Title Details

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XVII

THE AUTHORS XIX

THE CONTRIBUTORS XXIII

LESSON PLANS

1 DETAILS (GOLDEN), CHARACTER (IMMORTAL), AND SETTING (RURAL INDIA)  1
by Dave Eggers

In this three-part lesson, students learn to draw details from real life to create unforgettable characters and compelling stories.

2 LITERARY FACEBOOKS  7
byKathryn Riddle

Curious what Elizabeth Bennet’s, Harry Potter’s, Bella Swan’s, or Percy Jackson’s Facebook profile would look like? In this workshop, students create a mock Facebook profi le based on their favorite literary character.

3 SUBURBAN EPICS  10
byTom Perrotta

The author of Little Children and Election shares his tips for finding inspiration in your own neighborhood.

4 BUSTED  12
byWilliam JOHN Bert

Writing about the time you didn’t get away with it.

5 HOW TO WRITE SCIENCE FICTION  15
byCory Doctorow

The Nebula Award–nominated author shares his tips for crafting fascinating science fiction.

6 WRITING FROM EXPERIENCE  18
byStephen Elliott

Students learn to transform their own life events into compelling fiction from an author who’s mastered the art.

7 TOO MUCH MONEY! AN ETHICAL WRITING EXPERIENCE IN 10 EASY STEPS  20
byLouAnne Johnson

This lesson introduces students to the benefi ts of journaling, using an ethical conundrum to keep them invested and involved.

8 THE TALK SHOW CIRCUIT  23
byEllie Kemper

The Office actor shows how to use the talk show format to practice the elements of good storytelling.

9 THE FIRST DRAF T IS MY ENEMY: REVISIONS 26
bySarah Vowell

You spend hours grading papers. You give great feedback. You offer tons of suggestions to improve the piece—and then you never see it again. A favorite essayist shows you how to put all that work to good use.

10 SEE YOU AGAIN YESTERDAY: PLAYING WITH T IME  29
byAudrey Niffenegger

The author of The Time Traveler’s Wife shares her tips for working with tricky time lines.

11 LOOK SMART FAST: COLLEGE APPLICATION ESSAY BOOT CAMP  35
byRisa Nye

A college admissions reader outlines the dos and don’ts of great application essays.

12 WRITING ABOUT PAINFUL THINGS  39
byPhoebe Gloeckner

The author of Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures walks students through the diffi cult but redemptive process of writing about pain.

13 MUTANT SHAKESPEARE  42
byKyle Booten

Reading Shakespeare is hard. Lucky for us, we won’t be reading Shakespeare. We will take him apart and put him back together the wrong way. We will lose some of his pieces. This class assumes that one good way to understand something is to see how it could be different.

14 HOW TO WRITE A ONE-PERSON SHOW ABOUT A HISTORICAL FIGURE  45
by Kristen Schaal

The Daily Show correspondent and actor shows us how to research and write a great play about a real person.

15 WRITING FOR GAMERS  47
byTom Bissell

The author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter leads a lesson on narrativity and video games.

16 HUMOR WRITING: AN EXERCISE IN ALCHEMY  49
byDan Kennedy

This is the lesson plan to engage the bored, disinterested students rolling their eyes in the back row. A humor author shares writing prompts that are pretty much guaranteed to provoke great material.

17 ON PINING: WRITE A VERSE TO MAKE THEM STAY  54
byThao Nguyen

An indie musician leads a workshop on writing the words that make those you miss come back.

18 ADDING INSULT TO POETRY  56
byNicholas Decoulos

Anyone can say, “Same to you, buddy!” In this class students learn why it’s not wise to cross a poet.

19 BAD WRITING  58
byNeal Pollack

This inventive lesson by a noted writer and satirist shows you how to do it right by trying to do it wrong.

20 WHERE STORIES COME FROM  61
byJulie Orringer

The thought of writing a short story from scratch can be so daunting. An author shares her secret: don’t start from scratch. Find inspiration in art, news, and real-life events.

21 WORD KARAOKE  63
byMatthue Roth

In this highly engaging lesson, a slam poet and author invites students to do “cover” versions of other writers’ work—like hip-hop sampling—to create fresh new poems.

22 TALL TALES AND SHORT STORIES  66
bySteve Almond

The assignment to write fi ction can feel like an overwhelming mandate. This exercise turns that mandate into play. Students are asked to tell the best lie they can. Suddenly, it’s a short story.

23 WELCOME TO THE FUNHOUSE: WRITING FUNNY SCENES  68
byMark O’Donnell

The Tony-winning author of Hairspray shares 12 weeks of funny scenewriting ideas.

24 VOICEMAILS FROM MY FUTURE SELF  74
byMark Sipowicz

In this workshop students creatively expand and explore their sense of who they are by thinking about their futures. The workshop culminates with an audio-recorded “voicemail” from each student’s future self.

25 HOW SHORT IS SHORT?  77
byVendela Vida

This is storytelling distilled down to its purest essence. An author shows students how to write a story in 20 minutes or less.

