There's nothing like a second set of eyes on your work.
Even if you think you're all done, a second set of eyes can bring another dimension that will enrich your stories and poems and bring out even better work. For instance, a story of mine that I'm currently sending out has gotten nothing but kudos from everyone who read it -- everyone but one person, who was a little confused by the beginning.
I tackled it again, and now the story reads a TON better.
I'm glad to have had the criticism -- because the story is better now.
REAL writers WANT criticism. REAL writers want to know how the work can be improved.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Monday, July 31, 2006
New poem
Mouse McMettle
Mouse McMettle,Carpenter.
Met a seamstress.
Married her.
Nails and hammer,
Needle, thread.
She sewed pillows.
He built the bed.
They crafted a cottage
Curtains, white
Bright wide windows
Soft sunlight
They raised one loving
Faithful son
Broke the windows
Every one.
Of every kind
Bungled hammers
Every time.
Still, Ma and Pa were lucky mice,
And with their prodigy were pleased.
Their son was poor at many tasks,
But he excelled at making cheese.
::::::::::::::::
© 2006 Elizabeth Bushey, Inkless Tales
elizabeth@inklesstales.com
:::::::::::::::::::::
www.inklesstales.com.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Meter -- the heart of the poem
And the beat goes on...
The primary difficulty, in my opinion, that people have when writing poetry for children is the METER of the poems. Too often, they find themselves writing poetry that requires them to read the work aloud in a certain way -- one way, that is -- so that the poems "works."
A poem for children has to "read" well NO MATTER WHO is reading it -- ESPECIALLY a young reader who may be struggling with the words, reading slowly, stumbling over a word or two.
A good way to "test-drive" your poems: find the absolute worst reader you can get your hands on. Someone with the tinnest ear you know. Have him or her read your poems out loud to you.
You will be stunned to learn where you went wrong.
If you can't find someone like that, leave your poems in a drawer for a few days. Come back to them. You'll be amazed at the fresh eye you'll have -- when you haven't seen them in a few days, you'll see how you may want to read them differently -- and the new "beat" may show you how the poems don't really work as well anymore.
Never take it for granted that anyone knows how you mean the poems to be read.
You won't be there, over anyone's shoulder, coaching them. You HAVE to make them foolproof.
The only way you can ever "cheat" this meter thing is to turn it into a song.
-E
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Writing Poetry for Kids. It's harder than you think.
Poetry for children
Writing poetry for children is something most editors – and even other writers – tell you NOT to do.
Editors aren’t looking for poetry, they warn.
Children’s poetry is too difficult to write, they exhort.
They’re right. It IS difficult to write.
Yet so many of us try. Why? Because it’s fun, because ultimately, children love it (the poetry section of Inkless Tales is one of the hardest hit) and because when it’s done right, it’s delightful. Poetry is necessary to our souls.
There are several reasons why this is so. For one reason, many of us feel it must rhyme. This is not true. There are many very good children’s poems that do not rhyme. For those of us who want to teach children to write their own poems, one excellent form of non-rhyming poetry to begin with is the haiku.
This three-line form, which follows a strict form of five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the last line, concentrates on evoking a description, or a moment. It’s a beautiful exercise.
Oddly enough, the strictness of its form can release enormous creativity in children. I find it works much better than the typical acrostic poems that many teachers work with.
Another type of non-rhyming poem teachers and other educators (parents, try this at home – poetry is meant to be used!) may wish to try is what’s commonly called a “sense poem” – try choosing a subject and describing it, line by line, via the senses.
Here’s one I’ll throw off the top of my head for an example, about my dog, Tucker:
Black like the board at school
Soft like the lining of my coat
His bark is sharp, sharp, sharp
He sits if he sees a hot dog
And he fills the house and my heart
With the smell of wet dog
When it rains.
(You can tell here that I’m pretty crazy about my dog, a German Shepherd/Lab mix we adopted from the pound.)
So you see there is more than one way to write a poem than to rhyme it.
But what gets people in trouble, generally, is the rhyming – and not so much the rhyming.
People can rhyme.
