Seize the Story

A Handbook for Teens Who Like to Write

Victoria Hanley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9781000496024
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Arts & Humanities

Do you wish you had a published writer's secrets at your fingertips, ready to help you achieve your goals of publication, success, and the chance to be the next great teen writer? In Seize the Story: A Handbook for Teens Who Like to Write, Victoria Hanley, award-winning author of young adult fiction, spills the secrets for bringing action, adventure, humor, and drama to stories. All of the elements of fiction, from creating believable dialogue to exciting plots, are laid out clearly and illustrated with examples taken straight from story excerpts by excellent writers. The book is packed with writing exercises designed to encourage teens to tell the stories that are theirs alone.

In addition, other published authors of young adult literature share their insights about the writing life. Teens can gain firsthand advice from accomplished writers T. A. Barron, Joan Bauer, Hilari Bell, Chris Crutcher, David Lubar, Lauren Myracle, Todd Mitchell, Nancy Garden, and many more.

Grades 7-12

CHAPTER ONE
FREEING YOUR IMAGINATION

DOI: 10.4324/9781003237907-1

What is now proved was once only imagined.

— William Blake

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

— Albert Einstein

All of the writing techniques in the world can’t take the place of your imagination. It’s your imagination that will give you your stories.

The more you use your imagination, the more it develops. As we go through Seize the Story, there will be many opportunities to open up your imagination. But one thing you can get started on immediately—and keep doing all your life—is freewriting.

Freewriting. Even ten minutes a day of freewriting can expand your imagination in a big way. By freewriting, I mean writing whatever comes to mind. Use good grammar or bad, be neat or very messy, write in a logical way, or make no sense at all. It’s just you and the page, without criticism.

That’s the only rule in freewriting: no criticism. None whatsoever. Your imagination needs a place to run free. Don’t worry about mistakes because mistakes don’t exist in freewriting. Don’t grade yourself. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Dream any dream, follow wild thoughts and heartfelt prayers, record things you want to remember, vent about things you’d like to forget, create poetry, practice your handwriting, or simply doodle. The content isn’t important. The freedom is.

Try writing at different times. Set your alarm for ten minutes early and write while you’re still half asleep. Take a little time the minute you get home from work or school. Write just before you drift off at the end of the day.

Getting Started With Freewriting

Here are a few prompts to get going with freewriting.

Let whatever flows come forth from these beginnings.

I am…

I dream…

Today…

Down deep I know…

Write whatever comes to mind. If you can’t think of anything, write “I can’t think of anything,” and go from there. Just keep writing until the ten minutes are up.

After a few weeks of daily freewriting your imagination will start to expand. When it does, you may be surprised—even if you were highly imaginative to begin with. The more you invite your creative mind to communicate, the more it will show you.

First drafts. When you begin to write a new story, you’ve got nothing but fresh space on your page. What could be better than that?

Ha!

Writer Gene Fowler said, “Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead.”

And he wasn’t even writing horror.

Before writing a novel myself, I had the idea that authors are effortlessly filled with perfect stories. I thought their words began flowing on page one and only stopped flowing when the story was finished.

The truth? First drafts are terrible—at least mine are—and so are those of many other writers. Because of this, I dread starting a new book the way I’d dread living in the middle of an especially disturbing nightmare. Getting through that first draft feels very much like clawing my way through solid rock using only my fingernails.

I don’t usually show people my first attempts at writing a scene, but I’ll make an exception here. This is a small sample of a genuine first draft:

Well, at least I got a sentence out of it. “Dorjan heard wings flapping and saw nothing but creeping fog, a cloudy weight dragging against him” went into my novel The Healer’s Keep. (If you can’t read the handwritten sentence, don’t worry. It’s illegible.)

Not every handwritten page of a first draft is full of crossed-out lines. Sometimes almost a whole paragraph will work out fine and land in a book without having to be rewritten. Not often, though. I’ve frequently thrown away entire pages—even whole chapters. I tell you this so you won’t beat yourself up if your own first drafts don’t match up to your inner vision.

One good thing about first drafts: No one else has to see them as they make their way in murky splendor from the mists of your creative mind. And a first draft will get you to a second draft, which will be better.

