Category: Writing

Writing

Killer Concepts: What’s Your Point?

Kirsten W. Larson

Welcome to the second installment in the “Killer Concepts” series where we’re exploring:

  • What makes a killer concept when it comes to a nonfiction (or any) book?
  • What makes an idea jump out from a writer’s notebook and demand to be written?
  • What makes editors snap it up?
  • And what makes readers flock to the book and keep turning the pages?

(NOTE: If you want to explore these ideas in detail in a workshop environment, I invite you to join me for “Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book” beginning June 8 at online The Writing Barn. Learn more and sign up here.)

Last month we looked at the first test: the logine test from Blake Snyder’s SAVE THE CAT. It’s a test focused on the external elements of the story — the character, basic plot, and the hooks that will pull readers (and editors) in. Today, we are going to shift focus to the internal and universal.

The Story Genius Approach

Many authors have read Lisa Cron’s books, STORY GENIUS and WIRED FOR STORY. This test comes from STORY GENIUS, and it’s simple indeed. Cron encourages us to ask “What’s Your Point?” It’s a question she asks even the youngest writers as they work to squeeze meaning from simple story prompts. She argues that writers must begin making their point on the very first page.

Cron’s question forces us to look at two things: the universal theme (or takeaway, as I like to call it) and the protagonist’s internal conflict and arc.

The Takeaway (your point)

The best nonfiction books aren’t simply collections of interesting facts. That’s for newspapers or magazines or even the internet. There has to be a larger meaning or takeaway for young readers. What message will resonate with them when they close the book? What will they take to heart in the process of reading the story? This is the takeaway.

The best way I know to get to the takeaway is to ask Cron’s question: “What’s your point?” Here’s “the point” for some of my books:

  • Failure is to be expected, and perseverance pays off — WOOD, WIRE, WINGS, illus. Tracy Subisak
  • Anyone can be a hero and change the world —A TRUE WONDER, illus. Katy Wu
  • Discovering something new takes curiosity, hard work, and perseverance. — THE FIRE OF STARS, illus. Katherine Roy
This is the book cover for THE FIRE OF STARS, illus. Katherine Roy

All of my books are narrative. Yet, “what’s the point?” works for expository books too. One of my favorite expository books is Melissa Stewart’s PIPSQUEAKS, SLOWPOKES, AND STINKERS, illus. Stephanie Laberis. Stewart’s point is that sometimes what we see as weaknesses are really strengths. What a powerful point for kids!

This is the cover for Pipsqueaks, Slowpokes, and Stinkers by Melissa Stewart, illustrated by Stephanie Laberis

Your point, your plot

Once you have your “point” in place, it becomes the endpoint for the book. That’s where your character’s journey winds up. So who is your character at the beginning? Where do they start? It should be as far away as possible from where they wind up. That way, their journey can be long and difficult and filled with ups and downs (plot events) that will help them learn the point.

In nonfiction, we don’t make things up, but it’s all about choices. We choose where to start the journey and where it ends. We choose what plot events contribute to the point we are trying to make. If you don’t know your point, you can’t know your plot.

Expository books may not have a plot, but they do have readers who change and come to a new understanding through reading the book. Your “point” (takeaway) is still an endpoint and likely makes up the last spread of your picture book. So where is your reader at the beginning? What assumptions or misbeliefs are they toiling under? What examples will best make your point and change your reader’s thinking? What order should they be arranged for maximum effect?

Talking about takeaway is something we do in the very first week of my nonfiction revision class, because I truly believe the point we are trying to make as writers influences every choice we make in terms of structure, voice, and more. You may not know your point in your first draft. Drafting may even help you find your point, but it’s critical to lock it down in revision.

Writing

Killer concepts: the logline test

Kirsten W. Larson

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what makes a killer concept when it comes to a book. What makes an idea jump out from the lists of possibilities in my writer’s notebook and demand to be written? What makes editors snap it up? And what makes readers flock to the book and keep turning the pages? In other words, what’s that special sauce that makes nonfiction books sizzle?

