Episode 51: Zooming In on the Writing Process with a Student Author
Finding Eva’s writing on Wattpad:
User name: evam224
Books: The World That Was Mine and Flick
Transcript:
Melissa Milner 0:09
Hi, this is Melissa Milner. Welcome to The Teacher As... podcast. The goal of this weekly podcast is to help you explore your passions and learn from others in education and beyond to better your teaching. The Teacher As... podcast will highlight innovative practices and uncommon parallels in education. So, in this episode, I'm focusing on one way students can publish their writing online. My guest, Eva, is a 15 year old sophomore in high school. She loves writing and has gained a following on Wattpad, which is an online publishing site for ages 13 and older. I'll continue to share student publishing ideas every so often on this podcast. Enjoy my interview with the amazing Eva. Welcome to the show, Eva.
Eva 0:56
Hi, thanks for having me.
Melissa Milner 0:58
So Eva, can you just tell The Teacher As... listeners a little bit about yourself, and how you got into this prolific writing that you do.
Eva 1:06
So I've always been a really big reader. And I always really loved creating characters. I have from when I was really young, I have notebooks full of just characters' names, personalities, looks, and I always kind of came up with narratives for those characters. And it just kind of naturally happened when I found this platform Wattpad that I started putting those characters into those stories. And yeah, I started by reading a lot of other peoples' works.
Melissa Milner 1:34
Cool. So tell us more about the books that you enjoyed reading. And then we'll get into the whole Wattpad thing, which is a huge topic.
Eva 1:43
Well, I really, really like, like realistic fiction. I like books that I can like pretend I'm a part of I guess, if that makes any sense.
Melissa Milner 1:50
Yes.
Eva 1:51
When I was younger, I really liked World War 2 books. But now I'm more into like, young adult fiction and stuff.
Melissa Milner 2:00
So books that you could really sort of relate to the characters.
Eva 2:04
Yeah, definitely.
Melissa Milner 2:05
Or stories that you can relate to?
Eva 2:07
Yes.
Melissa Milner 2:08
So you mentioned this Wattpad? How did you find... so it's W A T T P A D and it's an app? Or is it also a website?
Eva 2:17
It's a website, but they do have an app as well.
Melissa Milner 2:19
All right. And how did you find wattpad? And what has it meant for you and your writing?
Eva 2:26
I found Wattpad when I was obsessed with The Outsiders. And I was kind of looking for like more information about like theories and stuff like that, because that's the kind of thing I like. And I ended up settling on a... an Outsider's like fan fiction. I don't read a lot of fan fiction now. But I used to. And that's kind of how I discovered it. So I signed up, and I started reading them. And then I started getting into other books. And then I was just reading reading stories on there all the time. And eventually, I ended up just writing my own. And yeah, I just decided that it was time for me to start my own story. And although my early works, were not good. It definitely was a good start. And a good thing for me.
Melissa Milner 3:08
Oh, writing is definitely a process.
Eva 3:11
Oh, yeah.
Melissa Milner 3:11
And you know, with each time, yeah, the more you write, the better writer you become. That's great. So Wattpad. How old do you have to be to be on it? I think it said 13. Is that a true statement?
Eva 3:24
Yeah, I would say 13 is probably a good age to start. There are some things on there that are a little less than appropriate. I don't tend to read things like that. But there are definitely, there's definitely an age restriction for a reason. But I think like high school students, especially is a really great website and app, you just have to like know what you're reading.
Melissa Milner 3:46
You've written full length books, or just short stories, like maybe share with the listeners, what you've written.
Eva 3:53
I've written five different stories...two... One of them is incomplete. I don't plan on completing, I've written a lot more than that, actually. But the ones I have up on my profile right now. And the second one is, it's not really a full length book. It's about 35 chapters long, but the chapters are really short. And not all of them are to progress the story. So if anyone if you've ever heard of like a one shot book, it's sort of like that. It's also not my greatest writing. But again, it's a process. Yeah, so I've written that. And I'm currently working on three stories that are all incomplete, but all are being updated as regularly as I can.
Melissa Milner 4:35
Right? So just like a regular writer, you're writing many, many stories, and you're knowing when to just abandon a story, right? Because that's really an important concept.
