Creating Writers A creative writing manual for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 Revised and updated edition James Carter For Lauren (a real wiz with words) with infinite love First published 2000 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN This revised and updated edition first published 2010 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USAand Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk. © 2010 James Carter All rights reserved. The purchase of this copyright material confers the right on the purchasing institution to photocopy pages containing the ‘photocopiable’ icon. No other part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Carter, James, 1959– Creating writers: a creative writing manual for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 / James Carter. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. English language – Composition and exercises – Study and teaching (Elementary) 2. Creative writing (Elementary education) 3. English language – Composition and exercises – Study and teaching (Middle school) 4. Creative writing (Middle school) I. Title. LB1576.C3178 2009 372.62’3044 – dc22 2009016313 ISBN 0-203-86757-2 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0–415–49902–X (pbk) ISBN10: 0–203–86757–2 (ebk) ISBN13: 978–0–415–49902–6 (pbk) ISBN13: 978–0–203–86757–0 (ebk) Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction: where do ideas come from? 1 1 Write from the start: ways to approach creative writing and writing workshops 4 Apositive writing environment 4 Feedback partners 5 Time to think 5 Time to explore 6 Freewriting 6 Workshop structure 7 Drafting and editing 7 Realistic expectations of the first draft 9 Process, product and portfolio 10 Ideas and notebooks 10 Ideas and good habits to get into 11 Versions of one idea 12 Stimuli for writing 12 Dictionaries and thesauruses 13 Publishing 13 Using word processors 13 Talking points 14 Writing for the reader in you 15 Enjoy yourself! 15 Writing warm-ups 16 2 Poetry 17 Anew way of seeing: some thoughts on writing poetry 17 What’s so good about poetry? 19 How do poems begin? Poets examine the ways in which their poems evolve 21 Masterclass: poets respond to questions often asked about writing poetry 22 Growing poems 29 ‘Stars’by Pie Corbett 31 ‘The Cats’Protection League’by Roger McGough 34 ‘Little Red Rap’by Tony Mitton 39 Forms of poetry: other poetry workshops 63 Poetry word wheel (worksheet) 64 Poetry beginnings (worksheet) 65 v Contents Poetry checklist (worksheet) 66 Poetry glossary 67 3 Fiction 68 Facts behind fictions: initial discussion points on writing fiction 68 Planning for fiction: ideas on brainstorming and planning for writing 71 Brainstorming (worksheet) 73 Story mapping (worksheet) 74 Growing fiction: David Almond’s Skellig 75 Short stories 81 Beginnings and endings 82 Story openings (worksheet) 85 Characters: writing about fictional people 86 Invent your own character (worksheet) 92 Dialogue: the role of speech in stories 93 Drama 95 Jacqueline Wison – The Dare Game 97 Narration and point of view: writing in the first and third person 107 Places and descriptive writing 108 Plot: a sequence of events 116 Plot overviews (worksheet) 120 Picture this (worksheet) 122 Looking for an idea? (worksheet) 124 Suspense and atmosphere: engaging the reader 126 Fiction word wheel (worksheet) 138 Fiction checklist (worksheet) 139 Fiction glossary 140 4 Non-fiction 141 Creative with the truth: ways into writing non-fiction 141 Nick Arnold – Bulging Brainsand the Horrible Scienceseries 146 Face the facts: Space is far out (worksheet) 160 Face the facts: Don’t be mean to mini-beasts (worksheet) 161 Non-fiction glossary 166 Appendix 167 Reference texts and further reading 167 Bibliography 168 Featured authors 168 vi Acknowledgements We are most grateful for permission given to reproduce extracts, illustrations or materials from the following: ‘The Cats’ Protection League’ by Roger McGough from Bad Bad Cats (© Roger McGough 1997) is reproduced by permission of PFD (www.pfd.co.uk) on behalf of Roger McGough. Illustration © Tony De Saulles/Martin Brown 2008 (Bulging Brains). Reproduced with permission of Scholastic. The Dare Game by Jacqueline Wilson, published by Doubleday. Extracts and cover reprinted by permission of The Random House Group Ltd. Extract from The Piemakersby Helen Cresswell (OUP, 2003), © Helen Cresswell 1967, reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. Extract from The Bongleweedby