This is a gallery with covers of SAVE THE CAT, THE FIRE OF STARS, and ANIMAL ARCHITECTS.
This is a gallery with covers of SAVE THE CAT, THE FIRE OF STARS, and ANIMAL ARCHITECTS.
This is a gallery with covers of SAVE THE CAT, THE FIRE OF STARS, and ANIMAL ARCHITECTS.

Concept and (or) Story

Whether a project is “book worthy” comes down to the overall concept and story, often more than the subject matter itself. Over the next couple of months, we’ll examine a variety of tests to help us hone our nonfiction story ideas until they sing using techniques from story experts like Blake Snyder, Lisa Cron, and others. First up, is one of my go-to’s for every book project, Blake Snyder and SAVE THE CAT.

This is the book cover of SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder.

Save The Cat – The Logline (or one-line) test

In his seminal book, SAVE THE CAT: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need, Blake Snyder describes the initial test for a movie concept — the logline. A logline is a “one- or two-sentence description of your movie that tells us what it is.” And he encourages budding screenwriters to study loglines so they can learn to craft their own and make their projects as compelling as possible.

A Case Study – THE FIRE OF STARS

Here’s the logline for THE FIRE OF STARS: The Life and Brilliance of the Woman Who Discovered What Stars Are Made Of, illus. Katherine Roy, from Publisher’s Marketplace.

Kirsten Larson’s CECILIA PAYNE: MAKING OF A STAR (SCIENTIST), a biography of the groundbreaking female astronomer who discovered the composition of stars, and whose story mirrors the process of star formation, illustrated by Katherine Roy, to Melissa Manlove at Chronicle Children’s…

This is THE FIRE OF STARS book cover

What Makes a Great Logline?

Snyder says a great logline needs four things:

  • irony
  • a compelling mental picture
  • a sense of audience and cost
  • a killer title

Let’s take a closer look.

Irony

First up, the irony test. It’s not contained within the logline, but the irony in THE FIRE OF STARS’s concept lies in a 25-year-old doctoral student (and a woman!) making a tremendous discovery at a time when women were practically barred from the field. A quick Google search about Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin brings that irony to light, and this underdog element is common source of irony for picture book biographies.

But irony is not just for narrative projects. It can be even more important for expository nonfiction. Let’s look at a wonderful book a fellow writer recently brought to my attention.

This is the book cover for ANIMAL ARCHITECTS by Amy Cherrix

Amy Cherrix’s ANIMAL ARCHITECTS, a nonfiction book that showcases the many amazing ways and things that animals build, illustrated by Chris Sasaki, to Andrea Welch at Beach Lane Books, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal…

In this example, the irony is right in the title. People are architects; animals can’t be architects, or can they? Oh, the irony! That unexpected juxtaposition of ideas pulls us in.

A Compelling Mental Picture

The second test is whether the logline creates a compelling mental picture. It’s clear from THE FIRE OF STARS logline that the book is two stories in one, a tightly woven tale of star formation and Cecilia’s formation as a scientist. It answers the question, “What does it take to make a great scientist?” And you can start to visualize what this dual story might look like on the page as Cecilia’s story and the star story interact and mirror each other.

With ANIMAL ARCHITECTS’s logline, we also get a compelling mental picture. We know we’ll see animals in the act of building, drawing on the same process and terminology architects use. We expect to see animal structures too. Our brains are already buzzing with what this might look like. Are we talking about honey combs? Spiderwebs? Beaver lodges? The idea is rich with STEM tie ins. And we can visualize how a savvy illustrator like Sasaki might bring this idea to life, drawing on the trappings of architecture.

A Sense of Audience and Cost

In query letters (and deal announcements), we establish the audience and cost when we choose the category/format/genre. Just by calling a book a “nonfiction picture book,” we know it will be 32 pages (or more), illustrated, and for the audience of elementary-age readers but read to them by the adults in their life. Chapter books, early readers, graphic novels, and middle grade nonfiction all have built in audiences and costs based upon page counts and whether the format is illustrated.

A Killer Title

I’ll admit, I’m terrible with titles. Normally, my initial title is not what ends up on the front of the book. Still, it’s important to capture the unique elements of your book in a strong title that will invite editors to snap it up and readers to pick it up.

