This interview inspires two projects: write a story based on a photograph and illustrate a story with photographs. This is a great interview by Ransom Riggs. He starts out talking about the pressure of writing a second book after having published a first book that was exceptionally successful. He then talks about how, in Hollow City, he writes a book that is different from his first one. He talks about his writing day. His goal is 1500 words per day. This takes him about ten hours to achieve. For those of you who have read the Miss Perigrine’s Peculiar Children books, you know they are illustrated with photos. He talks about a little about using photos as illustrations. Ransom Riggs talks about the books that inspired him, his desire to be a writer as a child, his growing interest in film in middle school, and his final coming back to writing as a young adult. Best advice: just write. Don’t judge yourself. Write freely! • Writing pressure to repeat the success of his first book. • Describes the discipline of being a writer — his writing day. Daily word count goal of 1500 words. • Talks about the use of photos to illustrate the Miss Perigrine’s Peculiar Children books • Strong discussion of interest in writing starting in elementary school with change in interest in middle school and a return as a young adult. Project idea: Illustrate a story with photographs. Found photos: Ransom Riggs illustrates his books with found photos — photos he finds, for example, at garage sales. This makes a an excellent writing project! You can either send your students out to find photos in garage sales or to bring photos from home, but then trade them around in the classroom. Illustrate story with staged or posed photos: Another use of photographs are as illustrations to an existing story, or to a story written with the idea of illustrating with photographs in mind. This project can be as simple or involved as your students would like to make it. At its most involved, scenes can be set up with characters from the story photographed acting out one or more scenes. In a work of historic fiction, this could include dressing in costume. Web links for Ransom Riggs Website Wikipedia Facebook Twitter Books by Ransom Riggs Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children Boxed Set The Sherlock Holmes Handbook
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Interview and Links for Author Renée Ahdieh
A strong interview with Renée Ahdieh. The interview focus is on her writing process. • Writes books based on the theme of “choice and consequence” with her goal being to “explore the gray area between.” •Good discussion of how she plans out her books contrasting her “architect” approach to others who work looser, more like gardeners or “panthers” people who write by the seat of their pants. •Renée knows the ending of her books before she gets there — that is how carefully scripted they are. • Before beginning her novels she writes character sketches of the main characters. Project: Character Sketches A practical idea to take away from this interview is the idea of having students write character sketches before they begin writing their stories. Ask your students to write one or two pages for each of the main characters. Who are they? What do they look like? What is their back story? Who are their parents? The character sketch should be detailed — a small biography. With the characters developed in advance — the students know what they look like and what kind of people they are — it will be much easier for them to tell a story that feels lifelike. Many of the details in the character sketches will not actually be used in the story, but, by working through the imaginative process of inventing whole characters, the students will be able to make their stories richer. Social Media Links for Renée Ahdieh Website Facebook Twitter Books by Renée Ahdieh at Amazon.com The Mirror and the Maze: A Wrath & the Dawn Short Story (The Wrath and the Dawn) The Crown and the Arrow: A Wrath & the Dawn Short Story (The Wrath and the Dawn) The Rose and the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn) The Wrath and the Dawn The Moth and the Flame: A Wrath & the Dawn Short Story
Stone Soup Author Interview: Richard Ma, 12
Stone Soup author Richard Ma, 12, talks about how he finds his ideas, what he likes to write about most, and how being published has made a difference to his writing. Richard has published a poem, “Goes the Ball” (September/October 2014) in Stone Soup, and reviewed two books for us: the biography of Steve Jobs (July/August 2012) and Temple Grandin (May/June 2013). Here’s a list of the questions he answers in this video. 0:33 — How did you begin creative writing? 1:06 — What do you like to write about? 1:34 — Where do you get your ideas for stories? 2:03 — Describe your writing process. 2:48 — What was your reaction to getting published in Stone Soup? 3:55 — How has being published in Stone Soup benefited you? 4:15 — What advice would you give to others who want to get published in Stone Soup?
