Ten Obvious Truths About Fiction The following essay was previewed in the class that Stephen Graham Jones taught for LitReactor, Your Life Story Is Five Pages Long. 1. The reader should never have to work to figure out the basics of your story. Who’s whose wife or husband, what the time period is if that matters, why these people have broken into this house, and on and on, just the basic, ground-level facts about your story. If you don’t relay that stuff up-front, as quickly and efficiently as possible (and please don’t be fancy), then your story becomes a game of three-card-monty, with you hiding information under this or that shell, trying to keep everything moving fast enough that nobody knows what’s going on. Which is to say your story becomes about the reading of the story, not the experience the story is trying to get the reader to engage. 2. Meaning you don’t have to lay every last detail of every last thing out. The best writers are the ones who can cover the most distance with the fewest words. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology You Are Your Words - AHD Assemble a Quality Portfolio | Pan-European MFA - Creative Writing Whether you’re assembling writings to submit to an MFA program or to share with a local writers’ group, it’s important for you to select work that shows your full range of talents. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the objectivity necessary to evaluate our own work. If you’re unsure of which pieces to choose, consider these tips from award-winning writer Fred Leebron. Select your strongest work. Learn more about Fred Leebron »
Over 100 ideas for using Twitter in the Classroom This handful of resources provide about 100 different ideas for, and examples of, using Twitter in the classroom. It’s been almost 8 months since I published the post, “6 Examples of Using Twitter in the Classroom”, about uses of the popular micro-blogging tool in the instructional setting. This post generated a lot of traffic, and continues to attract hundreds of viewers every week. Since that brief posting, I’ve come across a lot of articles containing examples and suggestions for using Twitter in instructional applications. I’ve combed through many of these and tried to boil down the redundancies to create a rich set of idea-laden resources. I also want to mention these 100 Serious Twitter Tips for Academics, which are worth reviewing to learn more and plan your approach to using Twitter in (and out of) the classroom. Here are the original “6 Examples” from last June’s post: About Kelly Walsh Print This Post
Elementary Writing Samples, Middle School Writing Examples, Sample Essays | Teaching Writing Fast and Effectively! Here is the best collection of sample essays I have come across. A kind teacher up in Oregon who is using “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay” sent me the links. She is thrilled that the number of students scoring high has doubled since using “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay.” Included are writing samples for grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, grade 6, grade 7, grade 8, and high school. One nice thing about this collection of sample essays is most every grade contains four different types of writing: 1. Another great thing about this collection of elementary writing samples and middle school writing examples is that there are five different scoring levels for each type of writing: 1. How to Download Them in an Organized Way You will want to use an organized system for saving the files. 1. Directions: Open up a new browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc.) and copy and paste the link into the address bar. “Habit #2: Start with the end in mind.” • Go through the essays.
Why reading aloud makes a book so much better As a result of the Dickens bicentenary, I have been listening to the unabridged Naxos recording of David Copperfield read by Nicholas Boulton. Dickens of course was a great reader aloud of his own work, and it plays well in this format. Among my discoveries, on the re-reading, I've noticed, for the first time, the impressive similarities between Mr Micawber and Homer Simpson, and also between the character of the servant Littimer and PG Wodehouse's Jeeves. But that's by the by. Almost contemporary with Dickens, Lewis Carroll first recounted "Alice's Adventures Under Ground" to the three Liddell sisters on a boating trip on 4 July 1862. Robert Louis Stevenson was another Victorian whose work bears the stamp of fireside storytelling. It's not a foolproof formula. And yet ... Subtitled "A Fairy Tale", Animal Farm has many roots in the English satirical tradition, but it also benefits from an oral beginning.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Biscotti Intro I was both honored and slightly frightened when Shauna (Gluten-Free Girl) asked me to bake a Gluten-Free Thanksgiving recipe. I’ve made a few gluten-free items before but they were completely flour-free. This time I wanted to challenge myself and have fun playing with completely new-to-me flours. Now I understand that you may be confused as to why I chose Biscotti as a Thanksgiving baked good. As I mentioned in my last post I don’t do much of the cooking on Thanksgiving. But what I can bring is a little sweet snack for the busy cooks. My husband was leery of my biscotti. So after biting into my biscotti his once timid and frightened face brightened as the texture was pleasantly softer than most while still maintaining the likable sturdiness associated with this Italian treat. There was a nice crunch from the coarsely ground almonds that made up the almond flour. Gluten-Free Chocolate Biscotti 1/2 cup almond flour* 1/4 cup sorghum flour 1/4 cup cocoa powder 1/4 cup potato starch
Writer's Workshop Resources and Ideas The majority of time of Writing Workshop is devoted to independent writing. During this time, students are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their pieces. Depending on the age and abilities of your students, independent writing can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 45-60 minutes. It helps to build stamina with your class, beginning with a short amount of time and building that time until they can work for up 30 minutes or more. According to Katie Wood Ray (The Writing Workshop, 2001), students can also do other activities during their writing time, such as writing in their schema notebooks journal writing writing exercises to experiment with language and style conducting peer-conferences reading to support writing During independent writing time, the teacher confers with students about their writing. Teachers should keep conferences short. Websites on Conferring:
20 Ways to Kill Your Writer's Block Forever Has this happened to you? You want to write some new posts for your blog, but nothing’s coming to you. You’re just sitting there, with those blank white pixels taunting you, until your eyeballs hurt. If you’re going to be a successful writer of any kind — blogger, journalist, copywriter, novelist, you name it — writer’s block can’t happen. The good news is you can learn how to write on cue. How do I know? Here are my 20 best tips for defeating writer’s block and getting the writing done: Don’t start with a blank page. What do you do when you’ve got writer’s block? No Bake Chocolate Cake Recipe I don't know about you, but I didn't accomplish much today. I slept in, halfheartedly ran a few errands, accumulated flowers wherever I went, and spent a good amount of time arranging poppies & peonies into a hodgepodge of mason jars and vases. Flowers aside, I dedicated ten minutes making this chocolate cake. It's the ultimate lazy chocolate dessert. This is the sort of thing I'll throw together if we're having friends over for dinner and I run out of steam on the dessert front. The choice of pan warrants a mention. butter, to grease pan 8 ounces / 225 g 70% chocolate, well chopped 8 ounces / 225 g heavy cream 1/2 teaspoon allspice (optional) 2 teaspoons finely ground espresso (optional) 1/4 teaspoon fine grain salt cocoa powder, to serve Lightly butter a 6-inch / 15cm springform pan or equivalent - I typically use little loaf pans which are less common, but many small pans will work here (see main entry). Barely melt the chocolate in a double boiler over gentle heat. Serves 12.
Collaborative-Research-Project - Teaching Genre Get your Wikispaces Classroom now: the easiest way to manage your class. guest Join | Help | Sign In Collaborative-Research-Project Home guest| Join | Help | Sign In Turn off "Getting Started" Loading... Set up Your Story in the First Paragraphs by Jodie Renner, editor, author, speaker I receive several first chapters (and synopses) every week as submissions for possible editing, and I always read the first page. Some are clear and compelling and make me want to read more. There are three cardinal rules of successful novelists: 1. 2. 3. I’ve discussed the negative effects of starting off too slowly, with too much description and/or backstory, in other articles (see the links at the end of this article). Your first paragraph and first page are absolutely critical! So try to work in the basics of the 4 W’s below in your first page — preferably within the first two or three paragraphs. Who? What? Where? When? Also, your first page is a kind of promise to your readers. Evaluate Your Hook: With each story you start, always remember that an effective hook needs to do seven things: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
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