Eva 4:46
Yeah. So one of the stories the one that I've recently abandoned, it just wasn't good writing. I wasn't proud of it. And sometimes, especially as a writer, it can be so hard to keep writing a story that you don't. It's like reading a book that you're not getting into, it's just impossible. And it's really not fun. And it's kind of sad too. But
Melissa Milner 5:08
Yeah. So all this writing that you're doing... Are you doing notes first? Or do you write an outline? Or do you just jump in and start writing your chapters? What's your like writing process?
Eva 5:21
I'd love to tell you that I have a really long writing process. And I think everything out and I know the story I was gonna be before I write it, but I really don't.
Melissa Milner 5:27
I have. It's different for everybody. This process. Yeah. And it, it doesn't go it's not linear.
Eva 5:33
No, I have in my phone, I have notes with like, different quotes, for con...different conversations that would set up scenes I want my characters to have. And that's how I kind of put thoughts down.
Melissa Milner 5:44
Oh, that's interesting.
Eva 5:46
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 5:47
You start with dialogue, like a lot of your ideas come from dialogue ideas. That's interesting.
Eva 5:52
Right. Well, as I was saying, I kind of liked I like stories where I can see myself in the story. And if I can imagine what kind of conversations I as a character in a story will be having, I can kind of direct those on to the characters that I've created. And it can set up a lot of scenes.
Melissa Milner 6:09
Very cool. Sometimes, like a song will make me think of, you know, and it's usually like a lyric, almost like dialogue that like sets me off to I could write a whole story about that. Does music ever inspire you? Or is that not really your thing?
Eva 6:25
Oh, absolutely. That's so funny. You say that I literally started outlining a story last night because I was listening to one of the songs the new Billy Eilish album.
Melissa Milner 6:34
I really have enjoyed her album, the spoken word one is amazing.
Unknown Speaker 6:38
Yeah, I was listening to Happier Than Ever. And I just like... it gave me so many ideas. And I also got really inspired by TV shows, one of my current stories was inspired by the show Euphoria.
Melissa Milner 6:47
Okay.
Eva 6:48
I always put that in, like in the story and tell and say like, this is inspired by even though it's not really that close in concept. But like, I definitely am so inspired by music and shows and movies, and sometimes what I can't think of what to write or listen to a song or watch a show or watch a movie.
Melissa Milner 7:04
I'm noticing as I'm going in and on and, and reading your work that there's a great feedback system built into Wattpad, where it's just like Facebook or whatever else people can comment. But down to like a paragraph. So your first paragraph of Flick, got like a gazillion, just that first paragraph that like a gazillion comments. What amazing feedback for a writer. I think that's like incredible.
Eva 7:32
Oh, yeah, it's so much fun to see like what people comment and sometimes just super funny. Some are really, really sweet. I've been lucky that I haven't really had any super negative comments about my stuff.
Melissa Milner 7:42
Yeah,
Eva 7:42
But it's Yeah, the feedback on Wattpad is really, really great. And it tends to be a really, really positive community too, which is nice.
Melissa Milner 7:50
You have some collaboration, because of Wattpad. You have someone who, like I think you said helps edit your work.
Eva 7:56
Yeah, I have a friend on Wattpad. We met through Wattpad. And we started talking on Instagram. And now she edits all of my stories and stuff before I put them out because I can't spell and I'm not good at grammar.
Melissa Milner 8:09
That's just amazing.
Eva 8:11
Yeah, I've quite I've actually I talked to people pretty regularly from Wattpad. All over the world. It's really, really cool.
Melissa Milner 8:17
Wow, it sounds like this is a commercial for Wattpad.
Eva 8:22
Well, I'm definitely a little biased here. But I think it's great.
Melissa Milner 8:25
So let's go to the school arena. And you know, you take a writing class or you take a creative writing class, and are you getting the same amount of feedback from your teacher? The same amount of feeling of collaboration? Are you getting the same amount of choice in what you write when you take a class at a regular, you know, brick and mortar high school?
