Chapter 5: Creating a Character
When Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain, came to our school last October, one of his many thoughts about writing concerned "the job." He said, "When you're a writer, you're never off duty." You have to always be on the look out for something to happen, to use, to add." This particular piece of advice applies to many elements of writing, but I see it as particularly pertinent to that of creating character. How do you see the relationship between observation and creating character? What do you do in your classroom, or can you see yourself doing in the classroom that will help your students develop character. This can also be looked at as details, significance and ramifications of events, etc...
Chapter 6: Voice
Ahh, voice. Probably the most difficult to define of all the facets of writing. Well, voice and style... Anyway, Fletcher says, "When I talk about voice, I mean written words that carry with them a sense that someone has actually written them. Not a committee, not a computer: a single human being" (68). When you think of voice and what you've read in Fletcher, what thoughts or nuggets have you pulled out or created for your own discussions of voice in writing?
Chapter 5: Creating a Character
ReplyDeleteI believe there is a relationship between observation and creating character. In my classroom, I begin with exposing students to many different short stories involving strong, well-developed characters. I have them compare and contrast these characters. Ask them what they would have changed or included. Then we can begin discussing writing their own characters. I also believe that determining point of view is also important in developing a character. I also give them planning forms in developing a character. Some of the questions are the character's likes and dislikes, their goals, their strengths and weaknesses. This is a difficult concept to teach. I also have them analyze themselves and their lives first to understand how they would explain themselves to someone else.
I believe that voice is one of the most difficult concepts to teach. I am constantly telling students that I don't hear their voice in their writing. I hear them mimicking the author's (if they are responding to literature) voice. This is probably my weakest area in teaching writing. I try to teach them to decide first their (as author's) purpose first. Then, they perhaps may be able to find their voice. I also have them determine voice through a series of picture books.
ReplyDeleteThe following website is through Scholastic and helps with teaching voice. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/adding-strong-voice-your-writing
P.S. The times are wrong for posting. I am not doing this at 6:00 a.m. LOL.
ReplyDeleteOn Creating a Character and Voice
ReplyDeleteI love the notion of thinking of our bodies as maps that tell the stories of our lives. Fletcher's image reminds me of one of the prompts I use when teaching memoir writing-- "Tell us the story of a (physical or mental) scar on your body." We sit around and take turns telling the stories, writing them with the words that come out of our mouths. Among the I-got-bit-by-a-shark fish tales, students inevitably share some of the funny and tender life moments that they are literally carrying around with them. After they share the spoken stories with peers (live or recorded version for the shy ones) they write them down, relying on a partner who reminds them of some of the specific words and phrases that stood out from they said. The physical being, the telling detail, the gesture and motion that Fletcher emphasizes are all there for the taking. And what adolescent isn't a character?
Rachel Nichols
My grandfather used to love to go the mall. I used to think it was SO weird. He never wanted to shop, or to buy anything. He would get a pretzel or a lemonade, and plop himself down on a bench. And sit for hours. When I asked him once WHY on earth he would do this, he'd said, quite simply, "People watch." After reading Chapter 5, I am thinking about doing a lesson next year on just that. Fletcher advises, "Don't write about senility or a man losing the ability to take care of himself. Write about missed belt loops." I don't think my students and I will trek to the mall (probably my least favorite place on the planet), but maybe we'll hang out in other classrooms or I'll have students do observations on their own as a homework assignment. Perhaps an observation log will be kept in their writer's notebooks. If we become keen observers in real-life, looking for the belt loops and the detail, then maybe we will be able to create real characters that will resonate with our readers.
ReplyDeleteChapter 6: Voice
ReplyDeleteWhat I highlighted, underlined, and starred(!) in this reading was a line on page 72. Fletcher states, "encourage students to meet their audience in authentic ways..." He continues to talk about students, "going public with their writing." When you are vested and connected to what you are writing about, then I postulate it will be easier to write with voice. You are willing to put yourself into your writing when it is important to you. My mother died tragically about five years ago. All of the writing connected to that event screams of my personality and my feelings. I was never able to write an argumentative piece that was actually compelling until I wrote one about the criminalization of mental illness. I think it was compelling because of my voice, which only came through because I was so fired up about the topic. Now that I have had time to think about this connection between voice and authenticity, I realize I have to help my students make that connection as well. I'm wondering if anyone participating here can suggest specific outlets or ways to do that? Do you do this already? When? How?
Chapter Six: Voice
ReplyDeleteMy ongoing challenge with this course will be how to bring my new understandings about writing into the high school government and history classroom. Fletcher brought some insight to this in Chapter Six when he got around to the discussion of voice in nonfiction writing (76-80). I can relate to his opinion that too often students in high school apply the "dump truck" when it comes to nonfiction. They assume that the historian has assembled the facts and narrative in such a way that it is best to simply paraphrase or quote directly. Their voice is lost in the attempt not to leave out some important fact or expert interpretation. And the rubrics often used for historical essays tend to promote the importance of getting the facts right over all else, and in the end the entire piece suffers because no one cares to read it a second time. I liked Fletcher's suggestion of having students model a writer. There are several historian's pieces that I could provide to my students and ask them to select one to model stylistically. The difficulty will be devising the grading platform that will be needed to assess the degree to which a student has incorporated his/her own voice into the researched essays.