What they can’t seem to manage to “get” is the meter.
That’s where it all seems to go horribly wrong for them. And what editors, readers, and their friends who say – “Oh, it’s so great” can’t seem to explain. Because what happens so many times is these writers are READING their poem to their friends, and they can unconsciously correct the problematic meter while reading the poem aloud.
More on this in the next post. But I’ll tell you then how I teach kids meter – and they get it when adults sometimes can’t.
Writing poetry for children is something most editors – and even other writers – tell you NOT to do.
Editors aren’t looking for poetry, they warn.
Children’s poetry is too difficult to write, they exhort.
They’re right. It IS difficult to write.
Yet so many of us try. Why? Because it’s fun, because ultimately, children love it (the poetry section of Inkless Tales is one of the hardest hit) and because when it’s done right, it’s delightful. Poetry is necessary to our souls.
There are several reasons why this is so. For one reason, many of us feel it must rhyme. This is not true. There are many very good children’s poems that do not rhyme. For those of us who want to teach children to write their own poems, one excellent form of non-rhyming poetry to begin with is the haiku.
This three-line form, which follows a strict form of five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the last line, concentrates on evoking a description, or a moment. It’s a beautiful exercise.
Oddly enough, the strictness of its form can release enormous creativity in children. I find it works much better than the typical acrostic poems that many teachers work with.
Another type of non-rhyming poem teachers and other educators (parents, try this at home – poetry is meant to be used!) may wish to try is what’s commonly called a “sense poem” – try choosing a subject and describing it, line by line, via the senses.
Here’s one I’ll throw off the top of my head for an example, about my dog, Tucker:
Black like the board at school
Soft like the lining of my coat
His bark is sharp, sharp, sharp
He sits if he sees a hot dog
And he fills the house and my heart
With the smell of wet dog
When it rains.
(You can tell here that I’m pretty crazy about my dog, a German Shepherd/Lab mix we adopted from the pound.)
So you see there is more than one way to write a poem than to rhyme it.
But what gets people in trouble, generally, is the rhyming – and not so much the rhyming.
People can rhyme.
What they can’t seem to manage to “get” is the meter.
That’s where it all seems to go horribly wrong for them. And what editors, readers, and their friends who say – “Oh, it’s so great” can’t seem to explain. Because what happens so many times is these writers are READING their poem to their friends, and they can unconsciously correct the problematic meter while reading the poem aloud.
More on this in the next post. But I’ll tell you then how I teach kids meter – and they get it when adults sometimes can’t.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Writing for children: Brevity
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
– Blaise Pascal
Children’s literature is hard to write, despite the abundance of it, both published and unpublished.
Why IS it so hard to write, though? When it seems so, well, easy to read?
Having taught journalism, I see many of the same principles apply to writing for children. While one wants to choose one’s words carefully in ANY writing, precision, brevity and clarity happen to be particularly important here.
In a newspaper article, you have only seconds to grab the reader’s attention before he licks his thumb and turns the page. Children’s books simply won’t get read. (We’re not talking about getting published here – we’re talking about a good book.)
In journalism, you must be clear, above all. You must pack as much information – as interestingly as possible – into as short a space as you can.
In a picture book, a writer is challenged to use few, brilliantly chosen words. Jennifer Armstrong, a picture book writing teacher of mine in Vermont one summer, put it perfectly: the more you can compress your writing, the more powerful it becomes: tight and ready to bounce, like a rubber ball.
The famous editor Richard Jackson has a favorite saying: “Kill your darlings.”
If you have a line or two in your writing you MUST leave in, take it out.
Why?
You’re not paying enough attention to the work as a whole.
Learn to edit yourself. Get rid of anything you don’t need.
Embrace Strunk and White’s most valuable tool for any writer:
OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. Words are powerful. Use them with care.
For instance: Now that I’m done this post, I’m going to go back and edit it. Word count for this first draft: 393.
Edited down to: 297. (That’s right. I lost 100 words.)
– Blaise Pascal
Children’s literature is hard to write, despite the abundance of it, both published and unpublished.
