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1/22/2022

Writing Tips - Codes and Puzzles

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At Story Club today, we explored ideas on how to write codes and puzzles into a story.
For example a simple, cryptic piece of text where each first letter of each word spells something else. But not too obviously …
For example, in Element Girls: The Lost Goddess, a text is sent:
“Hello. Everything is groovy. Love. Peace.”
The Girls realise it doesn’t quite sound like their friend Amelia and puzzle over it … until they crack the code. Help!
In Paddington 2 or Samantha Spinner and the Super-Secret Plans, a map leads the characters and the reader through a hunt for clues.

The Alethiometer in Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials is a wonderful example of using a code. Each symbol has multiple meanings — strung together, one must be clever or intuitive to find the message. This reminded me of runes.

A few story clubbers created their own ‘rune’ code with each symbol meaning multiple things. Others created more straight-forward code with each symbol meaning one word. We also had disappearing ink (washed away) that uncovered a true meaning ... and a dragon’s riddle.
I found everyone’s ideas inspiring as ever, and can’t wait to read any stories that sprung from today.

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1/6/2022

Writing Tips - First Person POV

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In our virtual Story Club writer’s workshop today we investigated the first person Point of View (POV).

Just some reminder of common POVs in fiction (I write middle grade fiction so this is the genre I’m focusing on).

The POV (point of view) is defined by who’s experience we are writing from. Who’s mind are we in?
In the Third Person POV, we write a character’s experience from an observer/narrator voice. (He saw …/she tasted …/they enjoyed …). The Third Person (limited, not omniscient) is a popular POV in fiction.
In the First Person POV, we write directly from a character’s head. (I like …). This is also a popular POV to write in.

First Person is a great POV when we want to express the character’s voice and experience. In Wonder by R.J. Palacio, we connect immediately with Auggie as he speaks his story to us. In later chapters we switch to first person POV from his sister’s perspective. This rounds out the story and gives the reader a bigger sense of what’s going on.
Let’s look at the Pros and Cons of the First Person POV.

Pro — we feel more connected to the character. Maybe we even feel we are the character.
Pro — the character’s voice is strong and clear
Con — it is hard to ‘pan-out’ or describe the scene from a wider perspective.
Con — limited viewpoint. We write from only one character’s ‘truth’.

Note: we can address the Cons by having other characters speak in the story, describing their body language, showing letters that reveal more of the story, giving characters their own chapters, etc …

We had fun writing scenes from the first person POV. Questions came up such as, how can we describe what the character looks like? Creative answers came, for example hair and dress blowing across one character’s field of vision, allowing the character to comment on it. We heard great story ideas such as being a chameleon superhero, getting help for a village in distress, going to a New Year’s party and feeling overwhelmed and maybe a little excited too. The first person POV allowed the character’s emotions to come through clearly, such as the sadness of moving away from home, and the overwhelm and awkwardness of a party.

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Writing Tips - Codes and Puzzles

Writing Tips - First Person POV

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