Mary Amato

Writing with Humor & Heart

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Raising the Stakes

February 16, 2021 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

Pencils by JHYou win a pizza! Unfortunately after you pick it up, you trip and the pizza splats onto the sidewalk. Life is full of ups and downs and so are stories. Ups and downs are what makes a story interesting. You read to find out what is going to happen next.

In my February workshop with West Education Campus fifth graders, we warmed up with a “fortunately, unfortunately improvisation game.” The students had imaginative ideas—some dramatic and some funny. Our story did involve a pizza and ended with a twist. Even though our main character, after many obstacles,, finally, finally, finally got the pizza in the end . . . the pizza had pineapple on it, which the character didn’t like. Hilarious.

Next, as a group, we worked through the process of out to RAISE THE STAKES in a story by using my three-part process.
1. Write a short WOW outline. My WOW outline is Want, Obstacle, Win.
2. Ask yourself, “How can I make the want, the obstacle, and the win more dramatic?” Think of lots of ways and write them down in a revised outline.
3. Now, write the story!

We started out with this simple outline: Boy wants to enter a bike race. Boy doesn’t have a bike. Boy finds a bike and enters the race.

The students did a great job of raising the stakes. Here are some examples:

What if the boy started out not knowing how to ride a bike? Then even if he got one, he’d have to work really hard to get good. What if got a bike, but the bike broke? That would be even worse. The boy could go to a bike shop to ask the owner to help him fix the bike. But the owner could be mean and say, “No way unless you have money.” When a character keeps having ups and downs, it’s more exciting. Finally, what if it wasn’t just any race, but a professional bike race with a cash prize. That would make the ending more dramatic. We’d be hoping he would win!

Raise the stakes of a story by actively trying to imagine lots of ups and downs for your character’s journey before you even start writing.

The students are writing their own stories, and I can’t wait to see what happens.

My West Education Campus Fifth Grade Writing Residency is supported by An Open Book Foundation. I’ll be posting a once-per-month essay about the experience between December 2020 and May 2021. More entries on this residency.

Filed Under: What's New Tagged With: story writing, West Education Campus, writing process, Writing Residency

New Book and Resources

January 23, 2016 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

Our Teacher is a Vampire CoverTeachers and librarians, see my special packet showing the step-by-step writing and publishing process. In this free download, students will be able to see real examples of brainstorming, drafts, research, revising, and more.  Teaching guide with Common Core standards is also available.

Our Teacher is a Vampire And Other (Not) True Stories is the collaborative writing journal of a classroom full of students trying to write a story. This book provides great opportunities for lessons on character traits, reading with expression, and understanding how point of view works.

Filed Under: What's New Tagged With: books about writing, character traits, common core teaching guide, Mary Amato, more than one POV, multiple POVS, Our Teacher is a Vampire, publishing process, writing and revising, writing process

Writing Guitar Notes

August 13, 2012 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

Check out the Guitar Notes website.

Filed Under: General, Resources Tagged With: Guitar Notes, video, videos, writing process, writing tips

How to write when your character is a little crazy

August 10, 2012 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

pencil amato write e

I am hard at work on the next novel, and I’m using a different process. Usually I find the voice of the novel first (Is it the voice of the main character? Is it the voice of a narrator?) and then I write my rough draft in the voice. So, I started this project by writing in the voice of my main character, but it quickly became difficult. What is happening in my character’s life is emotionally hot and overwhelming; and so I found that her energy was too scattered and unstable to follow. My story wasn’t moving forward; it was just a hurricane of her thoughts and anxieties. So, I gave my character a sedative and put her to bed and then I wrote a rough draft in a completely unattached voice, just describing what was happening to her. Behold: a coherent plot emerged. Now that I know what the story is about, I’m revising from the beginning, releasing her voice, allowing her to be fully present in her completely whacked out way.

Filed Under: Writer's Blog Tagged With: Teaching and Learning, writing process, writing tips

If you’re stumped, just hold on…

April 13, 2012 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

From Jonah Lehrer’s book, Imagine: How Creativity Works “…the act of being stumped is an essential part of the creative process. Before we can find the answer–before we probably even know the question–we must be immersed in disappointment, convinced that a solution is beyond our reach…It’s often only at this point, after we’ve stopped searching for the answer, that the answer arrives.

