Tips For Young Authors by Dan Gutman
By jfallonPosted in Because Writing Matters, Because Writing Matters... At Home, Author Series: Tips for Young Writers
Dan Gutman is the author of more than 80 books, fictional and non-fictional, for both children and adults. His published works include The Homework Machine, The Million Dollar Putt, and Landslide! A Kid’s Guide to the U.S. Elections. He’s also published the & Me baseball card adventure series as well as the My Weird School series. We would like to thank Dan for allowing us to post his “Tips for Young Authors” in our Vantage community. You can learn more about Dan and his books and find some fun surprises on his Web site at http://www.dangutman.com.
Writing non-fiction…
If you have to write a report for school on a topic (say, the Civil War), it is really no different than what I go through when I write a book such as “Gymnastics” or “Baseball’s Greatest Games.”
The first step is to gather information. What I do, basically, is to try and find out everything I can about my subject.
For gymnastics, I went to the library to see what books had been published on the topic. I went through The New York Times Index and the Reader’s Guide to Periodicals to read articles written about gymnastics. I skimmed five years of International Gymnast magazine. I checked out gymnastic web sites. I interviewed gymnasts and coaches.
As I was doing all this research, I was jotting down on 3 X 5 inch index cards any information that captured my interest. I figure if it interests me, it will interest readers, too. I use hundreds of those index cards for each book.
When I felt I had gathered enough information about gymnastics, I organized it all by topic (history, judging, rules, scoring, costumes, biographies, and so on.), putting a rubber band around each batch of index cards. Then I combined all the topics that seemed to go together and broke them into chapters. I made a file folder for each chapter to keep things organized.
Finally, I took the folder for Chapter 1, sat down with all those index cards, and began to write the book on my computer. By breaking the topic down into many small pieces, writing a book that turned out to be 186 pages didn’t seem so intimidating. I find this to be a very good way to organize information. You can use the same system to write a four-page report for school.
Writing fiction…
It’s similar, but not the same. I’m sure every author has their own system, but this is mine…
I start with what I call a “big idea.” A kid runs for president. A kid finds the most valuable baseball card in the world. A kid gets the chance to take a single foul shot for a million bucks. Like that.
Then I start to brainstorm with those wonderful 3 X 5 inch index cards. Any idea that pops into my head gets written on an index card. I ask myself questions: Who is the main character? What other characters might interact with that character? What problem can I give to my main character? How can it be solved? What would make it more exciting? What can my character learn along the way? Where should the story be set? How should it start? What happens next? How should it end?
I will probably have to go to the library and do some research. For “The Kid Who Ran For President” and “The Kid Who Became President,” I had to learn a lot about the Constitution, the White House, and the presidency. I like to mix facts with my fiction.
After I have a pile of hundreds of index cards, I’ll sit down and try to weave them into a story that makes sense from start to finish. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Some of the cards will be discarded because they don’t fit in. I’ll add some cards as new ideas arrive. The index cards are my outline. I could do this whole outline on computer, but the cards work better. A very long computer file makes it awkward to cut and paste pieces back and forth. With cards, it’s simple.
When I’m satisfied with the story, then I sit down at my computer, pick up the first card, and start writing. After all the preliminary work I’ve done, the writing part is easy.
What if your teacher asks you to write a story and you don’t have a “big idea?” Here’s a simple six-step system to write a story even if your mind is a total blank… 1. Choose a setting, anyplace in the world (say, Texas). 2. Pick a main character. Not a name, but a type of individual (cowboy). 3. Give that character a problem or goal (wants to become rodeo champ). 4. Think of a few other characters your main character is likely to encounter (rival, former rodeo star, best friend, dog). 5. Get your main character into trouble somehow (breaks leg, accused of crime, tornado hits) 6. Let your imagination go wild, writing all the thoughts down before you forget them. You’re on your way to writing a story!
You have a big advantage over me. You’re a kid. Anything is possible to you. You don’t know all the rules, so you can break them. That can lead to brilliant, original writing. You can do it.
You may not know this, but there are lots of magazines and web sites that accept writing by kids. You can find some of them if you click on COOL LINKS. Maybe you can submit one of your stories and get it published. It is a big thrill to see your name in print. Hey, maybe someday I’ll be reading YOUR books. That would be really cool. I hope this helped. Keep writing!
- Dan Gutman
June 25th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
I really liked this article because it ties in the reaseons that we, as teachers, have our students do pre-writing activities to another, concrete way that Dan Gutman does when he writes a book. I think it’s important that kids understand the value of pre-writing and why they must organize their thoughts, and that this is truly a process. Of course, there are times when we should allow students to free -write. However, if they compile all these into a journal or notebook, then we could also use these thoughts as pre-writing. Lastly, I really liked how he gives students a simple 6-step process to do if they are having difficulty in finding their “big idea.” I think this is a great strategy because we have all encountered that student that “Just can’t think of anything to write”, and these simple steps will certainly help.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I enjoyed the article because it speaks directly to my students. It’s something I could perhaps have them read as we prepare for the Big 6 project. I love that it talks about how to organize and break down the information using notes on index cards and how important it is to search through a variety of sources to garner as much information as possible. This is such an important part of the research process and this article illustrates it nicely! It is also a very casual and encouraging tone, easy for students to read!
June 26th, 2008 at 9:07 am
This article gave me the inspiration to combine several elements that are required in our curriculum, specifically, myaccess, the research paper, and MCAS prompts. This article was very engaging, and I will distribute it to students before beginning the research paper. One requirement for the research paper is notecards, and the article’s suggestion to use them for fiction as well was a great idea. I will use notecards as an off-line activity for other writing assignments in the future.
June 27th, 2008 at 8:42 am
I really liked the 6 step system for the big idea as well - particularly step 6. If there’s nothing to constrain you but your imagination, you can really have some fun with writing, and that is so important. If your students find that they enjoy writing and have the freedom to be imaginative, they’ll continue to write.