A Dog on a Roof

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about designing a house for a cat. Later I saw something really interesting: a dog living next to a trailer in an unusual spot. Here's the trailer:

And here's the dog and its house:

Here's another view:

How do you think the dog likes living here? What interesting things does the dog see from its perch high above the street?

For fun, write a story about this dog. This is a great opportunity to include lots of details about the setting!

A Letter to a Friend

Happy Valentine's Day!

To me, Valentine's Day is all about friendship. It's fun to make and exchange Valentines. But the fun doesn't have to stop after February 14th.

The time around Valentine's Day (or V-Day as I like to call it) is a great time to write a letter to a friend. Your letter doesn't have to be "mushy." You can simply list the reasons you like your friend.

Your friend could be the person who sits next to you at school, your neighbor down the block, your mom or dad, or even your dog or cat.

Let's say you want to write a letter to your dog. How about this?

Dear Dart,

I'm glad you're my dog. Here's why you are a great friend:

1. You always listen.

2. You don't hog all the space on the bed.

3. You love to run and so do I.

4. You wag your tail when I read to you.

5. You warm up my feet when I'm watching TV.

I hope you'll be my friend for a long, long time.

Your friend, Me

Try writing your own letter to a friend. When you're done, you can give the letter to your friend, but only if you want to. Just writing down what you like about a person (or animal) is a good way to remember how lucky you are to have a friend.

Creating a House for Cats

What if you could create a house for a cat?

Would the house be big or small? Would it have a playroom filled with yarn and other fun things? What kind of bathroom would a cat like? What would be in a cat's refrigerator? Would there be a big jar of catnip on the table?

Everyone knows that cats love to sleep. How would you design the perfect bed for a cat? Would there be a lot of blankets? How many pillows does a cat need? Would the bed have a heater? (Cats love to be warm.)

What would a cat's TV look like? What would be the cat's favorite programs?

Write your description of a perfect house for a cat. Add some pictures, and then show your cat house to your favorite cat. I hope it purrs!

Making a Critique Sandwich

Do you like to eat? I do. That's why I like to talk about critique sandwiches.

What is a critique sandwich? Let's start with the word "critique."

A critique is what you give someone when you read his or her story and make comments. Getting comments from other writers is great. Comments from others can be a huge help when we revise our stories. But when we give each other comments, we want to make sure we do it in a way that helps the writer, not hurts.

So we make a critique sandwich. Here's how:

1. The bottom piece of bread. Something we liked about the writing.

2. The filling. What could make the writing better?

3. The top piece of bread. Something we liked about the writing.

So we start and end with positive comments: "I really liked how your character escaped." "The voice in the story sounded just like you." "Your descriptions were so vivid."

The filling is the "meat" of the sandwich. What could make the writing better? Were there things about the story that confused you? Did you wish there was some description of the main character? Did you want to know more about how a character felt?

These are all things you can tell the writer, "sandwiched" in-between the top and bottom pieces of bread (your positive comments).

The next time you read someone's writing and comment on it, make a critique sandwich. You won't even need a plate.

Adjectives

Adjectives are those great words that describe things. They can be short: wet, dry, thick, thin, pink, green (or short). They can be long: wonderful, extraordinary, shadowy. They can be "show-off" words: splendiferous, iridescent, capacious.

Whether the adjectives you use are big or small, it's a good idea to have them in your writing for a reason. Adjectives have a job to do. Choosing the right adjective is the difference between something being tall or something being gigantic. Big difference.

What adjectives would you use to describe the cactuses (or cacti) above? Some adjectives may simply describe the cactuses physically:

thorny

prickly

sharp

spiky

spiny

Other adjectives may show how your character feels about the cactuses:

dangerous

friendly

charming

stately

Find an object outside or in your house. It could be a stop sign or your bathroom faucet. Describe the object using one or two adjectives. Will you use adjectives that describe the object physically? (a tall, red stop sign) Or will you use adjectives that use emotion? (a sad, battered stop sign)

Does a stop sign need to be described with adjectives? After all, everyone knows what a stop sign looks like. Do you need to tell your reader that it's red? Or is there something different about this particular stop sign? Is it muddy, faded, or rusty?

