Writers+2012

We met for three Wednesday mornings. Lots of the inspiration for our learning came from a book called __I’ve got something to say__ by Gail Loane with Sally Muir. ISBN 978-0-473-14260-5
 * __Welcome to “Writers, Use Your Words”__**

One of the ideas we found useful from their book is **__Keeping and using a notebook as a seedbed for writing__** • Responding to literature and the writing of our peers • World events • Wonderings • Observations- capturing moments • Interviews • Reviews • Response to events • Capturing memories • Bits of writing you like • Gathering bits of your life • What people say “ A notebook is a place to put small scraps of time away where I can take them out and look at them whenever I need to remember.” Jean Little

**__Personal Expressive Writing about “Playing Hard’__** We were inspired by Patricia Grace’s story “Beans.” We saw how she’d begun with the **‘bare bones’** and fleshed it out. She had super ways of “showing rather than telling”, using sentences that used all 5 senses, crafting her writing to include a listing sentence. “I tackle, handle, kick, run, everything.”

We closed our eyes and visualized a time when we had played hard, like the boy in Patricia Grace’s story. We wrote the ‘bare bones’ version. We tried a listing sentence. We used all five senses to show our readers what it was like.

Here is Nikita’s personal expressive writing inspired by Patricia Grace. __Cricket (barebones)__ I catch the ball. I throw the ball. I hit the ball. I run around cones.

**__Cricket__** I wander to a foreground position and wait. The ball comes shooting towards me like a rocket above my head. The ball bounced. I slide my hands under the ball. I grasp it tightly. I bowl it to the bowler as the batter scrambles around the cones. I wait again. The ball whizzed towards my left just within reach. I grab and nearly fall backwards. I run to the left and catch. I run to the right and catch. The bowler caught it three times in a row. "My turn" I shriek. The batter collapsed in agreement.

I stumble to the batting position, pick up the bat and grip it tight in my hands. I stare in concentration, the ball bolts towards me. I locate the ball and speedily bound to the left and 3, 2, 1, hit. The ball goes flying. I race around the cones. I wait again then swing, hit, sprint. Swing, hit, sprint. Swing, hit, sprint. Swing, hit, sprint. Swing, hit, sprint. Miss, miss, miss. I collapse with sweat dripping into my mouth. My mouth creaks as I open my mouth and smother it in water.



**__Using Observing and Noticing to Describe a Place__** Laura Ranger was 7 years old when she wrote a poem called “The Sea’. We were inspired and used the same tips to make our poetry effective.

We began with a list of nouns, things we could see in front of us. Then we ‘activated the nouns’ by adding an adjective. Finally we extended each line to give more information. Some of us were able to include a metaphor, simile or personification. **We added this technique to our writer’s toolbox to ‘show rather than tell.’**

Nikita shares her writing here. **__Nature__** The tree is waiting to sway in the wind. The trunk slightly twisted, branches reaching.

The flowers reaching, ready to be picked. The bush looks in every direction.

The grass covers the ground like a roll out mat, Stuck to the ground like a flat birds nest.

The bird hopping like it has only one leg, Wobbling and falling, beak first to the grass. Searching for food while she's there.

**__The 25 S's of the Beach__** I swipe off my sandals, soft sand slips through my toes. Tussocks tickling as I dart, chase and trace through footprints. I scamper to the salty sea and dive straight in as I become wet and refreshed immediately on this summer’s day.

Seagulls squawk and wait for food. I collect shiny shells and scramble up a steep sand dune and slide down, swerving unsteadily. Laughter and crying fills my ears. Sandcastles, sunbathing and swimming. Salty lips, sailing ships.

Check out Gemma’s description of Africa.



**__Using Observing and Noticing to Describe a Person__** • Our inspiration this time was Sheryl May with her description of Nanny Waho. • We used a framework given by Gail Loane to shape our descriptions. Paragraph One described the person’s looks. Paragraph Two described the person’s behaviour- how they moved and spoke. Paragraph Three described the person’s reputation- how they affected others. Paragraph Four described the person’s environment and belongings. • Then we crafted our four paragraphs, choosing our words carefully, deciding what to leave out, to make our writing as powerful as we could to ‘show rather than tell’ our readers about our character.

Check out Nikita’s Character Description

**__Writing Knowledge Summary__** Each week in groups we brainstormed and shared what we knew about various aspects of writing, then we filled in the gaps in our knowledge. Here’s a summary of our knowledge.

**__Authors__** • Beliefs • Creative • Free your mind • Give it a go • Express yourself; Express your feelings into a BIG juicy story. Expose your feelings. • Have a space to write your words • Imagination…writing let’s your imagination go wild • Include your audience • Link different parts of the story • Message • Practise to get better • Publish. Share what you write with readers • Reading can help your writing • Research; Gather up knowledge to write an awesome story. • Skilful • Take it to the next level • Text that makes people sit on the edge of their seat • Think deep into another world • Use your words to describe • Write patiently • Write what you think • Writing is a passion. • You can write about anything. [] has links to NZ authors’ websites • Check out YouTube clips: __Being a Good Writer: Writing tips and strategies__ from Lucy Calkins

**__Characters__** • Characters are who’s in the story. • Characters can be in stories and plays. • Characters may be people or animals. • Characters may be real or imaginary; mythological or cartoon characters. • Authors often give the names of the characters, but not always. • Heroes or heroines are the goodies. Villains are the baddies. • Main characters, minor characters, extras • Authors give character descriptions.

**__Deep Features__** Deep features make people want to read your writing. Showing, not telling, makes your writing interesting. Include your audience.

