Clip Arts Related To : File:Campfire.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
Tomorrow I’m going to an elementary school to talk about writing to around three hundred kids. Would that strike fear in your heart? I can understand if you say yes. But the teachers won’t desert me, I’m sure. Almost sure. Pretty sure. No, actually I’m very sure. LOL. And it’s fun talking to kids about reading and writing. I’ll let you know how it goes after tomorrow. I’ve done it before. Talked to multiple groups of kids from Kindergarten age all the way up to fifth graders. What I worry about most is boring the kids silly. So I’m practicing on you tonight with a bit of what I’ll tell them. All you need to do is pretend to be a kid and then tell me if I put you to sleep. Wait, kids might not go to sleep if they are bored. What they will do is get wiggly with their feet itching. Here goes and do try to sit still and listen. 🙂
Hi, boys and girls. I’m here today to talk to you about writing. Maybe you’ve never thought much about writing at all except as a way to get your assignments done, but then again, maybe you think it would be fun to be a writer yourself. (Okay, I’m skipping a lot here since I don’t figure you have time to listen to the whole speech and no teacher is sitting beside you to make you listen. On to an example comparing campfires to story ideas.)
Have any of you ever gone camping and built a campfire? Maybe you used a match to start the fire. Let’s compare an idea with a match. Nobody expects to just take a match (an idea), light it and use the flame of the match to roast a hot dog. Sure you need the match, but you also need to gather some wood, find some kindling – bark or paper that burns easily – and lay it out in such a way that the kindling will catch the bigger pieces of wood on fire. Then you can strike your match and light your campfire to roast your hot dogs.
It’s sort of the same with writing. You have to gather your wood – think about your characters and what’s going to happen to them in your story. You need kindling, something to get the fire started – that could be the problem the people in the story have. Then you’ll be able to strike your imaginary match and get your story going.
I know I’m ready to strike my match and begin the actual writing of my story when my characters start talking to one another inside my head and I have at least a general idea of what will happen in my story.
Once I begin writing my story, usually the first few chapters fall out of my head onto the paper fairly easily, but then sometimes about halfway through my first draft, I get bogged down and wonder if I’m ever going to get the story told, but most of the time if the idea and characters are strong enough I can push through to the end.
After I have written the end and have my first draft finished, I have to go back over it to make sure I’ve told the story I wanted to tell in the best way possible without using too many words. I do a lot of changing and rewriting and cutting out words that slow down my story. I sometimes read my finished story aloud so that I can better tell when my sentences don’t flow smoothly. When I am finally satisfied that the story is the best that I can make it, I’m ready to send it off to the publishers. And if they agree that the story is one that readers might enjoy, then eventually, usually it takes at least a year, my story becomes a book dressed up in a neat cover for young people like you can read.
I hope that some of what I’ve said will help you with your own writing. Just remember when you’re having trouble writing fiction, just make some stuff up.
Okay, guys, now it’s time for questions. Here’s where the school kids usually excel by asking all sorts of questions. So if you’re still pretending to be that kid, feel free to ask a question or two. I’m ready with answers. Maybe made up, but answers.
Thanks for letting me practice on you tonight. Giveaway game mystery picture time coming up Sunday if I can figure out a picture mysterious enough by then.
Comments 8
I know you inspired some of those children Ann. I love how you compared writing to building a fire!
Author
Thanks for the encouraging words, Linda. Several of the kids told me they were going to be writers and one young boy asked if you had to be a certain age to publish a book. I told him I’d met young authors at Book Fairs. So I think he was ready to start publishing. 🙂
Author
Well, I’m not sure I ever got to the part about the first draft, Karen, but you have a point. I would have had to tell them what I meant. And it wasn’t 300 kids. It was 750, but they split them up into groups of around 250 each. But that made me have to do my talk three times in a row. I was glad I had a bottle of water. I really enjoyed answering their questions. And if I had answered all their questions, I would still be there. LOL. In fact the best laugh I got from them all afternoon was when I told them I used to think LOL meant Lots of Love. They thought that was hilarious.
I love reading to children and having conversations with them. I was an elementary school teacher years ago before writing became my full time passion. 🙂 My first children’s book, “Licky the Lizard”, was released in 2018. I wrote the story for our first grandchild who is now 20 months old.
Author
I love the title of your book, Melissa. I looked it up online a while back. Looks like a lot of fun. The kids today were fun too, but it wasn’t 300 kids. It was 750 kids!! But they were all good kids and listened nicely while I talked.
I love your comparison of an idea sparking a story to lighting a fire with a match. When I was teaching elementary school, I remember several authors over the years coming to speak to us in an assembly of the entire school. It was fascinating, and even the adults learned interesting things. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as the students will.
Author
I do hope the kids had a good time listening, Suzanne. I talked to them about ten or fifteen minutes and then let them ask questions. That’s always the part I like best in any speaking engagement. I actually talked to 750 kids but in three different sessions. So I got to say some of the same things three times in a row, but since I didn’t use notes, I changed up the talk each time. The kids were great and I enjoyed their questions.
No, Ann, you could never put me to sleep! 😊
I’m wondering if these kiddos know what a “draft” is besides a breeze coming through a door or window? I don’t know, kids are a LOT smarter than I was at the same age 70 years ago! 300 kids? That’s a lot. Elementary here only goes to 4th grade. What ages are in the 300? I like your analogy using a campfire. They’ll all know what that is. Enjoy your time with them. 😊