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Mosaic Minutes

Teen Writers Circle Class Summary 10/21/13

10/22/2013

 
with Michelle Cameron

Revisions

Picture
After our revision session last time we met, I edited the revised pieces. I told them that I’m approaching their work as an editor. 

In case anyone wants to conference with me on their work, I plan to arrive a half hour early to talk to them. Please encourage your writers to take advantage of this.

We talked about some common issues I’m seeing:
  • Overwriting – I’m encouraging them to write simply and directly, and suggested that they read their work aloud every time.
  • Unnecessary transitions – particularly if the piece is told chronologically. One unnecessary word many of them are using is the word “then.” 

In-class Critique

I’m delighted to see longer pieces from many of the writers – and if the pieces aren’t longer, they’re bringing more of them in. Some of the aspects of writing we discussed were:
  • Flash fiction – these are becoming popular, but they still need to:
              - Have a beginning, middle and end
              - Be a satisfying store, which can mean more backstory, description and emotion
  • How prologues are used in books they’ve read: 
              -  How some readers don’t read them, so they can’t contain necessary information
              -  How some authors craft them so that you forget them until the end of the book
  • How effective body language can be when used properly.
  • How appropriate dialogue can add to a story’s flavor and characterization (we’ll talk more about dialogue in a bit). 
  • Keeping minor characters consistent in short stories (though they can grow and change in novels) 
  • Setting up a situation in a story to lead (or mislead) the reader
  • How to work with magical properties in a story. The fact that magic is employed doesn’t mean the reader doesn’t need to know its inner workings. 

 He said, She said

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We then talked about dialogue, including:
  • The grammar of dialogue: 
            -  When to use a comma and when a period
            -  Paragraphing
  • Making sure the reader always knows who is talking
  • The fact that dialogue doesn’t happen in a vacuum, that setting and movement are necessary.
  • The fact that “said” is perfectly acceptable and should be used rather than alternate terms such as “exclaimed,” “retorted,” etc. 
  • The fact that sentence tags (said, asked, yelled, etc.)  can and should be dropped if it’s clear who is speaking.
  • That using a character’s body language is often a better thing to use than sentence tags.
  • That they should avoid adverbs (not always, but mostly).

They then split into partners to work on a scenario, employing dialogue. 


Homework

As always, they have a choice:
  • Continue something they’ve already begun. 
  • Continue the dialogue they started in class – they can work with their partner or simply continue on their own (and they’re allowed to change it as they’d like)
  • Start something new.

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