Chapter 5 Creating a Character
ReplyDeletePerhaps what struck me most about this chapter was the discussion on having a healthy balance in a character between the private and the public. As a reader, I crave knowing more about the characters. What makes them so believable are the details that breathes the life into them from the hand of the author. Not just the everyday descriptions and details, but the window into their soul. One such reason I enjoy reading Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Doctor series, is due to the way in which Taylor crafts his characters. Not only to do you meet them as they are, you come to understand what forged them as individuals, their triumps and tragedies, the quirks and quips, as well as their foibles and fortitudes. As he writes his characters and their stories, I find that I cheer for them, laugh with them, and even share their tears at times. This particular premise sets the bar high for a writer as a character is introduced. Definitely worth the time and thought!
Chapter 6: Reviewing my highlights from this chapter and certain phrases just stick: quirky cadence, the writing has energy: juice, stalking the spirit, tuning in, saunter, intimacy, unpretentious prose,
ReplyDeletetransforming the words of a text. That last one really dug it’s heels in though: Text. And they ALL text. So why not help them find their voice through texting? Partner them up, give them a topic and tell them to go. They can do it with pen and paper or taking turns in a word document. When they’re finished, they can read the text aloud in the voice of their partner so they can hear how they really sounded on the other end. Maybe it’s not the voice they expected, but it will hopefully give them a clearer idea of how they want to sound.
Chapter 6 Voice
ReplyDeleteI am reminded of how hard it is to teach and explain voice. I found it interesting that Fletcher says older writers can learn from younger writers. I see many young writers that write like robots or they write how they think it should sound. I think they worry about how their audience will receive their writing. I like to use good examples of voice, read stories so my students hear a voice in writing. We talk about why they connect with the line, passage or story. I recently found a good article in The Reading Teacher about writing with voice (I can share in class with Mrs. Groen.) One point was the use of mentor texts to allow students to see the kinds of texts/stories they might want to write. I keep coming back to the connection between reading and writing!
“Response to Chapters 5 and 6, Ralph Fletcher”
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 – The “flash draft.” This idea blew me away. A great technique to incorporate narrative writing in non-fiction. Flash drafts can help students visualize history and personalize the characters that they find in their textbooks and historiographical essays. Flash drafts are one of the tools that I have been looking for. A technique to give students ownership of a ghosts we try to reincarnate in class. Years and events may change but the people who lived in the past are very similar to the students and teachers in today’s classrooms. When we discuss the high infant mortality rate or the life expectancy of people living in the Middle Ages students do not understand that death has always been death. We may deal with it differently and have different beliefs but the absence of life and the holes and despair created by death are one of the commonalities of the human experience. To study and teach history is an attempt to recreate these moments in the past. To analyze them to understand why things happen and how we ended up here today. The flash draft is an excellent introductory tool, a lesson to show students that history has meaning and their own emotions and feelings are integral in any true analysis of the past.
Chapter 6 – I have a voice when I write fiction. It is the same voice I hear when I am trying to fall asleep at night or driving my car into work. The voice is much younger, probably around thirteen years old. The voice wants to be cheered on. It wants to be noticed and told “yes, you are good.” It’s definitely there when I teach and especially when I am a dad. When I wrote my papers in graduate school I could always feel the tension between this voice and the intellectual persona. The intellectual would always win out, but in every other sentence I would see a word or a comma and know that right under the five syllable words the real voice was still there.
Students constantly fail to incorporate their own voice in non-fiction writing. Many of them simply write in the voice they expect the teacher to like. They state “just the facts” and fail to bring their own voice to the work. “What does it matter? As long as the facts are there and the argument is made I will still get the A, right?” I like the idea of helping students develop their voices in their writing. It is definitely a challenge, but I think the “flash draft” is an excellent method to help students find that balance. We are not machines. Facts and events are history, but a voice enables us to understand these facts and appreciate why they are important.
Chapter 6 - Voice
ReplyDeleteOne of the quotes that seemed to stick with me throughout the chapter is the quote by Suzanne Gardinier that says, "Voice in writing has much to do with an intimacy between writer and subject: a closeness between the author and what is being written about." Teaching voice is difficult, but teaching students to write with voice without being able to write about something that is known is almost impossible. For voice to be part of a piece, I agree wholeheartedly that their has to be an awareness of mode and subject. When asking students to write, time and care must also be spent making certain that they are familiar with both the subject and the mode of writing for their voice to come through as they write. I do believe that knowledge leads to creating a feeling about the subject matter, which then allows that voice to begin to come through in the writing. This was evident thoughout the examples in the chapter.
