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Download to your heart's content! ; )

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Dear Aniyah, Lizzie, Karalena, Isabelle, Katlynn, and Kayla,

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Dear Aniyah, Lizzie, Karalena, Isabelle, Katlynn, and Kayla,

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Hello lovelies! Remember when I told you about the writing institute I would be attending this summer? Well, first of all, it has been wonderful. I can't wait to tell you all about it! Second, one of our projects was to read a book on writing and create a response.  I thought of you all and our Friday lunches as I was reading this book, so I decided to create this Padlet for you!  Here you will find the helpful tips from the book for you to apply to your writing this summer and next year when you aren't in my class. (#tearsfordays) Remember to come upstairs to see me and keep me updated on your writing!
Love,
Miss Hinston

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You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create a place where your imagination can wander. We build this place with the sand of memories; these castles are our memories and inventiveness made tangible.

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Write a letter to someone explaining your story or a memory...whatever!

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One of the things that happens when you give yourself permission to start writing is that you start thinking like a writer. You start seeing everything as material.

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I fold an index card lengthwise in half, stick it in my back pocket along with a pen, and head out, knowing that if i have an idea, or see something lovely or strange or for any reason worth remembering, I will be able to jot down a couple words to remind me of it. Sometimes if I overhear or think of an exact line of dialogue or a transition, I write it down verbatim.

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A writer always tries, I think, to be a part of the solution.

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To be a good writer, you not only have to write a great deal but you have to care.

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If you don’t believe in what you are saying, there is no point in your saying it.

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If your deepest beliefs drive your writing, they will not only keep your work from being contrived but will help you discover what drives your characters.

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A Possible Reason for Unfinished Stories

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A Possible Reason for Unfinished Stories

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If you find that you start a number of stories or pieces that you don’t ever bother finishing, that you lose interest or faith in them along the way, it may be that there is nothing at their center about which you care passionately.

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This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of -- please forgive me -- wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break in on our small, bordered worlds. When this happens, everything feels more spacious. Try walking around with a child who’s going, ‘Wow, wow! Look at that dirty dog! Look at that burned-down house! Look at that red sky!’...I think that is how we’re supposed to be in the world -- present and in awe.

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about learning to pay attention and to communicate what’s going on.

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As the photographer Catherine Wagner has pointed out, these rooms are future ruins.

--> If someone found one of the rooms in the setting of your story, what would they find? What would they infer about the characters, the main events, from those findings?

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Every room tells a story. Think about what story each room in your setting tells. Look around each room in your house for ideas.

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Every room tells a story. Think about what story each room in your setting tells. Look around each room in your house for ideas.

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Every room is a little showcase of its occupants’ values and personalities. Every room is about memory. Every room gives us layers of information about our past and present and who we are, our shrines and quirks and hopes and sorrows, our attempts to prove that we exist and are more or less Okay. You can see, in our rooms, how much light we need -- how many light bulbs, candles, skylights we have -- and in how we keep things lit you can see how we try to comfort ourselves. The mix in our rooms is so touching: the clutter and the cracks in the wall belie a bleakness or brokenness in our lives, while photos and a few rare objects show our pride, our rare shining moments.

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1. Sound your words -- read them out loud

2. Remember that you should be able to identify each character by what he or she says. They should not all sound like you; each one must have a self.

3. Try putting together two people who more than anything else in the world wish to avoid each other, people who would avoid whole cities just to make sure they won’t bump into each other. Take a character whom one of your main characters feels this way about and put the two of them in the same elevator. Then let the elevator get stuck. Let these characters hold back some thoughts, and at the same time, let them detonate little bombs.

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A - Begin with Action that is compelling enough to draw us in

B - Background: let us see and know who these people are, how they’ve come to be together, what was going on before the opening of the story

D - Develop these people so that we learn what they care most about: plot will grow out of that

C - Climax, after which things are different for the main characters, different in some real way

E - Ending: what is our sense of who these people are now, what are they left with, what happened, and what did it mean?