My initial title for THE FIRE OF STARS was CECILIA PAYNE: MAKING OF A STAR (SCIENTIST). It tells you flat out who the protagonist is — Cecilia Payne. It also tells you this book is about astronomy, the making of stars, and perhaps will focus more on Cecilia Payne’s childhood and development as an astronomer versus her achievements. Plus, the mirror structure is revealed in the title itself.

Similarly, with ANIMAL ARCHITECTS the books’ unique hooks are in the title. I know this is an animal book, but it isn’t going to be boring old, traditional nonfiction that simply describes animal builders in an encyclopedic way. Cherrix has given us a metaphor — animals as architects. I’m expecting her to continue this metaphor inside the book with nods to architecture terminology and a focus on structures animals create. Perhaps the art will even incorporate architecture and architectural plans (which it does, especially with the title on the cover).

A killer title isn’t a requirement, as they often change during the editing process. But a killer title can certainly help sell your concept.

Honing your logline skills

The best way to learn to write loglines is to study them, either in Publisher’s Marketplace (subscription required) of the Publishers Weekly Children’s Bookshelf (free, twice weekly newsletter). Sometimes the loglines in the deal announcements originate with the editor, other times the agent. But in all cases, if an author has crafted a compelling logline, you’ll find its DNA in the deal announcement and even later in the publisher’s marketing literature.

Your turn

If you are outlining or revising a nonfiction project, what’s your logline? Read through some current deal announcements in PW Children’s Bookshelf, then write your own. Make sure there’s a sense of irony, a compelling mental picture, an idea of audience and cost, and that killer title that will make your book stand out from the pack.

If your logline isn’t compelling enough, it means your book concept likely isn’t compelling enough. You might need to revise and refocus the idea to find a more compelling angle.

Want to make your nonfiction stand out from the pack?

Join me for my six-week course at The Writing Barn, where we’ll cover techniques for revising and polishing your nonfiction picture books until they shine.

We’ll use a blend of instruction, mentor-text analysis, in-class writing exercises, and discussion to take your writing to the next level. Every student will receive a critique of a nonfiction picture book from me.  Learn more here.

Education, Homeschool, Science/Math, Writing

Mnemonics: Crafting creative memory aids

Kirsten W. Larson

A mnemonic is a clever and creative way to remember something, using a pattern, sentence, or phrase. You may use “ROY G BIV” to remember the spectrum of light: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. Some people use “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos” to recall the order of the planets starting closest to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

Recalling Star Classifications

In Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin’s day, people used a mnemonic to remember the classifications of the stars, a system developed by Harvard’s Annie Jump Cannon. The color classes from hottest to coolest are O (blue), B (bluish), A (blue-white), F (white), yellow-white (G), orange (K), and red (M), as you can see in the image below. You can learn more about star classification at ScienceNotes.org.

This image shows the colors of the stars from hottest to coldest.

In those days, they used the mnemonic, “Oh, Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me” to remember the star classes. Today, some have updated it to “Old Bob Always Favors Green Ketchup More.”

You try

Can you think on another mnemonic to remember star classes?

Is there something else you want to remember? Could you develop a mnemonic to help you remember it? Now draw a picture to accompany your phrase.

The Fire of Stars

Learn more about astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who discovered star ingredients, in THE FIRE OF STARS. The helped lay the foundation for future scientists to discover why stars have such tremendous energy and why they burn so brightly.

Education, Writing

Adding book hooks with domain-specific language

Kirsten W. Larson

The Common Core ELA standards for grades 3 and up invite students to explore words that are specific to a field of study. The standards call this “domain-specific language.” That’s a fancy way of saying vocabulary words that often appear in glossaries or bolded in textbooks. The concept is introduced in grade 3, where students learn how to figure out what these words mean in context. Older students incorporate domain-specific language in their own informational writing.

If you’ve read my books, you know I love domain-specific language, whether it’s aviation-related words in WOOD, WIRE, WINGS or astronomy-related words in THE FIRE OF STARS. I know that using rich vocabulary in picture books, especially domain-specific vocabulary, adds another hook to my books. It offers one more way my books can be used in classroom, specifically in ELA lessons.

Exploring domain-specific language

With domain-specific language, a little bit goes a long way. If you go overboard, your book can start to lose its musicality and read more like a textbook. We don’t want that.

