Writing

Many authors know from an early age that they want to be writers. Not me. I am dyslexic so learning how to write was difficult. Reading was slow going for me, too. But I still loved books. I just never thought that I'd be able to write one.

As an English teacher I taught other people how to read and write and spent many hours a week correcting their work. But I didn't try writing stories myself until I had been teaching for many years. This is how it happened. I was taking a course in screenwriting so I could teach high school kids how to write screenplays. My homework in the course was to write one myself. While doing the assignment I discovered that I liked making up stories and writing them down. Even though it was hard work, I liked doing it. Since that first script I have written fifteen screenplays and over sixty novels for children and young adults.

Readers often ask me where I get my ideas. We all have ideas that come from the world around us, our memories, and our imaginations. People do different things with their ideas. The girls in THREE GIRLS IN THE CITY express their ideas by taking pictures. Brian, in MY NAME IS BRAIN BRIAN, makes a video about the Canada Goose. Anna, in PONY PALS, expresses her ideas by drawing.

Like Anna, I sometimes express myself in drawing and painting. But mostly I use my ideas to make up stories. Where do I get my ideas? I think about the people I'm going to write about  "The adventures of three girls and their ponies" or "Girls from very different backgrounds meet in a photography class"  and then decide what might happen to the characters. However, before making up the story I often have to do research.

For example, for THREE GIRLS IN THE CITY I observed a photography workshop for teens and looked at many wonderful books of photographs. The "city" part of the research was easy since I've lived in New York City for most of my adult life. It was fun to revisit favorite spots in New York and imagine my characters there.

When I started the PONY PALS series, I took horseback riding lessons and hung out at stables. For MY NAME IS BRAIN BRIAN I spent many afternoons at a school for kids with dyslexia. And when I decided that Brian would learn everything he could about the Canada Goose, I studied them. While researching, I decide what my characters will be like. I keep a notebook with what I learn both about the subject and about my characters. I take notes about the plot. Then I put it all together in an outline for a story.

Readers often ask me if a character is real. Even though they seem very real to me, all my characters are fictional. In making them up I am inspired by my daughter Nicole, my former students, and the kids I meet when I visit schools. But when it comes down to writing the story and getting into the head and heart of Brian, Pam, Anna, Lulu, Maya, Carolyn, Joy  or any other of my characters  I have to become the character myself. In my imagination I put myself inside their heads and think like them.

Not everyone wants to write about their ideas. Some people do other things with their ideas. I bet you have many different ways of expressing your ideas. Maybe you make music, draw and paint, build things, or cook. But even musicians, artists, carpenters, and chefs also express themselves by writing. So since we're all in the writing game, here are some hints for doing it better. I have loads of advice.

SIX WAYS TO BECOME A BETTER WRITER
1. Be a detective of the heart and mind. Pay attention to the world around you and ask yourself questions about what you observe.
2. Read. The more you read the more you will know about the world  real or imaginary. You'll hear how other authors use words to express their ideas.
3. Ask yourself questions. What do I want to say? Am I being honest to my imagination? Does what I write come from my heart?
4. Have fun. Play with words.
5. Take a break from your writing. Walk away from it and do something entirely different. Go for bike ride. Watch a video. Cook something. Ideas about your writing will come to you when you are doing something entirely different. Isn't the human brain amazing?
6. Keep a writer's journal. Store your observations about life in your writer's journal. Some people write little bits of conversation they overhear. You might want to write what happens to you and how you feel about it  just the way you would in a diary or a journal. They don't have to be in any special order. Writers often look in their journals for ideas that become books. Do yourself a favor  keep all your journals, you’ll be interested in reading them in the future!

JB’S 15 STEPS FOR WRITING A STORY
1. Where and when is your story taking place?
2. Who are your characters?
3. What is going to happen to your characters?
4. Organize the answers to the first three questions in an outline.
5. Write the first scene.
6. Re-read what you wrote and make changes and additions.
7. Write the next scene.
8. Re-read from the beginning.
9. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you have finished telling your story.
10. Read the story aloud to yourself.
11. Put your story away and go do something else.
12. Come back to your story and read it again.
13. Edit a little more.
14. Share your story.
15. Put your story in a special place so you will have it forever.

Even if you never become a published author, you are a storyteller. We're always "telling stories" about ourselves and other people. Every time you start a sentence with, "Guess what I did last night?" you're about to tell a story. Our lives are like books. Every day is a new chapter.