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If someone isn’t changed, then what’s the point of your story?

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Something must be at stake or you will have no tension and your readers will not turn the pages. Think of a hockey player -- there had to be a puck out there on the ice, or he is going to look pretty ridiculous.

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What does each character CARE deeply about?

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What does each character CARE deeply about?

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Find out what each character cares most about in the world because then you will have discovered what’s at stake. Find a way to express this discovery in action, and then let your people set about finding or holding onto or defending whatever it is.

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I say don’t worry about plot. Worry about the characters.

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I like for narrators to be like the people I choose for friends, which is to say that they have a lot of the same flaws as I.

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My childhood memories are rich and varied.

I loved visiting my grandma's apartment, with its fringed window shades and faint smell of eucalyptus. Her desk drawers, lined in green felt, spilled over with card decks, cocktail napkins, and golf tees. Every door in the house was fitted with wobbly crystal doorknobs. The bathroom smelled of Listerine.

My brother and I would sleep in the small bedroom off the kitchen-the very room our mom shared with her own brother growing up in the north side of Chicago.

I can picture myself reaching way down into Grandma's frost-filled chest freezer for the ever-present box of Eskimo Pies. Her well-stocked pantry and doily-covered tabletops contained loads of delectable treats I was often denied at home: pastries, chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies, and delicate bowls of jellied orange sticks and other candy.

This was the 1960s, long before big-box stores came on the scene. Together Grandma and I would walk to the corner of Roscoe and Broadway, where we'd explore the wonders of Simon's Drugstore, Heinemann's Bakery, and Martha's Candies.

Those childhood m emories of my grandma are largely synonymous with food.

In my mind's eye, I can still picture driving from Illinois to Wisconsin beneath a canopy of crimson leaves against an blindingly blue sky. I remember Passover dinners with a million Jewish relatives in the basement of some wizened old uncle's apartment building.

Other childhood memories recall the mysteries of new baby brothers coming on the scene, building a hideout among the branches of a fallen tree, and giving my best friend's parakeet a ride down the stairs in her aqua Barbie convertible.

It's good to write down our recollections. As vivid as the moment seems at the time, memories fade. These prompts will help jog them. Invite your older children to participate. They're in closer proximity to their memories, and can usually remember the details more vividly.

There are no rules: Jot your thoughts in snippets or write them out diary-style. Either way, do your best to recall the sensory details that made the moment important, for it's those little things that keep the memory alive.

22 Writing Prompts That Jog Childhood Memories

1. Who was your best childhood friend? Write about some of the fun things you used to do together.

2. Describe one of your earliest childhood memories. How old were you? What bits and pieces can you recall?

3. When you were little, did you ever try to run away from home? What made you want to leave? What did you pack? How far did you get?

4. Can you remember your mom's or grandmother's kitchen? Use sight and smell words to describe it.

5. Describe the most unusual or memorable place you have lived.

6. Did you have your own bedroom growing up, or did you share with a sibling? Describe your room.

7. Were you shy as a child? Bossy? Obnoxious? Describe several of your childhood character traits. How did those qualities show themselves? Are you still that way today?

8. What childhood memories of your mother and father do you have? Describe a couple of snapshot moments.

9. Write about a holiday memory. Where did you go? What did you do? What foods do you remember?

10. Describe your favorite hideaway.

11. Did you attend a traditional school, or were you educated at home? Describe a school-related memory.

12. Think of a time when you did something you shouldn't have done. Describe both the incident and the feelings they created.

13. Have you ever needed stitches, broken a bone, or been hospitalized? Describe a childhood injury or illness.

14. Do you have quirky or interesting relatives on your family tree? Describe one or two of them.

15. Describe your most memorable family vacation. Where did you go? Did something exciting or unusual happen? Did you eat new or unique foods?

16. Did you grow up with family traditions? Describe one.

17. Books can be childhood friends. What were some of your favorites? Why were they special?

18. Describe a game or activity you used to play with a sibling .

19. What was your most beloved toy? Describe its shape, appearance, and texture. What feelings come to mind when you think of that toy?

