What's Your Story?
A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction
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- $1.99
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- $1.99
Publisher Description
The award-winning author "provides mentoring and practical and technical advice in this handy how-to book . . . as useful to teachers as to young writers" (School Library Journal, starred review).
Storytelling is a universal experience. From an early age, we begin to shape our own world by crafting tales. But learning to tell—and write—a good story isn't easy. It takes dedication and practice, just like for a musician or an athlete, and it can be just as rewarding to accomplish as winning a game or mastering an instrument. It's the kind of work that feeds our souls and makes us glad to be alive.
In What's Your Story?, Newbery Medal-winning author Marion Dane Bauer discusses how to write fiction from beginning to end, including creating a story plan, choosing the best idea, bringing characters to life, deciding on a point of view, creating realistic dialogue, keeping readers hooked, and revising and polishing the finished product.
"Her last comment is telling: 'Knowing your craft can help you tell a story. But only by taking risks can you make art.' After many pages of provocative information and straightforward counsel, that sentence may be the one to launch youngsters to the challenge. The book speaks directly to young writers, but many adults (teachers, librarians, reviewers, editors, would-be writers) will also find this sensible dissection of the storytelling process invaluable."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"A pragmatic, organized approach to story writing . . . the exercises and thought processes introduced as groundwork come across as stimulating rather than tedious and may serve to hone analytical skills as well as inspire even the most reluctant writers to try their hand."—Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Bauer offers a pragmatic, organized approach to story writing in this 118-page manual geared for older children and young adults. Concrete, step-by-step tips are effectively illustrated with examples taken from the author's own works-- Face to Face , A Dream of Queens and Castles , Rain of Fire . Eight of the 14 chapters deal with preparatory rituals--finding a special time and place to write, inventing a conflict, understanding what makes a main character tick, figuring out a plot, choosing a point of view--and later chapters address more technical issues of pacing, rhythm and balance. Although the importance of discipline is stressed (learning to write a story is often compared to learning to play a sport or a musical instrument), the exercises and thought processes introduced as groundwork come across as stimulating rather than tedious and may serve to hone analytical skills as well as inspire even the most reluctant writers to try their hand. Ages 10-up.
