There have been a few breakthroughs in our classroom sessions - and not just for the kids taking part in this project. Often they say things that help me to understand something about my own writing.
When we started talking about characters at Ngakonui Valley School, Chelsea discovered she didn't yet have a villain (or antagonist) in her story. We talked about how important that role is, and she quickly saw how it was affecting her story. Conflict needs a protagonist and antagonist, even if the antagonist is something like a tornado or an evil car. There needs to be someone or something putting obstacles in the hero's path. Before we'd finished our conversation, she had invented a ghost, and she raced off to fill in the info in her character chart.
Daniel at Manunui School said he doesn't run away from conflict. He tells people how it is. I realised when I looked at my own book that I sometimes go around the bits in my story where there's major conflict or I gloss over it. Sometimes I even let someone other than my hero handle it. That's no good! What do I keep telling the kids? The main character has to face problems himself and try to resolve them. He's going to fail sometimes, but he has to try. At the weekend, I dug out my teen novel and fixed one of the scenes where my character Jack faces a particularly nasty pest controller called Jono. Jono thinks Jack has been tampering with his car. It's not pleasant but it's now more realistic. Jono IS the scariest character in my book. He's not going to be kind to Jack.
Mrs Munro at Taumarunui School pointed out to some of her students who were struggling with the plot, that it helps to think about fairy tales, myths and legends. That got me thinking (and talking) about the many ways that a 'search and rescue' story like Rapunzel can be used. My own book A Hairy Tale is a twisted modern version of Rapunzel, featuring paragliding, helicopters, flying foxes, hair models and gorillas. Tangled has just been screening at the movies, and that definitely reverses the traditional roles in Rapunzel. Even Star Wars reminds me of Rapunzel. Luke Skywalker rescues Princess Leia from the evil villain Darth Vader on the Death Star. I suppose it's not that different from the Prince rescuing Rapunzel from the wicked witch in that tower.
We looked at Showing and Telling today and talked about how to use action, body language and dialogue to reveal how a character thinks and feels. It's better to hint at things and let the reader figure things out rather than over-explain and make it dull. We also looked at ways to quicken the pace of a story (using short active sentences, specific verbs, sound effects, and dialogue). Liam at Ngakonui Valley School demonstrated this really well when he read out his spy story at the end of the day. It had lots of humorous dialogue in it too, which really suited his main character. I loved the twisted ending!
It's just as important to know when and how to slow things down with longer more descriptive narrative (for an important place or situation), and how to add tension and suspense (using the senses). I used an example I borrowed from Ashleigh at Manunui, where we focused on the smell of petrol, and the sound of a window being wound down, just before a boy is kidnapped. Ashleigh likes scary stories. It sent shivers down my spine, just thinking about it. Rosalie at Taumarunui Primary added tension by dropping hints in her story, but keeping some things secret. It intensified the misunderstanding about a missing zookeeper and an affectionate lion, and reminded me how powerful misunderstandings and secrets can be in stories.
I really enjoyed listening to people reading out their stories today. Everyone's style is different.
Kathy
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