kid lit nanowrimo discussion and support
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@neschof said in kid lit nanowrimo discussion and support:
so I'm starting small & planning on just short plot outlines for each prompt
That's a great way to do it!
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@peteolczyk said in kid lit nanowrimo discussion and support:
It’s more like I’m stumbling in the dark
I think everyone feels that way
Much in the way that sometimes coming up with illustrations can feel like stumbling in the dark.Brainstorming helps. Spitballing. Mindmapping. Just gettin' words and things that relate to the prompt down as fast as you can and kinda seeing where it goes.
Writing a the simple sentence 'This is a story about a _____ who ____'. can help.
For myself I asked 'why would the fish be any help at all?' and I got a bit of an idea. I then just wrote down stuff that came to mind
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So we have a trip to the local firestation, an inventor goldfish, a goldfish coconut duo, a group of fish that put out a fire, and I wrote a quick story about a sister that tricks her little brother into believing his fish grants wishes.
Quite the spread
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my little goldfish is unlucky and brings 'accidents' upon his owners so he ends up being disposed of each time until a little boy finds him and gives him the home he deserves. After all, the goldfish can't help it that things catch fire...
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Dear rooster, the spaceship laboratory just isn’t the same with out you. When I look out of the window over the the crater pitted landscape I think about the days when we would play, ‘ Let the giant alien monsters escape, then try and catch them again’.
Oh how I miss seeing your flailing wattle atop your head, wobble with energy as you ran along screaming, stumbling from crater to rock, while the Hairy Fourteen Eyed Filbert from the fifteenth moon of the sixteenth planet, chased you back. His seventeen tiny legs running like crazy to carry his huge hulking body at speed.
How beautiful it was when the Hyujumungous Vnoop from the hairy desert of planet Venus decided she liked the taste of your feathers. She looked at you like you were an odd shaped bar of chocolate and chased you whilst licking her lips, into the cave of pointy purple spikes.
You played chase so well too, with the Giant Worm of Moon City, even after he swallowed you whole. Oh how we laughed as we watched the silhouette of your frantic, chicken shaped figure, running around inside his translucent skin.
I still don’t understand why you refused to play for a whole space week.
And how could we forget the Crackled Crannock Crator Cronk from planet Crunk. You couldn’t catch him either. In fact he ran off with you under one of his million armpits, your little chicken feet flailing about wildly, in confusion. Who could have known that’s where it’s mouth was. You certainly can’t blame us for laughing uncontrollably and not helping you in the slightest. You were a great sport, even when you emerged again some days later covered in Crator Cronk saliva, after having spent all that time being licked by its armpit tongue. There wasn’t a single feather left on your pink rooster body. Oh how we still laugh at the time when you promised to take revenge on us all. We know the electronic rooster translator wasn’t working properly and none of it was true. Even when you stormed out into the crater filled landscape we laughed so hard at the thought of you rounding up all of the giant alien monsters and coming back with them to ‘get’ us. It’s just so impossible. How by the many moons of planet Zoupquonk could a bald pink rooster possibly......just wait, one second what’s that noise, and strange giant alien smell. Is something unscrewing the roof of the space lab? It can’t be? Thats so strange, no one would believe this, it looks the shadow of the enormous Blam from the Flam dimension. But he went missing months ago. Aaaargh not the ..... don’t pick me up, I’m a scientist, don’t put me in there, I’m just not suited to being a human pea in a giant game of alien pea shooting. Especially one that’s umpired by a bald pink ROOOOOSTEERRRRRRRRRRR. -
@Braden-Hallett cheers Braden, stupid question, is spitballing, mindmapping and brainstorming the same thing?
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@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen thanks Marsha, it was fun to write, thank you for persevering with it
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@peteolczyk Do you plan these out first or just start writing and go with the flow of whatever happens?
Nicola Schofield
Twitter: twitter.com/NSchofieldArt
Instagram: instagram.com/NicolaSchofieldArt/ -
@neschof I’m just writing as it plays out in my head.
