about something else (e.g., Chunk’s confession to the Fratellis in The Goonies, the interogation scene in My Cousin Vinny, etc.).

#3: Write down three funny events from your childhood. Think about why and how they were funny. Now embellish and expand.

Jul
15

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Writing Diverse Characters

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from Teachers Write

Today’s assignment:

Imagine writing about a “diverse” character (someone unlike you or your background). Make a very basic checklist of their attributes (name, age, gender, race, ethnicity etc). Go to the list above and decide how you can learn more about this character. Think of the people you can approach in real-life (or even online) that will help you further understand how your character relates to the world you will be creating. Share with me your thoughts on this and I hope you will all be including nuanced, “diverse” characters in your stories, so that our books reflect the reality of our world!

Jul
14

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Setting as a Reflection of Character

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from Teachers Write

PART ONE: Take a pad of paper and a pen or pencil. Go outside and look around. Write a paragraph describing your surroundings.

Sitting on my front porch.  Looking out at our quiet court.  The neighbor’s car backs out of the driveway and drives off down the road.  The air is humid, but a cool, strong breeze blows, rustling the leaves.  I look out at the flowers in front of my porch.  The purple teardrop flowers sway on the hostas.  The long leaves of the daylilies wiggle in the breeze.  The hummingbird feeder and from a low branch on the nearest tree; it too rocks back and forth.  The bags of yard waste, recycling  bins, and trash cans are lined up at the curb at the sides of each driveway.

PART TWO: Now, you are a lost six year-old child. Rewrite the same description from this point of view.

 

 

Now, you are a satisfied housecat. Rewrite the same description from this point of view.

 

 

Now, you are a fifteen year-old whose parents just announced they are

divorcing. Rewrite the same description from this point of view.

 

 

Reread the four descriptions. Look at how different the exact same setting can become

depending on the scrim of perspective through which you view it. When you return to

your own work, remember this. Setting can be a reflection of character.

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