An update from the thirty-third Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett A summary of the workshop held on Saturday March 26, plus some of the output published below Last week, Conner gave us the choice to select the final topic of the winter session workshops from a number of options, and we chose this: How to Outline a Novel. To begin, we discussed the importance of characters in outlining a novel and how every outline should begin with the personality and desire of our characters. One technique for establishing the personality and desire of our characters was to ask ourselves various questions/prompts to answer in the voices of our characters. The next step was setting/place. One technique for creating setting was eliminating characters and story and writing only about place for thirty minutes, trying the best we can to inhabit the place. The next step was establishing the story/the conflict. A few of the prompts for establishing conflict were as follows: write scenes wherein the character receives bad news, wherein the character has to make a decision (big or small), wherein the character commits a minor crime, and wherein the character has an awkward conversation with a friend or family member. We then discussed the three act structure. We learned that the first act consists of setting the story in motion by establishing character and setting and establishing conflict through the “inciting incident,” or the scene in the story that sets the conflict in motion. In the second act, we raise the stakes and increase the action, which could be looked at as a sequence of the hero/protagonist failing then suffering, failing then suffering, until they reach the “point of no return,” and act two ends with the protagonist gaining clarity about their dilemma. As an example, we looked at the Lion King, establishing the inciting incident as Scar’s murder of Mufasa and the point at which the protagonist, Simba, gains clarity as when Simba has a vision of Mufasa telling him that he is the true king. Finally, we looked at the third and final act, which consists of two parts: the final conflict, the climax, or a battle between want and need, and the resolution. The Challenge: Either 1) Complete the get-to-know-your-character exercises, 2) Write one scene to establish conflict, or 3) Outline an entire novel. The Participants: Amelia, Penelope, Emma, Sophia, Nova, Gwynne, Lina, Josh, Quinn, Ellie, Samantha, Chelsea, Amber, Alice To watch more readings from this workshop, like Ellie’s below, click here. Ellie, 9
writing process
Stone Soup Author Interview: Tristan Hui
Stone Soup contributor Lena Aloise, 12, talks with Stone Soup contributor and winner of the Stone Soup Book Contest 2020 Tristan Hui, 14, about her novel The Other Realm, published on September 1st, 2021. The two also talk about the value of Stone Soup, the nature of inspiration, and the importance of writing as a means of exploring foreign concepts. If you’d prefer a more streamlined video, take a look at Tristan’s book page. 0:20 — How did you first get involved with Stone Soup 1:11 — When submitting to the magazine, would you say you prefer to submit writing, art, or both? 1:57 — What do you feel was the most important skill you learned from the Writing Workshop 2:40 — Where do you get your inspiration, more specifically for your novel The Other Realm? 4:22 — Is there a specific play or theater production from which you draw inspiration? 5:35 — Are characters such as Azalea Morroe inspired by people in your own life? 7:09 — Has writing always been a part of your life/how long have you been writing? 8:39 — Was The Other Realm the first novel/long form fiction piece you’d ever written? 9:28 — What was the biggest challenge you faced while writing The Other Realm? 11:31 — What advice would you give your past self in order to help yourself get through the hard parts? 12:41 — What was your favorite part about writing The Other Realm? 14:01 — Not including your revising processes, how long did it take you to write your novel from start to finish? 15:41 — What would you say is the primary thing you want readers to take away from The Other Realm? 16:48 — If you could tell somebody about Stone Soup, what would you say?
