Posts Tagged parents

The Secret Language of Stories (SLOS) by Carolee Dean

By on September 4, 2013   /   For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Hi everybody! Your long-time MUF member, Kimberley, here with today’s fantastic post!

carolee dean pics

Author Carolee Dean

I’m thrilled to introduce you to The Secret Language of Stories, created by my good friend and writing/critique partner, Carolee Dean. As you will see below she has oodles of experience doing this in the public school system as well as in classes and workshops around the country. She’s a brilliant writer, teacher and story analyst, with a terrific plan of fun writing activities to do with your students based on the 12-step Hero’s Journey. If you’re a home-school parent, substitute teacher, or writer yourself – jump right in – and enjoy! LOTS more details at the links below. Take it away, Carolee . . .

OVERVIEW

The Secret Language of Stories (SLOS) is a twelve-step story analysis I created based upon The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell as well as The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler. Though I love both of these texts, I was looking for symbols a little more concrete for the students I work with, and terms that brought images easily to mind for them.

I use this method both to create my own novels and to teach writing to kids of all ages as well as adults. As a speech-language pathologist in the public schools, I serve students elementary through high school of all ability levels. Understanding the structure of narratives gives kids a framework not just for understanding the stories they hear and read, but also for telling the stories of their lives.

Carolee Dean pic

Carolee with one of her students

SLOS is broken down into twelve basic parts. Stories don’t necessarily contain all of the components, and they don’t always occur in the order given here. In longer stories, many of the elements are repeated. Subplots may have their own story threads and novels may include endless repetitions of the Plan, Attempt, Response sequence found in the middle section of the story. The purpose of this analysis is not to micro analyze every element of a story, but rather to help students and other writers recognize what is going on in stories and to begin to think like authors.

I like to find magazine images depicting each of these story elements and then ask student to first talk about the pictures and then write sentences or paragraphs about them. Struggling writers may also be struggling speakers and thinkers. Since written language builds upon oral language, I always try to start with a conversation.

1)      Old World – Setting and characters are introduced.

luke skywalker

Our Hero!

2)      Call and Response – This may occur during or after the inciting incident. The Hero receives a call to adventure. Sometimes he eagerly undertakes this challenge, but more often there is a period of reluctance or even refusal as the dangers of the adventure are weighed against possible benefits.

3)      Mentors, Guides, and Gifts – A mentor appears to encourage the hero to accept the challenge of the call and gifts are often given to help him on his way.

4)      Crossing – The hero decides to act and crosses over into the New World.

5)      New World – The hero faces small challenges as she learns to function in the New World.

6)      Problems, Prizes, and Plans – A clear story goal is established and the hero makes plans for how it will be attained.

7)      Midpoint Challenge: Going for the Prize – An attempt is made to attain the Prize. A shift in the story occurs.

8)      Downtime – This section shows the hero’s response to what happened during the attempt. It may be a time of celebration, recovery, healing, regrouping or sulking, depending on what happened during the attempt to attain the Prize.

(Note: In longer stories or novels, endless cycles of the plan, attempt, response sequencing continue to build momentum.)

9)      Chase – A twist sends the hero off in a new direction. Something is being pursued. The hero may be pursuing the prize or the villain, or the villain may be pursuing the hero.

10)   Death and Transformation –

Hero's Journey and Character Arc

The Hero’s Journey PLUS Character ARC

This is the point in the story where it appears that the hero will lose whatever is of highest value. Often someone dies at this point in the narrative.

11)   Showdown: The Final Test – The hero must face one final challenge to demonstrate whether the changes that have occurred are lasting or only temporary; internal or merely external.

12)   Reward –  The hero gets what she has earned. If she has passed the final test, it may be a reward. If not, there may be other consequences. Often there is a celebration and the return of the hero to the group.

This is a very brief overview of the twelve steps. For more information visit my blog at http://caroleedeanbooks.blogspot.com/ and check out the tab entitled The Secret Language of Stories. If you have questions or if you are interested in writing workshops for your staff or students, please feel free to contact me at my email (caroleedean@yahoo.com)

I also have a monthly column called The Secret Language of Stories focusing specifically on story analysis at SPELLBINDERS BOOK NEWS. To read my analysis of Cassandra Clare’s City of  Bones go to my April post at http://spellbindersbooknews.blogspot.com/2013/04/city-of-bones-story-analysis-by-carolee.html.

CAROLEE DEAN BIO: Carolee Dean has made numerous appearances as a guest poet/author at schools, libraries, poetry events, and teacher/librarian conferences. She holds a bachelor’s degree in music therapy, a master’s degree in communicative disorder and has spent over a decade working in the public schools as a speech-language pathologist.

