COPY
writing
writers
&
quitters
There’s only two types
of writers
• Good writers and quitters
There’s only two types
of writers
• Good writers and quitters
• A few hints to move to good before they quit
No one reads our copy.
I mean, who likes all those words?
Our stories are so boring.
We’d rather have pictures than that boring stuff.
No one reads our copy.
I mean, who likes all those words?
Our stories are so boring.
We’d rather have pictures than that boring stuff.
Art students do pottery, drawing and painting.
“I took art because I like to draw,” art student Alexis
Hernandez revealed.
Some students think art is fun.
“I think art is fun,” Alexis added.
Art students do pottery, drawing and painting.
“I took art because I like to draw,” art student Alexis
Hernandez revealed.
Some students think art is fun.
“I think art is fun,” Alexis added.
Why isn’t this a story?
Yearbook copy = Stories
 The stories have characters
(who)
(who)
She wears pink socks with hearts on them and a shirt
that reads, "When things get tough, I go to Grandma's."
He wears faded blue jeans and sneakers, has tattoos
on his arms and braces on his teeth.
She's pretty in a no-makeup sort of way. He's
handsome in an unmade bed sort of way.
She attends an arts school, spends her days painting,
writing, dancing. He dropped out of school in ninth grade, has
no job and spends a lot of time skateboarding.
"I'm a loser," he says.
Yearbook copy = Stories
 The stories have settings
(where)
(where)
Thousands of drivers pass over the cross every day.
They never see it.
It stands under the westbound lanes of the Gandy
Bridge, clinging to the edge of Pinellas County.
It rises out of the sandy soil near the seawall and
catches the light of sunrise and sunset. But mostly it dwells in
the cool, dark, lonely shade.
Yearbook copy = Stories
 The stories have plot.
(what)
(what)
The two men play deliberately, studying each move,
jumping each other.
Wilber acts on instinct. Arthur rubs his chin and
ponders. The only sound, other than passing cars and men
laughing outside the Cat Island Grill, are the old plastic
checkers, red and black, sliding across the table.
First one to five games wins. It's tied, 4 to 4.
The last game passes slowly. Wilber plays quickly,
then strokes his gray beard while Arthur ponders.
The checkers slide back and forth, clinking against the
tabletop with each jump, until only a few remain.
Yearbook copy = Stories
 The stories have chronology.
(when)
(when) He missed Cheyenne's first steps.
Missed her first Thanksgiving. First Christmas. First tooth.
Just the other day, he missed her learning how to slurp
spaghetti.
He hasn't held her in six months, hasn't watched her play
with her favorite toy shopping cart. He hasn't heard her cry in the
middle of the night or giggle in her crib beside the bed he shared
with his wife, Cheyenne's mother.
"I've missed everything," he says.
He has measured his daughter's life in hourlong visits,
twice a week. They meet in this drab concrete block room,
separated always by a thick sheet of glass.
Yearbook copy = Stories
 The characters have motivation.
(why)
The few drivers on this dark, lonely stretch of the Suncoast
Parkway in Pasco County pull up to the toll booth, hand their
dollars to Lloyd Blair and then speed away. None of them knows
why the old man sits here, night after night, working the graveyard
shift.
Well, here's why:
Because years ago, on a freezing winter night at a party in
Queens, N.Y., he met a woman named Millie.
Because he fell in love with her brown hair and wide eyes
and 100-watt smile.
Because they got married, moved to Staten Island, had a
son and worked for decades in Manhattan; she as an accountant,
These are stories.
They appeared in
the St. Petersburg Times.
Go
to www.sptimes.com
They
were written
by
only 300
BRADY
to read
all DENNIS.
300
words.
words
long.
So, why isn’t this a story?
Art students do pottery, drawing and painting.
“I took art because I like to draw,” art student Alexis
Hernandez revealed.
Some students think art is fun.
“I think art is fun,” Alexis added.
It doesn’t have character, setting, plot,
chronology or motivation.
Alexis Hernandez tucked the unruly wisp of hair back into
place with her mud-caked hands. She had battled with her
bangs for the last 30 minutes as her bowl took shape on the
pottery wheel.
“Anybody got like a clippie?” Alexis said to no one in
particular in her Art I class third period.
Her feet kept the wheel in a steady rotation with
alternating tapping as the bowl became rounder and rounder.
“My grandmama will love this bowl,” Alexis said. “It has to
be like absolutely awesome.”
Do you see Alexis at the pottery wheel?
Do you see the hair falling in her eyes?
Do you see her hands?
Do you hear her voice?
Do you see her feet?
So, maybe they like stories, just not boring ones.
Story Checklist
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Sensory descriptions.
Strong verbs.
Specific nouns.
Active voice.
Anecdotes.