A Tasty Treat in Our Writing

Believe it or not, these "books" are a cake! They're from a celebration at Vermont College of Fine Arts, where I received my MFA in Writing.

Wouldn't you love to taste one of these cakes? Imagine being able to eat a book! 

Taste is one of the senses we most often neglect when we write. Maybe it's because some things taste yucky (like burnt broccoli) or different (like purple potatoes) or just plain weird (like cayenne ice cream). Some foods have a funny name (like quinoa) but are delicious.

Tasting food is part of life, so why not include different tastes in our stories? How does your character react to lavender birthday cake, chocolate waffles, or green peas with lemon sauce? 

For fun, list your 3 favorite foods. Then include these foods in a story and have your characters taste them. What do they think? 

My favorites are blueberries, chocolate ice cream, and sour cream potato chips. 

Remember to include a detailed description: "She licked the velvety chocolate ice cream cone with pink and blue sprinkles. A smooth river of chocolate filled her mouth and swirled in eddies to her throat." 

Give your characters a tasty treat. Let them design (and eat) their own cake! 

The Character Interview

To those of you going back to school this week or next week...have a great year! 

I hope you get to do lots of creative writing at school. If not, remember to take your journal with you. Maybe you can squeeze in a few minutes of writing in the morning or when you're waiting for the bus. 

When you have only a few moments to write, try doing a character interview. 

Think of a character in a story you're writing, or want to write. Here are some questions to ask your character, to get to know who he or she is. In your few moments of writing, write down their answers. 

• What's in your backpack this minute?

• What was your very first day of school like? 

• What do you want more than anything in the world?

• Where are you the happiest?

• Who's your favorite person and why?

• What talent would you most like to have?

• If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

• What are you most afraid of?

Go ahead, interview your character. Write down the answers in those few moments you can catch to write.  

And now I'm curious. What's in your backpack? 

Happy school year! 

Magic Pen Story Starters Part 5

I'm teaching workshops for young writers over the next two weeks. The writers are incredible--so smart and funny. I love hearing their story ideas, and they inspire me with their enthusiasm.

The workshops are keeping me hopping, so I'll return to Yellow Pencils on Monday, August 26th. 

Meanwhile, here are the Magic Pen Story Starters I give young writers who need ideas. Maybe you need an idea, too?  

• First pick an adjective:

Giant
Smelly
Enchanted
Teenaged
Jittery
Rich
Klutzy
Zany
Angry
Miniature
Kind

• Now pick a character:

Mad scientist
Zebra
Marshmallow
Dentist
Hamster
Philosopher
Taco
Termite
Zoologist
Ski instructor
Dog groomer

• Next pick an action:

Designs a 3-D map that talks
Blogs about squirrels
Enters a watermelon eating contest
Invents a door made out of Jell-o
Plays soccer in the World Cup
Is the only survivor of an asteroid that hits Earth
Becomes invisible whenever he eats yogurt
Forms a club that collects ants
Steals the key to the Three Bears' house
Creates a new junk food
Goes with two friends to the bottom of the ocean

So...a story about a rich marshmallow who plays soccer in the World Cup? 

Or an angry taco who blogs about squirrels?

Have fun mixing and matching, and coming up with an idea for a super story. Then take out your magic pen or pencil and have fun writing!  

Choose an Unusual Setting

Do you recognize this object? Yes, it's a telephone booth! 

A phone booth is a rarity nowadays. But there are still some around. I found this one outside a motel in Wisconsin. 

Using an unusual setting like a telephone booth can make the places in our stories memorable and interesting.  

Imagine the possibilities. What would happen if you inserted a telephone booth into your story? 

Or try one of these ideas:

• The phone rings. Your character, walking by, answers it. What happens next?

• Your character must make an urgent phone call. But his cell phone battery is dead. He runs down the street and finds a phone booth. But now he has no change. What happens next?

• A family of Tele-Fairies lives in the phone booth. Every time a human makes a phone call, a fairy goes out into the world to do good. But no one has made a phone call for ages, and evil forces are outweighing the good. What happens next?

• As a prank, six friends decide to squeeze into a phone booth. They're packed in so tightly they get stuck. What happens next?

• An alien appears on Earth and falls in love with the first object it sees: a beautiful red and silver phone booth. What happens next?

See if YOU can find a role in your story for the humble phone booth, a nearly forgotten part of our culture. 

The phone's ringing. It's for you! 

Shakespeare for Young Writers

While Yellow Pencils was on vacation, I saw a production of William Shakespeare's play "Macbeth" at Door Shakespeare in Door County, Wisconsin. (Funny that my last post was about doors.)

I didn't read Shakespeare until I was in high school, and I think that's too bad. Shakespeare's plays can be complicated and even violent, but they also contain wonderfully playful and inventive language. 

In "Macbeth," the three "weyard" sisters recite this spell:

Double, double, toil and trouble:
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. 

Into the pot goes "adder's fork and blindworm's sting, lizard's leg and howlet's wing." 

It's okay if you don't understand what all the words mean. They're still fun to say out loud.

Try finding a Shakespeare play adapted for young people in your library. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a great play to start with, with fairies and other fantastic characters. 

For a writing prompt, copy out a short passage into your journal and say it out loud.

Then try writing something with a similar pattern, but using your own words.

For  example, for the "double, double" spell above:

Four, four, fox, bear, wolf, and boar:
Scour the woods, and search for gore. 

Will Shakespeare lived 400 years ago, but his words last forever. Every writer--even young ones--can have fun exploring his language. Don't wait till high school to discover him! 

Yellow Pencils Goes on Vacation!

While Yellow Pencils is on summer vacation, I thought it would be fun to leave you with writing prompts about...pencils!

Remember, take your notebook and pencil (or pen or tablet or laptop) wherever you go this summer. You never know when a brilliant idea will strike. 

When you have a quiet moment with your notebook, try one of these prompts about our favorite writing instrument--the modest pencil. 

Happy writing until Yellow Pencils returns July 29th! 

• The dull, gray pencil was so jealous of the shiny, blue pen, he couldn't see straight.

• The pencil was headless when her eraser fell off. 

• Mr. Percival Pencil was the spiffiest guy in the desk drawer.

• The cat rolled the pencil under the sofa, hoping it would stab the mouse.

• The pencil had six younger brothers, making it very crowded in the pencil case.

• All her life, the yellow pencil had longed to write a famous novel--but she didn't think she'd be writing it in jail. 

Happy penciling! 

Opening Doors Part 2

A couple of years ago I wrote in Yellow Pencils about using doors as a prompt to start a story. 

I took this photo in Stratford-upon-Avon, the English town where William Shakespeare was born and lived. 

Do any story ideas spring to mind with this blue door? Who or what do you think lives behind it?

A door is an invitation to a new place where anything can happen. Doors exist in our real world, and they can play an important part in imaginary worlds. 

Try using one of these lines as a first sentence to a story. 

• The blue door creaked open slowly, and I gasped.

• My mom had warned me about the blue door.

• It's a well-known fact that blue doors can sing.

• When the blue door flew open, I fell through it flat on my face.

• He knocked on the blue door, ignoring the word "Beware" whispering in his head. 

Enjoy creating your own world through this door!