Her first novel, Comfort (Houghton Mifflin), received an IRA notable citation. Take Me There (Simon Pulse) is a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers. It follows the journey of a budding young poet who cannot read or write, but dreams of using words to escape a life of crime and deprivation. Forget Me Not (Simon Pulse) is a verse novel exploring suicide and the effects of cyber-bullying.

Follow her on Facebook at Carolee DeanM, Twitter @CaroleeJDean, www.caroleedean.com

Kimberley Griffiths Little is the author of three magical realism novels with Scholastic, THE HEALING SPELL, CIRCLE OF SECRETS, and WHEN THE BUTTERFLIES CAME (2013). Forthcoming: THE TIME OF THE FIREFLIES (Scholastic, 2014) and her Young Adult debut of FORBIDDEN with Harpercollins (Fall 2014). When she’s not writing you can find her reading/daydreaming in her Victorian cottage and eating chocolate chip cookies with a hit of Dr. Pepper.

Back to Top

Road Trip Books

By on July 12, 2013   /   Book Lists  

I am delighted each summer by the number of people who come to my library looking for audio books that will make a long drive much more enjoyable. There may be no other time during the year that these adults (both adults in a two-parent family) listen to an entire book with their children. That powerful shared experience is something that will be remembered for years to come.

So, what to choose? How about books where the characters are on their own road trips and summer adventures? Three — one new, two older and consistently reliable — are featured here to get started. But before we get to the list, I’d like to say how much there is to take in as a writer when listening to a book’s pacing, dialog, and how descriptive beats reveal so much about a character. Try listening to one you’ve read and see how you absorb it differently. Okay, now three books:

Road Trip by Gary Paulsen and Jim Paulsen:
Perhaps it seems a little uninspired to write about good audio books for family road trips with a book called Road Trip. But the thing is, this new book is just too perfect to ignore. Ben and his dad are two men on a mission: to rescue a border collie puppy. They set out on their journey with Atticus, their family’s 15-year-old border collie — just the three of them. By the time they get to the animal shelter, they’ve abandoned their truck for an old school bus, and the party of three is now a party of six. This book has a lot going on under the surface: father/son tensions and, later, mutual respect; unlikely people coming together for a common purpose; random characters who become close friends; and dogs. This is on the older end of middle grade books and has young teen appeal, too. As a writer, I especially enjoyed it for the dialog. (Length: 2 hours, 48 minutes.)

 A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck:
A Newbery Honor book back in 1999, this historical novel (set in the 1930s) is actually connected short stories. Joey and Mary Alice, Chicago kids during the school year, spend their summers with their grandmother in a tiny town. “We could hardly see her town because of Grandma. She was so big, and the town was so small,” Joey tells us. Each story covers a different summer for the siblings, and the episodic style makes it ideal for car travel. You can take it in pieces or be eager for the next one. Richard Peck is a folksy, big-hearted and humorous storyteller who appeals to a wide range of ages, including multigenerational. I’ve often wished that we didn’t have different age sections in my library because there are many adults I’d love to hand his books, but many adults also aren’t as privileged as the rest of us to know how great middle grade fiction is. The writing lesson in this one is in the tight stories, each with a satisfying middle and end. (Length: 4 hours, 18 minutes.)

 

The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis: The Watsons’ road trip starts in Flint, Michigan, with the family heading to Alabama at a most precipitous time. I’m sure I’m not alone in considering this a classic in children’s lit. And I’m sure you’ve all read it. But have you had Levar Burton read it to you? Audio is a great way to take in the dialog and transitions of this beloved book. (Length: 4 hours, 57 minutes)

Readers of all ages often ask librarians if audio books “count” in their summer reading logs. Of course they do. Still, in our conversations we say “I listened to this book” rather than “I read …” I totally get that, as I phrase it that way, too, and recognize that I take in different things if I hear them or if I read them. But just as children benefit from seeing their parents reading books, perhaps they also grow by seeing their parents listening to books — enjoying books on various levels.

Journalist and essayist Judith Shulevitz’s piece Let’s Go Reading in the Car in the New York Times last spring talks about audio books as her family’s way of gathering around a campfire for a story. Fire was an important part of human evolution for many reasons. Perhaps it’s also important, Shulevitz says for “the moment someone first got up in front of the fire and told a story that showed the others — especially the children — the magnificence of the universe around them, and made them want to be bigger-souled than they’d been so far.”

 

 

Back to Top