NOVELISTS UNITE! Ms. Witham’s Essential Reminders and Expectations for Noveling over Break

Happy Thanksgiving Break, Novelists!

You have done an astounding job of noveling so far. Some of you are well beyond the 50% mark and are well on your way to Noveling Triumph. Here are some encouraging reminders to get you there over your break:

1. You Will Write Everyday. Beware of the Dangers of Days Off. Novelists are much more successful when they write everyday, multiple times a day. TRUST ME. NOVEL BEFORE ___(fill in the blank: Napping, Gaming, Instagraming, Tweeting, Sleeping, Snacking)___

**Most mornings Ms. W will be noveling at the Venice Grind cafe, from 8-ish to 10-ish. Stop by and novel, or set up another meeting spot for yourself where you can meet with friends to novel. NOVELISTS UNITE!**

2. You will do Research for your novel. You MUST write down your specific sources at the back of your novel notebook. This can include any of the following:

A. Interview someone who can help you illuminate a character, a plot point, a setting. 

Example: If your character goes on a road trip, interview someone who has road trip. If you want to add a plot twist about a violent storm or earthquake or battle-scene, interview someone who has lived through that.

B. Web Research: Use Wikipedia, Google Images, You Tube to look up settings, diseases, famous battle tactics of samurai. Whatever your novel needs, the Web has information about it.

C. Book research: Novels, non-fiction books, atlases, encyclopedias, magazines: all can be great sources of information. Camp out at the library and watch your novel come to life!

D. Listen to StoryCorps Interviews at http://storycorps.org/

These are interviews between family members, friends, mentors about a wide range of fascinating moments in people’s lives. You will be inspired, and new characters and plot twists abound.
E. Gather Stories at Thanksgiving. Family Gatherings are a great place to sit down and listen to someone's story and see how you can work in amazing experiences into your novel. Everyone has a story~Listen in, ask questions, do an informal interview. The person will be honored to have inspired your writing.

3. You will reread at least some chapters of your novel to identify and begin to revise the three sections you want to “publish.” Feel free to type up revisions~Ms. Witham will be reading excerpts starting December 2.

     Two are specific:

☐ Opening Pages (at least 300 words)  

☐ Scene from the Climax (or a favorite scene from the middle)(at least 300-500 words)

One “Your Choice” Excerpt: (at least 300-500 words)

☐ Scene with a significant literary allusion

☐ Research-based scene (with a Works cited page)

☐ STEMM-Inspired scene (use learning from STEMM classes)

**Please review the pep talks and the Rubric and Three-Step Revision Method handouts Ms. Witham gave you in the last days before the break.**

4. Stay Connected with Fellow Novelists and Update your WORD COUNT!: Please keep checking in on ywp.nanowrimo.org for pep talks and to see how fellow novelists in our class are doing. You will be inspired!

You should be finished with your word count by 11/30/13 at 11:59 if you intend to update your progress on ywp.nanowrimo.org and be proclaimed a “WINNER” of NaNoWriMo. Please see http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/how-to-win for more information.

5. Feel free to start typing instead of noveling by hand! If you do so, I recommend starting with where you are now, and IF you have extra time after making your daily word count goal, you can go back and type from the beginning. Check out the Word Count Validator on the website~It’s exciting to see it tell you that yes, you have made your goal! And remember, SAVE OFTEN if you are typing, and Back up your novel on a flash drive!

6. Get Artistic! Start playing with ideas for your cover or illustrations you want to include. These can be character drawings, maps, illustrations of scenes, you name it.

ART + A GREAT STORY = A Compelling, Intriguing Novel

Young Novelist Top Tips for Noveling Success over Break

Top Things You Can do to Keep your Novel Alive Over the Break

Period 1:

Write Every Day~Zak

Do Word Wars at Home~Sergio

Read someone else’s novel to get inspiration~Brandon

Go outside and write~Noah

Go to cafes where other people are writing~Andres C.