Why IS it so hard to write, though? When it seems so, well, easy to read?
Having taught journalism, I see many of the same principles apply to writing for children. While one wants to choose one’s words carefully in ANY writing, precision, brevity and clarity happen to be particularly important here.
In a newspaper article, you have only seconds to grab the reader’s attention before he licks his thumb and turns the page. Children’s books simply won’t get read. (We’re not talking about getting published here – we’re talking about a good book.)
In journalism, you must be clear, above all. You must pack as much information – as interestingly as possible – into as short a space as you can.
In a picture book, a writer is challenged to use few, brilliantly chosen words. Jennifer Armstrong, a picture book writing teacher of mine in Vermont one summer, put it perfectly: the more you can compress your writing, the more powerful it becomes: tight and ready to bounce, like a rubber ball.
The famous editor Richard Jackson has a favorite saying: “Kill your darlings.”
If you have a line or two in your writing you MUST leave in, take it out.
Why?
You’re not paying enough attention to the work as a whole.
Learn to edit yourself. Get rid of anything you don’t need.
Embrace Strunk and White’s most valuable tool for any writer:
OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS. Words are powerful. Use them with care.
For instance: Now that I’m done this post, I’m going to go back and edit it. Word count for this first draft: 393.
Edited down to: 297. (That’s right. I lost 100 words.)
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
From the new Editor Page on the newly redesigned Inkless Tales web site:
:::::
When I first wrote this page, InklessTales was just starting up, and it was all about reading, writing and drawing.
Now it's expanding into math and music, two of my other loves, with the Mathematical Mother Goose, What's My Number, and Inkless Tunes.
My hope is still that you'll love the stories, pictures, movies and other materials you find here. Still, that you'll leave the site and head to a bookstore — or better yet, you'll go out to one of your local independent booksellers, or to your local library — and get a pile of books to take home and share with a child.
Or, now, that you'll bang a pot or a pan and play drums, or enjoy an instrument or a sing-a-long. Music is great -- and builds the mathematical AND linguistical side of a child's brain.
Read, sing, do numbers.
I can sew without a pattern. My friends are amazed by this; I am not. I took my daughters for a tour at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology recently in New York City. Turns out MOST people could sew without a pattern back in the old days. It was a skill, not a talent.
People are impressed by what I can do: I can draw, I can write, I can sing and play instruments.
Mostly, I can because my mother told me I could: which meant I always tried.
If nothing else -- I'd like this site to be about showing kids if you try, you probably can.
Put two chairs next to the monitor. Then switch it off and write your own stories, and draw your own pictures. Sing your own songs. You'll love it, I promise.
Getting you together to create and enjoy literature, pictures and puzzles is what this project is all about. Whether you're a teacher, a student, or a parent, I hope you'll find something inspiring here.
:::::
When I first wrote this page, InklessTales was just starting up, and it was all about reading, writing and drawing.
Now it's expanding into math and music, two of my other loves, with the Mathematical Mother Goose, What's My Number, and Inkless Tunes.
My hope is still that you'll love the stories, pictures, movies and other materials you find here. Still, that you'll leave the site and head to a bookstore — or better yet, you'll go out to one of your local independent booksellers, or to your local library — and get a pile of books to take home and share with a child.
Or, now, that you'll bang a pot or a pan and play drums, or enjoy an instrument or a sing-a-long. Music is great -- and builds the mathematical AND linguistical side of a child's brain.
Read, sing, do numbers.
I can sew without a pattern. My friends are amazed by this; I am not. I took my daughters for a tour at the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology recently in New York City. Turns out MOST people could sew without a pattern back in the old days. It was a skill, not a talent.
People are impressed by what I can do: I can draw, I can write, I can sing and play instruments.
Mostly, I can because my mother told me I could: which meant I always tried.
If nothing else -- I'd like this site to be about showing kids if you try, you probably can.
Put two chairs next to the monitor. Then switch it off and write your own stories, and draw your own pictures. Sing your own songs. You'll love it, I promise.
