I’ve just come back from this year’s wonderful writing
retreat at Charney Manor. None of us knew
quite how it was going to be this year, given all the restrictions and
conflicting advice from the government about what we were supposed to do and
what we weren’t – however, I’m delighted to report that it was as brilliant as
ever! It was so lovely to see our
friends again and catch up on what we’d all been doing over the last two years
since we last saw each other! On the
other hand, we are all so unused to socialising that by the time we came home many of us were fairly exhausted, but in a good way.
However, since I have to write a blog for the 14th,
at least I have something to write about.
Should it be the new Charney marquee, very spacious but a little
draughty in the evenings? (Sorry, I forgot
to take a photo of it.) Or all the
fascinating talks and sessions – all excellent, and including one on writing
clerihews (hilarious “poems”!), one on writing dramatic monologues (some moving and some – or at least one – hilarious!), a drama session (inducing gales of
helpless laughter), or a wonderful nature/art/haiku session (exciting and liberating)? Not to mention one on “Flash fiction”
inspired by a single word (some murderous, some funny) and one comparing
writing for teenagers/young adults with writing for adults (not a whole lot of difference,
it turns out – both categories require great characters, a great setting and a
great story! Who’d have thought it?).
Eventually I decided to write about the session that I ran, which was entitled “70 word max.” and involved writing very very short stories for early readers, within certain guidelines. I wasn’t sure how this would go, since not many people are accustomed to writing to such a limited word count – however, I needn’t have worried: everyone seemed to enjoy the challenge, and it was interesting to see how differently people approached it. I pointed out that you didn't need to waste words describing something that the illustrations would show – so no need to write “the big black dog” when the picture shows a big black dog – you could just write “the dog”. Each book had to have a maximum of 70 words, spaced out over 9 and a half spreads (page 1 was a single page, the others all double spreads, though they could be used as singles if wanted.) This is one of my 70-word books.
And re illustrations – it’s important that the illustrator has something different and interesting to draw on each page, or double page spread: ie no talking heads against the same background on every page! It was soon evident from what emerged that some people could immediately “see” the whole story in their heads, complete with illustrations, while others preferred to write the story first, trim it to 70 words, and think about the illustrations afterwards. One even had an amazing “point-based” plan which involved a great deal of plotting and careful planning before actually writing the story (she has had many of these stories published, so this method evidently suits her!) However, there is no right or wrong way to do this. It’s a good idea to have some sort of “cliffhanger” on every right-hand page, to encourage the child to turn the page and read on. Anything that makes a child keen to find out “what happens next” is hugely important.
It is also a great advantage if the story can be funny –
young children learning to read do love a funny story. And it is particularly good if each story has
a good “payoff” or “punchline” on the last page - this could be funny or comforting. This is one of my books whose ending is both!
I then suggested that if they wanted to, they could try writing an even shorter story of only 50 words, over 8 and a half page spreads, which proved to be even more difficult, and required a different vision of the whole. This is my only 50-word book!
However, nobody was fazed at all. (Of course, everyone there was a writer, so why would they be fazed?) And in the very short time given to write anything, several people came up with some brilliant stories containing everything necessary for a great early reader. I really hope some of these will find their way into print one day.
So thank you to everyone at Charney for making this year's retreat, and all the sessions, so unforgettable.
website: www.lynnebenton.com
Latest book:
Hansel and Gretel, published by Franklin Watts
No comments:
Post a Comment