Category Archives: Writing

Untellable Book Reviews

Untellable by Suzanne LillyUntellable is on a book review tour this week, and I’m giving away any backlist book to a commenter.

This week is also my granddaughter’s birthday. If you mention her initials, CM, in a comment and you win, I’ll give you TWO books!

Here are the upcoming dates and venues.

May 13:  Reviewing Shelf
May 14:  Brenda Maxfield’s Blog
May 15:  Musings From An Addicted Reader
May 16:  Long and Short Reviews
May 17:  Books in the Hall

Untellable will continue on tour through June 10. Here are those stops.

May 20:  Book Bling Blog
May 27:  My Devotional Thoughts
May 27:  Review  All in One Place 
June 3:  Queen of All She Reads
June 10:  Cocktails and Books
June 10:  Review  Kaisy Daisy’s Corner

If you missed last week’s tour, and you want to comment to win a new book, here are the excerpt stops.

May 6:  Andi’s Young Adult Books
May 7:  Christine Young Romance Writer
May 8:  Tinasbookreviews
May 9:  Welcome to My World of Dreams 
May 10:  Lily Pond Reads

Happy reading!

About these ads

Tempting Romance is Spotlighting Suzanne Lilly Today!

Dear readers,

My alter-ego, Suzanne Lilly, is over at Tempting Romance today as one of their Saturday Spotlight authors. Rachel Brimble asked me some fun questions, and now I’ll ask you one.

What do James Bond, Brad Pitt, and Hawaii all have in common? Besides the obvious, of course. Come on over to Tempting Romance and find out. I’d love to know what you think, too!

Also, have you entered the Goodreads Giveaway for Shades of the Future yet? No? What are you waiting for? Click the link and enter to win!

Thanks for reading!

Ideas to Liven Up Your Classroom Routine in the Spring

Let’s face it. Spring is here, and the students are beginning to think about summer already. Perhaps you are too. This is the time of year when teachers are tired, students are tired, and routines are tired as well.

I try to add some pizzazz to the class this time of year by changing small things and introducing new games and practices. It gives everyone a little jolt of energy and keeps things interesting. Any little thing that’s out of the ordinary can wake up tired minds.

Image by Cayusa on Flickr

Image by Cayusa on Flickr

Here are eight ideas that work well in my class.

  1. Introduce new music. I use Pandora on my classroom computer and type in a station for something we haven’t heard much of, such as jazz, movie soundtracks, or music from another culture.
  2. Introduce some video drawing lessons. When we need a short, ten minute break, I play a video of one of Mark Kistler’s drawing lessons. His drawing lessons entrance kids up to about age 13. You can find several of his lessons on YouTube. Each one is only a few minutes long, and the students turn out some nice looking pictures while learning art vocabulary.
  3. Play some new games. One we play is called Slapstick. Two students stand back to back, and a third student gives them each a playing card which they place on their foreheads. The third student says the product of the two cards. The other two students turn and face each other. Looking at the other person’s card, they must guess what card is on their own forehead. For example, if the product is 7, and the first student sees a 1 on the second student’s forehead, he knows his card is a 7.
  4. Play a poison word game for the entire day. We choose a word such as “please” or “thanks” to be the poison word and we choose a language. All day long, any time a person says the poison word, he or she must say it in the new language. We also choose core content words, such as “electricity” or “revolution” or a word related to our content topic of the day. Everyone has to stay awake to play this game!
  5. I use a points system for classroom management. If the class gets three points ahead of me, I let them play a game for three minutes. Sometimes I let them have three minutes of free time to sit with a friend. Or we’ll extend recess by three minutes. Conversely, if I get three minutes ahead of them, I have the option of giving them an extra page of homework. Bwahahaha!
  6. Assign new types of projects. If you choose a computer project, the students will usually be quite excited. Have them do a video book report, or a PowerPoint report on a topic you’re studying. Have them write a song to remember a concept. Turn the mundane routines into something fun with music, kinesthetics, and technology. 
  7. Invite more of your parents to come in and do a presentation or activity with the students. Having a guest visit the classroom is a great way to break out of your regular routine.
  8. Get a jump start on summer reading. Give your students a sampling of some of the best summer books. Look up a list of good books at your library, and read excerpts out of each one. Or better yet, take a trip to the local library and have the librarian introduce the students to some activities and books for their age group.