Follow your character’s habits (taking walks, experience the setting/habits your charcter does)~Aires

Work on a schedule~Mitchell

Starting the day with noveling~Ms. Witham

Brainstorm ideas before you write~Spencer K.

Interview someone who has been in your character’s situation~Sergio

Ask someone else to read/respond to your novel~Andres C.

Take experiences from your daily life~Laura G.

Novel Before Napping (or any other activity you are looking forward to)~Chris G., former student novelist of Ms. W’s

Don’t procrastinate.~Zak W.

Watch a movie to get inspiration. ~Matthew D.

Just Do It. ~Gia (Thanks Nike!)

Use your experiences over the break in your story. ~Matthew J.

Act out parts of your story.~Guadalupe H.

Use food for inspiration. ~Dynesha

When you get stuck, look back to your model novel(s).~Spencer T.

Read history books about the time period.~Kriseira

Do something that inspires you to write. ~Miryam

Get enough sleep. ~Maryjoy A.

Ask little kids for dare ideas. ~Dowson

Stay up late. ~Spencer T.

Always come up with new ideas.~Paola

Keey your novel on a “designated noveling desk.” (so you don’t go through the tragedy of losing it.)~Griffin

Try to get inspiration from someone else’s novel.~Timothy

Explode your creativity on your novel.~Cristian

Give a character a burst of emotion that you can follow up with events.~Janelle

Make character’s friend betray them. ~Matthew

A major even happens (death, earthquake). ~Dylan

Budget your time. Figure out how long it will take you to write a certain amount of words, and don’t give up until you’ve made your goal. And make sure my phone’s away. ~Sarajoy

If stuck, reread so you can see where you want to head in the story. ~Jake

Write the first thing that comes into your mind and stay true to your ideas. ~Andrew

Even if the writing gets tough, keep going. ~Angela

Look for inspiration all around you. ~Cattia

Remember that nothing you write is ever wrong. ~Angela

Make a writing schedule. ~Cattia

You’re gonna have to finish it anyway, might as well do it. ~John

Common Core Pilot Assessment, to be given December 2-5

BREAKING NEWS: A Pilot Common Core Assessment is to be given the week of December 2-5. 

Please come back from break ready to write an in-class argumentative essay comparing two author's positions from articles you will read. The best preparation we have had for this is our work on the Rhetorical Precis.

Apologies for late notice on the Assessment. Teachers just received materials this week. We will do our best and learn from the experience. This will give us a good sense of how we need to prepare for new Common Core Assessments. 

Thank you for taking this opportunity seriously, and for being flexible with the process. 

This means that much of the Revision Excerpt work must happen on your own. Ms. Witham will be available to read excerpts on December 3 and 4 during the assessment to give feedback.

Late Work Deadline: Tomorrow, 11.20

Tomorrow is the last day to turn in late work from the first 15 weeks of school. Thanks to all who get their work in on time!

Please continue to make progress on your daily word count goal for Novel Writing Month. The more momentum you build with daily writing sessions, the easier the process becomes.

Remember to update your word count goal online. The deadline for changing your word count on the ywp.nanowrimo.org site is 11.23.13.

60% Milestone Check-in Tomorrow, Tuesday, 11.19

Congratulations Novelists!

We will check your novel progress and look for 60% milestone completion tomorrow, Tuesday, 11.19.

Many of you are making phenomenal progress on your novels. You are writing in class AND at home. You are using ywp.nanowrimo.org to get inspiration, noveling dares, and updating your word count (as well as your goal!)

REALITY CHECK: We have been writing in class every day during November, which by now is a total of 10 days. If you have stayed focused on the process and completed all the preparation for this (Character Freewrite, Character Questionnaire, and Plot Rollercoaster) you should have, at minimum, at least 15-20 pages of writing that is just from our class time. 

To make your word count goal for the month (10,000-15,000, or more if you are ambitious), you MUST write for homework, at least thirty focused minutes a night. 

If you are behind, start creating more mini-writing sessions throughout your day to build your word count. 

Above all, DO NOT GIVE UP!! 
Read some of the great pep talks on ywp.nanowrimo.org to stay inspired.

