Character, Setting, Plot... Go!
Since Progeny’s release, I have been speaking at local Columbus, Ohio high schools to talk about creative writing and hopefully encourage some kids to read/write more.
I kick off the speech by listing a host of movies – all of which were books first – and then challenge the students to come up reasons why the phrase “The book was better than the movie” holds true the vast majority of the time.
Then I take them through the basics of what it takes to write. And idea first – right? Then what? I tell them I’m looking for five things that make up a story. Most groups of kids get Setting, Plot, and Characters. Others get Theme. Occasionally, a few get Style.
After I explain each (mostly Theme and Style), I go through a short exercise with them. To prove that it’s not difficult to come up with an idea, I challenge the group to come up with an interesting character, choose a setting for the character, and come up with a challenge for the character that could be used to form the basis of a plot.
This effort can be a lot of fun.
Once done, I point out that just about everyone could write a couple pages now about the idea they came up with for their story. Nearly all of them nod their heads in agreement (not everyone, this is high school after all).
I visited another school on Monday and gave the talk seven times to between two to three English classes. Each time I tried to recall the story that the previous students came up with. By the end of the day, I had seven stories. Just for fun, I thought I’d share them.
Period 1: Robert the Armadillo was caught in a sandstorm in Iceland on his way to Ohio to meet one of the students. Now, why Robert was in Iceland, how a sandstorm happened there, or why anyone would want to go TO Ohio is anyone’s guess. (FYI – I live in Ohio. I can poo-poo my state. It’s allowed)
Period 2: Carlos, the naked mole-rat (aren’t they all), lived in Mexico but really wanted to go to Spain and run with the bulls in Pamplona. I can see the last word of the story now: squish.
Period 3: Dorothy, the polar bear, was on vacation in Australia when her husband left her and she had to go find the kids. Man… that sounds like a really depressing children’s book. It could be called “Where’s Daddy? Oh, and I’m really hot. I’m a polar bear in Australia.”
Period 4: I was tired of animals, so I instituted a no-animal rule for characters. We ended up with Phil the talk show host living in Nebraska but he really wanted to move to Europe. He had to sell his car to get money to enter a contest where the prize was a trip to Europe. Doesn’t sound like Phil is a very successful talk show host to me…
Period 5: King Perfecto (the fifth) was king of France and Cuba. Not sure what happened there, but sure – go with it. King Perfecto gets food poisoning and has to go to Amsterdam to get cured. Sounds like a lot of travel scenes in the story to me.
Period 6: Weezy the dog (back to animals) lives in Compton and wants a job. He ends up working at McDonalds. Sounds like a book that McDonalds would include in its Happy Meals. “Mommy, Weezy got a job here! I want to, too! Yaaaaaay!”
Period 7: Umm...Oh-oh. Right...well…To the three classes of 7th period, I apologize that I cannot seem to remember your story. My bad. I was tired. I got up at 6:10 in the morning to come speak at your school. Speaking of which – seriously? School starting at 7:15? That’s rough. I’m sure I did it back in high school, although I can’t remember. Perhaps that’s because I was sleepwalking through the first few hours.
So… thanks everyone! It was a lot of fun. I hope some of you get something out of it. To the young lady that won the signed copy of Progeny – I hope you enjoy it.
PS – Mini challenge to anyone reading this. Come up with your own setting, character, and short plot. Try it – it’s fun. Post it here if you’d like. When I need a break from writing #2 in the Children of the White Lions series, maybe I’ll snag one and write a short story using an idea.
PPS – I’ll be having an author’s chat for two weeks at LibraryThing.com starting on January 12th. A reviewer will be asking questions, I will be answering them, and you can jump in at any point as well.
I kick off the speech by listing a host of movies – all of which were books first – and then challenge the students to come up reasons why the phrase “The book was better than the movie” holds true the vast majority of the time.
Then I take them through the basics of what it takes to write. And idea first – right? Then what? I tell them I’m looking for five things that make up a story. Most groups of kids get Setting, Plot, and Characters. Others get Theme. Occasionally, a few get Style.
After I explain each (mostly Theme and Style), I go through a short exercise with them. To prove that it’s not difficult to come up with an idea, I challenge the group to come up with an interesting character, choose a setting for the character, and come up with a challenge for the character that could be used to form the basis of a plot.
This effort can be a lot of fun.
Once done, I point out that just about everyone could write a couple pages now about the idea they came up with for their story. Nearly all of them nod their heads in agreement (not everyone, this is high school after all).
I visited another school on Monday and gave the talk seven times to between two to three English classes. Each time I tried to recall the story that the previous students came up with. By the end of the day, I had seven stories. Just for fun, I thought I’d share them.
Period 1: Robert the Armadillo was caught in a sandstorm in Iceland on his way to Ohio to meet one of the students. Now, why Robert was in Iceland, how a sandstorm happened there, or why anyone would want to go TO Ohio is anyone’s guess. (FYI – I live in Ohio. I can poo-poo my state. It’s allowed)
Period 2: Carlos, the naked mole-rat (aren’t they all), lived in Mexico but really wanted to go to Spain and run with the bulls in Pamplona. I can see the last word of the story now: squish.
Period 3: Dorothy, the polar bear, was on vacation in Australia when her husband left her and she had to go find the kids. Man… that sounds like a really depressing children’s book. It could be called “Where’s Daddy? Oh, and I’m really hot. I’m a polar bear in Australia.”
Period 4: I was tired of animals, so I instituted a no-animal rule for characters. We ended up with Phil the talk show host living in Nebraska but he really wanted to move to Europe. He had to sell his car to get money to enter a contest where the prize was a trip to Europe. Doesn’t sound like Phil is a very successful talk show host to me…
Period 5: King Perfecto (the fifth) was king of France and Cuba. Not sure what happened there, but sure – go with it. King Perfecto gets food poisoning and has to go to Amsterdam to get cured. Sounds like a lot of travel scenes in the story to me.
Period 6: Weezy the dog (back to animals) lives in Compton and wants a job. He ends up working at McDonalds. Sounds like a book that McDonalds would include in its Happy Meals. “Mommy, Weezy got a job here! I want to, too! Yaaaaaay!”
Period 7: Umm...Oh-oh. Right...well…To the three classes of 7th period, I apologize that I cannot seem to remember your story. My bad. I was tired. I got up at 6:10 in the morning to come speak at your school. Speaking of which – seriously? School starting at 7:15? That’s rough. I’m sure I did it back in high school, although I can’t remember. Perhaps that’s because I was sleepwalking through the first few hours.
So… thanks everyone! It was a lot of fun. I hope some of you get something out of it. To the young lady that won the signed copy of Progeny – I hope you enjoy it.
PS – Mini challenge to anyone reading this. Come up with your own setting, character, and short plot. Try it – it’s fun. Post it here if you’d like. When I need a break from writing #2 in the Children of the White Lions series, maybe I’ll snag one and write a short story using an idea.
PPS – I’ll be having an author’s chat for two weeks at LibraryThing.com starting on January 12th. A reviewer will be asking questions, I will be answering them, and you can jump in at any point as well.
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Here is my short plot.
Zel works as an operator at the MPE (Magical Power Exchange) routing connections between good wizards and the different forms of Magic. One day she finds out that the MPE also controls the magical balance for evil wizards and that someone appears to manipulating the connections to increase profits for the company. Now Zel has to figure out who is responsible for the problems, how to save the world and keep her job at the same time.