Of course, this late in the year, you don’t want to let routine go by the wayside. If you do, your room will turn into Class Chaotic. So keep the regular routine that works for you, and add a few activities here and there to keep everyone interested and happy.

Do you have other ideas to shake things up in the spring?

Enjoy the rest of your school year teaching!

Editor-Proof Your Writing, 21 Steps to Clear Prose

This is a guest post from Don McNair, an editor and the author of Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave.

You can read my review of his book on my April 11 post about his book.

Let me know what you think in the comments. Don will be awarding a commenter a copy of any book from his backlist.

Cover of Editor-Proof Your Writing

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The Airplane Ride That Changed Everything

Or: A new way to self-edit

My writing life—and that of many others—changed the day I flew from Chicago to Atlanta to interview someone for a client’s story.

I’d been a writer and editor all my life; eleven years a magazine editor, six a PR feature writer and editor, and for several years head of my own firm, McNair Marketing Communications.  I’d edited many other writers’ work—even that of professional writers—and often wished that somehow they could learn to edit themselves.  That appeared impossible, of course.

But I was wrong!

What I learned on that airplane opened my eyes to that, and led to my writing “Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave.”

The Discovery

Out of boredom on that flight, I was editing a fog-filled paperback.  I soon realized the same mistakes appeared over and over, and was intrigued.  I bought another paperback at the Atlanta airport and edited it on the way home.  A pattern emerged, and I became excited.  Had I discovered the writer’s Rosetta stone?

Over the next several months I edited many other paperback novels.  I joined critique groups and judged writing contests, and aggressively edited other writers’ fiction.  I eventually plowed through all those manuscripts from pre-published authors and the marked-up paperback books, and painstakingly sorted thousands of offending sentences and other problems by type.  I eventually identified twenty-one distinct problems.  Today I call their solutions, appropriately enough, the “Twenty-One Steps to Fog-Free Writing.”

The inference staggered me.  Just as there’s a specific number of elements in chemistry’s Periodic Table and letters in the alphabet, there’s also a specific number of fog problems in writing.  I realized many unnecessary words are actually tips of bad-writing icebergs, and that eliminating those words resolves otherwise complicated editing problems.  In fact, almost half the Steps actually strengthen action while shortening sentences.  You can see it happen right before your eyes.

So, here’s the good news.  You don’t have to be an English major to achieve this writing miracle.  You don’t have to diagram sentences or study verb declensions, whatever they are.  You don’t have to learn complicated rules, wade through thick manuals of style, or immerse yourself in the technical mumbo-jumbo of a book on editing.  Applying what you learn in “Editor-Proof Your Writing” will make you a better writer than would struggling with any of those.

Here’s why.  Most editing manuals are like geography books that give great information but don’t show how to get from place to place.  This book is a GPS that leads you through the writing jungle to solve your specific writing problems.

Most editing manuals are like dictionaries from which you’re asked to select words to write the Great American Novel. This book shows what specific words to use and what ones not to use.

This book is not loaded with theory.  It instead presents knowledge a step at a time, and asks you apply what you learned—a step at a time—to your Work-In-Progress’s first chapter.  You’ll also edit a nine-chapter melodrama along the way, and check your editing against mine. When you’ve worked through this book you’ll have an editor-proof first chapter, and will be ready to edit the rest of your book.  You’ll learn how to write sparkling, clear, powerful copy that attracts readers, agents, and editors.  And sales.

Does it really work?

That sounds great, but does it really work?