However, it was also interesting to see the impact of an author's age on voice. As the students approached middle school age, their voice was less apparent as upper level writing was examined. At this point in their writing career, students are less willing to share their opinions as they fear the judgement from their peers. One way to combat this is for teachers to assist them with providing appropriate mentor texts that will allow them to have firm examples of voice interwoven in fiction. Providing examples for students allows them to see differents ways to weave voice into their writing. This is one avenue that I will pursue more often readers and writers in my classroom in the coming year. Hopefully through the use of more mentor texts for the purpose of taking a closer look a voice, students will be less hesitant to experiment with voice in their writing. With additional examples for them to read and practice with, it will become clear to them that their voice is as if they are adding their fingerprint to their writing as it become theirs.
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ReplyDeleteIn my early twenties, I lived in Milan, Italy for three years. My fondest memory was not of the city but of the air mail exchange. The letters between my grandmother and me fostered a newfound intimacy. Years later, as she pulled out every last letter tied in a crisp, periwinkle ribbon, she told me that she loved my “chatty” tone. What I had chalked up as Generation-X babble was my “voice.” This was the first time I had truly understood the uniqueness and value of my voice. I did not need to write like anyone else, and was ready to toss those “Sentence Composing” books by the Killgallons aside. I was ready to construct prose! It would take years for me to discover the importance of using mentor texts, most areas of meaningful growth seem to involve a great deal of pendulum swinging.
ReplyDeleteIt has always been difficult for me to explain “voice” to someone else while at the same time it remains rather easy to identify a piece that successfully emotes it. We must help our students find their “inner writing voice.” The question that remains for me is how to trudge through the grammatical mechanics while preserving this treasure.
Creating voice in nonfiction writing seemed almost impossible and this chapter encouraged me to question the amount of “voice” in our Biology textbooks. I reflected on techniques such as wit, drama and pictures that made the required reading more accessible. I like the way Fletcher describes voice in nonfiction writing as “a comfortable mix of information with a (student’s) own zest” (76). What a wonderful definition of “voice!” Although the science book was a bit dry, I recalled a non-fiction novel, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks successfully emoted “voice.” When I read-aloud excerpts from this book, the class was left wanting more from a nicely developed narrator.
I look forward to learning more about using nonfiction writing with “voice” in my seventh grade science class. Presently, I feel limited by the LM Lab Format. It possesses a myriad of writing restrictions including the banishment of personal pronouns. Perhaps constructing an approachable “voice” in a formal lab report is a bit of a lofty goal. I will be sure to provide many other opportunities for students to integrate personal “zest” into their writing across the nonfiction curriculum.
Jeanne Mastriano
ReplyDeleteAs the school year unfolds, it's nifty to hear some students' voices emerge out of the academese. We use their writing almost as a letter-exchange. I write to them on their writing; they write back with something new. I love to imagine what we all could do with - was it Costa's? - ideal number of under eighty students, so we could have more energy and focus to respond richly...tenderly, as Fletcher suggests in an early chapter.
Fletcher says the “one character that writers most consistently fail to develop is the narrator.” That struck me because most of the time that is the one character that a writer is focused on developing. I think perhaps a writer has this character so developed in his/her head the failure is to get it all out on paper (computer). In order to develop voice the process must be a backward cycle where you must try to see your character from an outsider’s perspective. I think as a teacher I can facilitate that development by asking probing questions. For example: How would your character react to seeing someone steal a loaf of bread from a grocery store? How would your character feel/react if his friends didn’t call him on his birthday? What would your character do if given the opportunity to go to Bali alone?
ReplyDeleteOf course there are plenty of questions I could come up but the point is to get my students thinking about the personal and public lives of their main characters.
Chapter 5 – Creating a Character
ReplyDeleteFletcher discusses how to improve writing through developing characters to make a connection with readers. He goes into further detail by explaining components necessary to creating lively characters that draw in the reader. Among those components are the physical being, spoken word, the telling detail, gesture and motion, and the flash draft.
The telling detail component is something I would like to stress to students in their writing. I like the wording of the term. I think it communicates exactly what students need to know about what to look for in a character. I can see myself asking questions to help students explore this component of creating characters (or in our case, revealing historical figures for who they really were): Can you find a telling detail about the character that reveals something insightful about his or her role in history? Is this telling detail something most people would not know, and is not commonly shared in history books? All of this has got me thinking about how to incorporate all these things into my teaching during the year. I am thinking about creating some sort of good writer’s “cheat sheet,” that includes points to consider in various aspects of writing. The various aspects could be shared throughout the course of the year as to not overwhelm the students.
Chapter 6 – Voice
Finding my writer’s voice; this is one if the things I struggle with most. I think that this skill requires a certain level of truthfulness and self reflection that allows one to be able to share their real inner voice with the reader. Based on what Fletcher shared about how he “stalks” his inner voice, it also sounds as if writing on a regular basis is one effective way of remedying the problem. (This sounds like a good reason to promote various forms of writing in the classroom – where both the students and I can practice finding our inner voice. How would this look in a history class? Possibilities could include: editorials, letters, poems) Fletcher also suggests using patience to help find your inner voice as a writer; which is helpful when developing any discipline. Exhibiting patience when you want nothing more than to progress can be difficult.