Bookinitat50: OCTOBER CURRICULUM

I've seen my share of Library Lesson Plan websites, but this one is heads above the rest!  Check it out, and make your weekends longer by springboarding off this LP site!

Bookinitat50: OCTOBER CURRICULUM: *Author Study:  Steven Kellogg; Jeanette Winter (illustrator for "The Librarian of Basra")  Read Aloud Book List: "The Libr...

Dennisville: shipbuilders down by the shore

Cape May County, NJ has many enjoyable hidden treasures from the lighthouses to shore towns and enjoyable tourist attractions like the Cape May Zoo, but some of these hidden treasures are merely passed through on the way to something else.  Dennisville is one of these hidden treasures not everyone notices.

            Dennisville is a small, unicorportated town just outside Sea Isle City and too far from Avalon.  Resting along Rt. 47 in Southern, NJ (Delsea Drive—named for its connection from Delaware to the Sea) it’s also not that far from Ocean City, which makes Dennisville a delightful place to visit when you’re down the shore for the summer.  The town was founded back in 1726 by Anthony Ludlam making it one of those American towns that has the distinction of being older than the nation itself.

            Beck himself has been to Dennisville, dedicating an entire Chapter about it in his book More Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey.  In this chapter he describes Dennisville’s forming shipbuilding industry.  He’d gone down at the advice of a friend to visit an old sailor who was getting up there in years, a gentleman by the name of Captain Ogden Gandy (the Gandy family can still be found in and around that area).  The ships built there, according to Captain Gandy weren’t just the little ones.  Huge, massive ships were built and sailed out to Sea Isle City, taken there down Dennis Creek when high tide came.

            Exploring Dennisville is easy to do if you’re willing to slow down, take a turn off the beaten interstate and faster roads whizzing you along to shore towns. The history of the shipbuilding industry is evident in the stories there, but the quaintness of Dennisville can also provide a pleasant afternoon detour on your way to the shore.  So the next time you find yourself heading toward the shores of Sea Isle, Ocean City or Avalon, take a detour and discover a hidden treasure of Southern New Jersey!

September Slacker: My Hiatus from Following Beck

Hello fellow travelers!

It's good to be back!

I've been missing from this journey for a couple weeks as I took a side trip back to work.  My school year is up and running, and thanks to new management techniques on myself, and the fact that I have put myself on a schedule for the first time in my life things are going swimmingly as I strive for excellence in more areas of my life (see "Quitter" by Jon Acuff).

I have also gone back to college to become a certified teacher, a goal achieved by taking 3 Master's Level education classes, something else that has occupied my time.

Now, with these things as an established part of my routine, it's time for us to once again hit the open road.

Come with me as we resume our journey to explore towns forgotten, towns hidden here in Southern, New Jersey as we go Following Beck.


Is there a hidden, forgotten town you know of that we should all explore?  Please feel free to comment and post about it by clicking the words "No comment" at the bottom of this or any other post.

Happy Trails!

10 Commandments of blogging

This is not an original piece, but unfortunately I forget where I found it!  This was buried in an old file inside of another file inside of My Documents--you know how it goes.

I appreciate these rules--they speak volumes.

I hope you enjoy them.

1. Thou shalt offer fresh and personal content and perspective with thy blog that you and only you can produce.

2. Thou shalt carve with lexis that common folk can twig (translation: You will write using words that real people can understand).

3. Thou shalt not tear someone else down with thy blog. If you have an issue with that person, go to them to work it out.

4. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor with thy blog.

5. Thou shalt not pluck quotes from thy neighbor's blog without giving him credit.

6. Thou shalt not steal content from thy neighbor's blog and portray it as thine own.

7. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's blog, but will be happy with thine own.

8. Thou shalt not spend more time blogging, reading blogs and/or commenting on blogs (let alone with any other type of social media) than with thy wife, kids and pet.

9. Thou shalt take time for rest and relaxation from blogging at consistent intervals. Go outside and smell the roses.

10. Thou shalt not make an idol out of blogging. Thy life consists of much more than that.

Andrew Stanton, the writer/director of Finding Nemo (my favorite Pixar movie) did a seminar which (for a portion) talked about pitching your story.  It's available on Youtube if you want to watch the entire thing, but the gist of it is listed below, summarized by a Youtube patron named boxiness (thanks for the summary).  I've included the summary here, in case you don't have time to watch the video.

