WriteOut Twitter Chat
The time slipped by — lots going on today as we prepare for finally getting the new roof to repair a leaky one in our old cottage we’ve lived in for thirty-three years. So, I missed the Twitter chat whose calendar alert let me know I was missing something important. But, the thing about life is, we do what we can.
And, the thing about learning together in different spaces and places is that people can check in when they are able to— so let’s see how the twitter chat helped inspire thinking and learning with palettes, storyboards, and cadences today. We won’t miss a thing!
Theme
This year, for #writeout from the National Writing Project / National Park Service two week celebration of parks and the outdoors, the overall theme is “palettes, storyboards, and cadences.” The chat led us through an imagining of nature’s story through our own palette and cadences guided by seven prompts in the Twitter Chat.
My Storyboard
I scrolled through the Twitter Chat timeline for the first question to consider the prompt and reply. I’d repeat the process with a bit of research in between– just a few quick questions in the search bar would inspire my responses.
My Storyboard:
A1 #writeout teal/purple/lightgreen: The sky, bright in clear blue warmed the horizon, featuring the deep purple of lavender and lilacs dotting their plentiful foliage as we walked the path to home.
A2 #writeout teal to deep midnight blue: Stars twinkled and fireflies* sparkled, lighting the way.
A3 #writeout Hovering over the lilacs, Cecropia moths feed while pollinating, ignoring the lavender which is toxic to them.
A4 #writeout Peeking out from its space in the maple tree, squirrel keeps an eye out for moth cocoons, a favorite treat.
A5 #writeout One chirp from squirrel told me he was there and the low buzz of the Cecripia’s wings once brushed along behind me. “Kreck-ek” sang the Pacific tree frog, hoping to catch a silent, flashing firefly. Ben sneezed, and a Hermit Thrush whistled.
A6 #writeout In the edge of the rock cliff near the edge of the meadow in the path to home, the short squawks of bats tell us that soon they will be out feeding on the mosquito I just tried to swat.
A7 #writeout As I write a scene for #nanowrimo the colors and sounds pop up as the characters think, speak, and interact to give the reader a sense of the place and of the emotions that place may inspire while also foreshadowing what’s ahead
*Note: We don’t have fireflies in WA State; they only live east of the Rocky Mountains, but they are like magic to me in my childhood memory, so I love to include in my stories.
Search
In order to write with the detail that is believable, being specific and accurate from nature is important to writers. To get that believability in our storyboard and story, research is often needed. For even this twitter chat and for much of my art, I do quick searches to create the scene from my palette into a story I could see in my neighborhood.
White-breasted Nuthatch on Lilac branch
To search I consider the key words important to my query, so I often include “WA State” so I find information in Washington State where I live.
Take a look at my search queries within these screenshots of my search history to get an idea of how to search– search terms underlined in orange:
With the search results, I quickly skim the snippets for relevance to my search needs:
Notice the “three vertical dots” after the link? If you click that, you’ll get information about the source to see how relevant or valid it might be:
I can learn much very quickly by clicking the link to a valid resource, and I can take a deeper dive to learn much about the topic in that resource by clicking “More about this page” in the image above– in any “about this result” information pop-up. Here’s what shows when this “More about this page” is clicked — see “Related results” towards the bottom:
By using these strategies, I was able to quickly find accurate information and write my responses to the prompts in a storyboard scene that is relevant to my area of the world.
My Search Results
If you look through my sources, you’ll see why I chose the specific plants and critters and sounds for my responses. I learned quite a bit I can use for many “palettes, storyboards, and cadences.”
- Night time bugs
- Moths Like Lilacs
- Lavender is toxic to moths
- Frogs eat fireflies / frogs in WA State
- Songbirds at night
- Bats: heard in their nests
- Animals at night in Seattle
And the prompts were…
Here are the prompts and tweets:
- Q1 With your three favorite colors (palettes) still in mind, imagine a visual scene, or image, that connects to those colors.
- Q2 How would altering, adding or removing colors change your scene (from Q1)
- https://twitter.com/WriteOutConnect/status/1448789212942069761?s=20
- Q3 Peter Elbow concept of “Movies of the Mind”
- Q4 What would happen to the experience of that action if the perspective was a view from above or below from where the action is taking place?
- Q5 Close your eyes. Use your ears of imagination. Write a list of all the sounds (cadences) you can hear in the imagining of your scene.
- Q6 What sound would/could you change and how would it affect your scene?
- Q7: How do you envision these three themes of WriteOut — palettes, storyboards and cadences – coming together for one single sensory experience?
Never Late
I created my responses after the official Twitter chat. Perhaps you would still like to follow the chat and add your own replies. Just click the link to each Question tweet, read the prompt, and click reply. Perhaps you’ll share how you found your ideas in your own blog.
Next Week
Or, now that you’ve a strategy to play with, come next week to the chat; I hope I’m on time, but I can always find it…
Next Week
Be sure to check out next week’s Twitter Chat on Thursday Oct. 21 at 7pm ET/ 4pm PT
Remember, there are all sorts of free resources and ideas available at any time at the Write Out website.
This is so helpful and so inspiring, Sheri (as always). Thank you for coming in when you could and then sharing out what you discovered.
Kevin
Thanks, Kevin. It dawned on me, as I began to respond, how important search tips and strategies are to writing and the writing classroom. It was a huge part of digital literacy in my own classroom– so I had hoped it would be helpful to the #writeout readers as well. It’s such a wonderful program for this time of year as seasons change. Hopefully it will continue. Thank you for being a big part of making it happen. ~ Sheri