Eva 8:50
Not really, I mean, personally, my experience wasn't great in my writing class. My teacher was really great, but we mostly just wrote off of prompts. And we learned about different styles of writing. We actually learned about magic realism, which is kind of cool. But it didn't really teach me a whole lot about like, story structure, or generally how to be a better writer, which was a little bit frustrating for me. But I definitely think that we did not have a ton of room for collaboration or creativity. It wasn't the teachers fault, though.
Melissa Milner 9:21
Do you feel that overall writing teachers are giving prompts like that? Do you feel that's something that that teachers should only offer as an option if they need a prompt, but if someone has ideas, they should be able to use their own ideas?
Eva 9:37
Well, so it's hard to say because I don't really know what else a teacher would do for that class, but give prompts.
Melissa Milner 9:44
So the teacher was giving prompts, why? To get you into a certain genre?
Eva 9:49
Right, so we were learning about magic realism. So she was giving us a prompt like, I think one of the prompts was like, write about a frog and what he does during his everyday life and make it magical. Which is great for maybe like a warm up or something, but then we didn't have the freedom to go beyond that. And when we did it, we didn't really know what we were doing because she kind of just threw us into like random prompts that she found.
Melissa Milner 10:17
Okay, so did you get enough time to revise and make your writing better?
Eva 10:24
I mean, we did edit, and we would peer edit our stuff. But it felt like more we were fixing grammar and fixing, like wording and stuff. And I don't know that I ever felt like I was really like, improving my writing on a writing level rather than like a grammatical error level.
Melissa Milner 10:41
Right. So you were doing editing but not revising. Right?
Eva 10:45
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 10:46
And revision is so important.
Eva 10:48
Oh, yeah, I, I go through and edit every single one of my chapters. I've said, I said, my editor, like five different versions of the same chapter before I decide to publish it.
Melissa Milner 10:57
Yeah, that's revision. That's like, you know, do your do your beginning three different ways. Which one do you like the best? Yeah. And it's not just word choice, either, it's everything. It's, wait a minute, I actually should put this at the end of the chapter. You know, things like that. Do you have anything you want to say to teachers that you think would have been great about a writing class that like you were hoping to get in your high school writing class?
Eva 11:26
Well, one thing I kind of hoped, what I will get some help with was mainly like, just like, I have the words, but it can be very, very hard to do things like start a story, start a chapter, end a story, end a chapter. Just like I wish they would have helped me learn how to make things flow more. I know, that's a problem a lot of the other students in class had to like, we would write down as we write down our stories, but then it wouldn't sound right no matter how much we edited and fixed, and it would have been appreciated if the teacher had come and said, Okay, so if you transition this paragraph to this one like this, if it just taught us different methods to make a chapter sound cohesive, that was one main thing I was hoping to learn.
Melissa Milner 12:10
And are there other ways you can get that information? Are there books by writers are there I just... I, it's getting me thinking, you know, how you can get you know, are there YouTube videos to teach how to structure chapters and how, you know, to have a strong theme and, and all of those types of things?
Eva 12:32
I'm not entirely sure if there are, to be honest, I haven't really looked. Mainly the way I figure out, like, if I'm trying to start a story, and I have no idea how to start it, I'll go and read a book. Because I may find something in the chapter that will spark something, or in the book, I mean, that it'll spark something that will say, okay, that's the that's what I sort of want to start my story with. And I'm not copying it per se. But just...
Melissa Milner 12:56
No, it's a mentor text.
Eva 12:58
Just I honestly, I watch TV when I can't think of anything or like when I'm stuck. It doesn't sound right. I listen to music, I read a book, anything that is another version of art that could inspire.
Melissa Milner 13:10
Yeah, I mean, mentor text, you just I think you just named the first step is really, if you know, if you want to become a writer, read writers work. And that's amazing. And I also wonder, you know, collaboration wise through Wattpad. You know, if there's someone on Wattpad that can help you, not just with the editing, but author's style stuff.
Eva 13:33
Yeah, I can't copy other people's style, though. I always like I may read other people's style and enjoy it. But I've tried, like when I first started writing Wattpad, I tried to do, right the way that other people were writing, and I literally, I just could not do it and never sounded right and never sounded like what I wanted it to.
Melissa Milner 13:52
You already have a voice in your writing.
Eva 13:55
Right?
