stranger than fiction

Well, my creative writing class is gearing up for a Class Novel Writing Month (ClaNoWriMo) in April. To get in the mood, we watched Stranger Than Fiction, a great flick! It is so fun for the kids to see how the writer in the movie created a whole world, full of interesting characters. Tomorrow the kids will be inventing their own characters. I just hope no one actually has to undergo the tortures that the kids are sure to put their characters through! Poor Harold Crick.

As for me, I am reading yet another Picoult novel. They're addictive. It actually reminds me of when I was in middle school and had to read all of the Sweet Valley High books. Though they were formulaic, they were comforting. Not that Picoult is as simple as those books. She does tend to follow a formula, however. But if it works, it works. She's got me sucked in! Right now I'm reading The Plain Truth, about an Amish girl who may or may not have had a baby in a barn and left it to die. Her premises are so interesting. Awesome premise + ethical questions + driven lawyer with a soft side = Picoult.

dollhouse

I just finished watching Friday night's episode, and it was so good I cried (nothing to do with pregancy hormones, I'm sure). I realllllly don't want this show to be canceled. Why would Fox air it on Friday nights? They must hate Joss Whedon. Grrr.

philosophy of teaching writing

So this post is aimed more at teachers, but I'd be happy to get everyone's input. My department is discussing the most effective way to teach writing and grammar.

I use a two-pronged approach.

First, I try to keep a dialogue about grammar open with my students. Twice a week, I write two sentences on the board that have common mistakes. The students make suggestions to fix the sentences, and we discuss the rules behind the changes. Now, the kids don't think this is the most "fun" activity ever, but I like that we talk about grammar at least twice a week. Then I can refer to rules we've discussed when I mark their papers.

Second, I mark grammatical mistakes in the students' own writing. I don't mark everything. I only mark the papers that have been peer and self-edited. This way, students have a chance to eliminate some of the mistakes they make when hastily writing their rough drafts. Once they turn in final copies, I go through the papers and mark up the first 4 pages -- every mistake I see (and of course, I make positive comments, too). For every page after that, the student must look at the mistakes they tend to make (whether they tend to use lots of comma splice errors or mix up there/their/they're, for example) and fix any further mistakes in the paper. I think it's important for the student to go back and acknowledge these mistakes and fix them; otherwise, I don't see much point in marking their work. I'm of the "work smarter, not harder" philosophy. I don't mark mistakes in their daily work or in in-class essays because they're full of careless mistakes and the students tend to just toss them aside after glancing at them, anyway.

So, here's my question. What do you think is the most effective way to teach writing and grammar? Do you think every little item on every assignment should be marked and made perfect by the teacher, or do you think comments on student work should be reserved for meaningful revision?

Here's a helpful link I found, for future reference:
Best Practices in Teaching Writing

whee!

Look at me, three posts in a row! So, this will be kind of random.

Good thing:
Hope

Bad thing:
Having to rush home from a gathering because I feel like death... I hope this part of pregnancy is almost over.

What I wish:
That it would rain

Cheap thrill:
Reading a snippet of a friend's scene and recognizing my own characters

How many days of spring break are left:
8

Things I have to do in those 8 days:
Grade a million I-Search papers, write 50 pages of my thesis, clean the house, catch up on laundry, catch up on beta reading

Guess I'd better go work on some of those things...

lucky friday

Friday the 13th seems to be awfully lucky for sending out queries.

don't quit

Today I had a really neat conversation with a coworker. I hadn't realized she'd written a novel! So we talked about writing and the process of getting it out there. She said that, years ago, a fairly successful writer friend told her to be very careful about what she put out there because that's it -- once you've blown your chance, you're done. She said that comment basically paralyzed her into not wanting to submit her work anywhere. She told me not to freeze like she did. Thanks to her, I've just sent out a new batch of queries.

As far as "your chance," I think that her friend was right in that you should want to present your best work. But I don't think we just get one chance. If I'm not successful with this book, I will keep writing and submit another one. And another one. And I will keep growing as a writer. I think that success comes with a combination of hard work and good luck. You can't be successful if you let that fear of screwing up paralyze you, though.

Well, have a great weekend, everyone. And send out some queries. It's liberating!

writing envy

I just finished Jodi Picoult's latest, Handle with Care. Sigh. How does she do it? She cranks out book after book, and they're all fabulous. According to my calculations, she published her first novel when she was 25 and has published 15 since. I just... wow.

is it homer simpson?

the dark in you

I firmly believe that all humans have the capacity to do great evil. This is what makes interesting characters, I think. And what makes interesting writers. Writers who admit the possibility of evil, but invent characters who rise above it.

I have a friend who is a fabulous writer, but some of the stuff he writes scares the crap out of me. I don't even know how he thinks of it, it's so wickedly awful. But in a brilliant way. He asked me to write a piece that would combine my characters and his in the setting of Holy Cross High (from Drawn to You).

We discussed it. It was perfect. Not only is Holy Cross High your typical high school with preps and geeks, goth kids and cheerleaders... It is a place where monsters dwell (his character). I thought of the perfect storyline, a way to introduce Shawna and Monster X. And it was PERFECT.

But I can't write it. I started to. But the things that happen are too disturbing. I can't tap into that dark part of me. Or, rather, I can, but I don't want to at this point in time. I feel vulnerable, like I don't want to open up that particular can of worms.

So, friend, you know who you are, and I have a good start, but I can't finish it. Not right now. The idea is perfect, but I can't articulate it just yet.

I've been thinking a lot about writers who really open themselves and let it all come gushing out, gore and all. I feel like you can't really do that with YA. You have to censor yourself, at least a little, lest it become not YA anymore. And I'm not just talking about swearing here. I'm talking about sex, violence, adult situations. Fellow YA writers, what do you think? Do you find yourself holding back at times? Have you ever had an idea that just felt like TOO MUCH? Like it would take you to a place you didn't want to go?

i love charts

My students are doing my work for me! For their projects, the kids read either 13 REASONS WHY, SPEAK, BREAKING POINT, TWISTED, NINETEEN MINUTES, or GIVE A BOY A GUN. They wrote fascinating papers exploring the causes, effects, and warning signs of teen violence. I had everyone keep a journal, and I interviewed four of them several times throughout the unit. So much information! Where to start? Just so you know, transcribing audio interviews is not fun. :P

In baby news, I'm 10 weeks today! 3 weeks before our next scan. Kid might actually look like a human being by then!