Chaos (watercolor) By Ashley Jun, 13 (Short Hills, NJ), published in Stone Soup March 2022 A note from Laura First, a small bit of business. The fabulous Naomi Kinsman, founding director of the Society of Young Inklings, a brilliant writing program for young authors, is leading her Design a Novel workshop next weekend, Saturday March 26th and Sunday March 27th from 10-1 Pacific/ 1-4 Eastern! The workshop costs $200. However, if you cannot afford the class, then please write to Tayleigh@stonesoup.com. We want any student interested in starting a novel to be able to attend this workshop. This week I’d like to draw your attention to the beautiful and honest personal narrative, Bar Harbor, by Lila Carpenter. I am drawn to this story for its rich detail, imagery and exacting language that captures the emotion of the moment so precisely. I am also drawn to it because I have two children, about the same age apart as Lila and her sister appear to be—my heart wrenched while reading and imagining my son and daughter in the weight of this moment. When the piece opens, the author, while in the company of her mother and sister, is alone in her angst and frustration. Forcing her attention away from her feelings, she agrees to explore, with her family, the place that will be her new sister’s home. On their walk together, the author’s attention is drawn to the ocean and the rhythm of waves against rocks. “Lost in the rhythmic roaring and bubbling of the ocean” she begins to accept the complex tangle of her own feelings, and in doing so, their intensity dissipates allowing the strength of her connection with her sister to surface and take precedence. For your weekend project, I invite you to follow Lila’s lead and observe something in nature until the details of your daily world dissipate into a meditative state. See where it takes you. Then capture that space, state of mind, realization, or observation in whatever medium you chose. If your work captures something you’d like to share, please do so and submit it to us via Submittable! Until next time, Congratulations to our most recent Flash Contest winners! Our March Flash Contest was based on Prompt #194 (provided by contributor Molly Torinus), which challenged participants to craft a frame narrative—like a story within a story—for their submissions. This delightful prompt readily invited experimentation with form, and we weren’t disappointed—one story went “Behind the Scenes” to show the editing processes and inner workings of the story itself! Others ranged from riffs on creation myths to campground misadventures to conferences wherein time travelers presented on their unique eras. As always, thank you to all who submitted, and please submit again next month! Congratulations to our Winners and Honorable Mentions, listed below. You can read the winning entries for this contest (and previous ones) at the Stone Soup website. Winners “The Element” by Kimberly Hu, 9 (Lake Oswego, OR) “Speakers of the Past” by Sophie Li, 11 (Palo Alto, CA) “A Way Out” by Lui Lung, 12 (Danville, CA) “The Last Chapter” by Savarna Yang, 13 (Outram, New Zealand) “Nightbear” by Melody You, 11 (Lake Oswego, OR) Honorable Mentions “Useless Sidekick” by Dalia Figatner, 11 (Mercer Island, WA) “Hope and Amelia” by Noelle Kolmin, 10 (New York, NY) “How the Skunk Got Her Stripe and the Kangaroo Her Pouch” by Nova Macknik-Conde, 10 (Brooklyn, NY) “Behind the Scenes” by Emily Tang, 12 (Winterville, NC) “Earthquake in a Book” by Karuna Yang, 11 (Outram, New Zealand) Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Young Blogger BlueJay wrote a beautiful poem, “Wild,” and supplied it with accompanying original photos. From the Stone Soup Blog March 2022 Bar Harbor By Lila Carpenter, 11 (Weston, MA) All the boxes were in the apartment, and we got a good look at it for the first time. It was small but cute, with its baby-blue wallpaper and overstuffed crimson armchair. Alex cast delighted glances around the room, barely able to stand still. “Oh my god, Mom, it’s so cute!” She ran across the small apartment and hugged her. No one seemed to notice I was there, or that I glared at both of them. Shrouded in frustration, I sank heavily into the armchair. Why is my own sister, who I won’t be seeing for at least a couple months, refusing to acknowledge my existence?! I didn’t notice my sister and mom leaving the room as I sat in a stew of misery. They were just meeting with the landlord, but I didn’t know that. I pulled out my iPhone and tried to busy myself, but even Tiny Wings couldn’t distract me from my pit of loneliness. My thoughts were wandering as I halfheartedly glanced at the bright flashing screen in my hand. Why does feeling sad feel so wrong? Every person has the right to be sad. My thoughts lodged themselves in a memory from the summer. Alex and I were poring over poems, inhaling the smell of books and dusty summer air. A slant of golden sunlight poured onto the poem we were reading, “When I Am Among the Trees.” I had to read that poem and explain it to Alex, who was pretending to be a younger child who didn’t know anything about it. “I’m bored. Can we do something else?” she asked, playing her part. I had given her a sharp flick on the shoulder for this, but it had only made me care for her more. She had giggled and patted me on the back. And now that can’t ever happen again, I thought in misery, sinking deeper into the armchair. …/MORE Stone Soup is published by Children’s Art Foundation-Stone Soup Inc., a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit organization registered in the United States of America, EIN: 23-7317498. Stone Soup’s advisors: Abby Austin, Mike Axelrod, Annabelle Baird, Jem Burch, Evelyn Chen, Juliet Fraser, Zoe Hall, Montanna Harling, Alicia & Joe Havilland, Lara Katz, Rebecca Kilroy, Christine Leishman, Julie Minnis, Jessica Opolko, Tara Prakash, Denise Prata, Logan Roberts,
Writing Workshop #61: Stream-of-Consciousness