To find out, I taught the material in two online editing courses over the past three years.  One class involved putting words into a story (Part 1 of the book), the other taking them out (Part 2).  The latter presents the 21 Steps I discovered on that airplane.  Part 3, titled “Sharing your words,” covers such things as working with critique partners, professional editors, publishers, and agents.  It also discusses writing query letters and synopses.

At the end of each class I asked basic questions about the students’ experiences, so I could fine-tune the classes.  The overwhelming majority gave rave reviews.  (You can read them on my website http://DonMcNair.com .)  Here’s just a sampling:

“Don, I have to take time out from editing my WIP to tell you how much I am enjoying your class. The information you give us is fabulous. I just counted the books I have purchased in the last twelve months dealing with writing. Twenty-seven!  Twenty-seven books that have given me less usable information than your one class. Thank you. Thank you!”  Linda Cousine

“I loved the class. For years people told me my writing wasn’t clear, yet never explained why it wasn’t. Your class explained why. I rate the class a ‘ten.’”  Charlotte Summers

“Thank you so much for this class. I learned a ton that I can even use in my day job of writing marketing copy, so it was sort of a two-fer.” Linda Fletcher

 “This was the most detailed, spot-on, editing advice I’ve ever gotten, bar none. The lesson format conveyed a lot of information in a simple, elegant form. And you brought my attention to errors I was still making despite having taken other classes on the subject. I had no clue how many mistakes I was making. Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I realized what a wake-up call you’d given me.” Patricia Davis

“I LOVED this class. I wanted to let you know that this is, hands-down, the best class I’ve ever taken. It is immediately useful, and is taught logically and with enough examples that it is easy to see the problems in my own writing. Thank you so much for offering such a wonderful resource. I’m excited about looking at my WIP again! And, oh boy, can I see the difference after taking this class. Thank you!!!” Suzy Short

“I have mixed feelings about class ending tomorrow. I’ve learned so much, and I don’t want it to end! I started with a 105,600-word WIP, and have “de-fogged” it down to 100,000. If this class went on much longer I might be sitting here with a short story, instead of the next great American novel!”   Capri Smith

 That’s a lot of heartwarming responses from newer writers.  But what do the old pros think?  To find out, my publisher (Quill Driver Books) sent Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) out to several.  Here’s what they said:

Don McNair’s Editor-Proof Your Writing is the perfect workshop-in-a-book for fiction writers, and a must-have for any beginner.”  New York Times bestselling author Dianna Love

 “McNair offers great editing tips that will be sure to strengthen your manuscript!”  USA Today bestselling author Cynthia Eden

“All writers, seasoned or newbie, should read, absorb, and put to use the lessons Don McNair offers in Editor-Proof Your Writing.”  New York Journal of Books

Of course, the real proof is in what the book will do for your writing. I predict you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much it will help.  

Don McNair is a professional editor and the author of ten published novels and non-fiction books.  His latest, “Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave,” can be reviewed and ordered at his website, http://DonMcNair.com.

Don McNair Author Photo

You can follow all the stops on Don McNair’s blog tour by clicking on the Goddess Fish Tour banner below. Comment at each stop to increase your chances of winning one of Don McNair’s books.

VBT Editor Proof Your Writing Banner copy

Review of Editor-Proof Your Writing by Don McNair

I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy of Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave by award winning writer and editor, Don McNair. In a stroke of serendipity, the book arrived just as I was getting ready to do the final edits on my summer novel release.

Cover of Editor-Proof Your WritingAs I read this book, it struck me as basic advice. I’m a teacher and a writer, and I didn’t expect to find anything new for myself in the book. Don McNair surprised me.

With his cut-to-the-core style, and his structured steps, he makes editing clear and easy. No more wandering through your manuscript wondering if something should stay or go. With Don McNair’s steps to fog-free writing, in the first pass you’ll know what to cut and what to keep. Editor-Proof Your Writing makes the whole process simple. Using his method, I reduced my editing time by half.