Also, feel free to look up Emma Coates (Pixar) formula for story formats Pixar style.

- A story should start off with a well-told "promise", like a hook or sales pitch

- A story should give the audience the "2+2", not the "4"

- Characters should have "spines" & itches they're always trying to scratch

- Change is fundamental; life is never static

- "Drama is anticipation mingled with uncertainty"

- Know your rules and know when to break them

- Strong unifying theme

 

            -  Sense of wonder

Prospertown: then and now

                Chances are you’ve passed this particular forgotten town as it sits in the shadows of

Kingda-Ka as you head out to spend the day at Great Adventure.  This town’s proximity to one of the

 largest theme parks in North America might be enough to make the name Prospertown seem familiar

 to you.  In the first Forgotten Towns book Beck visits Prospertown in a three city set along with

 Archer’s Corner and Collier’s Mill, two other small towns in Southern Jersey.  Looking at

Prospertown through Beck’s eyes there is a vision of a town who’s legacy is long since passed; a

town that houses only a single hotel, a small cluster of homes, and a gristmill.  The homes were only

 painted on one side (the front I assume), and to Beck Prospertown was a place of: “neglect,

loneliness, and desolation”.

Surrender?  We don’t know the meaning of the word!

                One of the lines Beck writes in reference to Prospertown is that it was (at the time he wrote it) “pursuing their memories of prosperous times”.  Considering during his visit that the town was in a tailspin toward nonexistence it seems that it is still in hot pursuit of those prosperous times.  For starters the Six Flags franchise has expanded from their park’s location in Jackson into Prospertown housing their employment center and administration building there.  The residents of Prospertown, through the decades since Beck’s book, have not given up on their prosperous pursuits, at the very least keeping their town alive.

Quaint, if you can find it

                Prospertown’s life in Kingda-Ka’s shadow is a double-edge sword in the sense that (1) it may draw more attention because of its’ proximity to Six Flags, but (2) might also dip more into obscurity because “Six Flags” is all most people think about being in this corner of Ocean County.  Truthfully most of the people who frequent small Prospertown are a select group of anglers, and you know how secretive that lot is about their fishing spots!

Characters wanted: apply within; bring detailed dossier

The greatest of stories on the fiction shelf, whichever book that may be to you, is great for multiple reasons:  a well-developed plot, an impactful theme, realistic descriptions of setting, etc.  However all of it means nothing if there is no one in the story to move the plot forward, realize the lesson of the story, or describe the idyllic scene .  A character drives the plot and makes the book what it is.  A character is what helps the reader connect to the story and implant the experience of reading the book in their minds as if what they just read actually happened to them.   So how does an author develop such great characters?  With imagination, experience, and a few tricks of the trade.

Begin at the beginning, and when you reach the end—Stop!

                Most characters are born out a single thought.  This thought can be founded on a certain article of clothing, a personality trait, an experience, or simply from physical trait that stands out in your mind.  Often times, whatever the original inspiration was, a character will pop into your mind.  You see this person standing before, perhaps even in a specific location.  You must ask yourself the first crucial question:  Why is this person there?

                I was tempted to write ‘who is this person, and why are they there’, but thought better of it.  You see, why they are there is more important than who they are.  Who is important, and comes soon after, but understanding why that character is in that location is what drives the plot forward.  Are they there to rob a bank or stop a robbery?  Are they meeting someone?  Did that person show up, or stand them up?  After ‘why’ comes the reaction: how are they feeling about that?  It’s possible to ponder these questions too much, of course, which is why we need to eventually stop designing our character at some point and begin to write the story.  In the development of the character, however, you need to have your bases covered.

Building Blocks

                Conflict builds character.  It’s true in real life and in your story.  The plot, as you write out the details of the book, will produce a need for your character to have a certain skill set, personality trait, fear, weakness, strength, physical characteristic, or hobby.  Whatever need arises, the more you have planned out before you start to write the better.

