Carolee’s Blog

 

DIAMANTE POEMS

 

One of the things that make stories really interesting to us is the opportunity to watch characters grow and change. Stories, like Cinderella, that have withstood the test of time to become great classics, are usually stories focused upon this type of transformation. This month we will explore using a diamante poem to demonstrate this type of character change.

A diamante poem is usually six lines in length and is shaped like a diamond. This form is discussed in detail in A New Poetry Form: The Diamanteby Iris Tiedt.

The first and last lines of the diamante are each a one-word noun. Lines two and six consist of two adjectives. The third and fifth lines are comprised of three verbs each. The fourth (middle) line is a sentence connecting the two nouns.

For our purposes the top half of the poem will signify what the main character is like at the beginning of the story. The second half of the poem will show what he is like at the end, and the sentence in the middle will describe how this transition takes place. We will also take a bit more latitude and use more than one sentence(line), or even a paragraph, if desired.

The following example is from Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi.

Peasant

Timid         Afraid

Running        Hiding       Cowering

He discovers that he is the son of the ruthless Lord Furnival, and

he decides to use this information to help free his friend, Bear.

Plotting       Confronting        Rescuing

Brave       Daring

Freeman

Now have fun writing a diamante of your own!

Are you tired of using the same old character descriptions for your book reports? If so, why not try some CHARACTER CINQUAINS.

 

A CINQUAIN is a five line poem structured like this:

 

Line one: Noun

Line two: Two adjectives describing the noun

Line three: three verbs that tell something about the noun

Line four: a four line phrase telling something about the noun

Line five: a synonym for the noun.

 

For our purposes we will use a character name to start the cinquain. The second line will describe the character. The third line will identify verbs describing the character. The fourth line will be a phrase telling something about the character, and the fifth line will represent another word or perhaps a nickname for the character.

 

Example:

 

Harry

Magical, brave

Flying, Seeking, Battling

The Hogwarts Golden Child

Wizard

 

Now try writing a few of your own.

 

WHAT’S YOUR PROBLEM?

 

All story characters must have a goal—a prize they are striving to achieve or a problem they are trying to solve. Once a character has a clearly defined goal, obstacles will arise to prevent him from achieving it. Many simple stories start with a goal and three different attempts by the hero to achieve it. If the main character achieved what he wanted on his first attempt, the story would end too quickly and there would be no suspense. The old saying is very pertinent here: “If at first you don’t succeed, TRY, TRY AGAIN.” It is also important to remember that the obstacles get bigger and the challenges more dangerous as the story proceeds.

 

Directions:

 

For each of the story goals listed below, quickly write down three possible obstacles to achieving it. Remember to start with something small and end with something big.

 

1. A knight is hired to rescue a princess who is being held captive by an evil witch.
2. A boy wants to find out what happened to his coach who mysteriously disappeared.
3. A girl needs to travel to distant city to get the medicine her mother needs to save her life from a deadly illness.
4. A boy wants to get on the basketball team.
5. A girl wants a certain boy to ask her to the homecoming dance.

 

After brainstorming obstacles for each of these story lines, choose one and write a story, or better yet, come up with a goal of your own.

 

NOTE: If you’re looking for my poem it’s in the next post. It’s a holiday gift for all my readers.

STORY HAI-CLUES

 

Directions: Think of a book you’ve read or a movie you’ve seen. Write once sentence referring to something in the OLD WORLD, one sentence describing the CROSSING, and one sentence referring to something in the NEW WORLD. Now turn each of your sentences into the line of a haiku. Remember that haiku typically have a 5-7-5 syllable structure. That means that line one is 5 syllables long, line two is 7 syllables long, and line three is 5 syllables long. After you have written your haiku, share it with a friend and see if they can use the clues in your poem to guess what story it came from. For more information about OLD WORLD vs. NEW WORLD and my 12 step story method, visit http://spellbindersbooknews.blogspot.com

 

Here are some haiku examples:

 

A lonely cupboard,

A ride on a magic train,

A school for wizards

 

Mopping dirty floors

Riding in a pumpkin coach

Dancing with a prince

 

A farm in Kansas

A storm and a crazy trip

Meeting the Munchkins

This holiday season instead of baking cookies and fudge, I’m giving the gift of poetry. Please feel free to copy this poem and pass it around (with my name of course). It is guaranteed to be 100% fat free. Happy holidays from Carolee.

THE DRUMMER BOY

ON BOURBON STREET

By Carolee Dean

                                                                       

With neon bar signs blazing,

people dancing in the sleet,

a boy sat on the corner of

Canal and Bourbon Street.