To see how writers strike a balance, I encourage you to grab a stack of recent nonfiction or informational picture books off your library or bookstore’s shelves. If you see a glossary or list of “key terms” you’ve definitely found a winner, though not all books include them. Mine don’t.

If you need some recommendations, here are a few recent picture book titles I grabbed from my current library stack that do domain-specific language really well:

Making the most of mentor texts

Once you have your mentor texts, go ahead and read them. Jot down any domain-specific language you find. Then consider:

  • Are the vocabulary words easily understood within the context of the page?
  • How do the images add to the reader’s understanding of the words?
  • Does the book include text features like definitions on the page? Or are the words defined in a glossary?
  • What is the balance of these new vocabulary words compared to the rest of the book text?

An example

This spread from THE FIRE OF STARS reads: “shrinking and smashing — and Cecilia’s sphere feels smaller and smaller still when she realizes her new school is a black hole with none of her favorite classes.

No algebra. No German. No cinch. Not even any friends for a shy and studious girl like her…”

This book includes two vocabulary words related to astronomy/STEM — “sphere” and “black hole,” though I use them metaphorically. I don’t define either in a glossary or in a sidebar. Yet by studying the pictures and words together, readers can get the idea of what the words mean. Notice Katherine Roy’s gray circular marks, which help define Cecilia’s space and convey the idea that all the light and joy is being sucked away, much like a real black hole’s gravity prevents light from escaping. The dark colors in the illustrations reinforce that idea of a black hole, as does the repetition of the word “no.” Cecilia’s world has an absence of anything joyful and bright, an emptiness, like that real black hole.

Now you try

Are you working on a manuscript where you could inject some domain-specific language to add another hook? Can you do this (sparingly, please)? Do you need a glossary or sidebars to explain the words, or can you rely on the context of your words and potential illustrations?

Please let me know in the comments if you have any breakthroughs!

Writing

Revision Tip: Unwriting Your Draft

Kirsten W. Larson

One of the biggest challenges of writing is making sure what’s in your head actually ends up on the page. It can be tricky, especially when you get so attached to all those lovely lines and individual word choices. How can you zoom out to take a big-picture view? I like to use a technique called “unwriting.”

I first learned about unwriting from Renee LaTulippe’s Lyrical Language Lab. Renee defines unwriting as the process of stripping away all the craft and technique from the writing. For me, that means briefly summarizing what I’ve written on every page or two-page spread. It’s essentially outlining, but instead of summarizing what I plan to write on each page, I’m summarizing what’s already there. In fact, some people call this technique “reverse outlining.”

Once I’ve unwritten/outlined what’s on the page, I can analyze it to see what work my words are doing. Are they summarizing my big idea? Providing an example? Are they describing character? Building the world? Is this moment the inciting incident or all is lost moment? What am I missing?

Get some practice

To practice this technique, pull out a favorite picture book. It could be poetry or prose. Fiction or nonfiction. It doesn’t matter. Going spread-by-spread, summarize what is happening on each two-page spread. You can label each spread “Spread 1,” “Spread 2,” etc.

Here’s an example from THE FIRE OF STARS, which I unwrote a few days before I pieced together the parallel storylines.

This is a page from the book showing young Cecilia in the snow feeling it for herself.

Spread 1

Cecilia throws a fit until her mother puts her down in the snow so she can feel it for herself. It isn’t soft and warm like she expected. She realizes things aren’t what they seem. And she knows it’s the same with her too. [Character into and characterization]

Spread 2

She looks like other schoolgirls, but Cecilia likes to play outside in the garden, getting dirty, playing in the trees watching nature. [Characterization]

Speed 3

One day she figures out all by herself why a flower looks like a bee. She wants to feel that feeling again so she decides to be a scientist and study nature. [Inciting incident/quest kicks off]

This image is from the book showing Cecilia discovering why a flower looks like a bee.

You get the idea…

By unwriting my spreads, I was able to see what each one was contributing to the story. This was essential for constructing a parallel story. I went through the same process for the star’s story, summarizing step-by-step how they form. Only then could I line up the two stories to see how they worked together. The final step, after I had the structure in place, was to turn my attention to the lyrical language (which I wrote about here).