20. Think of a childhood event that made you feel anxious or scared. Describe both the event itself and the feelings it stirred up.

21. Write about some sayings, expressions, or advice you heard at home when you were growing up. Who said them? What did they mean? Do you use any of those expressions today?

22. What are your happiest childhood memories? Describe one event and the feelings associated with it.

What's one of your most vivid childhood memories? Share a snippet in the comments!
Be sure to check back each week for more Writing Prompt Wednesdays! Copyright 2013 © by Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

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22 writing prompts that jog childhood memories

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My childhood memories are rich and varied. I loved visiting my grandma's apartment, with its fringed window shades and faint smell of eucalyptus. Her desk drawers, lined in green felt, spilled over with card decks, cocktail napkins, and golf tees. Every door in the house was fitted with wobbly crystal doorknobs.

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If your narrator is someone whose take on things fascinates you, it really isn’t going to matter if nothing happens for a long time.  I could watch ____________ do dishes for about an hour without needing much else to happen. Having a likeable narrator is like having a great friend whose company you love, whose mind you love to pick, whose running commentary totally holds your attention, who makes you laugh out loud, whose lines you always want to steal.  When you have a friend like this, she can say, ‘Hey I’ve got to drive up to the dump in Petaluma -- wanna come along?’’ and you honestly can’t think of anything in the world you’d rather do. By the same token, a boring or annoying person can offer to buy you an expensive dinner, followed by tickets to a great show, and in all honesty you’d rather stay home and watch the aspic set.”

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One line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can’t.

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Base characters partly on someone you know, a model from real life or a composite -- your Uncle Edgar, but with the nervous tics and the odd smell of this guy you observed for ten minutes in line at the post office.

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As soon as you start protecting your characters from the ramifications of their less-than-lofty behavior, your story will start to feel flat and pointless, just like in real life.

→ Be realistic! Have consequences! Can you tie in the Gospel?

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Characters - Ya love 'em and you hate 'em

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Characters - Ya love 'em and you hate 'em

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You are going to love some of your characters, because they are you or some facet of you, and you are going to hate some of your characters for the same reason.

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Writing a first draft is very much like watching a Polaroid develop. You can’t -- and, in fact, you’re not supposed to -- know exactly what the picture is going to look like until it has finished developing.

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Write about school lunches for a set time as a starting point for writing/brainstorming

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1. The Down Draft: "Just get it down."
2. The Up Draft: Fix it up. Say what you wanted to say more accurately.
3. Dental Draft: Check every "tooth" to see if it's loose, chipped...basically, LOOK AT THE NITTY-GRITTY of your writing.

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Write about a scene, a character, an image...but only as much that would fit in a one-inch picture frame. What do you see in the one-inch frame? What can you describe?

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E.L. Doctorow - “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”

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You don’t care about those first three pages; those you will throw out, those you needed to write to get to that fourth page, to get to that one long paragraph that was what you had in mind when you started, only you didn’t know that couldn’t know that, until you got to it.

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try focusing on holidays and big events.

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Don't know where to start? Or are you stuck? Start with your childhood.

Who were your teachers, your classmates?

What did you wear?

Who and what were you jealous of?

Did your family take vacations during those years?

Do you remember how much more presentable everybody else’s family looked?

Do you remember how when you’d be floating around in an inner tube on a river, your own family would have lost the little cap that screws over the airflow valve, so every time you got in and out of the inner tube, you’d scratch new welts in your thighs? And how other families never lost the caps? Notice the small details!

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about telling the truth.

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“December is traditionally a bad month for writing. It is a month of Mondays. Mondays are not good writing days.”

--> Agree? Disagree?

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“I took notes on the people around me, in my town, in my family, in my memory. I took notes on my own state of mind, my grandiosity, the low self-esteem.  I wrote down the funny stuff I overheard. I learned to be like a ship’s rat, veined ears trembling, and I learned to scribble it all down.”