Seven trumpets, a trombone

and a tuba at his sleeve,

nearly drowning out the tapping,

his beat boxing and his rapping,

you could barely hear him tapping

on that lonely Christmas Eve.

 

A nearly threadbare jacket was

all he had to wear.

His music was a whisper

on the cold December air.

Two empty oyster buckets

for a bass drum and a seat—

His voice rose above the brawlers,

tap dancers, and street callers,

“Can you spare me a few dollars?”

Cried the boy on Bourbon Street.

 

An empty metal paint can

with some pennies made a snare.

A shining metal salad bowl;

His cymbal and his prayer.

Hoping just for passage home,

he’d smile every now and then

as a passerby would hear his song,

above the shrilling, milling throng.

They wouldn’t stop for very long,

but they’d drop a dollar in.

 

“Come,” they’d said, Pa-rum Parum

“The winter’s warmer here.”

“You’ll make a living with your drum

and never have a care.”

No money in his pocket,

No place to lay his head.

“Home” he kept on saying,

Still playing, playing, playing

“Home” he kept on praying,

Till his lips were cracked and red.

 

Then a chilling wind came from the north,

and the brass began to go,

leaving just the lonely drummer

playing rhythms in the snow

As night wore on there were fewer sounds

on the sidewalk to compete.

Though the icy wind was sleeting

his rhythm kept repeating.

He kept beating, beating, beating

the drums of Bourbon Street.

 

Just as his hope was fading

and his breath was coming fast,

he heard cathedral music—

the Saint Louis Midnight Mass

He felt his spirit lifting

Even while his body dropped.

There were distant church bells ringing,

and then children’s voices singing,

as he saw a white horse bringing

a carriage to a stop.

Some say it was an angel.

who came for him that night.

Some say it was the taxi man;

who took him for a ride.

But the drummer didn’t care,

for the trip was long and warm,

and when he reached the end of it,

just around the bend a bit,

at the final end of it,

he saw his family there.

 

Then somewhere north a woman smiled

thinking of her son,

remembering a Christmas gift;

A cymbal and a drum.

Though many years had come and gone

and they were far apart,

on that night she heard the beating,

the soft calling and repeating,

yes, that had to be the beating

of a little drummer’s heart.

 

Now every winter he returns

to a thousand city streets.

You see him in Chicago,

in New York, and New Orleans,

playing on his buckets,

reminding us of this—

 

Whether life be short or long,

if we have lived it right or wrong,

at the end of our last song

Love is all there is.

 

ROLL THE DICE

 

 

Roll the dice, write down the sentences below that corresponds with the number on the dice and then complete the last sentence. Use your sentence to start an original story.

 

1. Bob was a farm boy who lived with his family in Kansas. One day he received a letter in the mail inviting him to attend a special school for spies but he didn’t want to go because…
2. Belinda hated her life as a princess. She didn’t have any friends and she never got to go anywhere. One day her chambermaid offered to change places with her for a day so Belinda could go out and explore the world outside the castle, but the princess was reluctant to go because…
3. James lived with his father in a tiny apartment in New York City. One day his father came home and informed James that they were moving to California, but James didn’t want to go because…
4. Susan was a shy girl who had a huge crush on Joe, the captain of the debate club. She was totally shocked when he asked her to the homecoming dance, but she told him she couldn’t go with him because…
5. Fred lived on planet Zoron with his father who was the commander of the Imperial Troopers. One day he received an urgent message from his father telling him to get in their space pod and leave the planet immediately because it was about to be destroyed. Fred didn’t want to go because…
6. Lindsey had been born with a disfiguring disease. Her parents had taken her to see hundreds of doctors but none of them could help her. One day her grandmother gave her a secret book that contained a recipe for a beauty potion but Lindsey was afraid to use it because…    

MYSTICAL, MAGICAL, MUSICAL MAGAZINE PLACES

 

Nearly all stories show a main character growing and changing as a result of exposure to a new world. The hero starts out in his everyday world but either something about that world changes to turn it upside down, or else he is propelled on an adventure into an entirely New World

For this activity, cut out magazine pictures of interesting places. Look through them and pick one that intrigues you. Write a paragraph describing the old, ordinary world where the story begins and another paragraph describing the exciting new world that your character is about to enter.

If using this activity for a classroom, set the pictures on the floor or on a table. Instruct students to walk around the pictures while you play music in the background. When the music stops, have students sit down in front of a picture. It’s like musical chairs, except in this game it’s okay to share the same picture. Students then take turns describing the interesting settings that their pictures represent. Do this 2-3 times until students have several ideas for stories brewing. Then have them complete the paragraph writing activity described above.

