Bend III: Lessons from a Master

What can you learn from mentor authors to make your writing even better?

Session 1: Favorite Books Spark Ideas for New Stories 

“Today I want to teach you that books you love can be your best writing teachers. For example, writers can read a book and think, ‘What stories from my life does this story make me want to tell?’”

Session 2: Adding Comparisons to Show What Is Happening 

“Today I want to teach you that writers help readers understand the action in their stories. They can make a comparison to show how something in their stories is like something else that the reader may know.”

Session 3: Using Repetition Purposefully 

“Today I want to teach you that writers can use repeating words, or repetition, to make important words stand out. Writers can repeat words to catch readers’ attention or to show something is happening a lot.”

Session 4: Elaborating with Precise Description 

“Today I want to teach you that writers choose their words carefully to paint a picture for readers. They use words that describe exactly how things look, how people move, or how things sound.”

Session 5: Using Powerful Patterns to Spell 

“Today I want to teach you that writers can use the powerful patterns they know to help them spell. You can say a word you want to write and think, ‘Have I heard a part of this word before?’ Instead of spelling new words letter sound by letter sound, you can listen for bigger word parts to help you spell by pattern.”

Session 6: Using a Checklist to Get Ready to Publish 

“Today I want to teach you that when authors get ready to publish their writing, they ask, ‘Do I have everything?’ Writers can keep a checklist close by, and use it to remember how to make their writing as strong as possible.”

Session 7: Editing to Make Writing Easier to Read 

“Today I want to teach you that when writers get ready to publish a book, they work extra hard to make it easy to read. They spend a lot of time editing! You can reread your writing over and over, looking for ways to make it clearer, and finding things to fix up.”