Getting you together to create and enjoy literature, pictures and puzzles is what this project is all about. Whether you're a teacher, a student, or a parent, I hope you'll find something inspiring here.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Darren of Problogger is sending out positive vibes by asking fellow bloggers to name our "blog crushes". A blogger that we admire or whose blog we like. Of all blogs focused on parenting, I have 2 that tops my...
These guys are a terrific resource. The Blog Crush alone sold me on them.
Check them out!
Read more
These guys are a terrific resource. The Blog Crush alone sold me on them.
Check them out!
Read more
Monday, May 22, 2006
New Game!
It's been a while since I posted a new game, but in keeping with my earnest desire to really focus the site on kids' creativity, I had an idea for a new one recently, so I posted it yesterday -- it's a drawing game. I guess I must have run out of creativity when it came to naming it, though, because I just called it "The Shapes Game."
You can try it here, if you like:
www.inklesstales.com/games/shapes.shtml
Comprised of simple squares, circles, triangles and rectangles, colored in primary colors of red, blue and yellow, I'm hoping it will inspire kids with the simple kind of imagination-sparkers the original Colorforms (TM) sets did. Here's hoping! -e
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Fanny Doodle: Who is she, anyway?
Just for those who are wondering
about the name of this blog.There are several of these Fanny Doodle poems on Inkless Tales.
Here's the original. You can view the movie at
http://www.inklesstales.com/stories/fanny.shtml
Fanny Doodle’s Poodle
Fanny Doodle shaved her poodle
Then he shivered with the cold.
So Fanny Doodle knit a sweater
Trimmed with silver, and with gold.
Fanny Doodle’s poodle pouted,
Turned away his bone and bowl.
So Fanny Doodle used her noodle
Fed him cake and apple strudel
Til back his fur grew, curls and all.
© 2005, Elizabeth Bushey
To write.
Lots of people complain about writer's block, but I have to admit I haven't had that problem. I can't say that everything I've ever written has been worthy of keeping -- but I haven't ever sat in front of the keyboard going "Dang! Nothing to say."
Of course, there's always something else for me to do. If I don't have anything to write at the moment, I can go paint something.
If there's nothing to paint, I can go play my guitar.
So in that regard, I'm lucky.
Whether it's all good enough? Ah, there's the question.
I think it is. By good enough, I mean good enough to throw out there for others to decide for themselves whether they like it or not.
Some of it I like better than others. None of it makes me cringe, like the stuff I still keep tucked away. Much of it I can tell I did a while ago -- because I'm always looking to get better at whatever I'm doing.
I don't think I'm done.
But good enough? I think we're all good enough.
That's the message I'd like to send with Inkless Tales. I want children to try things for themselves, too.
I'm not sure the site is sending that message clearly enough. That's my next goal with the site. To send that message: try this for yourself, too.
-E
Of course, there's always something else for me to do. If I don't have anything to write at the moment, I can go paint something.
If there's nothing to paint, I can go play my guitar.
So in that regard, I'm lucky.
Whether it's all good enough? Ah, there's the question.
I think it is. By good enough, I mean good enough to throw out there for others to decide for themselves whether they like it or not.
Some of it I like better than others. None of it makes me cringe, like the stuff I still keep tucked away. Much of it I can tell I did a while ago -- because I'm always looking to get better at whatever I'm doing.
I don't think I'm done.
But good enough? I think we're all good enough.
That's the message I'd like to send with Inkless Tales. I want children to try things for themselves, too.
I'm not sure the site is sending that message clearly enough. That's my next goal with the site. To send that message: try this for yourself, too.
-E
Inkless Tales
Inkless Tales started out because I had a lot of ideas and nowhere to put them. Also, I had the skill set, by chance: I could draw by hand, I could draw digitally. I knew Photoshop, and I knew web development. I could also write.
What's more, at the time -- March, 2001 -- there wasn't a whole lot out there for kids.
So I put it there.
And it's true: if you build it, they WILL come.
:-)
What's more, at the time -- March, 2001 -- there wasn't a whole lot out there for kids.
So I put it there.
And it's true: if you build it, they WILL come.
:-)
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