Also, I keep my review copies of books in presentable condition, because I often pass them along to other readers. Not this one. You’ll have to get your own copy! My copy is bursting with highlighting marks, sticky notes galore, and pencil marks where I did the exercises he suggests right in the book. I know, it sounds crazy, right? But this expert author has a way of making you want to dive right into the editing, right on the pages. I’ll be referring back to this book every time I edit.

Editor-Proof Your Writing  includes:

  • Straightforward advice about keeping readers interested
  • A section with 21 easy to follow steps for editing
  • Writing examples from before, during, and after editing
  • How to write a query and synopsis
  • Invaluable guidance you would expect from a mentor

Don, if you’re reading this review, I hope you don’t find too many errors in my writing! Thanks for the fabulous tips and editing system.

Readers, come back April 12 when Don McNair has a guest post on the TeacherWriter blog. He’ll be giving one commenter a book from his backlist.

Blurb from editor-proof your writing

Most editing manuals are like geography books. They give great information, but don’t show how to get from place to place.  Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave is a GPS that leads you through the writing jungle to solve your specific writing problems.

Most editing manuals are like dictionaries from which you’re asked to select words to write the Great American Novel. This book shows what words to use and what words NOT to use.

Most editing manuals are loaded with mind-numbing theory.  This one presents knowledge a step at a time and asks you to apply what you learned—a step at a time—to your manuscript’s first chapter.  Along the way you’ll also edit a nine-chapter melodrama and check your editing against the author’s.  When you finish, you’ll have an editor-proofed first chapter and will be ready to edit the rest of your book.

This system was proven to work in three years of weekend and online classes, titled Editor-Proof That Chapter and Twenty-One Steps to Fog-Free Writing. They are parts One and Two of this book. Part Three discusses finding and working with critique partners, professional editors, publishers, and agents.  The students loved the concept

This book is perfect for use in classrooms. The information is presented in bite-sized lessons which can be assigned daily. See what students say about their classroom experiences on the back page.

Don McNair with awards

AUTHOR INFORMATION:

Don McNair spent his working life editing magazines (eleven years), producing public relations materials for an international PR company (six years), and heading his own marketing communications firm, McNair Marketing Communications (twenty-one years). His creativity has won him three Golden Trumpets for best industrial relations programs from the Publicity Club of Chicago, a certificate of merit award for a quarterly magazine he wrote and produced, and the Public Relations Society of America’s Silver Anvil. The latter is comparable to the Emmy and Oscar in other industries.

McNair has written and placed hundreds of trade magazine articles and four published non-fiction how-to books. He considers his latest, Editor-Proof Your Writing: 21 Steps to the Clear Prose Publishers and Agents Crave, (published April 1, 2013 by Quill Driver Books) to be the cap of his forty-year writing and editing career. It’s an easy-to-use editing manual that helps writers edit, step by step, their first chapter, then use the knowledge gained to edit the rest of their work.

McNair has also written six novels; two young adults (Attack of the Killer Prom Dresses and The Long Hunter), three romantic suspenses (Mystery on Firefly KnobMystery at Magnolia Mansion, and co-authored Waiting for Backup!), and a romantic comedy (BJ, Milo, and the Hairdo from Heck). All are published internationally, and are available at his website, http://DonMcNair.com .

McNair, a member of Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America, and the Editorial Freelancers Association, now concentrates on editing novels for others. He teaches two online editing classes.

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Don McNair is on a virtual book tour this month, and he’ll be giving away a copy of one of his books from his backlist. He’ll be doing a guest post here at the TeacherWriter blog on April 12, 2013. In the meantime, you can follow the other stops on his blog by clicking on the tour banner below.

VBT Editor Proof Your Writing Banner copy

Rhymes to Remember Proper Use of There, Their, They’re, Theirs, and There’s

One thing that drives me crazy, and may do the same to you is when people misuse the words in the title of this post. My students have trouble knowing which to use when, so I came up with these simple pointers to teach them the proper use of the homophones for the word “there.”

One week, I’ll make a spelling list of nothing but the words there, their, they’re, theirs, and there’s.  I teach these rhymes to remember which is used when.