26 COMIC COMPOSITION CHALLENGE!  79
bySteven Weissman and Jordan Crane

Two professional cartoonists challenge students in a fast-paced, highly entertaining comic-strip-writing game.

27 MY BORING LIFE  82
byMicah Pilkington

Everyone thinks his or her life is boring. Th is class proves that it’s actually full of great stories.

28 COLONEL MUSTARD IN THE LIBRARY WITH A CANDLESTICK: HOW TO WRITE A MYSTERY  84
byJulianne Balmain

Mystery writing solved! A mystery author shares her secrets.

29 CREATING CHARACTERS  88
byJonathan Ames

A novelist shares his techniques for creating memorable, well-rounded characters and off ers exercises to help students hone their skills.

30 HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL: HOW TO WRITE A YOUNGADULT NOVEL  90
byMatthue Roth

A young-adult author helps students write modern comedies of manners.

31 GET YOUR HAIKU ON  93
byDaphne Gottlieb

This very modern take on the ancient classic invites students to borrow from hip-hop and pop culture to create one-of-a-kind haiku.

32 THE ESSAY  95
byMeghan Daum

Essays don’t have to be boring. They can be as exciting as fiction, as moving as poetry. Here, an acclaimed essayist shares her essay-writing tips.

33 THE STORY OF ME: WRITING ABOUT YOUR LIFE AND YOUR FAMILY  99
byJason Roberts

You don’t have to be old or famous to write your life story. Th is class invites you to trace how your family and experiences have shaped who you are today.

34 MEET YOUR PROTAGONIST!  101
byRyan Harty

An author teaches students to create well-rounded characters that readers really care about.

35 ALL WITNESSES EVENTUALLY DIE: EMBARRASSING STORIES  104
byErika Lopez

In comic panel form, an author and graphic novelist shares her tips for turning your mortifying experiences into good reading.

36 WICKED STYLE AND HOW TO GET IT  106
byMicah Pilkington

Students always tell us they want to develop a unique voice, a literary style all their own. This class helps them find it.

37 PRESIDENT TAKES MARTIAN BRIDE: WRITING TABLOID FICTION  108
byAlvin Orloff

Tabloids might not be high literature, but they’re awfully fun to read—and even more fun to write. In this off beat lesson, an author encourages wild storytelling and out-there stories that, we promise, will be really, really fun to grade.

38 LYING FOR FUN AND PROFIT 111
byEmily Katz

Good lies are a lot like good literature. This class helps students turn falsehoods into fiction.

39 THIS CLASS SUCKS  114
byKazz Regelman and Andrew Strickman

Students learn the basics of criticism by reviewing everything from CDs to cookies.

40 SCREENWRITING  117
byNoah Hawley

A professional screenwriter shares his secrets, and invites the class to go Hollywood by practicing their story-pitching skills.

41 HOW TO WRITE A GHOST STORY 120
byLisa Brown and Adele Griffin

Two professional ghost story writers share their scariest tips.

42 826 UNPLUGGED: SONGWRITING  125
byChris Perdue

The whole class collaborates to pen a guaranteed hit. No musical experience necessary.

43 SPORTSWRITING: THE LIFE  127
bySam Silverstein and Jason Turbow

Two professional sportswriters share their expertise.

44 HOW TO WRITE A FAN LETTER WITHOUT GETTING A RESTRAINING ORDER  129
byLisa Lutz

A young-adult author and self-confessed superfan shares her letterwriting tips.

45 EXQUISITE STORY LINES  133
byJeremy Wilson and Kait Steele

This lesson adapts the Exquisite Corpse poetry technique for short fiction.

46 SOUL PROWLERS: THE ART OF WRITING NEWSPAPER PROFILES  135
byRona Marech

Ordinary-seeming people can have extraordinary, heroic stories—it just takes curiosity and the will to excavate them. In this class, students learn how to identify good subjects, conduct interviews, fi nd inspiration in the details of a life, and write compelling stories about both regular and famous people.

47 HOMESTYLE: WRITING ABOUT THE PLACE WHERE YOU LIVE  138
byTom Molanphy

This lesson teaches students to see home in a fresh way, to walk through doors and open windows they never noticed, and to fi nd the stories that home holds.

48 AGITATE! PROPAGANDIZE!  141
byJulius Diaz Panoriñgan

Sometimes a clear, convincing argument isn’t enough. You need to stir things up just a bit so that people pay attention and you can get your message across, whatever that is. In this workshop, students craft propaganda—speeches, pamphlets, and posters—all of it hard-hitting.

49 TASTY MEDICINE FOR WRITER’S BLOCK: MINDFUL WRITING EXERCISES  144
byBrad Wolfe and Rebecca Stern

From the editors of Essays for a New Generation, an anthology of essays for young readers, come these techniques for writing mindfully.

50 HIGH SCHOOL INK: GETTING PUBLISHED  147
byLara Zielin

An author of young - adult fiction shares her tips on getting your work out there.

APPENDIX

EVALUATION RUBRICS 154

SELF-ASSESSMENT CHECKLISTS 156

COMMON CORE CURRICULUM STANDARDS 160

826 CENTERS AND STAFF 209