In my writing workshops I ask participants to unlock their imaginations by helping me to complete a word picture. I verbally sketch a picture for them to complete. What I describe is only partially completed. Here is what I ask them:
Picture this: We are walking through a pine forest and come to a broad river. Across the river is a large power plant belching smoke...
What do you see?
What do you hear?
What do you smell?
What do you feel (sense of touch)?
What do you taste?
Kids pick up on this immediately. They say, "I see a bird in the tree" or "I see logs floating down the river." or "I see a dead fish on the shore." and so on. Adults sometimes say, "I see trees." or "I see a power plant." Or there is silence. I prime the pump by asking, "Do you see any birds in the trees? What kinds?" or, "Is there rough water in the river? can you see any fish in the water?" Perhaps they are wondering what is the purpose of this exercise. Perhaps they are unused to thinking outside ofthe box. Perhaps they are being too literal. In one of my Have Fun - Write A Story workshops for kids a ten-year-old jumped to his feet.
"I just learned something! I'm writing a book and I just learned I better use more than two sneses."
He got the picture. When writing, we add sparkle and depth to our stories when we use more than just "see" and "hear" to our descriptions of people andd events. On page 33 of my book The Have Fun - Write A Story Workbook, I illustrate how famous authors use metaphors and similes to create word pictures and add sparkle to their writing.
I never hear kids in my workshops say, "I'm not a writer." But adults who are having fun participating in a memoir writing workshop will occasionally say, "I'm not a writer."
My answer is, "Nonsense! We are all writers. We know how to put words on paper. And everyone needs to record events or thoughts about their lives that their kids can treasure. One of my great regrets is that I didn't record the stories my grandmother told me about when she was the first woman ever to accompany the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Writing is fun! The trick is to get started. Go to Stl.Books.com and order a copy of Have Fun - Write A Story Workbook to guide you through the story writing process. The books sell at $5.95 with educator discounts. Here are two of the endorsements the book has received:
*Have Fun – Write a Story Workbook* provides the perfect tool chest for young authors. Jud Miner creates delightful, easy exercises to facilitate learning each narrative tool. Young writers explore ways to create characters, settings, plots, metaphors, beginnings and endings, and much more. Miner encourages the use of the senses, and suggests a variety of ways stories can be energized by enigmas or mysteries as they develop. Best of all, *Have Fun – Write a Story Workbook* encourages young writers to develop, trust, and use their imaginative powers.
What do you see?
What do you hear?
What do you smell?
What do you feel (sense of touch)?
What do you taste?
Kids pick up on this immediately. They say, "I see a bird in the tree" or "I see logs floating down the river." or "I see a dead fish on the shore." and so on. Adults sometimes say, "I see trees." or "I see a power plant." Or there is silence. I prime the pump by asking, "Do you see any birds in the trees? What kinds?" or, "Is there rough water in the river? can you see any fish in the water?" Perhaps they are wondering what is the purpose of this exercise. Perhaps they are unused to thinking outside ofthe box. Perhaps they are being too literal. In one of my Have Fun - Write A Story workshops for kids a ten-year-old jumped to his feet.
"I just learned something! I'm writing a book and I just learned I better use more than two sneses."
He got the picture. When writing, we add sparkle and depth to our stories when we use more than just "see" and "hear" to our descriptions of people andd events. On page 33 of my book The Have Fun - Write A Story Workbook, I illustrate how famous authors use metaphors and similes to create word pictures and add sparkle to their writing.
I never hear kids in my workshops say, "I'm not a writer." But adults who are having fun participating in a memoir writing workshop will occasionally say, "I'm not a writer."
My answer is, "Nonsense! We are all writers. We know how to put words on paper. And everyone needs to record events or thoughts about their lives that their kids can treasure. One of my great regrets is that I didn't record the stories my grandmother told me about when she was the first woman ever to accompany the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Writing is fun! The trick is to get started. Go to Stl.Books.com and order a copy of Have Fun - Write A Story Workbook to guide you through the story writing process. The books sell at $5.95 with educator discounts. Here are two of the endorsements the book has received:
HERE IS WHAT AUTHORS ARE SAYING
*Have Fun – Write a Story Workbook* provides the perfect tool chest for young authors. Jud Miner creates delightful, easy exercises to facilitate learning each narrative tool. Young writers explore ways to create characters, settings, plots, metaphors, beginnings and endings, and much more. Miner encourages the use of the senses, and suggests a variety of ways stories can be energized by enigmas or mysteries as they develop. Best of all, *Have Fun – Write a Story Workbook* encourages young writers to develop, trust, and use their imaginative powers.
This book receives my highest recommendation for teachers or parents working with young writers.
John McClure
Chair, Graduate Department of Religion
Charles G. Finney Professor of Homiletics
The Divinity School, Vanderbilt University
WRITE A STORY Workbook is a long awaited and much needed book, guiding us to have fun with writing. I love it, and as a former English teacher, know how valued it will be in school systems across the globe. Thank you, Jud, for your easy-going manner and your relaxed writing voice that makes us feel like you are right with us as we work through the book. You make us feel as if this won’t be hard at all as long as we follow you. This book will be so exciting for kids, because they will see how they can write a great story and Jud touches on all the genres. Jud gets it, that learning is all about doing, and the workbook has the writer practicing from the beginning of their written piece to the end.
HRH Princess Carroll Ayo Durodola Author, Storyteller & Education Consultant
The Ancient Healing Art of African Storytelling (Workshop)
Africa’s Vision Network (T.V. Show)
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