In September of 2007, I started this blog
with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how
little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak
at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the
writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran,
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together
they write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors,
publishers, columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got
enough publications now that I can share some of the things I did “right” and
I’m busy sharing that with you.
While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make
enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the
professional writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what
I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a
point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote
to the left will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output
and sales! As always, your comments are welcome!
This one followed hot on the heels of “Simple Science”. I was intent on
seeing if I could turn my science skills into writing skills.
Turns out I could.
While “Simple Science” was an iteration of a demonstration I’d done
many times, “Sleeping and Sprinting” was a thought experiment to fill a need a
magazine had. FUN FOR KIDZ was looking for things to do at a party. [I
submitted the experiment to FFK, but they liked it enough to want to toss it
into the sister publication, HFG; whose brother magazine is BOY’S QUEST; all
published by Fun For Kidz Magazines.]
I’d been reading on a “real science” site about the importance of
baseline data as it related to exercise. I figured that combining them and
simplifying data collection as much as I could would make for an interesting
experiment and prove a belief that I’ve long held: that anyone can do real
science experiments anywhere. All they have to do is come up with a question,
an action that will give them information they can write down, and a way to
record the information.
I knew also that most young people want relevant and interesting
information. Most young people are also curious. The problem is that standard
science classes don’t usually teach inquiry – they teach cook book science: 1)
Take this thing. 2) Take the other thing. 3) Mix them together, throw them,
drop them, heat them. 4) Record what happened. 5) Isn’t this SCIENCE wonderful?
First of all, cook book “science” is not science. Let me reiterate
that: cook book science is not science.
It’s training for proper laboratory practice, and there’s nothing
inherently WRONG with learning lab procedures! Students need to know this in
order to not set themselves on fire, create toxic gases, or make flash burns on
solid surfaces. But it’s not science. By definition, science is “...the
systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural
world through observation and experiment.”
All I did was give a frame work to find out something that might
interest kids: “Does everybody’s pulse go up and down the same when they
exercise?”
The ancillary question was if age made a difference, giving the kids a
chance to ask the parents to take part in the experiment. Another thing that
this did, in addition to asking questions, is to both tie an everyday subject
together and ask a question that any kid in their right mind would be able to
Google instantly.
A standard lab we did in the physical science classes I taught was to
find the density of different solids and liquids. All of which were easily
Google-able and not in any way, shape, or form “science”.
Now that I’ve worked myself into a lather though, I guess I’m feeling
inspired to go write and try and sell a couple more science experiments!
Oh, one last thing – enthusiasm is essential in writing science
experiments that kids will want to do!
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