                Some authors will have a very short description of their character.  It may consist of a paragraph or two and cover the basics.  Some might even keep it as short as a Tweet; reducing your character description to 140 characters or less does force you to focus on the most important elements of your characters dossier.  It’s the little things, I think you’ll find, whether in your story or another, that make the character seem realistic.  The more you have on them, the better you know them, the better you can write their life.

                Building a character can be tricky, which is why there are certain helps out there to jumpstart creativity such as the character generator websites that are listed below.  Using something like this is a good foundation for a character if you need a visual to help you shape that character.  I want to tell you, though, don’t rely on these.  It’s just a beginning to a character profile that you need to build on.  The more complex your character the better; just don’t spend so much time on character development that you forget about the book!

Don’t I know you from somewhere?

                If character generators aren’t for you, here’s an alternate suggestion—one that comes with a warning: be careful when using this technique!  Too little development will cause you some trouble, and probably some broken relationships.

                I’m a naturally curious person, one who is not shy in asking questions to understand another person.  I think we sometimes forget that the people who pop in and out of our lives (grocery store clerk while on vacation, person waiting at the doctor’s office the same time as us) are just as complex as we are ourselves.  Learning about people through communicating and connecting with them can build relationships, but also reveal good character spots for stories.

                Once my wife and I went to a restaurant up state; the waitress there had her arm in a temporary cast.  Being the curious (and potentially rude person I am) I asked her about it.  To some people “she must have broken her arm is enough.  Not for me, though.  I’m weird like that.  Turns out this particular waitress was working through medical school, but on the side she participates in roller derby and was knocked down by an opposing teammate; she sprained her arm when she fell.  Now roller-derby playing medical school students who waitress at restaurants don’t come along every day, and I may never use this person in a story.  However, having that type of real world example might make one of my characters seem more realistic.  We just have to be careful not to go too over the top or the character will seem too unrealistic and you will lose your reader’s interest.

                These days most of us are into our techno-gadgets.  Everywhere you go you see people either immersed in them, carrying them, using them for a quick “emergency”; some people even get so engrossed in using them they are not aware of what’s going on around them.  Still, moments in real life can capture your attention and give you a jumpstart on your character.  In other words, one of the best ways to make your character seem realistic is to start with a real person.  You can use relatives, acquaintances, friends, whomever!  The only proviso I have for this:  when you place them into your novel keep the character traits that you fell will move your plot forward, but don’t make an exact copy of them.  Some people will get offended by your “interpretation” of them, even if you captured their real essence.

                Some of you may be thinking: isn’t that a bit on the creepy side?  Yes, if you stalk them, dig through their trash, try to hack into their email to see what they discuss with family and friends—that’s creepy.  Someone who catches your eye because of their physical characteristics, someone who has an interesting speech pattern you want to duplicate; these are things that you can jot down in a notebook or on scrap paper and flush out the idea later when you are ready to write.

                Back to the techno-gadgets for a moment: cell phones are everywhere.  People have gotten so used to using them anywhere they go that most people don’t think about the others around them and just start talking.  These can be great moments for character research.  The other day, for example, I was sitting in my local library when a young man came in and proceeded to talk on the phone to a friend about his life, his job, what it was like to work there, how the routine of the job went, how the manager kept everyone focused using a gift card reward system, etc.  Now I didn’t ask this guy any questions about his job he just sat down and began speaking loud enough for everyone to hear his business.  What he talked about in reference to his job was intriguing to me.  I could’ve read a book on his particular line of work, but here was a real life example of insider information—something I may not be able to have captured from a book.

                Characterization is the back bone of your story.  Without it, all other parts of the book are static.  There is nothing to support the story, nothing to drive it forward.  Don’t skimp on this because you have a great plot or theme.  All great things in life are best enjoyed when you they are happening to someone.

 

Character Generators:

http://www.littlewondercompany.com/charactercreator.aspx

http://www.archetypewriting.com/muse/generators/character.htm

http://selfpublishingteam.com/chargen/ya/

 

Note:  A good resource on further character development is Dynamic Characters by Nancy Kress.  It’s one of my steady standby reads on all things writing.