When to Use There, Their, or They’re

Location

When you’re writing about WHERE,

If it’s not HERE, it’s always THERE.

Notice how the location words all have the spelling HERE inside them? Point that out to your students. That’s the trick to remembering THERE.

Ownership

Once upon a time a little HEIR

Lived inside of the word THEIR.

When he was joined by other HEIRS

The things they owned became all THEIRS.

Notice again the spelling of the word HEIR  inside the ownership version of THEIR.

Apostrophes

If your sentence can use THEY ARE

Put an apostrophe into THEY’RE.

When THERE IS  fits the sentence heard,

THERE’S an apostrophe in the word.

We spend the week learning these tips, and using them in context. At the end of the week, I give them a test. It’s a reading passage with all the homophones for the word “there” removed. They must write the correct spelling of each one in the empty spots.

For example I read this aloud, filling in there, their, and there’s. The students must write the correct spelling in each blank.

________ are fifty states in the United States. Some of ___________ names have historical significance. _____________ a trick to remembering _________names in alphabetical order.

By the end of a week, most students have mastered the proper use of these troubling words. In fact, one of my students went home last month and taught his parents how to use these words. (I hope they didn’t find it annoying to have their ten-year-old teach them grammar!)

If these words give you trouble, they won’t any longer, after you learn these rhymes to remember them.

Going to a Writer’s Conference?

There are so many writers conferences to choose from these days. You just need to decide what you want to get out of a conference, and then find one that fits your needs.

One conference I’m just about jumping out of my seat for  is Margie Lawson’s Sierra Lake Tahoe retreat this May. I’ve taken Margie’s classes before, and learned so much from them.

Margie is an acclaimed speaker and a psychologist. She uses her knowledge of human behavior and body language in her unique system she calls EDITS. This system taught me how to inject emotion and tension into my writing. I’m still practicing and learning, which is why I’m excited to go to this conference and practice with her in person.

Due to what I learned from her, I give her some of the credit for my first book sale, and I even mentioned her in the dedication. From now until April 30, you can enter to win a free copy of that book, Shades of the Future, in my Goodreads giveaway.

The last time I checked, the conference was still open for registration. If you’re interested in it, more information is here. FYI, I don’t get any kickback for sending you to this link, I just want to share something that I know works.

I’m excited to attend this conference. If you decide to go, let me know. I’d love to meet you in person, too.

Does it Pay to Advertise on Goodreads and Facebook?

Advertising. Promotion. Keeping the buzz going. As authors, we all know that most of the PR work falls in our own laps.

This month and next, to promote my books, I’m doing a Goodreads giveaway, Goodreads advertising, and Facebook advertising for my Suzanne Lilly Author page as an experiment to see how well they work.

At the same time we’re doing all this promotion, we’re expected to craft our next novel. Which should be even better than the first. So not only do we need to be fabulous writers, we must be marketing phenoms.

Last July my first novel, Shades of the Future, was released with much fanfare and book blog touring. If you missed all the excitement, you can still see the blog posts for the six weeks I was on tour. Now six weeks on tour translated to about twelve weeks of PR work, considering the time it took to contact bloggers and reviewers, set up a schedule, write the blog posts, send them the media kit, reply to comments, handle the giveaways, and so on and so on.

Whew!

It was a tremendous amount of fun.

It was also tremendously exhausting.

I didn’t get any writing done during the summer.

As a teacher, summer is the time of year when I normally get a great deal of writing done. So when the end of summer came, and I hadn’t even started my next novel, I decided this could not happen again. I would not spend all my time promoting.

Now with my second novel, Untellable, I’m trying out advertising on Goodreads and Facebook. I’m going to add to this post occasionally over the next few weeks to let you know what the results are, doing a cost benefit analysis. I just started this a week ago. Here are the results so far.

Goodreads Results

Plenty of ad views, but no clicks. I’m paying 50 cents per click, so thus far, I haven’t spent any money. I do have some extra exposure, which I’m hoping will translate to sales over the next few weeks.

