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Yesterday, I spoke on How to Write Fight Scenes at the Youth Writing Festival at Calvin College. My presentation includes time for the students to write their own fight scenes. The group of middle school students was large, so instead of reading their scenes out loud, we discussed what they found easiest and hardest about writing fights. Most agreed it was easy to see the scene in their imaginations, and hard to put it into words. No arguments from me there.
As the high school students wrote their scenes, I was delighted to see a girl pull out a thesaurus and consult it frequently. I was less pleased when a boy started thumbing his phone. When my session was over, the young man with the phone asked me to read his scene. I squinted at his tiny, spidery writing and asked if he would read out loud. He told me he couldn’t because English was his second language. The scene was hard to follow because of problems with English usage, but some of the descriptions were unique and lovely, and I complimented him. Later, I realized he must have been using his phone to access a Chinese/English dictionary.
Last week I drove by the high school as school was letting out. The car in front of me had a bumper sticker that read:
How’s my driving?
Call my mom.
It gave a phone number.
Jeremy needed some paint for a project, and I told him I could buy it while running some other errands.
Me: What colors do you need?
Jeremy: Rainbow and silver.
Me: Rainbow paint?
Jeremy: Yeah, all the colors in the rainbow plus silver.
Jeremy’s English homework was to write a letter based on one of Shakespeare’s sonnets. His first idea was:
Dear Summer’s Day,
You remind me of this chick I know …
But being unsure of his teacher’s sense of humor, he opted for a different approach.
Think about how much the voice changes if synonyms are substituted for chick. Maybe this will evolve into a Write Night exercise.
I heard on All Things Considered yesterday that the adaptation of Disney’s High School Musical in China has been a total flop. The part that interested me most was this quote:
“China's High School Musical wasn't actually set in a high school. It had to be transplanted to a college. That's because Chinese high schools involve such a huge workload, it would be impossible for students to take part in the singing contest around which the film revolves.”
Graduate students from the lab used to talk about the long hours they studied in high school. I’m glad that despite budget cuts and hard economic times, extracurricular opportunities are still available at my son’s high school.
Jeremy is particularly lucky because he is able to take private voice lessons at school, during his choir hour. He records the lesson so he can sing along when he practices at home. The other day during physics lab, he bumped his backpack and accidently turned on the digital voice recorder. His bass voice blasted out:
me
On Monday, NPR did a piece on teen-parent relations that I found interesting both as a parent and as a writer. The examples mentioned in the article didn’t seem real to me as neither my kids nor my characters get hysterical about what they’re going to wear on school photo day. The part about teens not foreseeing the consequences of their actions is golden.
or is it the other way around?
Recently my kids have been living out some of the dramas I’ve written about. In Chapter 6 of my WIP, Michael lost his keys, and last Monday, Jeremy lost his wallet. Fortunately both boys recovered their possessions. In Chapter 20 of one of my previous novels, Lia parked near a college campus and returned to find her car vandalized. Unfortunately, Sam had the same experience in July. The repairs on Lia’s car were fast and inexpensive, but in reality, quick, cheap auto repairs are totally fictional. In Chapter 14 of my WIP, Michael flagrantly exceeded the speed limit and didn’t get caught. Jeremy was not so lucky.
You might say this is coincidence, or I could claim I’ve nailed the teenage experience. Either way, I seem to be predicting the future. I’m tempted to change the mom’s career so she’s a highly successful novelist.
Next week is Band Camp. The kids practice from early morning until late at night for six days, and miraculously the halftime show falls together. I signed up to help all day on Tuesday. Somehow, my name also appeared on the volunteer lists for helping all day on Monday, baking brownies, picking up eleven dozen bagels and helping with activities*.
How could this happen?
I knew when I was supposed to work, so I didn’t look at the volunteer assignment sheets until it was too late to bail out.
Sigh.
Monday and Tuesday are pretty much toast, but I’m likely to gather enough data for a couple more novels.
*Man, I hope I get water balloons instead of word games this year.
Jeremy: How’s the novel going?
Me: I got back comments from Amy. She’s an English teacher.
Jeremy: Were they constructive?
Me: Yes.
Jeremy: Did she tell you to use more metaphors, similes and personifications?
Me: No.
Jeremy: They’re the only things that are important – other than overlying themes.
Sam: I’m going to look over my math homework and see if I can cull the herd – take out the weak ones.
***
Jeremy: I have to go fishing for answers. I think I have it, then I realize it got away.
Me: Stop arguing.
Jeremy: If you can't petition the government, it's a dictatorship.
****
Me: Your world history class went through WWI?
Sam: Probably the Napoleonic wars. That class is for seniors, so no one really knows what happens at the end of the year.
