BeTWEEN the Lines Class Summary 3/24/14

3/25/2014

with Michelle Cameron

Today's Story Critiques

We got through everyone’s stories today. Among the comments we made:

Imagining historical fiction (which will be a recurring theme today) and how people felt during a specific event can create exciting and compelling stories.
That writers should avoid passive voice as much as possible:

Passive: The pencil was picked up by the girl.
Active: The girl picked up the pencil.

Foreshadowing can be quite effective if the reader wants to create a sense of dread or anticipation – and even to help create character voice. But sometimes it’s good to let the reader learn what happens when the characters do.
Passage of time is as much relative in fiction as it is in real life. We strain to believe when we’re told a character stood for a full half hour – but will believe it if we’re told that same character felt as if a half hour had passed.
Credibility can be an issue as well. We can believe a character can tell us about a 2-ton lion chasing her with asides AFTER it happens – but perhaps not during the event itself!
That writing in the other gender can be a brave choice – and often a difficult one – but having and observing siblings in the other gender can help a lot.
That if we have to make a motion to show something we’re describing, it’s probably not described well enough on the page.

Historical Fiction

Today we talked about writing historical fiction. As a historical novelist myself, I explained that there are really three types of historical stories:

When we write about historic figures
When we write about a historic time, but create our own invented characters
When we write about “alternative” history, bending what actually happened

Each student selected a card with a historic character. They then began a story about this character. We discussed:

The fact that you don’t have to write from that character’s point of view – although you can.
That it’s usually best to pick a single moment in history to write about.
That they should make it a story, not a history report – which requires a mix of fact and imagination.

Homework

For homework this time, I’m asking everyone to continue to write their historical story. If they’re so inclined and inspired, they can always work on something else in addition. But please make sure they bring in a complete historical piece for next week.

See everyone next week!

Mosaic Minutes