Saturday Newsletter: March 15, 2021
“Girl in the Sun” (Canon PowerShot SX600) photographed by Sage Millen, 13, (Vancouver, BC, Canada) and published in the May 2021 Issue of Stone Soup A note from Emma As many of you regular readers may know, in addition to being editor of Stone Soup, I have also been a PhD student in literature. Well, now I can officially say I am a PhD candidate in literature! What is the distinction? For the first few years of my PhD, I had to complete a certain number of courses in the department. Then I had to prepare for my “Qualifying Exam”—for my department, this was a three-hour oral exam based on a portfolio of written materials that totaled nearly 100 pages! Before I passed the exam, I was a PhD student—but now I have passed it, I have “advanced to candidacy”; I am a PhD candidate, and “all” I have left to do is write my dissertation. I thought I would feel happiness and relief once the exam was over. I would no longer have the added stress and work on top of the regular stress and work of my regular life! However, still only a few days out from the exam, I feel deflated, disappointed, empty. This feeling reminds me of the way I feel whenever I finish writing a book manuscript. The whole time I am working on the book, I fantasize about finishing it—of having written the book so no longer have to be writing it. But then once I am finished, I am flooded with a feeling of sadness. What will I do now? What will force me to think deeply and thoroughly through ideas in language? What will I work on? This feeling is the best reminder there is that process is everything. Writing and making art can be difficult, but it is in the process where we find joy and meaning. Writing is about writing, not about having written. As Jorie Graham, a famous contemporary poet (and my former teacher!), once said to me, “Your last piece is never going to write the next one for you.” So, whether you are working on a manuscript to submit to our book contest or an artwork or shorter piece of writing to submit to the magazine or blog, I encourage you to remind yourself, whenever you find yourself wishing you were done already, that actually you will miss the project when you are actually done. Until next week, Congratulations to our most recent Flash Contest Winners! Our May Flash Contest was based on Creativity Prompt #151, provided by the brilliant Molly Torinus, challenging participants to come up with five “terrible” book titles and write a story based on one of them. What followed was an avalanche of submissions boasting the most creative, eye-catching titles many of us had ever seen. Of course, the exemplary work that followed the titles broke the moniker of “terrible,” and provided us with a lifetime supply of imagination, no one story following a similar arc. We found ourselves immersed in dramas set in the far reaches of outer space, character driven vignettes set in a classroom, rich narratives told from the perspective of a dog, and much, much more. A big thank you to all who submitted this month—it was a pleasure to read all of your work. In particular, we congratulate 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 BWBM Students” by Ritobroto Roy Chowdhury, 10, (Riverside, CA) “T.L.G.E.Y.5.T.” by Darren Fisher, 9, (Portland, OR) “Connecticutians, I Ate the Grape” by Rex Huang, 11, (Lake Oswego, OR) “The Book Without a Name” by Serena Lin, 10, (Scarsdale, NY) “The Pheasant Was Delicious” by Juliet D. Simon, 11, (Santa Monica, CA) Honorable Mentions “Once Upon a Time a Friendship” by Sophia Wong, 9, (Short Hills, NJ) “Chocotalia and Hideous Dragon Monster” by Sophie Liu, 9, (Surrey, BC) “When a Chicken Says ‘SQUAWK!'” by Olivia Luan, 11, (Great Falls, VA) “Cats, Dogs, Dragons, and Other Household Pets” by Atalie Lyda, 12, (Portland, OR) “You Are NOT Reading This Book Cover” by Joycelyn Zhang, 11, (San Diego, CA) Writing Classes and Book Club Are you looking for classes to inspire, improve, and practice your writing with great teachers and a group of like-minded young writers and readers? Join us! We do charge fees for our clubs and workshops, but we try to keep them as low as possible, and we offer discounts to subscribers and scholarships to students who need them. Contact us at education@stonesoup.com with any questions. Writing Workshop: we have two new writing groups for spring/summer, starting April 17, that will meet via Zoom every Saturday except for the last Saturday of the month. Come write with us and share your work with your peers. Find out more and register for a workshop at Eventbrite. To see some of the great work produced by current workshop members, read contributions published at Stonesoup.com, or join us at one of our free public readings! Book Club: a book club for writers that meets via Zoom on the last Saturday of every month, with a new season starting on April 24! Find out more and register for book club at Eventbrite. Check out which books we are reading on our website. Young Author’s Studio Summer Camps: we are offering a wide range of classes through the summer jointly with the Society of Young Inklings. Each camp runs for two hours per day, Monday through Thursday. All details and bookings via Society of Young Inklings. Book Contest 2021 For information on submitting to the Stone Soup Book Contest 2021, please click here. To submit your manuscript, please visit our submittable site. Highlights from the past week online Don’t miss the latest content from our Book Reviewers and Young Bloggers at Stonesoup.com! Young Blogger Daniel Zhu published an informative article on the stock market. Read updates on both of the Writing Workshops from Saturday, May 1: Writing Workshop #39: Ghosts (part 1), and How Stories Work—Writing Workshop #3: Lightness. As part of AAPI Heritage month, Young Blogger Tang Li wrote a personal narrative describing her