Have fun playing with long, short, moody, silly adjectives in your writing.

Endings

Since I talked about openings last time, how about if we talk about endings? What makes for a good ending of a story?

When you read, do you like everything to be wrapped up neatly? Or do you like to have one aspect of the story remain unsolved, to give you something to think about? Or something in-between?

I'm an "in-between" person. I like the story to be resolved, but I also like to have a question about the characters or story stay in my mind after I finish reading the book.

Most authors like to write the kind of story they like to read. How about you?

Pick one of your favorite books. In your notebook, write down how the story ends, and why you like (or don't like) the ending. Now write down how the story could have ended differently. Maybe the dog doesn't die, or the boy doesn't move to Arizona after all.

One of my favorite novels is Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan, about a family that has lost its mother. The father invites a mail-order bride from Maine--Sarah--to come live with them in their prairie home.

A beautiful aspect of the book is how well it uses color: the sky, the water, the prairie grass. So I like how the ending of the book uses color, too:

Autumn will come, then winter, cold with a wind that blows like the wind off the sea in Maine. There will be nests of curls to look for, and dried flowers all winter long. When there are storms, Papa will stretch a rope from the door to the barn so we will not be lost when we feed the sheep and the cows and Jack and Old Bess. And Sarah's chickens, if they aren't living in the house. There will be Sarah's sea, blue and gray and green, hanging on the wall. And songs, old ones and new. And Seal with yellow eyes. And there will be Sarah, plain and tall.

This book ends happily, with the story wrapped up. (I won't tell exactly what happens!) But there's also the question of how Sarah, who is from near the sea, will fit into this prairie family.

Luckily there are three sequels: Skylark, Caleb's Story, and More Perfect Than the Moon.

Openings

Happy New Year! I wish you all a great year of writing, discovering, and creating.

With the start of a new year, it seems fitting to talk about openings. I just started reading The Subtle Knife, the second book in Philip Pullman's trilogy His Dark Materials. Here's the opening to The Subtle Knife:

Will tugged at his mother's hand and said, "Come on, come on..."

But his mother hung back. She was still afraid. Will looked up and down the narrow street in the evening light, along the little terrace of houses, each behind its tiny garden and its box hedge, with the sun glaring off the windows of one side and leaving the other in shadow. There wasn't much time. People would be having their meal about now, and soon there would be other children around, to stare and comment and notice. It was dangerous to wait, but all he could do was persuade her, as usual.

"Mum, let's go in and see Mrs. Cooper," he said. "Look, we're nearly there."

"Mrs. Cooper?" she said doubtfully.

But he was already ringing the bell. He had to put down the bag to do it, because his other hand still held his mother's. It might have bothered him at twelve years of age to be seen holding his mother's hand, but he knew what would happen to her if he didn't.

Could you stop reading a novel with an opening that great? I couldn't! I want to know exactly what will happen to Will. In that short passage, Philip Pullman has told us that Will is 12 years old, his mother has something wrong with her, he's in danger, and he's running out of time.

As if that isn't enough, Pullman slips in a hint about the theme of the trilogy, Light vs. Darkness, in this wonderful description: with the sun glaring off the windows of one side and leaving the other in shadow.

I want to drop everything and read!

How about your own openings? Do you give your reader information (Will is 12 and his mother has something wrong with her), a problem (Will is in danger), tension (he's running out of time), and a hint about the theme (sun vs. shadow/light vs. darkness)? Few of us are masters like Philip Pullman, but we can still work on our openings.

Try writing an opening scene. Introduce your main character, a problem, and tension. (At this point you probably don't know what your theme will be; writers usually work in hints about theme in later revisions.)

Have fun "opening" the new year with a great opening!