I also started a giveaway of Shades of the Future, so we’ll see how that campaign affects my visibility.

Facebook Results

Plenty of ad views, and a few clicks a day. I’m paying between 35 cents and 50 cents per click here, so I still haven’t spent much money. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s translating to sales at this point, since there are no significant social actions.

Your Turn to Shout Out

Have you done any advertising online? How did it work out for you? What’s your best advice?

Teaching Simply: Edit Writing in Ten Minutes

Student writing in her journal.

Image from StarforLife.org on Flickr.

This ten-minute line editing system is what I teach the students in my classroom to use. It breaks down the editing of their writing projects into small, manageable chunks that allow them to concentrate on one thing at a time. This system is perfect for short stories, five paragraph essays, persuasive writing, and five-paragraph report writing.

If you’re interested in a more in-depth editing system for freelance writing and novels, see my earlier post on How to Edit Smarter, Not Harder.

The acronym CUPS details the steps of this editing process. I first heard of CUPS in the Step Up to Writing method, sold and marketed by Sopris West. Over the past dozen years, I’ve adapted it to my ten-minute method. It saves time in the classroom and produces fast, accurate results.

CUPS stands for:

C – Capitalization

U – Usage

P – Punctuation

S – Spelling

EDIT FOR CUPS IN FOUR SHORT STEPS

Step 1, C – Capitalization:

Armed with a colored pencil or pen, my students exchange papers. I set a timer for two minutes. I tell them in the first two minutes, they will look at nothing but capitalization. We review the rules of capitalization of the first word in a sentence, proper nouns, and the word I.

Working with the timer running, the students quickly scan through the writing, triple underlining anything that should be capitalized, and crossing out anything that should use a lower case letter.

Bam. Done with the first step.

Step 2, P – Punctuation:

I skip to P for punctuation. We review basic punctuation rules for end punctuation and quotation marks. I start the timer and off they go. Working quickly, they scan through the article, checking to see if the writer used proper punctuation. If they find a mistake, they correct it using proofreaders’ marks, putting the punctuation in a circle.

If you’re unclear about some of the basic rules, see the most popular post on this blog, How to Use Proper Punctuation When Writing Dialogue.

Bam. Step 2 is done.

Step 3, S – Spelling:

Now we move on to spelling. I remind the students that they do not have to provide the proper spelling to the writer. They only have to circle any words they believe are misspelled. It’s the writer’s responsibility to find the correct spelling.

I set the timer, they circle misspellings.

Bam. Step 3 is done and we’re on to the fourth step.

Step 4, U – Usage:

Now we backtrack to usage. I save it for last, because it seems to be the most complicated, especially for English Language Learners. My classes typically have 65% to 75% students with a home language other than English.

After reading their peer’s writing three times, they have a feel for the writing. They know if it’s choppy, or if sentences are constructed poorly. They may not immediately know how to fix it, but all they are responsible for is circling the sentences in which they find mistakes. This may be in word usage, verb choice, subject verb agreement, or other basic problems.

The timer starts, they circle.

Bam. Step 4 is finished.

FINAL STEPS IN EDITING

The students hand their papers back to each other. Typically, I see wonderful conversations happening about the marks on their papers, and discussions about what could be done to change it. It’s a fabulous sight to see.

Last of all, if you’d like the students to do a conceptual edit, this can be added and done in another two to four minutes.

Simply review what you as the teacher are looking for in this piece of writing. It might be as basic as a clear topic sentence and conclusion that restates the thesis, or it might be more complex.

Have each student read through his or her writing, and make notes in the margins for elements they need to change, move, remove, or insert.

Now the papers are finished, edits are noted, and the final draft of the writing becomes homework.  Using this system, my ten and eleven year old students have produced wonderful writing they’re proud to present to parents and peers.

I hope you find this system helpful for teaching how to edit quickly. If you have a system of your own that works well, I’d love to read about it in the comments, and I’m sure my readers would love to see it, too.

