And The Glass Castle PAUL ROBERTS’ RULES

That the writer’s duty is to make even the most dull subject, interesting. We can do this by… 1)Avoiding the obvious content 2)Taking the less usual 3)Moving from the general to the specific 4)Removing padding and pat expressions (clichés) 5)Choosing your words carefully by saying what you mean 6)Paying attention to the connotations of the words you choose and use that insight to your advantage (colorful and colored words) PAUL ROBERTS’ SUGGESTED…

I kept walking. Then I felt a sharp sting on the back of my head as if a little rock had hit me. Billy had thrown the ring at me. I kept walking. “Guess what?” Billy shouted. “I raped you!” I turned around and saw him standing there by the car, looking hurt and angry but not as tall as usual. I searched my mind for a cutting comeback, but since I didn’t know what “rape” meant, all I could think to say was “Big deal!” At home I looked up the word in the dictionary. Then I looked up the words that explained it, and though I still couldn’t figure it out completely, I knew it wasn’t good. Usually, when I didn’t understand a word, I’d ask Dad about it, and we’d read over the definition together and discuss it. I didn’t want to do that now. I had a hunch it would cause problems. COLORED WORDS = WORDS WITH POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

 When we do so, we make every word count.  A memoir is a sustained written meditation on an individual experience.  Jeannette Walls’s “meditation” took 288 pages, but what if she had to get the same sense of her experience across to her audience using only 6 WORDS? 6 Word Memoirs: The Video Story (3:25) WRITE PURPOSEFULLY: CHOOSE OUR WORDS AND IMAGES CAREFULLY

6 Word Memoirs: The Video Story (3:25) Task 1: With a partner, chose a character from the Glass Castle, and write a 6-Word Memoir for that character. Homework: Write your own! For more inspiration: THE VALUE OF WORD CHOICE—THE 6 WORD MEMOIR

Homework: Write your own! For more inspiration: TASK 2