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June 14, 2006
The Teacher Gets Schooled
Next month, I'm presenting a workshop called "Let the Wild Rumpus Start: What Every Beginning Writer Needs to Know" at the 7th Annual Pacific Northwest Children's Book Conference. Called Haystack by most of us (even though it's being held at Reed College), this is a dynamite week.
In preparation for the workshop, I polled some former students: what did they wish they'd known when they started out? Nearly every one of them said, "show, not tell."
That got me thinking. I write the same comments over and over on beginning writers' work. Why not share some of what I've learned here? So, starting tomorrow, I'll have a new writing tip each week. Check in tomorrow for the Kirby Larson sermon, "Let the Old Lady Scream."
As always, however, my students end up teaching me. In response to my query, one student wrote: "Show don't tell means that you never put your ideas about the character on the page; those belong in your notes. You put down the unique and telling details that give your readers the experience, so they come to the idea themselves." If my biceps weren't so wimpy, I'd get that tattooed on my arm!
Posted by kirby at June 14, 2006 03:43 PM
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Comments
Oooooo Kirby! I can't wait for the weekly writing tips! Will one of them be entitled "Kirb(y) Your Enthusiasm?"
Posted by: Jaime at June 15, 2006 07:42 AM