Now you try

After you’ve practiced this technique on a couple of favorite picture books, it’s time to test it out on a draft that’s giving you trouble. Unwrite/reverse outline your draft by summarizing each section or spread. Then analyze: are your scenes or examples unfolding in a logical way? What work is each scene/spread doing? If you are working with a narrative, does this spread introduce characters, provide glimpses into characters, build the world or convey major plot points?

This process is especially helpful for understanding the structure of expository picture books, which use non-narrative structures like “list” or “compare and contrast” or “question and answer.” If you text is expository, is this spread conveying your big idea, an example that makes your point, or is this a conclusion?

And no matter what you are writing, is your point clear, or did your lovely language get in the way? Did you get what was in your head onto the page?

Make any adjustments you need to your outline/unwritten draft BEFORE translating it back into lovely language.

Happy revising!

Writing

Creating luminous, lyrical nonfiction voice

Kirsten W. Larson

THE FIRE OF STARS, written by me, illustrated by Katherine Roy (Chronicle Books) releases in just 18 days, and I’m getting excited. It’s hard to believe it’s been 8 and a half years since I wrote my first draft of this (now) lyrical nonfiction book. It certainly didn’t start out that way.

Here’s the opening of the book, which I’ve transcribed below:

This is the opening spread of THE FIRE OF STARS


Wrapped in a blanket of sparkling space, 
an unformed star waits for its bright future to begin.
Cecilia kicks and cries.
Until her mother
sets her down
so Cecilia can feel with her own tiny toes
the cold and crackly snow,
which isn’t soft and warm like she expected.
It’s the first time Cecilia learns things aren’t always as they seem.

–THE FIRE OF STARS

An earlier draft my agent saw read much differently. Here it is:

“[Cecilia] was full of surprises and driven by a curiosity as wide as the universe. Young Cecilia spent hours outside watching slimy slugs slink through her garden, picking out constellations in the night sky, and counting trees among her best friends.”

What changed? Aside from starting with one, concrete scene, I learned to write lyrically thanks to Renee LaTulippe’s Lyrical Language Lab. That class was transformative for my writing, and today I want to focus on one thing I learned in that class, the use of sound devices. Sound devices add musicality to our writing, helping us set a specific mood.

Sound Devices

Renee discusses sound devices in this video on her Lyrical Language Lab YouTube channel. Some of the elements she covers include:

  • alliteration
  • assonance
  • consonance
  • rhyme

Let’s look at each sound device in turn with examples to see how it adds to the lyrical voice I’ve chosen.

Alliteration

Alliteration is when words that are close together start with the same letter or sound. For example, “Wrapped in a blanket of sparkling space,/ an unformed star waits for its bright future to begin./Cecilia kicks and cries.”

In this passage, I’ve started many word with the soft “s” sound, giving the first couple of lines a hushed sound, like a baby sleeping. Then I pivot to a sharp “k” sound for “kicks and cries” and “cold and crackly snow” mimicking the sharp cries of a baby (and the harsh snow). That’s alliteration, and I’ve used it to create a specific effect.

Assonance

This phrases above also have examples of assonance, including bright/cries and own/toes/snow. You might also notice that I picked a lot of long vowel sounds, which add the overall soft/hushed tone of the opening.

Consonance

Consonance is when words close to each other have the same consonant sound anywhere in the words. A good example of this is in the very first line, which is peppered with “p” sounds: “Wrapped in a blanket of sparkling space…” Again, these are soft consonant sounds adding to quiet mood of snow-covered stillness and of wonder.

Rhyme

In prose picture books, we don’t usually use end rhyme, but we can use internal rhyme. Internal rhyme is when words in the middle of a line rhyme. Later in the book, I have a line that reads :”Cecilia is forced to say hello to city streets full of strangers/ and good-bye to the company of trees and bees.” Trees rhymes with bees, a good example of internal rhyme.

Your Turn

Ready to apply some of these sound devices to your own work?

Think about your draft and the mood you are trying to create. Is it quiet and soothing filled with soft consonants and long vowel sounds? Or is it active and playful, with hard consonants and short vowels?

