Exploring Points of View
- Details
- Category: Sprouts
- Published on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 15:11
- Written by Marc Lehman
- Hits: 71
Welcome back! I hope you had a good time sharing with your family about what books have touched them, and have learned something new about each other in the process. Today, we're going to take that a step farther into writing, using it as a way to explore how differently each one of you views the world. This exercise will also help you all get used to sharing your writing with each other, especially in making sure that each individual knows that their writing will be read and appreciated at this point. Constructive criticism will come later once that trust and confidence is built.
One key way to bring out this difference in point of view is to write on the same very general topic without deciding together on details. How each person fills in those details can point out what they consider important, or what issues around that topic are significant for them at this point in their life. Don't answer any questions about specifics if they ask them, encourage each child to fill in those details themselves. This is also a good time to encourage them to not just show the actions, but to give a glimpse into the internal life of their character as well. At this point, we're more concerned with getting everyone comfortable with sharing actions, thoughts, and emotions through their characters, later we will work on making their methods of exposition more effective.
This week, have each family member write a short story on the same topic. The length should be age appropriate, an adult might write around 5000 words, a young adult 1000-3000, a younger child might go with 300-500 and some illustrations. Don't discuss or agree on details, just write the stories and see what comes out. When everyone is done, pick a night and have each child read their story out loud to the family. Listen attentively to each other, be open to what they are sharing about themselves. When you're all done reading, lead a discussion of how many different techniques and points of view were found for the same topic. Who knows, you may start looking forward to these stories. You could even consider this as a kind of family game night, one week write together, and the next have fun listening to the creations of the people you love.
I'll put a few sample topics below to get you started, so get out those pens and have some fun together.
Uh-oh, someone didn't show up to meet me when they promised to.
Wow, that was an epic failure.
All I wanted to do was dance.
Sometimes parents are just silly.
Happy writing!