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I have to say, these prompts made me think of stories I would never come up by myself.
Yesterday's story was very unexpected, but kind of sweet. I ended up with a story idea about chasing a seeminly impossible dream, about friendship, and different perspectives. (The writing is really rough, like a barely readable thumbnail :-).Today, my story idea gets weird, and a bit mean. I wrote the first paragraph, and realized what the story was about. I acutally got uncomfortable with my own thought. The story idea is a letter written by a school kid to a bully boy (the rooster) after he moved away. The whole letter is describing how nice the school has became without the bully rooster boy. The letter ends with a thank you note to the bully's mom, for taking him away from the school. I am having a problem with the moral of the story, so I had to stop.
Here is the googleDoc I will put all the stories from this momth.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fbO3zseYKkad9cmlRO3EvQ1vdIr1-7kBOIODBkN1Ngk/edit?usp=sharing -
Story 2
I want to write so the first story had a cover image like the front of a book, the following will not. Thank you,
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@xin-li that’s interesting and slightly strange that my rambling on this prompt could be interpreted with a bullying theme too.
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@peteolczyk said in kid lit nanowrimo discussion and support:
@Braden-Hallett cheers Braden, stupid question, is spitballing, mindmapping and brainstorming the same thing?
I'm sure there's a difference somehow
I think mindmapping is more of an organized approach using a central concept/theme while brainstorming and spitballing are throwing ideas at the wall to see what sticks.But then, I could be wrong
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@peteolczyk @Braden-Hallett I always took mind mapping as a visual drawing of circles (words) and lines ( like a spider) and brainstorming purely putting down words in a list, and spitballing a verbal activity to stimulate ideas.
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Well, I got something done. It's 11:45pm
Dear Rooster: Life isn’t the same without you. I miss the crazy tuft of hair on top of your head and your crowing howl that woke me up everyday with the sunrise. I named you Rooster because you kind of looked like one and howled like one every morning. You were an odd dog but my best friend in the world. I can’t sleep at night because I miss you and also, I worry that I won’t wake up for school in time!
I miss you at breakfast. You liked eggs, I didn’t. I used to slip them to you under the table but now, I have to eat them all myself! I don't really feel like eating now, anyway.
I miss you when I get in trouble. You would come and put your head on my lap and whine a little for me. It always made me feel better. I was never alone with you around.
I miss the feeling of your fur under my hand when I rubbed you’re head, the goofy way you twisted your body around and wagged your tail when I came home after school everyday. And you’d do that crowing howl again, I always felt happy with you.
I have your picture by my bed. Sometimes I talk to it and tell you about my day. I think about good times we had together playing in the back yard. Your favorite dirt spot, where you liked to lay around is still there.
Mom and Dad are thinking of getting another puppy. It will be weird to have a different dog around. You were one of a kind. I guess it will be okay though. Just weird. It won't be you. Rest in Peace, Rooster. I’m going to try to go to sleep now. Goodnight.
Pete
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These prompts are pretty challenging for me. It's good though. Hopefully it will start to spark some ideas. It helps to see what others are comign up with. It might help me to think outside the "block"
Marsha Ottum Owen
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@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen it can be challenging to come up with something that doesn't resonate, that's for sure
Sometimes you get something worth pursuing from the exercise, though. -
I'm curious, what is everyone's target age group? Are you writing board books? Picture books? Who are you planning to have read these stories?
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@Braden-Hallett
I would say picture books for the main focus. But my rooster loving wolf may not fit in that category, unless I made it more about friendship, lols. Today’s I wrote notes on but not written out but it be much closer to a picture book as well because I can visualize some of the scenes, that’s why I like writing very visually descriptively.
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@Braden-Hallett for this month where i write from a daily prompt i don't go for an age group specifically. So i really just write down what comes to mind. But when it comes to serious job i am open to illustration of children's books as well as making comics for young adults. I am still developing my style and haven't come to a definite conclusion yet