Once you’ve decided your approach, you can use tools like Thesaurus.com (for help with alliteration and consonance) and Rhymezone.com (for assonance and internal rhyme). How could you transform a sentence like “The kite flies through the air?” using the thesaurus and Rhymezone?

You could try, “The kite glides through the sky” for extra assonance. Or “The kite swoops through the sky” for alliteration. What else can you come up with? Do any of these alter the mood?

Adding musicality isn’t hard. The key with sound devices is not to overdo them. Too much alliteration, for example, can cause the reader to stumble over the words. Always read your work out loud to make sure it’s both clear and musical.

To read THE FIRE OF STARS, ask your library to order a copy or order your own. THE FIRE OF STARS is still available for preorder wherever books are sold! You can buy signed copies (with a preorder bonus postcard) through Once Upon a Time (scroll down my FIRE OF STARS page for the link.)

Education, History, Homeschool, Writing

Real Life Wonders Activity

Kirsten W. Larson

Each month, I’ll spotlight a book-based educational activity teachers and homeschooling parents can use with their students. These activities are pulled from the educators’ guides developed for my books by author and former educator Marcie Colleen. You can download the full A TRUE WONDER educator’s guide here.

This is an image of a female volunteer

Every day we are surrounded by people who quietly fight for the common good or stand up for what they believe is right. These outstanding individuals show what the power one person has to impact our neighborhoods and communities.

Who are the superheroes in your community? Interview and write a report or make a presentation about someone in your own community who you think makes a positive impact. This can be done as a whole class, in groups, or as individuals. Here are some things you can discuss:

  • Why you believe this person to be a hero to the neighborhood and community.
  • Describe the person activity/activities that significantly benefitted their neighborhood.
  • How long has the hero contributed to the neighborhood? What was their most recent activity?
  • Describe the creative and innovative methods used by the hero to benefit their neighborhood.
  • Include any other interesting information relevant to the hero’s activities.
  • What is this hero’s impact to the neighborhood and/or community at large? Include documentation such as pamphlets, articles, presentations, photographs, newsclippings, letters of support, etc. if applicable.

Present these reports to the class. Invite the heroes for a “Real Life Wonder” celebration.

Writing

The Plot Power of “Because of That”

Kirsten W. Larson

For me, one of the most difficult parts of writing nonfiction (or any narrative, really) is choosing what fascinating parts of the story to include and what to delete because it doesn’t fit the focus of the book. One of my most valuable tools for figuring out what belongs is three simple words: “because of that.”

The story spine

I first learned about linking plot points with the phrase “because of that” in this Pixar/Khan Academy video about story spines, pictured below. Once the main character sets off to pursue her big goal in Act 2, her choices should drive the action. “Because of that” ensures that each action and each choice in the second act leads directly to the next. If you can fit “because of that” between your plot points, then your main character has agency.

But what if “because of that” doesn’t fit? What if your plot is more like, “This happened, and then that happened, and then that happened.” If you are using “and then” to link your plot points, that’s a strong indicator that your plot is a random collection of events happening to your protagonist. You need to reevaluate. Who is driving the action? Does each scene have a connection to the protagonist’s big goal?

An example

Let’s look at THE FIRE OF STARS as an example. Cecilia Payne was such a fascinating woman, and there was so much I wanted to include in the book. At one time, the book included all kinds of tidbits, including the fact that when Cecilia won a prize at school and could pick any book she wanted, she selected a textbook about fungi. Though this fact was interesting, it didn’t have real bearing on the Cecilia’s lifelong quest to discover something new, so I ultimately discarded it. In a novel, I might have had the space to keep the scene to illuminate Cecilia’s character, but in a picture book I had to be ruthless.

Let’s look at a plot outline for THE FIRE OF STARS, and you’ll see what I mean.

