Writing Skeletons
The following entry comes courtesy of Alice, a fifth-grade student in SE Portland. I’ve been working with Alice for two years – she’s a heck of a writer and has a great mind.
The exercise itself involved working with “skeleton paragraphs”, an idea I borrowed from the kind folks at Mutating the Signature (please check them out if you haven’t already – a collaborative effort between Seattle poets Nathan Moore and Dana Guthrie-Martin).
Below I’ve pasted the original skeletons, followed by Alice’s replies.
It’s ________ __________ “___________ ___________” and it’s ___________ __________ __________ “___________”. This is, __________ it’s _________ ___________ the __________! The _________ ___________ _________ the _________ __________ for __________, which _______, “_______ __________.” This is __________ _________ it is to _____________.
Alice writes:
It’s tomorrow buddy “seven days” and it’s today dear that’s “here”. This is, look it’s Safe Chap the hero! The weird dork from the planet Zuok for $4, which says “Yo dude”. This is how fun it is to dream.
When ______ _________ at ______ _________ of ________ ___________ in the ________ _________. ____________ ___________. I _________, “what are __________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________?” I _________ I’ll __________ a ____________ of _________ ____________. Then I __________ ___________ _____________ to ____________ ___________, I ___________ in ____________.
Alice writes:
When I cry at night love of life springs in the dark well. I’m desperate. I scream “what are you on these bleak lands?” I swear I’ll cry a river of salty tears. Then I sink down slowly to my knees, I struggle in vain.
Tags: Dana Guthrie-Martin, Mutating the Signature, Nathan Moore, Portland writing workshops, student writing
These are super!
Hi,
“Skeleton paragraph” is an interesting thing, which is really exciting to learn. Great idea! Sample including has built a greater understanding.