**__Details__** • Describe people, places, things, movements

**__Emotions and Feelings__** • Add your own feelings to the story about your characters • Depression, Hate, Love, Magical, Passion • Write your heart out • Write about human emotions

**__First Person/ Third Person__** • First Person: “I…” The reader hears the story from the point of view of the character telling the story. • Third Person: “They…” “He…” “She…” The reader hears the story from the points of view of all the characters in the story.

**__Illustrations__** • A picture may be worth a thousand words BUT a thousand words can make a picture or a movie in a readers mind, transport them to another world. • Join ideas, words and phrases to form a picture or a puzzle • Show with words, don’t tell.

**__ISBN__** International Standard Book Number • Every published book has an ISBN, found inside the front cover, often 1 or 2 pages in. • The ISBN helps readers and bookstores locate a particular book.

**__Language Features__** • Adjectives – describing words that give details about nouns - tells what kind, how many, or which one. e.g. wooden table • Adverbs - describing words that give details about verbs e.g. running quickly • Alliteration – repeating the first sound of words e.g. The blooming bulletin board. • Analogies – comparing 2 things that have something in common e.g. A heart is like a pump. • Antonyms – words opposite in meaning e.g. fast – slow • Articles - used before a noun e.g. a, an, the • Conjunctions - joining words e.g. and, but, or • Homonyms – words that sound the same but are spelt differently and have different meanings e.g. here, hair, hair • Idioms – an expression from a language and culture that cannot be translated exactly into a 2nd language e.g. She’ll be right. • Interjections- expresses strong feeling or emotion e.g. Help! My goodness! Ugh! • Metaphors- a figure of speech where a resemblance is made e.g. food for thought • Nouns - are the name of a person, place or thing • Onomatopoeia - words that make the sound e.g. sizzle, cuckoo, bang • Prepositions - combines with a noun or pronoun to form a phrase that tells something about another word in the sentence e.g. from, over, to, with, until, after • Pronouns - take the place of nouns e.g. I, you, he, she, we, they, me, it • Similes - compare 2 things using ‘like’ or ‘as’ e.g. “He is as fat as a pig.” • Synonyms – words that have the same or nearly the same meaning e.g. smile and grin • Verbs - action words e.g. run, jump, ask,

**__Layout__** • physical setting out of the writing on the page • Sentences • Paragraphs • Illustrations, diagrams, captions • Line breaks • Line length • White Space on the page

**__Magic Ingredients or Props__** • These help to resolve the problem or conflict in the story. fairy dust - flying car - glass slipper - magic carpet - magic potion - magic wand- spells

• Beginning, middle, end • Volcano shaped • Conflict or problem the character is trying to overcome • Action ||  ||   ||   || • Middle • Climax of story • Drama/ Tension • Reaction ||  ||   ||   || • End • Solution or Resolution • Payoff ||  || []
 * __Plot__**
 * ||  || • Beginning
 * ||  || • Beginning

**__Publishing Options__** • Check out this excellent book from the Invercargill Public Library (NonFiction 808.02 ROS) “Getting Published” NZ Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc) ISBN 978-0-473-16836-0 [|www.authors.org.nz] is an excellent practical NZ website. is a useful starting point for Kindle Direct Publishing, i.e. Ebooks.

**__Purpose__** • A way of expressing thoughts/ feelings • To convey a message • To entertain • To give points and instructions • To inform and tell about a certain topic • To let go and relax • To love and write about others • To use creativity and intelligence

**__Settings__** • Where and when the story takes place • Authors describe the setting using words. • Readers see the setting or picture it in their mind. That’s why sometimes there is a conflict of ideas when a movie is made, as it’s not the same as what readers pictured in their minds. • Settings may be real or imagined.

**__Story Starters__** • Hook your reader in from the very first sentence. **__[]__** **__[]__**

**__Storyboards__** • Help an author plan the “shape” of the story Check out YouTube clips: “Your Book Starts Here - Storyboarding for Writers”

**__Surface Features__** Surface features make your reader able to read your writing through grammar and punctuation. **Grammar** **k**eeps words in order, with rules. **Punctuation** makes the story make sense and sound better. • Capital letters and fullstops• Colons and semicolons • Exclamation marks • Question marks • Speech marks

**__Tenses__** • Past tense: It’s already happened. Authors use words like ‘was’, ‘went,’ ‘looked’ • Present tense: It’s happening now. Authors use words like ‘is,’ ‘goes’, ‘look’ • Future tense: It’s still got to happen. Authors use words like ‘going to…’ ‘will look’

**__Text Types or Genres__** **Fiction and Non-fiction** • Adventures • Articles • Autobiography or Memoirs • Biography • Description • Diary • Explanations • Expositions • Fairy Tales • Instructions • Letters • Legends and Myths • Narratives – are fiction • Personal Experiences • Plays • Poems - Acrostic - Colour Poems – Haiku – Limericks - Rhyming • Procedures • Recounts • Reports

**__Titles__** • Heading of a story and a book. • Titles give you a clue about the story. They set the scene. •Titles hook the reader in. They are what first make people want to read a book. It’s what readers see when they look along the library shelves or at eBook lists. • Uses different fonts and colours to attract readers and stand out from other books.

**__Writing Process__** • Collect ideas; Write down words or phrases that could be useful • Plan – bare bones • Research • Draft • Show, don’t tell. - Visualise, using what you see, hear, feel, smell, taste - Describe people, places, things, movements. - Use linking sentences. - Activate nouns with adjectives - Physical description – Behaviour – Reputation – Environment & belongings • Join phrases • Use the things around you to make it better • Revising (Take out anything that isn’t necessary – about 10% of what you’ve written) • Editing; Proofreading; Correcting • Publish- share with readers- speak it out… learn to be confident in a big crowd.



__Finally we reflected on the learning we’ve done about writing over the last 9 hours together.__ Check out the summary here.