An update from the thirtieth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday March 5, plus some of the output published below We began this week’s workshop with an exercise; first, we chose a character from a story or novel we had been writing and then made up a new character in our minds. Once we had this new character envisioned, we wrote 3-4 sentences describing this character. From there we entered into a discussion centered around the question, “how does description work?” The answer: when a writer transforms a physical or psychological reality into written language. Our first literary example was the novel Anna Karenina as it is a classic example of a well-wrought character, however based on the book What We See when We Read by Peter Mendulsund, we found that even with a plethora of character descriptions it is difficult to create a true image of the character. This observation led us to our first basic “rule” of character description: behavioral descriptions are more effective than physical ones. We then read a few specific examples including this sentence, from Don Delillo’s White Noise, “He moved with a loser’s hunch.” Other examples came from Anna Karenina, East of Eden, and The Sound and the Fury. The second “rule” was that minimal description makes for easier visualization, that a good description withholds as much as it reveals. One such example of this came from Jonathan Safran Foer in the sentence, “He looked like nothing special.” Another, from Barbara Kingsolver: “There she was. Her elbows stuck out like wings.”The third and final “rule” of the day was that good description teaches us how to pay attention, best exemplified in this sentence from Guy de Maupassant: “He was a gentleman with red whiskers who always went first through a doorway.” The Participants: Zar, Penelope, Nova, Emma, Sophia, Alice, Josh, Amelia, Ellie, Gwynne, Chelsea, Quinn, Anna The Challenge: Write a full scene in which you describe the character(s) without naming his/her physical traits. To watch more readings from this workshop, like Sophia’s below, click here. Sophia, 12
Stone Soup Magazine for young readers, writers, and artists
Our Ocean Wildlife
Poorvi Girish, 8 (Fremont, CA) Our Ocean Wildlife Poorvi Girish, 8 When I was about 4 years old, I used to wonder in bed at night “Are oceans dangerous or is it the oceans that are in danger?” As an 8 year old, I have learned about the ocean’s alarming rates of pollution. Grown turtle on the shore of Black Sand Beach in Hawaii Lately, scientists have noticed how this has an effect on ocean wildlife. The 5.2 trillion pieces of trash affects ocean wildlife; it’s painful. Our world is in severe danger. So much is happening to our once peaceful mother earth. If we do not know, we can’t understand. If we can’t understand, we can’t care. If we can’t care, we can’t love our oceans. Make a change. Our world needs it. With so much trash in our ocean, it’s nearly impossible to completely rid our oceans from it, but also impossible to ignore. We can’t get rid of all the trash but we can reduce it. So, what can we do to stop this phenomenon called ocean pollution? We should lessen the use of plastic. With the world’s population, an ounce could count as a ton. There are a lot of things scattered around the environment that could harm many different species of ocean wildlife. Start using reusable bags. Plastic bags harm 100,000 marine organisms each year. Karate chop those plastic bottles into outer space (just stop using them, don’t actually do the former). Pretend plastic straws never existed. Use steel, glass or any other material that could be reused. Have you heard of the time when a plastic straw got stuck in a sea turtle’s nose? Do the right thing and help our earth—not doing so is like leaving your house looking like the landfill. Change the world for the better, together.
Medusa, Reviewed by Nova, 10
Medusa, written by Jessie Burton and illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill, at only 207 pages, is a quick and stimulating read for lovers of Greek mythology seeking a contemporary twist on a classic and well-known tale. With beautiful and wonderfully detailed drawings, Medusa is also ideal for readers who enjoy artwork similar to the paintings you might see in a gallery. Get ready to dive into a world chock-full of excitement, wonder, love, loneliness, betrayal, and the feeling of no longer having to hide. Medusa has lived on an island for four years, hidden from prying eyes, with the sole company of her sisters Stheno and Euryale, her dog Argenthus, and the infamous snakes with which Athena cursed her. One day, a young man and his dog arrive in a boat. Medusa is intrigued and filled with a burning longing for human company other than her sisters’. She engages the young man in conversation while concealing herself behind a boulder, and she finds that his name is Perseus. They bond over the wrongs done to them, and soon become friends with what they think is an unbreakable union. Perseus reveals he has fallen in love with Medusa, and Medusa finds she is in love with Perseus, too. But they are both keeping secrets that may tear them apart. Will Perseus and Medusa fix their friendship? Will they rip each other to shreds? Will one half of this iconic duo hunt down and kill the other half? Or will a strange, unprecedented ending for this story expose the true nature of this timeless myth, and leave one of its protagonists at peace and finally satisfied? Read Medusa by Jessie Burton to find out! This book includes some difficult themes, including the nature of freedom and consent and the objectification of girls. As I am 10 years old, I would recommend Medusa for ten-year-olds and up. Disclaimer: Medusa came out on January 11, 2022. My review is from an Advanced Reader Copy, which only contains a couple of fully colored illustrations as examples. Still, the black and white drawings in my copy are amazing, so I plan to buy the published version as soon as I can so that I can marvel at Olivia Lomenech Gill’s art in all its colorful glory. Medusa by Jessie Burton and illustrated by Olivia Lomenech Gill. Bloomsbury YA, 2022. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