Helen Cresswell (OUP, 2003), © Helen Cresswell 1973, reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. Extract from The Demon Headmasterby Gillian Cross (OUP, 2009), © Gillian Cross 1982, reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. Extract from Wolfby Gillian Cross (OUP, 2008), © Gillian Cross 1990, reprinted by permission of Oxford University Press. Rob Vincent, three photographs in ‘Fiction’chapter. ‘The River’© 2002 James Carter from Cars Stars Electric Guitarsby James Carter. Reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ. ‘Little Red Rap’by Tony Mitton from Big Bad Raps, published 2004 by Orchard Books and reproduced here with permission from Orchard Books. Extracts and images from Bulging Brains, text copyright © Nick Arnold, 1999, illustrations © Tony de Saulles, 1999. Reproduced with permission of Scholastic Ltd. All rights reserved. Blood Sinister, text copyright © Celia Rees, 1996. Reproduced with permission of Scholastic Ltd. All rights reserved. Extracts from Badger on the Barge by Janni Howker © 1984 Janni Howker, reproduced by permission of Walker Books Ltd, London SE11 5HJ. vii Acknowledgements The poems ‘Empty Bucket’, ‘WhAT on EaRth?’, ‘Amazing Inventions’, ‘Talking Time’ and ‘Love You More’© 2007 James Carter from Time Travelling Underpantsby James Carter, published by Macmillan Children’s Books and reproduced with permission of Macmillan Children’s Books, London, UK. Extracts from Skelligby David Almond © 1998 David Almond and front cover of Skellig, reproduced with permission of David Almond and Hodder Children’s Books. Extract from The Cry of the Wolf by Melvin Burgess, © 1994 Melvin Burgess, reproduced with permission of Andersen Press/Puffin. Extract from The Night Watchmenby Helen Cresswell (Copyright © Helen Cresswell) Reprinted by permission of AM Heath & Co. Ltd. Authors’Agents. Extract from Snatchersby Helen Cresswell (Copyright © Helen Cresswell) Reprinted by permission of AM Heath & Co. Ltd. Authors’Agents. The poem ‘Stars’by Pie Corbett, © Pie Corbett. Reproduced with kind permission of Pie Corbett. Cover illustration by Peter Bailey from Write Your Own ... Mysteryby Pie Corbett (Chrysalis Children’s Books). ‘The Northern Lights’from Greetings, Earthlings!By Brian Moses and James Carter (Macmillan Children’s Books). ‘SCIENCE MUSEUM’, ‘Mum’, ‘Wrapped In Skin’(extract), ‘Clouds Like Us’(extract), ‘Angelness’(extract) and ‘Tiger Haiku’(Copyright © James Carter). Extract from Out of Indiaby Jamila Gavin (Pavilion). ‘Down Behind the Dustbin’from You Tell Meby Michael Rosen and Roger McGough (Puffin). Reproduced by permission of Peters, Frazer & Dunlop literary agency. Cover illustration © Nick Sharratt. Taken from The Dare Game by Jacqueline Wilson, published by Doubleday, a division of Transworld Publishers. ‘I Love Me Mudder’by Benjamin Zephaniah (Copyright © Benjamin Zephaniah). Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders. In the event of any queries please contact Taylor & Francis, London. viii Introduction Where do ideas come from? ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’It’s what everyone asks of an author. Yet it is an impossible question to respond to with any certainty, except perhaps with the answer: ‘Anywhere and everywhere.’Above all else, it is the aim of this book to help children to discover this answer for themselves. Many authors feel that, to an extent, ideas are the easy part. It is what you do with them that counts. So Creating Writerssets out to show what many popular and established children’s writers do with their ideas and how they grow and develop them into fully fledged poems, stories, novels, plays and information books. The material in Creating Writerscomes from a variety of sources. Some of the author quotes stem from interviews conducted especially for this book; some material comes from public talks, performances or writing workshops. Other quotes derive from my book of interviews, Talking Books(Routledge 1999). In all cases, full permission has been granted to use the material. Creating Writersis a creative writing manual, and covers poetry, fiction and non-fiction. The ideas, advice, activities and models of writing featured are provided by a variety of contemporary children’s authors, and offer teachers contexts and opportunities in which they can help enable young writers to: • enjoy, explore and feel confident in their own creativities • discover their own literary voices • express themselves in a range of literary