• Educator's Corner

Writing Tips

• Write about things you know and about things that interest you. It would scare me to think of regurgitating over and over again what I already know. As a writer, I would bore you horribly! And I would never become any smarter (for me that's no small task).
• Write about things that give you strong feelings/emotions. Think about it....what scares you? What makes you choke on pop laughing? These things make good stories.
• Good characters are ones that you either love or hate.
• Writing is storytelling. Good writing is good storytelling. It is important to spell well and use good grammar, but that is only the mechanics of writing. What's most important is the story. Some of the best writers I've met were like myself and had a hard time with word mechanics.
• Don't let anything happen in your story unless it helps to make your story better. i.e. Does it help you describe something? Does it help create a character? Does it help advance your plot? If it doesn't help your story, skip it.
• Pretend that your reader has no ears, eyes, smell, feel, etc. By doing this you bring a lot of great description into your writing.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Go out and live as full and as exciting life as you can, then never quit writing about it.

Three places!
1.) Remember your own experiences.
2.) Go ask questions, investigate, and research.
3.) This one is the most important....Use your imagination.

Being born and raised in Bolivia, South America, my skin color was a different color than most other kids. I was sometimes teased for this. I started putting my feelings on a piece of paper because it was safe. Slowly I grew to love writing. After a long time, people started liking the things I wrote, and I was on my way to becoming a published writer.

(Another reason I write is so I won't forget things. One night I thought of a way to earn $1,000,000 in one week. Good idea! The only problem is I went to sleep and forgot my idea. I never did remember it. Now I write everything down.)

Tough question! I always tell myself that my story doesn't have to end happy or sad. I do, however, want my ending to be satisfying. My character may end up losing at the Olympics but he or she might gain something much more important like pride or self worth. I encourage you to write endings that are satisfying.

You can't steer a parked car. You have to get your mind moving. I write down anything that comes to my mind. It might be, my toes are itching, a fly is buzzing around my nose, or the window is dirty. I keep doing this, and pretty soon I'm off and writing because I've gotten my thoughts moving. This really does work. Of course you have to go back and throw away all the silly stuff you wrote before your mind started flying.

YES. I rewrite each of my novels about twelve times. All the good authors I know do the same.

I started when I was about ten years old writing poetry.