I’ve tried to find a way around writing first drafts, but so far it appears that the only way to get through them is … to get through them. I’ve tried to jump from the first draft to the final draft, but that doesn’t seem to work either. Once I have a handwritten first draft, I type it into the computer. Then I print it out and mark it up all over again. It usually takes about twelve drafts before my books are close to readable.

Not every writer does it this way—writers are very individual in how they do things. Some like to type their first drafts. Some like to write in the company of others. Some talk into a tape recorder. Some say, “Three drafts and that’s enough.”

Whatever works!

I admit I’ve met a few authors who say they love writing first drafts. Such people do exist. If you’re one of them, and you thrill to the idea of a first draft, please ignore the preceding paragraphs.

But if you feel the weight of your unwritten story like a mountain of rock ready to crush you, a mountain where you’re stuck until you dig your way out, I want you to know one thing: You’re normal.

Either way, it’s time to seize your story!

Even ten minutes a day of freewriting can expand your imagination in a big way.

CHAPTER TWO
CREATING CHARACTERS

DOI: 10.4324/9781003237907-2

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances…

— William Shakespeare

After reading Chapter One, you may be asking, “Isn’t there anything fun about a first draft?”

Yes. Absolutely yes. There are characters to meet, characters who will lead you into the action of your story, characters you’ll get to know like close friends, characters you’ll come to love.

Where do fictional characters come from? It’s hard to say, especially since different writers have different ideas about it. But I think characters are formed deep in the creative mind in the same place dreams are made.

I always feel a glow when new characters appear. Getting to know them is going to enliven my days for weeks, months, or even years. Does that sound strange? Story characters aren’t real the way you and I are real—they come from the mind of the writer. So what do I mean by saying I’ll get to know them? Aren’t they already known?

Like the storybook Pinocchio—a wooden puppet who transformed into a real boy—fictional characters take on lives of their own, lives that seem real. They have surprising goals and motivations, hopes and fears, flaws and failings.

Many authors of fiction actually feel an imaginary character as a definite presence. I know I do. This doesn’t interfere with my ability to function just fine in my daily life. I’m not talking about getting lost in delusion. I’m talking about working with fictional people as if they’re believable. Real unto themselves. Alive, although imaginary.

If you don’t see your fictional characters vividly in your mind’s eye, that’s all right. You may have a different writing style where characters reveal themselves to you in a more abstract way. There are as many ways to write as there are people writing, and it’s not necessary to see your characters clearly in order to write about them.

But something is necessary for your characters to take their place in your story. Readers must care.

The first reader who must care is the writer. To take a deep interest in your characters, it helps to get to know them.

Meeting a Character of Your Own

Think of something you wish you had the nerve to say but haven’t said. (If you’re the sort of person who always says exactly what’s on your mind, imagine a friend who has trouble saying certain things out loud.)

Now imagine a character who would have no problem saying what you haven’t said but wish you could. Remember, there are no limits to what you can create in fiction. Your character can be anyone or anything at all, from the smallest pixie to the biggest dragon, from a disembodied spirit to a solid six-foot-tall man, from a time-traveling princess to a slave who belongs to a real period in history.

Give yourself a minute or two, and let the character begin to form in your mind. Take your time and don’t force anything. You might see the character in your mind’s eye. You might hear him or her talking in your creative ear. You might simply get a gut feeling for who the character is.

Sometimes it’s helpful to let a character develop gradually over days or weeks. It’s not always an instant process. And sometimes the character will just “appear” fully formed.

Interviewing Your Character

When you begin to have a clear sense of who your character might be, sit down and pretend to interview him or her. You can ask anything at all. Examples: Where do you live? How did you grow up? What are your best qualities? What are your flaws? What do you want? What problems are you facing?

Protagonists and antagonists. A leading char...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Table of Contents
• Chapter One: Freeing Your Imagination
• Chapter Two: Creating Characters
• Chapter Three: Beginnings
• Chapter Four: Setting
• Chapter Five: The Heart of a Writer
• Chapter Six: Writing Dialogue
• Chapter Seven: Showing and Telling
• Chapter Eight: Plotting and Scheming
• Chapter Nine: Conflicts, Middles, and Ends
• Chapter Ten: Polishing Your Writing
• Chapter Eleven: Point of View
• Chapter Twelve: Into the Future
• Chapter Thirteen: Interviews With Authors
• Chapter Fourteen: Questions and Answers
• Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• About the Author
• Index
• Common Core State Standards Alignment