Story Map: Story Deconstruction Notes I

            The first draft of my middle grade novel came from a story idea following “the hero’s journey” (Vogler), “vein of gold” (Cameron) inspiration, and sitting down every day for about three months and writing almost nonstop. “In flow” while writing the novel, I allowed surprises to surface.  After letting story simmer for a couple of years, I used the “almost nonstop” method again to complete a rewrite this fall. My manuscript required new sections for subplot, deleting of some passages, and all chapters to undergo an intensive, thoughtful reworking.

The nonstop experience allows all of the story points and details to be at the tip of a writer’s tongue, mind, and fingertips. A writer can zip throughout the manuscript in continuity changes with the speed of fingers on caffeine.

How to begin was the gigantic problem. I started at my gold vein to ponder story. I considered story structure and the hero’s journey. I found edge and hope. After a struggle worthy of the words “writer’s block,” I developed story deconstruction notes. This is my one step at a time way to focus on story.

First, write what the story is about in one sentence. Example of a major conflict sentence: Dorothy journeys through Oz to overcome challenges and get home. Note to writer: expect to revise every few days.

Next, make a list of these words and your response after each: title, genre, setting (time and place), narrator, point of view (be precise), tone, tense. Note to writer: expect to revise the title every few weeks.

Now, list these thought-provoking story concepts: themes, motifs, symbols, keywords. These seem to be the similar, but list nuanced responses for each. The goal is to deconstruct your story in a concise manner.

Finally, state the plot in a few words. Under plot, outline problems, solution tools, and resolutions with responses for each. Next, list or outline subplot conflicts and resolutions. Remember to be concise by limiting yourself to a line (a small font works for this exercise) or so.

Remember the saying, real writing arises during the rewriting.

More story deconstruction notes will be in the next Story Map post, Story Deconstruction Notes II.

 

FINDING FLOW: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ENGAGEMENT WITH EVERYDAY LIFE by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Basic Books/Perseus, 1997).

 

In addition, on story structure mapping:

YA author (Faithful is my favorite) Janet Fox posted (December 2013) a great summary of well-known plot structures on her blog, Through the Wardrobe. It is perfect for the writer trying to map visually. Thanks, Janet! 

Janet’s Through the Wardrobe post:

http://kidswriterjfox.blogspot.com/2013/12/i-have-always-had-trouble-with-plotting.html

Or download Janet’s Plot Paradigm Compilation in pdf from her website;

http://janetsfox.com/faqs/a-plot-paradigm-compilation/

 

Note earlier LIN posts:

Story Map: Gold Vein, September 2013

Story Map: Edge and Hope, November 2011

Story Map: The Journey, March 2011

 

CLOUD KEY & Milne Essay on Cupboards

Which Way?
2012 Linnea Heaney

Click on post labels for archives.

about children's literature: illuminating children’s books

 

authors: author Q&A 

essays: Linnea’s notes 

for early literacy: informing literacy activities

illustrators: illustrator Q&A

LIN little corners: children’s activity ideas 

Linnea's reading corner: on Linnea’s publications 

on art: art and literature 

on poetry: poetry focus

on writing: about writing, the writing life 

reading corner: book titles to look up 

story map: on crafting a manuscript

words: words to contemplate



Guest essay from A.A. Milne (in public domain):

http://essays.quotidiana.org/milne/cupboard/

Linnea's Website

https://www.linneaheaney.com/

Linnea's Illuminated Notes

https://linneaheaney.blogspot.com/

Linnea's Illustrated Stories

https://writerlinnea.blogspot.com/

Poetry Q & A With David L. Harrison

Learning about poetry informs all of my writing. I’ve asked poet David L. Harrison to answer three questions for writers entering the world of poetry for children. Thank you for the thoughtful answers and resources, David.


What are a few of the key elements that mark the good poetry being written for children today?

What a puzzle that is! Two poems side by side could conceivably have the same number of words, equal lengths of line, identical rhyme schemes and metric patterns. They might have the same number of stanzas, be on the same subject, even be written by the same poet. Yet one poem turns out brilliantly and the other fails. Jean Karl, a highly respected children’s editor, used to say that picture books were like soap bubbles. They either floated or they didn’t. You couldn’t fix one; you simply went on to another. I think the same can be said of a poem. No matter how hard you try to perfect them, some pop with disappointment while others seem to float on their own with little conscious effort by the poet.

 Nevertheless, the poet remains aware of the basic elements of poetry. What is the point of what’s being said? It isn’t enough to begin laying out rhymes or painting imagery willy-nilly. If meter is to be used, it must be applied evenly and consistently throughout the established pattern. The techniques are there and the poet learns how to use them. But they are tools in a tool box. The vision, the plan, the architect’s sketches, come from the poet and cannot be found among the tools.

What guides your choices when writing lyrical lines?

Lyrics sing. Or they aren’t lyrics. Lyrical lines hum in my head as I write. I smile, sometimes, at how good they sound. I frown, often, at a rough edge that stops me in mid-hum to wonder what I could possibly have been thinking when I wrote the line that way. When I walk down the hall from my office to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, I nearly always whistle. It’s an old habit that probably irritates others, but I can’t seem to stop. I almost never whistle the same tune. Some are old chestnuts from high school days; some are from musicals; some move as quickly as the cadence of my steps on productive mornings; some drag like funeral dirges on slow beginnings.

In other words, lyrical lines fit the mood, the time, the place, the tone of the poem. If my writing is excited by a child running through it, my lines will be peppy and short. If I’m inspired by the doves in our maple tree, my lyrical lines will coo gently and take their time revealing their meaning. My sense of purpose guides my selection of words and how they form the lines of my message.

Which children’s literature poets do you read today for inspiration?

First, a reader prospecting for good poetry should know that poetry is hard to sell in large printings and most publishers won’t deal with it. The amount of space allocated to poetry in a typical store is minimal and often represents collections by the best known names in our business. There’s certainly nothing wrong with reading the works of the most recognized writers of children’s poetry except that the menu, when limited only to the works of a dozen people or so, is limited to a small ensemble of voices out of the full choir out there singing their hearts out.

Anthologies give us an excellent opportunity to read samples of poems by poets whose names might be less widely known. The internet is providing wonderful opportunities to meet many poets simply by looking at their blogs and websites.

Renee La Tulippe is building a fine online collection of poems on video.

No Water River

Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell are creating a growing number of e-book anthologies.

Poetry Tag Time

Falling Down the Page and other good collections of poems have been edited by Georgia Heard.

Falling Down the Page

J. Patrick Lewis, our current Poet Laureate of Children’s Literature, introduces 200 poems about animals by poets all over the world for National Geographic.

Book of Animal Poetry

Lee Bennett Hopkins has set a record with 113 anthologies on a wide variety of subjects that feature numerous poets.

Sara Holbrook has recorded some of her excellent work.

YouTube

Thank you very much for inviting me to your blog!

David

Cowboys (Wordsong, 2012) is David L. Harrison’s latest book. Readers of all ages will find the poems about cowboys engaging and fun to read aloud. The illustrations by Dan Burr are filled with the movement of horses, cattle, and personable characters. Connecting the Dots is David’s blog. And I see that David posted a wonderful poem and comment yesterday at Poetry At Play.
Connecting the Dots
Poetry At Play