|
|
Wednesday, March 14, 2007On Good Writing and the Notion of ConflictI've ranted before about the poor writing examples in my son's grammar book. Mind you, the actual grammar is impeccable. It's an excellent curriculum and I'm glad I chose it. I have no argument with the grammar content. It's the writing part. You know, the part where they teach about writing descriptive sentences, using figurative language, and varying sentence order. That sort of thing. And the deeper we get into Writing Territory, the more nauseated I become. We're talking Bad Writing 101, or How To Write If You Never Want To Be Published. I know, I know. Most teenagers who are learning to write do not have aspirations toward professional writerhood. But it's an irrefutable fact that good writing is a valuable life skill, and youngsters are done a vile disservice when they are not taught to write cleanly, sharply, and as brilliantly as they can. Want an example of what I mean by Bad Writing In A Top-Notch Grammar Book? Ahem: "The bear's heart turned to water, and he fled like a frightened rabbit." (On figures of speech) "A large oak spread its branches protectingly over a small cottage." (On descriptive sentences) "An owl called enticingly from the woods as we followed Father out into the soft moonlight. A cool breeze fanned my cheeks and left the dampness of dew. Another breeze came to tease my hair, bringing a tempting whiff of peppermint from the tea bed." (On descriptive composition) Now, you may call me a Writing Snob if you'd like. In fact, you might be thinking, "If my teenager wrote sentences like those, I'd be thrilled." Well, if your teenager were writing sentences like those, he'd obviously been trained in the Bad Writing school along with his fellow classmates. I mean, come on! "Fled like a frightened rabbit?" "Spread its branches protectingly?" Protectingly?? Needless to say, I don't mince my words with Jonathan when something really stinks. Fortunately, he agrees with me almost every time. "Spread its branches protectingly" is too many words -- too clunky -- to be truly effective. How about "embraced?" Or "stood guard?" "A large oak embraced the small cottage." "A large oak stood guard over a small cottage." Still not deathless prose, to be sure. But definitely a step in the right direction. The point of this particular sentence was, of course, the use of personification. A tree cannot truly "protect" or "embrace" or "stand guard," but that's the beauty of the exercise. It just peeves me that the writers of this grammar book couldn't have done a better job with the actual writing. Ugh. The good news is that, despite the substandard writing examples, Jonathan has developed a love for creative writing (read: for making Mom laugh with strange stories). A short composition last week was a bit on the rambly side, reading more like a list of events with no purpose or direction than like a story. So, like any responsible writer, I introduced the concept of conflict. "Your story needs conflict," I said. "You need to come up with a problem that has to be solved. There needs to be a climax and a resolution." And like any responsible fourteen-year-old boy, Jonathan followed my directions and added conflict to his next short story. He created a villain named Will Conflict. And there you have it. Bad writing examples aside, Jonathan's innate sense of humor (and gift for irony) is going to carry him beyond anything I might impart. Test next Thursday. Labels: homeschooling, writing |
About Me
I am: Mother to five stunningly individualistic children... Writer of young adult fantasy... Passionate advocate for Women At Home... Madly in love with my husband... In need of Organic Gourmet Chocolate on a regular basis. I've got a Paypal account if you'd like to contribute to the cause....
|
4of my readers are feeling chatty:
My son wrote a short piece several years ago, the main character of which was "Dictionary Bob".
It contained a classic line though. I still laugh when I think about it.
Somewhere in the tale, DB said this:
"You heinous Moron!"
Gotta love that!
I nearly spit my coffee out when I scrolled down and read "Protectingly??" because that was *exactly* what I was thinking! :-D
I couldn't find a grammar curriculum that I liked so I designed the older kids' lessons around "The Elements of Style".
Maybe one of these days I'll follow the rules myself when I write. ;-)
Sounds like it was written by a committee.
rofl number of readers feeling chatty lmao :)
Post a Comment
<< Home