Living Life Twice

Going From General To Specific. Young writers benefit greatly when shown how to sharpen their writing by moving from the general to the specific. When they are armed with this important knowledge about writing, it improves the quality of the images that emerge in the mind of the reader. When we know the exact name of something, it brings that item, that thing,  closer to us. It provides us as readers with greater clarity. The fog of uncertainty is blown away. As readers, we are more alert.  ' The bird flew down ' conveys less information than writing, ' The eagle swooped. ' Judy Blume in her book ‘Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing’ uses specific details to describe the materials her characters used to make their school project. 'We keep our equipment under my bed in a shoebox. We have a set of Magic Markers, Elmer’s glue, Scotch tape, a really sharp pair of scissors and a container of silver sparkle.' Notice how the initial sentence is quite general, However, the ...

POST UPDATED June 2025   A few years back I learnt the term ‘stillpoints’ upon reading a book titled   ‘ Write  Starts – Prompts, Quotes and Exercise to Jumpstart Your Creativity’ by Hal Zina Bennett.   Stillpoint is Bennett’s word for those moments in our lives when we are totally at one with the  now ; we are so  with  whatever we are doing or feeling or thinking that everything else seems to stop. It suggests we are committed to that particular moment in time. In writing, Bennett sees stillpoints as  aha!  moments created when our words strike a special chord. A stillpoint occurs when we express something clearly, authentically and beautifully. It resonates as clearly as the ringing of a fine crystal bell. Sometimes teachers refer to this as writing about small moments, where we linger to write in greater detail. The writer dwells on a moment to highlight it for the reader. The moment is expanded with deliberate intent. It...

  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...

In recent days I have been pondering the art of storytelling... A continuing narrative of my work in schools is to promote the idea of writers as storytellers. I have always been a person who has enjoyed sharing stories and jokes, whether from first hand experience, or relating stories gifted across a lifetime. I always encourage developing writers to tell their stories too. It is a rehearsal tool for the inexperienced writer. Telling their stories before they write not only eliminates the notion of cold starts' it frequently results in a much enhanced end product. Often a writer's story may be told many times before it emerges as written words. I often tell my stories many times before I commit them to the pages of my notebook.  It is in the telling that the story and the words are refined. The reader benefits from the repeated tellings. Each of us has stories unique to our experience. It is folly not to see value in sharing them. I once had a student comment a...

Learning to be observant is a valuable life skill. When one has a writer’s notebook it is such an advantage if the owner possesses keen observational abilities. The writer begins to  notice things in the world around them, more acutely. They consciously include sensory observations knowing they complement their writing efforts. The art of observation serves the writer well. A window is always available through which to capture a little magic. To assist inexperienced student writers develop a greater awareness of the value of including such sensory observations, requires mindful action in the classroom:  Share text examples where the writer includes sensory details. Details that enable the reader to visualize the scene. Where writers employ show, don't tell, the reader is more likely to visualize the events and actions described. The words are decidedly reader friendly.                         ...

  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 ...

Unpacking a heavy sentence! Have you ever noticed how sometimes when you read, you come to a sentence that makes you keen to know more? Some sentences have a lot of ideas packed inside them. They prompt the asking of questions. You just know that if you were able to open them up like a suitcase there would be more interesting things to discover. If we can identify those sentences heavy with hidden ideas, we provide ourselves with opportunities to unpack them and share such magic with our readers. Student writers frequently write sentences begging to be unpacked. All too often, their readers are left hanging because the writer fails to unpack the loaded words. The curious reader is left unfulfilled.  Experienced writers undertake such craft moves regularly. Here are some heavy sentences written by Morris Gleitzmann. Notice the way Morris follows up and unpacks them in the sentences that follow. ‘I wake up. My neck is stiff and my eyes hurt in the sunlight...

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 ...

I have been encouraging three classes of Grade 5 writers to devote more attention to establishing setting in their writing. I explained how setting assisted readers to gain a sense of place for their characters. It assists the reader to see where the plot is unfolding  and where the struggle is taking place.  The setting can be used in many ways in a piece of writing.  A brief description of a place is an excellent way to set the scene at the beginning of a piece of writing. It gives the reader time to feel at home before moving into the real action, I further urged these young writers to consider their senses when writing about settings. To enhance their sense of setting, I asked the students to think about a place with which they were familiar. The idea was for them to walk around the chosen setting in their minds. To visualize the elements of the setting is important in capturing the place they are charged with describing.  Here are some ex...