Comments for Write Up My Life

Comment on The Moral of the Story by Catherine Johnson

Catherine Johnson — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:07:03 +0000

Eat Up was definitely message first, but the cute unexpected guests at dinner really hid the message well. Someone told me to lose them and concentrate on the message, but I chose to ignore that. If you write for children it has to be engaging, fun and interesting to them. Otherwise you might as well stand there and say ‘eat your greens’. Do you agree? My other stories are more soft messages about friendship and helping each other out. Most of them were story first, message later.
I certainly wouldn’t pitch a story with just a message though. I heard somewhere recently to get rid of the adults. That helps in hiding a message. The mum in Eat Up is much less preachy now. Little Red Riding Hood was my childhood favourite and not talking to strangers and being savvy in general is the message behind that great story. Have you seen the updated version of that on dvd, Hoodwinked? Its great!

Comment on The Moral of the Story by Julie

Julie — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:26:46 +0000

Christie,

I had to learn “story before moral” the hard way (trial and error). Now I know better, but it’s still challenging when you really DO have a message you want to convey. This is where I think the Writing Picture Books book is helpful. You have to say what your “story question” is. For Paprika, I think it’s “What do you do when confronted with a problem you don’t know how to solve?” But then, that’s just me. The beauty is that the reader and writer might get different things out of the story.

Comment on The Moral of the Story by Christie Wright Wild

Christie Wright Wild — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:52:30 +0000

I LOVED your post! And you’re right, it IS complicated. For me, it’s a little of both, depending on the idea. With Paprika, the story came first. I’m still trying to figure out what the message IS. Maybe perseverance. But I’m not going to worry about it either. Other books, say my nonfiction ones for instance, the message comes first: to learn about such and such. So it’s obvious that the nonfiction books don’t really have any MORAL messages, but they’re still teaching something. I think you’re right that it should always be about the story, no matter what path we as writers take to get there. Even if it’s a backwards roundabout way that we never anticipated.

Comment on Gratitude Sunday 18 by Julie

Julie — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:48:40 +0000

Thanks Lara! It helps me to do the exact same thing – lol! It forces me to reflect on what’s good at least once a week.

Comment on Gratitude Sunday 18 by Julie

Julie — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:47:21 +0000

Corey, you should be grateful that the bear DID come. What a great excuse the next time you miss a deadline. Uh.. the bear ate it! Complete with photo evidence.

Comment on Gratitude Sunday 18 by Lara France

Lara France — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:57:06 +0000

Your Gratitude Sunday really makes me strive to be a better person and see the glass as always half full – thank you, Julie!!

Comment on The Moral of the Story by amanda

amanda — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:10:18 +0000

For me, the story is always first. If a message happens to sneak in there, so be it.

Having said that, of course there are children’s and YA books that are written for the sole purpose of preaching a message or bringing to light the issues of the day. And, that’s fine for those books and authors. I’m just not that kind of writer.

Comment on Gratitude Sunday 18 by Corey Schwartz

Corey Schwartz — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:44:56 +0000

Thanks for the shout out I am grateful for my family and my friends, both writing and non-writing. (and I’m grateful that the Bear hasn’t been back this week!

Comment on Gratitude Sunday 18 by Catherine Johnson

Catherine Johnson — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:08:26 +0000

That’s great, good luck Julie. Things are going better here and making some great new writing friends

Comment on Gratitude Sunday 18 by Julie

Julie — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 01:45:10 +0000

Good for your husband! I hope this week is better for you. So far, mine is. I was working on getting writing ready for a conference too. Now that it’s sent out, I feel a lot more relaxed.