The Writing Process Made Real
Benefits:
Students will…
- read interviews with published authors and reflect upon the writing process as it’s practiced by those authors.
- reflect on their own writing process.
- read a variety of texts both, fiction and non-fiction.
Materials:
- Computer lab with access to the Internet (This assignment also works well as an extra credit or enrichment assignment to be completed at home or in the library.)
- Handout with reflection questions.
Prepare:
- Review the YARN web site, including interviews from Malinda Lo, Barry Lyga, Susan Beth Pfeffer and Meg Cabot.
- Make copies of reflection questions.
In class:
- Remind students of the writing process: Brainstorming, Writing, Revising, Editing and Publishing. Discuss what this process looks like in the English classroom.
- Direct students to the Interview section of YARN. Ask students to read author interviews with Malinda Lo, Barry Lyga, Susan Beth Pfeffer and Meg Cabot. (Note: this is a lot of reading; if time is short, you might direct students read the portions of the interviews that focus on writing.)
- Have students answer refection questions independently. You might host a class discussion the following day.
Reflection Questions:
- Malinda Lo, Barry Lyga (Interview, Part 1), and Susan Beth Pfeffer all discuss their writing processes, including pre-writing, writing and revising. After reviewing these portions of their interviews, discuss what surprises you about the writing process of a published author. How is what they do different from what you’re asked to do for English compositions in school?
- Malinda Lo, Barry Lyga (Interview, Part 1), Meg Cabot and Susan Beth Pfeffer all give advice for teens who have a writing assignment that they don’t really want to complete. How does their advice compare? Whose advice are you most likely to take? Why?
- Visit the Web site or blog of one of the authors interviewed by YARN. What can you learn about an author by visiting his/her website? How can visiting the website or blog of an author make reading their books more interesting or enjoyable?
Enrichment:
- Encourage students to read a book by one of the authors interviewed by YARN. Any students who read the same book might form a literary discussion group.
- Encourage students to write an email or contact an author through Facebook or Twitter after reading his/her book. Students might detail what about the book they found especially enjoyable or moving.