Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Daily Log, Monday, June 22, 2009

Submitted by Lilless McPherson Shilling


Today we moved to a new room because the Young Writers Camp has so many people. (Good news for them.) Our new room is more intimate.


Teri asked us to write about mentors and mentoring. This led to a good discussion of who have been our mentors and whom we have mentored.


We discussed Stephen King’s book On Writing. Following are some of the key points people made:
I trusted his judgment because I saw his journey.
He shared his imperfections. People don’t want to read about perfect people.
I liked that he talked about four to five hours a day of reading.
It’s okay to copy someone else’s style.
We have a tendency to separate our writing from literature.


Amy led us through a mini-lesson where we combined character and place and added plot by using filmmaking techniques. She asked us to visualize a person with whom we have had a complex relationship. First we described the person’s hands. Then we visualized something characteristic those hands would do. Then she said, “Take the camera lens and focus on where this person is.” Finally she asked us to introduce a story, a plot line. Our work based on this exercise was creative and emotional.


We spent the rest of our time working in the computer room until we met to discuss our homework for Tuesday.

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