Random Writing Activity for April 2009

“It’s Okay to FIB” –  by Carolee Dean

 

Are you expecting coal in your Easter basket because you told too many fibs this year? Well, here is a type of FIB that won’t make people call you a liar. It’s called a Fibonacci Poem.

 

A Fibonacci is a mathematical sequence often found in nature (i.e. in seed and leaf patterns). It starts with 1 or 0 and each subsequent number is based upon the sum of the preceding two numbers. (i.e. 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55 and so forth). Evidence of verse based on this form dates back to Sanskrit poetry of the 12^th century.  The Fibonacci sequence became popular with the movie “The Da Vinci Code” and a type of poem called the Fib came into use and was based on the first 6 lines of the Fibonacci sequence, with each number representing the number of syllables used for each line-1,1,2,3,5,8.

 

Example #1

1-     black

1-     horse

2-    wanders

3-    through the sage

5-    looking at cowboys

8-    quietly sleeping by the fire

 

Example #2

1-     red

1-     hot

2-    chiles

3-    roasting on

5- the fire as we wait

8-  with tortillas and pinto beans

 

Directions:

 

1. Pick a topic and brainstorm by writing down as many 1, 2 and 3 syllable words as you can think of that are related to the topic.
2. Write the Fibonacci number sequence vertically down the page.
3. Start filling in the slots for the 1, 2 and 3 syllable words. Describe what your subject is and what it is doing (or what is being done to it). Use the 5 and 8 syllable phrases to talk about where or how this is happening.

 

 

“Cop Talk” by Carolee Dean

 

I was sitting in a police station a few months ago waiting to get fingerprinted. No! I was not under arrest. I was getting an FBI background check so I could work in the public schools.

 

Anyway, I had to wait for about fifteen minutes because a man who looked like Forest Gump (those are the policeman’s words, not mine) kept talking and talking and talking to the policeman who was supposed to be fingerprinting me. They were sitting in a cubicle surrounded by sound proof glass but it was opened at the top so I could hear little pieces of their conversation. Yes, I admit I was eavesdropping because: 1) I was bored. 2) I am a writer and that’s what writer’s do.

 

I couldn’t really tell what the man was saying, but he didn’t seem overly upset or agitated so I assumed he wasn’t under arrest. I got curious about who he was. I figured he might be…

 

A. A suspect or witness who had been called in for questioning.

B. A victim filing a police report.

C. A lost person asking for directions.

D. A reporter conducting an interview.

E. The long lost and unemployed brother of the cop who had showed up to borrow money.

 

I tried to figure out who he was by listening to his tone of voice, the stress patterns he used, his intonation, the length of his sentences, the speed with which he talked etc.

 

Then I started watching the other people who came into the station and I observed how they talked to the desk sergeant. There were two men wearing clerical collars who said they needed to go to “Records,” a woman in cut off shorts carrying a baby who beeped when she walked through the metal detector (the woman, not the baby), and a nicely dressed African American man with a British accent.

 

Through their brief interactions with the desk sergeant, I tried to imagine who these people were and why they had come to the police station. Was the woman with the baby there to bail out her husband? Were the men who looked like priests really undercover private investigators? Was the man with the British accent the new James Bond?

 

I know from experience that people tend to change the way they talk when they interact with authority figures such as policemen, teachers and airline security guards—at least I do. I certainly don’t talk to traffic cops the same way I talk to my kids or my students or my husband. How we talk to most people and how we change the way we talk in certain situations is part of what we writers call VOICE.

 

So… here is the writing activity…

 

Directions:

1. Choose a character from a book you are reading or from your favorite movie (i.e. Napolean Dynamite, Cinderella, Harry Potter).
2. Think up a reason for you character to be in a police station

(i.e. they have to get fingerprinted for an FBI check for a new job,

they witnessed a crime committed by men in black cloaks, they have been accused of stealing someone else’s party shoes.)

1. Write a brief scene focusing on the dialogue between your character and the police person in charge.
2. Now write the same scene using a completely different character.
3. Look at the differences in the dialogue of the different characters.

 

“Candy Poems”

 

Text Me

UR Cool

UR Hot

Be Sweet

Now give me something

Good to eat

 

Directions: Get a box of Valentine candy and use the statements written on the hearts to create a found poem. The first few lines will come from the hearts and then you can finish with a line of your own.