So don’t despair if you’re stuck! It’s all part of imagination’s “wicked sense of irony.”


Filed Under: Writer's Blog Tagged With: Jonah Lehrer, writing process, writing tips

How do you write what becomes a “favorite scene”?

February 23, 2012 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

Invisible LinesGot a letter yesterday from a boy in a residential juvenile detention facility, another word for jail. He wrote to say how much he enjoyed Invisible Lines, a book that deals with some of the tough issues that I’m sure this boy has had to face. The most touching part of the letter for me was his revelation of his favorite scene: the scene in the book where the science teacher takes the kids outside and has them get down on the grass and pretend to be mycelial threads in an ecosystem. This is my favorite scene in the book, too! It’s a scene that initially frustrated me because it was flat on the page in  my early drafts. So in the revision process I actually went outside and stretched out on the grass and pretended that I was my main character. When I did this, I had some emotional revelations that gave me what I needed to really and truly see the scene through my character’s eyes.

Filed Under: Writer's Blog Tagged With: fan mail, revision, writing process

Pencil Tips Writing Workshop Blog

February 15, 2012 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

I’m delighted to join children’s book writers and illustrators Jacqueline Jules, Alison Hart, Mary Quattlebaum, Laura Krauss Melmed,and Joan Waites as a co-blogger at the Pencil Tips Writing Workshop.My first entry, about the value of sharing mistakes, was just posted. Each blogger takes a turn posting a tip.

Please consider subscribing and/or pass along the link to teachers, parents, and everyone interested in writing for children and young adults.

Filed Under: Writer's Blog Tagged With: mistakes, the writing process, writing process, writing tips

Beware “But I love this…”

January 17, 2012 by Mary Amato 5 Comments

Wrote a new song. Loved it. Well, most of it. I was having a little trouble with the bridge, which didn’t seem to lead anywhere. So, I played the song for my music partner Bill Williams, expecting him to suggest a little touch that would do the trick for the trouble spot. He floored me by saying that when he looked at my lyrics, he was hearing a completely different rhythm and tempo overall. I so wanted him to be wrong. “But I love this rhythm and tempo…” I kept thinking.

If I have learned one thing about writing it is this: Beware when you are saying to yourself, “But I love this…” Last night, I forced myself to try Bill’s suggested rhythm and tempo and the song came to life. As I was singing, new lyrics came to me for that troubled old bridge over which I had labored. I can’t even remember now what I loved so much about the old song.

Filed Under: General, Writer's Blog Tagged With: revision, songwriting, writing process, writing tips

Inspiring Lines from Roddy Doyle

November 17, 2011 by Mary Amato Leave a Comment

Reading The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle for my book group. Love the writing.

The opening story is about a father–Larry– who is meeting his daughter’s boyfriend. While the boyfriend is cool and poised, the father feels himself unraveling. It’s told in 3rd person and here are my favorite lines:

“He [Larry, the father] could feel his heart kicking the blood straight to his cheeks and armpits.”

and

“It wasn’t fair. Larry felt exposed, stupid and even more angry and hopeless. And your man over there just looking back at him, like he was an ad on the side of a bus shelter.”

Write on!

Filed Under: Writer's Blog Tagged With: Roddy Doyle, writing process, writing tips

Why Write?

September 19, 2011 by Mary Amato 1 Comment

“For me, anyway, [writing] is what infuses the world with meaning,” says Jennifer Egan in the Washington Post’s BookWorld (9-18-11).

Not true for me. As I see it, the world is infused with meaning, whether or not I happen to notice. Writing, for me, is proof that I am noticing; it is also a way of making the perception of meaning concrete so that it can be shared.

Filed Under: Writer's Blog Tagged With: creative writing, meaning, writing process

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Humor and Heart

I give voice to the funny, sad, messy, and wondrous stories of life, especially the stories of children and young adults. My mission: each book has humor and heart. If you are a teen and/or you're looking for info about my books and music for older readers, please check out my www.thrumsociety.com site.
Learn more about my mission and resources.

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