By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I find my daughter’s middle school English homework a lot more interesting than she does.
She had a page of notes regarding “signposts” she should be looking for as she reads through various books for school this year. I did some poking around online and found that this material comes from Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst. The notes were interesting to me, as a writer. For one thing, they pointed out areas that could be problematic for us as we write our books. Here’s what I read in her notes, and my thoughts in italics.
6 signposts:
Contrast and contradictions: When you’re reading and a character says or does something that’s opposite of what they normally do. Asking why the character is doing that action may help you understand character development, internal conflict, and theme. Or—it could be a plot manipulation, if done poorly. Or it could mean a distracted/hurried writer who isn’t maintaining character consistency.Continue reading