An update from our sixty-first Writing Workshop A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, March 12th, plus some of the output published below In this workshop, William went over the concept of Stream of Consciousness. He emphasized the lack of traditional structure in Stream of Consciousness writing, and the wondering and wandering nature of the style. The writers saw examples from literature, including Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot. As a mini-writing challenge, William played a clip from a silent French film and asked the writers to imagine a stream-of-consciousness from the perspective of the woman in the film. The Challenge: Let the thoughts of your character run freely. Focus on sights, thoughts, feelings, sounds. The Participants: Agatha, Eliana, Lauren, Yueling, Liam, Stella, Kate, Elbert, Peri, Anya, Rachael, Ananya, Kelby, Iago Peri Gordon, 12Sherman Oaks, CA Bad Dog by Peri Gordon, 12 Her Hand reaches Stroke, stroke I love— No, don’t leave Wait— Slam Alone School. Tail Chase, chase, pant Where’s the food? Yesterday’s was good Combined with stroke stroke and music from black and white thing Hoop jump! Treat Hoop jump! Treat Hoop jump! Treat Hoop? Not again Run away Couch Click, flash, see myself tiny Soft hand soft hand stroke stroke Just like her Still at school? Ahhhh Treats without jumping Happyslurplick Couch suddenly gone Suddenly hard brown tiny balls Food! Yuckyewwblech! Like when I licked the old woman’s skin She was so nicesweetgentle but I should have never licked her skin But she was so nicesweetgentle Just like her Still at school? Bite Yuckkyewwblech! Brown balls go flying Deep voice “Bad dog!” Shrill voice “Waffles! Bad dog!” Waffles I think that’s me Or is it sweet round thing with little boxes? I think it’s both But “bad dog” usually means me Usually followed by angry shouts “Bad dog” comes after things like ripping up bed Or running away Or I guess making food go flying Is it even food? She would never give it to me Deep voice and shrill voice people aren’t as nice She is nicer Still at school? Ugh Couch Wait Wait Wait Close eyes Peek Close eyes Peek Blurry silhouette outside Door opens Run run run trip run run run ouch run run shatter noise she’s home!!! Kisskisshappyslurplicknicesweetgentle I love her Soothing voice almost blocks out deep voice and shrill voice saying “Bad dog!” “Bad dog” is okay when I can hear “good dog” too
How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #31: Irony
An update from the thirty-first Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday March 12, plus some of the output published below By popular demand, this week we focused on writing the concept of irony. We began with a few basic definitions of irony: the difference between what something appears to mean versus its literal meaning, the difference between what someone says and what someone means, and the subversion of expectation. We then discussed four different types of irony, beginning with the most common form, dramatic irony, defined as when the reader knows something that a character does not know. Olaf from Frozen, for example, we identified as an example of dramatic irony as he sings about loving summer while we, the audience, know the summer is what will be his demise, an ironic device also found in the form of Ahab in Moby Dick. The second type of irony we discussed was situational irony, defined as when the expected outcome of a situation is reversed. One such example of this was found in The Wizard of Oz, as the four primary characters in search of the great wizard found out his appearance was just a charade, and that the characters had within them what they were searching for all along. We also, of course, talked about Alanis Morrissette’s infamous song “Ironic,” and changed a few of her unironic lines so that they were actually ironic. The next type of irony we discussed was verbal irony, defined as when a character says the opposite of what they mean, exemplified by Polonius in Hamlet when he says “to thine own self be true,” the irony being that Polonius is himself a lier and a con-artist. The final and most complicated type of irony we discussed was formal irony, defined as when a work of art calls attention to itself as a work of art. In order to reinforce this type of irony, we looked at Ron Padgett’s poem, “Poem,” and the artwork of Jackson Pollock, which calls attention to itself as a painting by representing literal paint on a canvas. The Participants: Amelia, Penelope, Emma, Sophia, Nova, Gwynne, Lina, Josh, Quinn, Ellie, Samantha, Ethan, Amber, Alice The Challenge: Write a story, scene, or poem that uses at least one of the four forms of irony discussed. To watch more readings from this workshop, like Emma’s below, click here. Emma Hoff, 9(Bronx, NY) Irony Emma Hoff, 9 “You can climb up the rope,” said Sarah to Lucy. And she almost wanted it to be true because she meant to say, “I won’t be able to stand it if you fall off again.” Johnny thought he could get straight As if he pretended to be listening while he was really drawing his teacher, but he was caught after a whole month of him acting and was told that report cards would be given out in three months and that he should give up his whole charade.eds courage to build a school ! Belle’s fish was going to die, and she didn’t want her mother to get rid of it by flushing it down the toilet, but the fish died while Belle was in school, and Belle’s mother couldn’t stand looking at its dead body, so she disposed of it and got a new fish which she claimed was Belle’s perfectly healthy “old fish.” Belle never guessed and neither would Johnny have if he hadn’t been told. And Lucy fell off the rope and Sarah ran outside and cried. And Sarah read this very poem and thought about Lucy, and Lucy read it and thought about Sarah, and Belle finally guessed what she would never have guessed and Johnny remembered. And Belle’s new fish swam around until it, too, died, but Belle was guarding it with a pitchfork. And this poem unspiraled like a ball of yarn and stuck to Johnny’s cheek and made him sulk. And Lucy pretended to hug Sarah but slapped her instead, and Sarah did some more crying. And the rope in the gym sat depressed and sad and decided that it would never be climbed again, and Johnny’s drawings of the teacher were found by Sarah, who gave them to Belle, who gave them to Lucy, who gave them to the unclimbable rope, covered in post-it notes and protecting every last line of poetry that comedy concocted.