forms, modes and genres and for many purposes and audiences • reflect upon the craft and processes of writing • discover their own writing methodologies • appreciate that writing is a craft skill that requires patience, time and dedication • be adventurous and take risks in their writing • engage with and respond imaginatively to the work of others • consider the key elements of poetry, fiction and non-fiction • perceive themselves as writers and as members of a writing community. The authors represented here were chosen because they each had something invaluable to contribute in terms of passing on advice about creative writing to young people, as 1 Introduction well as sharing their writing methods and of talking about the wealth of experience they have had in schools as writing workshop leaders. Extracts are taken from their texts that are not only relevant but also prevalent and popular resources in Primary and Secondary schools. Creating Writerscould be used in one of two ways – either as an entire creative writing course to be followed through from start to finish, or alternatively and more likely, as an ‘off the shelf’source book for ad hoc writing activities. The book has been written, where possible, in accessible, everyday language in order that it can be used with KS2 and KS3 children. Teachers will observe that the majority of the material is pitched directly at – and could be read aloud to – the children. None of the workshop activities presented in this book are set in stone. Teachers are encouraged to view these resources as starting points to be adopted and adapted according to the varying needs of classes, writing environments and individuals. Indeed, a number of the workshop ideas that appear in this book have been used with adults as well as Primary and Secondary age children, and have been adjusted to suit the ages, ability levels and interests of the writers. Acknowledgements Creating Writershas been a most exciting and rewarding project in which I have met many generous and inspirational people who were only too willing to give up so much of their precious time. I wish to thank all of them for helping me to assemble this book. I am most grateful to all of the authors for inviting me into their homes and offices, for talking with me, for digging up old manuscripts and for revising the interview transcripts. Please refer to the p. 168 for website addresses for each of these authors. I wish to thank the illustrator Peter Bailey for allowing me to reproduce his fantastic artwork, which always inspires young writers. Ian Beck deserves a very special word of thanks – for his unfailing commitment to this project, his warm and congenial support and the truly excellent artwork he has provided for the cover. Thanks must also go to Rob Vincent for his wonderful photographs and to Ken Bentley for his technical wizardry in designing the word wheels. This is an updated version of Creating Writers– not a radical re-write, more a slimmed- down, hopefully more dynamic version, in what we trust will be a more teacher-friendly format. Sadly, since the first publication, some of the contributors have passed away – three very fine writers, Helen Cresswell, Anthony Masters and Neil Ardley – but their books continue to be published and enjoyed, and their words and reflections on writing that permeate this book are still as relevant as ever. I must highlight the fact that all of the material in this text – from child or adult, professional or otherwise – has been donated without charge. I am genuinely touched by the generosity of each and every contributor. To the very special Helen Fairlie (formerly of Taylor & Francis) – whose adept insight, verve and unfailing enthusiasm helped me to establish and shape the project at the outset – I extend my warmest gratitude for her invaluable input throughout the production of this book. Finally, I wish to thank a few more people who have given much time and energy to this book – Sophie Thomson and Annamarie Kino of Taylor & Francis (who 2 Introduction both deserve substantial pay rises after working with me on this new edition!), Monika Lee (formerly of Taylor & Francis, without whom there would be no revised edition), Michael Lockwood, Catriona Nicholson, Dudley Jones, and Tony Watkins (all of Reading University), and Quentin Edwards. Of course I must thank my brilliant wife, Sarah, for all her faith, her encouragement and her support and for bringing us our wonderful daughters, Lauren and Madeleine. 3