Teaching Simply: How to Write a Script

As you may know, I teach young people, (ten and eleven year-olds) how to write as well as how to read what they write. I keep my lessons as clear and simple as possible, then add layers of depth in follow up lessons.

My class had a fabulous visit the first week of February from an actor with the B Street Theatre who did a short scriptwriting workshop with them. Little did they know, I would be requiring each of them to write a short play of their own. (Insert evil laugh here.)

I love playwriting, and it’s a way to get students to have fun writing, especially in the mid-year slump time. They get to flex their creativity and write with laughter.

First Step: Teach a Three Act Structure

I do this by drawing a big arc on the board. I then divide it into three sections representing the three acts. The First Act ends about 25% of the way into the script. The Second Act lasts for the next 50% and ends with the climax. The last 25% is Act Three, where the resolution to the story is written.

In the first section of the arc, I write C, S, E. B, S.

C stands for characters.

S stands for setting.

E stands for events.

B is the Black Moment of Death.

S is the solution, denouement, and resolution.

Working together as a class, we choose two character names. One will be the protagonist, (the hero) and the other will be the antagonist (the villain.) Then we choose the setting.

For the lesson this week, they chose Fred and Karina as the protagonists and a robber as the antagonist. They decided the play should take place in Spain.

Second Step: Create Big Problems for the Characters

Next, the class decided on three events that should lead to the Black Moment of Death, (the climax.) Most of the students in my classes have never written a play before. I always keep this lesson simple by limiting the characters to two or three, and having them think of three problems that build on one another to reach the 4th huge problem that is the climax.

  1. Fred and Karina, a brother and sister, are on vacation in Spain, and they get separated from their parents and are lost.
  2. They aren’t too worried. They have a cell phone. When Fred pulls out the phone to call their parents, a robber grabs it, steals their wallets, and runs. Fred and Karina run after him.
  3. They catch up to the robber and knock him down.  They search his pockets, but the wallets and cell phone are gone. The robber has already passed them off to someone else. 
  4. Black Moment of Death. Fred and Karina yell for the police. When the police come, they decide the two are hoodlums and they throw them in jail. Fred and Karina have no identification, no money, no phones. If the play ended here, they would probably die in jail.

Fourth Step: Solve the Problem

After we considered all the possible resolutions to the problem, we chose one.

I keep this lesson as simple as possible by using one main story arc. We don’t have any subplots or interwoven lines.  Simplicity gets the basics down; complexity will follow.

Erase the Arc and Repeat

Now I erase the story arc and draw a new one. I do this three or four times, until the students are comfortable with the process. It’s quite fun and energizing to hear the ideas they come up with.

Teach How to Write Stage Directions and Dialogue

The next step is showing the students the format of a script. Most of the students have never even read a play. I pull out copies of scripts for Reader’s Theater practice, and show them how stage directions and dialogue are formatted.

I require my students to skip a line between the characters’ lines. I also require stage directions to be in parentheses. You may prefer the formatting of your scripts to be slightly different. Just be clear and concise about what is expected, and show examples.

Set Them Free to Write

Invariably, by this point, the students are clamoring for me to stop teaching so they can write. I love when it gets to that point. This week, I turned Pandora Radio to the Classical Music for Studying station, and with the strains of Debussy in the room, they wrote.

They even asked for more time to write. They didn’t want to stop.

That was Tuesday, and by Friday, we had twenty-eight original new plays. Some were time travel, some were space travel, some were shopping adventures, and some were wild animal adventures. The best part is seeing the wide variety of topics.

Taking it Further

Now we have short plays to use for Reader’s Theater (RT) performances. I’ve found RT to be an effective way to increase expressive fluency in reading. When they’re reading their own creations, they are vested in making the best presentation possible. So they work hard at perfecting the delivery of each and every line.

In the end, we have fun writing, fun performing, and fun watching the plays. It meets many of the California writing and reading standards for our grade level. We’re covered if someone walks into the classroom and thinks we can’t possibly have that much fun if we’re working on the standards.

Have fun teaching and writing!