I know. I don’t believe it, either. But it was a lot of fun. It is a “one ring to rule them all” poem for the opening of the novel, and it is a sea shanty, so of course it is sung (and it rhymes), but it is needed to help the protagonist figure out how to defeat the mermaids at the end of the book. But the coolest part was how much I enjoyed writing it.
Novel is going well
Got really inspired this week about my novel. As an alternate history, it is speculative, but it didn’t have any aliens or ghosts or anything magical–and now I have a cool idea about introducing evil mermaids. This is great, because they will help me save the antagonist at the end of the book. Took some time on September 29 to re-structure my outline, and am very excited about how the new line is weaving in with the old.
Looking forward to working with grades K – 4 again
My planning session with teachers at William Reid School went very well, and there is a lot I am going to be able to do during the time I will be working with their students. It looks as though I will have at least a couple of sessions with each of their classes, which is good, because we can get our teeth into the meat and potatoes of plotting, beginnings, dialogue, revision, and so forth. I’m really looking forward to meeting the kids!
Very cool to be working with new novelists
I have eight students in my year-long novel writing course, most of whom are doing speculative fiction. My section is one of three the Alexandra Centre is running this year–they had an explosion of people signing up. My students are very talented, and a collegial group, and very dedicated to setting deadlines for themselves. I’ll tell you, the two and an half hours each evening zip by!
Really enjoyed the “Show Don’t Tell” intensive weekend
Who’d have thought there was so much one could do with the concept, “Show, Don’t Tell?” I found there were about 7-9 different scenarios when a writer might be tempted to use narrative rather than scene (and maybe I didn’t find all the examples) and virtually every writer who ever put together a “how to” book has weighed in on it. One of my best resources, though, I have to say, was James Alan Gardner’s “A Seminar on Writing.” Clear, direct, articulate and full of good examples. The class worked hard for two days and seemed to get a lot out of it. And I had fun, too!