Teen Writers Circle Class Summary 9/30/13

with Michelle Cameron

This Week’s Critiques 

We heard some great stories this week.  As part of our critiques, we discussed:

• The fact that qualifiers (very, much, really, etc.) often do the opposite of what the writer wants them to do. They’re generally put there to make the sentence more precise, but, in fact, removing them makes the sentence clearer. There are, however, some times when they work. I’ve suggested that the kids go through their papers and circle all qualifiers, and then decide if they are necessary or not.

• Strong vs. weak verbs. The best writing depends on strong verbs. 

• Paragraphing. Your kids all seem very conscious of wasting paper. I’m happy to see that. Unfortunately, sometimes formatting the page properly (including paragraphing) does require a second page. If they can, have them double-side the pages – but don’t sacrifice format for page length, please!

• The rules of dialogue, particularly paragraphing. We’ll be discussing dialogue on 10/21 in depth. 

• Rushing the end of the story. This is common to most writers, especially young ones. We talked about earning the end of the story and not disappointing the reader. 

Working on Description 

This week’s prompt was a selection of evocative photos. They put  beautiful  or disgusting imagery in their pieces, and know they can and should take it even further. 

We discussed some of what makes a great descriptive piece: 

• Use of senses
  
• Metaphors, similies
  
• Setting, including location, time
  

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Revision Guidelines

Next week, 10/7, we will revise the first of several pieces.

As part of this week’s homework, they should refine the piece they select to bring into class until it is the best they can make it. I’ve asked them to take this seriously and follow the following guidelines:

• Pretend they are preparing the piece for publication. 
  
• Use a spell checker.
  
• Read the piece aloud and trust their voices:  

                   - When they stumble, look at the sentence critically. 
                   - Fix it and read it again until they’re satisfied that it works.

• It is fine to have a parent or another writer look over their work. Writers help each other in this way all the time.
  

Next week, they should bring in three copies of their work:

• One for a content review
  
• One for a line-edit review
  
• One for Michelle
  

Make sure that work adheres to these formatting requirements:

• Double spaced for prose
  
• Single spaced for poetry
  
• 12 point Times New Roman font
  
• 1 inch margins (top, bottom and both sides)
  
• Put your name at the top of all pages
  
• Number all pages except for the first
  
• Include a title. If your work doesn’t have a title, that’s okay – call it “Untitled”
  

Bring in up to five pages of a work in progress. 

Yes, They Still Have to Write, Too!

As usual, please have your students work on one of the following:

• Continue the piece begun in class.
  
• Continue a piece already started.
  
• Write an original piece. 

It’s fine if they want this to be the piece we revise. 

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An Open invitation to All

In addition, I gave them all an invitation to an author celebration event that we’re having at The Writers Circle on October 19, from 3 – 4:30 PM. Two of our instructors have recently had books published, and we’re getting together to mark the occasion, and give them a chance to read and discuss their work. You can learn more here.

This is a great event for kids both young and old, as one of our authors is a picture book author, and the other has written a Young Adult suspense novel.  And both have a Halloween theme!