Tag Archives: Inside Out and Back Again

Taking a Tip from Forrester

. Pearls Along the Path . , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Finding_forrester

Didn’t you love it when your teacher said, “Tonight for homework I would like for you to watch on tv . . .” but then hoped the next words weren’t, “The State of the Union Address?”  Well, if you are looking for a little kick start to your writing, I encourage you to watch a movie that inspires you to write.  Some of my favorites are Finding Forrester, Stranger than Fiction, and You’ve Got Mail.

Though I haven’t watched it in a bit, I am finding myself taking advice from William Forrester, played by Sean Connery, to his young prodigy. . . .

A few years back I read Inside Out and Back Again. (my post about it)  That did it!  I was hooked on stories in verse.  I ached to write one myself, but was knee deep in the Chicago Fire at the time.  I knew it couldn’t be any ol’ story that I chose to write in verse.  It took a long time to come up with the right idea.  And now that I have it, I’M REALLY STUCK!

I’m so intimidated to follow in the steps of Thanhha Lai, Jaqueline Woodson, Karen Hess, Katherine Applegate, Alexander Kwame to name a few of the seriously polished and amazing writers who have fashioned beautiful treasure boxes of powerful language in as few as ten words on a page!  Seriously?  My word pictures lack color and clarity.  I am wordy, not succinct.  I go wide, not deep.  I am in WAY OVER MY HEAD!

books in verse

Which brings me back to Finding Forrester.  William Forrester, an acclaimed author turned hermit, offers this piece of advice to his charge, and to us.  (Paraphrased or altered by my memory). . . Starting is the worst part.  If you don’t know where to start, borrow someone else’s words and before you know it, they will turn into yours.  (No duh side bar: Keep in mind, however, the high school student did get into great trouble for plagiarism when he entered his essay into a competition.  I, nor William Forrester, are encouraging you to take someone else’s words and claim them for your own.)

With this in mind, I am studying some of my favorite novels in verse and recording bits that stand out to me.  Writing the rhythm, feeling the strength of the words, getting a sense of siphoning a scene down to its bare truth.  As I immerse myself into Jacqueline’s Brooklyn, Billie Jo’s dust covered world, Kek’s first taste of America, Ha’s trip on the ship, and Filthy McNasty’s court time, I am slowly feeling my story churning, bits of it jumping into mind and immediately onto my journal.  Line by line and moment by moment this new story will come.

What inspires you to write?

What helps you get started?

Inside Out and Back Again

. Books I am glad were written . , , , , , , , ,

Inside OutInside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

This was one of those stories that goes down easy.  Though the content was compelling  and deep, the presentation was gentle and unpretentious.   It’s apparent simplicity is misleading, for Lai is masterful with language.  She communicates succinctly with powerful words ideas that many could not convey nearly as well with entire paragraphs.

It is one of those experiences that seems easy to do; makes me want to try to write a story in verse myself.  I am sure I will quickly realize that I have minimized the difficultly of such a task!  Oh how her powerful management of language belies it’s easiness!

Inside Out and Back Again is a historical fiction account of a little girl, Há.  The reader follows her through her journey from war torn Vietnam to the United States.  Her  adjustment to a new culture and the mistreatment that her Vietnamese family face mingle with the seemingly insurmountable loss she endured.

As a novice writer, I appreciate Lai’s word pictures and her ability to conjure deep emotions with minimal words.  Let me share a taste:

 Rations

On the third day

we join the sea

toward Thailand.

The commander says

it’s safe enough

for his men to cook,

for us to go above deck,

for all to smile a little.

He says there’s enough

rice and water

for three weeks,

but rescue should happen

much earlier.

Do not worry,

ships from all countries

are out looking for us.

Morning, noon, and night

we each get

one clump of rice,

small, medium, large,

according to our height,

plus one cup of water

no matter our size.

The first hot bite

of freshly cooked rice,

plump and nutty,

makes me imagine

the taste of ripe papaya

although one has nothing

to do with the other.

I opened the book randomly, to be honest, to find something to share.  I was confident that wherever I opened would delineate my point.  From six brief stanzas we get a vivid picture of the scarcity she endures on this ship (while I sit here luxuriously munching on chips and pineapple salsa) as well as her feelings about her situation.  The wonderful part is that our imagination is left to fill in the gaps, which isn’t hard to do when you have the rest of the story in context.

What I need to take away from this magnificent work is how well the author strained all of her potential ideas and determined the essential parts, how powerful precise words are, and the importance of leaving some things to the imagination.  What is of most importance is Thanhha Lai created a piece that makes me want to read it again AND stirs in me a desire to write!

Oh, how can I forget to mention?  National Book Award Winner and Newberry Honor Book.