Living Life Twice

  Some writers are known for their unusual story lines and their edgy, unconventional characters. Often these characters are hard to forget, such is their unforgettable image planted in the mind of the reader.  Writers also use tension and suspense to maintain a reader's interest. Writers use imagery and fine details to engage the reader and often throw in something quite unexpected to ensure the reader stays engaged.  Encourage student writers to create a list (in their writer's notebooks) of unexpected or unusual events that have taken place across the course of their lives. Think about a surprising turn of events, or a mysterious or inexplicable occurrence.  Remind them they can use these listed events to create a piece of writing. They can apply an unexpected event to themselves, or link it to a character of their choosing. They can place the event anywhere they like and have it happen at the time that suits the story they wish to tell. Alert them to the mood and...

There is a saying, ' no struggle, no story,' so the characters that present in stories need a measure of conflict and tension to hold the reader's interest. As young writers grow in confidence and experience, this is a critical understanding they must develop. It can contribute greatly to the quality of the plot lines of the stories they write. A little bit of adversity, or experiencing a problem is important for our characters. It's good for them to wrestle with a conundrum... When characters encounter a problem or have to overcomes a hurdle, it increases their appeal to the reader. They become more relatable. More human. More fallable or imperfect. So when the writer creates a conflict for a character to grapple with, the writing is enhanced. The writer can make that conflict happen within a character- doubt, fear, shyness. It can also be between characters- disagreement, feud, need for revenge, a perceived slight.  Sometimes the story may involve a series of...

When we read like writers we set about gathering information about writing that will form curriculum for our teaching. As teachers of writing, we must ask ourselves: What do I see the writer doing here? Why does the writer do this? Have I seen this particular craft move in other writing What can I call this craft move? How could I try this in my own writing? How could I help my student writers to try this in their writing? The more we practice reading like writers, the easier it becomes to identify elements of writing craft present in the books with which we work. It is a skill that develops with practice. It takes time and regular practice. It requires us to engage in professional conversations with our colleagues regarding a text's potential.That is why such matters should be part of teacher planning sessions. Such texts should be our ticket in. Bring a trusted author with you... In time it has the potential to change the way we read. When we learn to read like writ...

  When I ask young writers what they understand by the term 'add details' they frequently respond with, 'We have to add more describing words.' Some actually tell me that it means they need to add some adjectives. Such misconceptions sell the role of 'detail' so short.  As a consequence, this becomes the only strategy these developing writers have to address the important issue of detail. The result is often a piece of writing drowning in flowery, somewhat clunky adjectives.  A kind of adjective pile up.  Adjectives are like fat. We need to learn to consume them sparingly! I   recall how my teachers frequently glided by as we were engaged in writing and following a cursory glance at our assembled words uttered the phrase - ‘ You need to add more detail.’  These words were delivered while waving a floppy finger above the page. They would then move onto the next writer before there was any chance to ask a follow up question. We were left to p...

*UPDATED May 14, 2020 FLASH DRAFTS Sometimes writing becomes overly complicated when inexperienced writers are required to over plan, or over think their writing. Frequently, they end up overwhelmed by these well intentioned  requirements. On occasions teachers may note that the volume of writing a student produces is minimal. This is where the strategy of Flash drafts may assist the inexperienced writer to deal with such issues. Let's face it, sometimes the writer just need to 'write.' There exists within them an overwhelming urge to get words and ideas onto paper before they evaporate, or fly away. Overplanning can kill the urgency to write dead in its tracks. Insistence on the use of graphic organizers can also kill the joy. Flash drafts get young writers closer to the act of writing -and it most certainly gets them there much quicker.  The Flash draft enables the writer to feel a greater sense of control over the writing elements, as it involves ...

  Do You See What I See? The Writer As Observer Learning to be observant is a valuable life skill... -and keeping a writer’s notebook requires the writer to develop keen observational abilities too.  With practice the writer begins to notice a greater range of things in the world around them and notice them more acutely too. Being observant affords the writer increased opportunities to collect sensory observations from their immediate surroundings. Such observations can then be used to inform writing efforts. The horizons expand. The influences on the writing therefore expand as well. To help student writers to develop greater awareness of how writers capture sensory observations I suggest the following actions:    Share some text examples where the writer includes sensory details. Details that enable the reader to visualize the scene.          Share an example from your own notebook where you have focused ...

UPDATED March 2021 What is meant by the term, show, don't tell , and how do we best present it to the developing student writer... We often refer to the Show, Don't Tell craft strategy when we read students’ writing and notice they've told us that they’ve had a good time, or that the ice-cream they ate was good, but don’t show us by giving a specific example. To help students see how other writers show and not tell, choose parts from texts presenting clear examples of ‘show and not tell.’ One of the most common traps writers fall into is to try and tell things in their writing instead of showing them. They say things like, 'The little boy was angry.' This type of writing tells the reader something, but it doesn’t show. The words used don’t create a clear enough picture in the mind of the reader. The immediate question is, 'What did the boy do to indicate he was angry. Anger can show up in many ways. 'How did the boy display anger?'  As ...

Before young writers can begin to develop a more distinctive  storyteller’s voice, we must assist them to understand that writing becomes more personal when the topic or focus of their writing is limited to a specific moment in time. The closer they can get to a small moment, the more the writing comes to life  for the reader. Then, if they can link more than one of these special moments along a timeline, a sense of storytelling emerges for the reader.  If your students are writing focused and clear narratives but you are not gaining a sense of the storyteller’s voice in the words, this is where the teaching focus needs to be.  The challenge is to raise the young writers sense of story. It is important for the developing writer to understand the role of the narrator . Are they aware of the narrator’s viewpoint in telling the story?  This is the story within the story. What mood is created by the words?  How is the plot ...