  1. Once upon a time there was a young girl, Cecilia Payne, who was captivated by the natural world.
  2. Everyday she studied trees and flowers.
  3. Until one day, she discovered on her own why a bee orchid looked like a bee, and her whole body hummed with that discovery. In that moment, she decided she wanted to feel like that her whole life.
  4. But Cecilia’s family moved to London to find a better school for her brother, and because of that, Cecilia went to a new school with no space for a curious girl like her.
  5. Because of that, she hid out in a secret place — a dusty science lab for older girls.
  6. Because of that, she taught herself about science, and soon required a science tutor who gave Cecilia her first book on astronomy.
  7. Because of that, Cecilia was accepted to Cambridge University to study botany (because girls couldn’t study astronomy).
  8. Because of that, she took science classes where teachers wanted her to learn facts, not learn anything new.
  9. Because of that, she jumped at the chance to hear astronomer Arthur Eddington talk about his new discoveries at a lecture.
  10. Because of that, she switched her studies to physics where she was the only woman and teased by the men.
  11. Because of that, when she graduated and learned there was no place for women in astronomy at Cambridge, she moved to America to work at Harvard College Observatory.
  12. Because of that, she was surrounded by glass plates capturing the essence of stars and women who cataloged them.
  13. Because of that, Cecilia studied the star ingredients for her thesis, but grew frustrated when she couldn’t make out their meaning. But she stuck with it.
  14. Until finally, she made her groundbreaking discovery about what makes the stars — and our universe.
  15. And ever since that day, other astrophysicists have used Cecilia’s discovery to ask new questions and make more amazing discoveries about our universe.
  16. And the moral of the story is that what makes a scientist is curiosity, passion, hard work, and belief in oneself.

By using “because of that” I’ve made sure Cecilia is driving her own story and that every action has a consequence that forces Cecilia to make another choice in a smooth chain of cause and effect.

Your turn

Grab a narrative draft (nonfiction or fiction) and outline your plot using the story spine. Are you able to use the words “because of that” between your plot points? Or is it a bunch of “and then this?” What adjustments do you need to make to your plot a series of causes and effects?

One more thing

If you want to study THE FIRE OF STARS, illus. Katherine Roy, more closely, the book will release Feb. 7, 2023 from Chronicle Books. It’s a lyrical, double read aloud with Cecilia’s story told alongside the story of star formation. You can preorder it now wherever books are sold. You’ll find all the buy links here. Or ask your local library to purchase a copy.

Writing

Writing Tips: Writing More With NaNoWriMo

Kirsten W. Larson

If you’re a writer or a writing teacher, you’ve probably heard of National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. Every November, writers around the world attempt the big, audacious goal of writing a 50,000-word novel in a month. These drafts are not meant to be New York Times best sellers, but rather messy drafts full of plot holes and gaps that will be filled in and shaped later. In other words, these drafts are a starting point.

I’ll be honest. I’ve never “won” NaNoWriMo by hitting 50K words. But when I commit to to the process (as I am this year in an attempt to finish a middle grade historical fantasy), I always write more than I would otherwise. A lot of writing is overcoming resistance and excuses that keep us from getting started. For me, those excuses are things like “but I haven’t done all the research,” or “I haven’t finished my plot outline.” Honestly, I could ALWAYS spend more time researching or outlining and never put a single word on the page. Who’s with me there?

Yet once I overcome my internal resistance and start writing, I know it’s easier to keep writing. For me, that’s what NaNoWriMo is about — finding that inertia (a writer in motion stays in motion). Maybe it’s just for a month, but sometimes that inertia carries me into December or at least until I run into a big fat editorial deadline.

Bottom line, NaNo is about finding the motivation and the time to get the words down on the page so you have something to work with later. And it can be incredibly useful even if you aren’t writing a novel.

So here’s your challenge…Find a length of time — a month or even just a week — grab a few writing friends, and commit to writing something every day. Here are some ideas to get you started.:

  • Set a timer and write something (anything) for 15 minutes a day. Put an x on your calendar each day you do.
  • If you’re a picture book writer or illustrator, work on one two-page spread each day.
  • Write a poem every day, just to flex your writing muscles.
  • If you’re at the revision stage, why not commit to revising a chapter a day for a month?
  • OR hit whatever your daily word count goal is (for me, it’s 1,000 a day each weekday).

Anything you do is progress.

The NaNoWriMo website has some wonderful resources for preparing to write a novel, which you can use all year long. You’ll find them here.

And if you are a teacher working with young writers, NaNo has a Young Writers Program with writing challenges throughout the year. Learn more and sign your class up here.

If you’re doing NaNoWriMo this year, please let me know. I’ll be cheering you on!