Hi everyone,
I had lunch yesterday with a dear friend, LINDA BENSON, a professor emeritus from Missouri State University English Department and always a great companion for a lively, wide-ranging conversation. Among out topics yesterday over burgers and drinks was the Ken Burns documentary in two parts about Mark Twain that Sandy and I watched this week.
We got to talking about how Clemens drew material from his youth as inspiration for his work. We agreed that mining material from childhood comes more naturally to some than to others, and that reminded me of something I sometimes do with students during school visits. It’s the think about it, talk about it, write about it process. Some writers can skip the middle step and go from remembering something to writing about it, but the point of the exercise is that it is easier to write about something once it becomes clearly pictured in the mind. Recalling something that may have happened long ago doesn’t necessarily spring to life all in one piece. That’s why it helps to talk about it, maybe tell it to someone. What first may center on sitting before a bonfire will develop into a fuller picture: the smell of the wood, spiraling smoke, surrounding forest, glimpse of water, boat tied to the dock, mosquitoes, strange noise in the dark, favorite good-luck shirt, marshmallows on a stick, and so on.
For me, by the time I start writing, the memory is clear in my mind. I’m looking at and experiencing what I’m describing. I’ve read some wonderful pieces by kids in school after they thought about and talked about a special memory. Naturally, this technique is not limited to writing about memories. Good writers can see what they are feeling and describing. Sometimes it takes longer to put down that first word than it does to prepare for it in our minds.
Children's Author David L. Harrison's Blog 