NaNoWriMo Grade Pie: See Timeline Post for details

Greeting Novelists, and those who support young people writing novels,

This weekend is the perfect time to do a few writing marathons to really get into your story, enjoy a few plot twists, read a pep talk on the website, and make major progress with your word count goal. Try to team up with some fellow novelists and use some Word Wars to help your story gain momentum (yay Physics!) along that plot rollercoaster.

**Ms. Witham will be doing some writing marathons at two cafes this weekend:
The Spot Cafe & Lounge on Overland in Culver City~ Saturday 9am-noon
Venice Grind on Venice Blvd between Centinela and Grandview~Sunday 9am-11am
Yes, you can get extra credit points for an hour of writing. More importantly, you'll experience the life of a writer and the joy of cafe writing. Character inspiration abounds!

Here is a visual of your grade breakdown for the work of this month, also known as the  NaNoWriMo Grade Pie. It's delicious.

NaNoWriMo Timeline: Deadlines, Final Projects, and Opportunities to Boost Your Grade

Here is an overview of our National Novel Writing Month Timeline and Final Projects

Please understand, occasionally plans must change due to unforeseen circumstances. Ms. Witham thanks you for your ability to be flexible. Much of this work will be done in class, however how much students accomplish depends on their level of focus and productivity. Students will need to make arrangements to type up their excerpts. Ms. Witham will have four laptops available in class to do this, as well as flash drives to check out and a printer. Room 152 will be open at lunch most school days, as well as 30 minutes after school most days.

EXTRA CREDIT OPTIONS:   

☐ 10 Extra Credit for every extra 1,000 words you exceed your class word count goal.

☐ 15 points if you create a “Work of Art” Plot Rollercoaster—See “Story Coaster” in class (Due Tues, 12.3)
☐ 15 points if you create a Model Novel Inspiration Map

☐ 25 points if you complete more than 1 “Your choice” excerpt

Due Date	Assignment	Description	Points Poss.
W, 11.13	40% Check-in	**Update on the ywp.nanowrimo.org account!	50
F, 11.15	Update NanoAccount:	Must adjust word count goal and update progress at least twice/week.	25
F, 11.15	Plot Rollercoaster Draft	(Minimum 7 Plot points)	25
T, 11.19	60% Check-in	**Update on the ywp.nanowrimo.org account!	25
By 11.21	Novel Sponsor Reader	Sponsor agrees to read your entire novel, give you feedback, and write a book “blurb” (2-sentence pitch on why your book is a must-read (must fill out form)	25
12.2	100% Check IN!	**Update on the ywp.nanowrimo.org account!	50
11.15, 2 TBD	Author’s Chair:	Describe scene you read:	25
TH, 12.5	Revised Excerpts: 2 Required: 1 of Your Choice:	Workshopped, revised, edited, polished, and typed scenes from your novel. **See Nano Rubric and Pages Template** ☐ Opening Pages (at least 300 words)   ☐ Scene from the Climax (at least 300-500 words) Choice Excerpts: (at least 300-500 words) ☐ Scene with a significant literary allusion ☐ Research-based scene (with a Works cited page) ☐ STEMM-Inspired scene (use learning from STEMM classes)	150
T, 12.10	Book Jacket **20 points Extra Credit if turned in by Friday, 12.6.13	**Follow Novel Pages Template attached to Jupiter Grades for a “book sized” jacket, may use full pages for an “extra large” jacket)*** ☐ Cover (50)   ☐ Title and Author—what font/style of text will show the mood/tone of book?   ☐ Images—can be simple or complex, abstract or realistic, MUST be handmade. You can make a collage, trace images, use construction paper cut-outs or original photographs you take, BUT NO CLIP ART!!  ☐ “Blurb” Review from your Novel Sponsor ☐ Revised Excerpts (see above) ☐ Back of Book summary (at least three paragraphs, vivid character, settting, and conflict description, cliffhanger-ending) (30) ☐ About the author (at least two paragraphs, in third person) (20)	100
		GRAND TOTAL:	475