Melissa Milner 13:55
So I'm not talking about voice. I'm talking more about what you were talking about. How do you start a chapter? How do you end a chapter kind of style? I mean, you're beginning to Flick your first paragraph. I mean, you know how to start a chapter. That was, you know, it told you so many things about both of those characters in that one paragraph.
Eva 14:18
Yeah, that took me so long that I literally, I stared at a blank Google Doc, for probably a month before I got that start. So don't feel bad if it's taking you a long time.
Melissa Milner 14:31
You know, people say, Oh, it's the first line, and not necessarily the first line. I don't think it's more just that the first thought in a book is important to grab the reader. So you did a good job on that one. I have to read your other ones too. So are there any other things you want The Teacher As... listeners to know about your process as a writer? or how can specifically high school writing teachers or even then your younger grades when you were learning writing, what worked?
Eva 15:06
Honestly, I think the best advice I have for writers is just read. I mean, it sounds, it sounds like it wouldn't help that much. But it really, really does. One because it gives you a better vocabulary, it gives you a better idea of different styles. It's inspiring. And I just think it's honestly just what's helped me the absolute most. And for teachers, I would probably say, just let your students be really creative. Prompts don't do as much as you think they're going to and you can do a prompt, but just keep it very open is what I would say.
Melissa Milner 15:44
I'm a fan of having prompts ready if a student is really stuck. But I'm not a huge I've never been a huge fan of prompts because I don't think... I don't think in a in a traditional way. I'm like I could do so much better than that prompt. Like that's how I think. I've got I've got ideas in my head. Why are you telling me what to start? Yeah. Well, this was really amazing. Anything else you want to share about your writing process or Wattpad?
Eva 16:15
Mainly about Wattpad. I just think it's a really great community, and I've really, really enjoyed being a part of it. And I've made some really great friends and I would definitely encourage anyone who is probably 13 or older to go and check it out. There are stories for literally any... everyone you can. There's millions of stories and you can find love stories and... or action stories anything you want is on there. And I just think it's a great app. Again, very biased, but
Melissa Milner 16:43
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Hashtag Wattpad. Okay. And if people want to first of all you're going to share a piece of your writing, right?
Eva 16:54
Oh, yeah. Okay.
Melissa Milner 16:55
Yeah. And and then if people want to read your writing, what is your, do you call it a tag? On Wattpad?
Eva 17:04
Um...my username is evam224. If you search that up, you can probably find me. And if you search up The World That Was Mine or Flick, chances are you'll find me as well. I would suggest probably searching up my name though.
I gasped for air as I lurched forward in the bed. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I could do anything but search for breath that wasn't there. Terror was all I felt sheer horrific real terror. Tears ran down my face in streams as I pulled my knees to my chest. I fought sobs, still reeling from that awful nightmare that had plagued me for six months. I bit my lip so hard the blood rushed into my mouth but I didn't have the energy to care. And then I broke. My body broke into sobs and my mind broke into nothing. I couldn't hold it back anymore. But the pair of arms circle my body and always their chest softly touching and rocking me. "It's okay, Izzy," Tyler whispered in my ear. It's okay. It's okay. I sobbed into his chest, clinging to him with all my strength. He was my anchor to reality right now. The only thing keeping me from slipping down a rabbit hole more dangerous than I knew. "I'm here. I'm here. It's all right," he whispered. "I'm so sorry." I choked out. It was all I could think to say to him. "It's okay. I'm not mad." It made me more upset that he wasn't angry. I wasn't sure why, but it made me feel so desperately guilty for lying to them. "I'm so sorry." I repeated. Broken sobs wracked my body, but Tyler only held me tighter. As if he needed someone to hold me as much as I needed to be held. "It's o.k., Izzy. I promise. Everything will be okay. The world is not a forgiving place. It is not made for those who aren't self sufficient and tough. That is just the way it is. But sometimes there's a gap in that way. Sometimes things happen, but don't fit the normality of our world. And we should learn to appreciate those things for they are few and far between.
Melissa Milner 18:47
Wow, again, how old are you, Eva?
Eva 18:53
I'm 15.
Melissa Milner 18:54
Yes, that was written by a 15 year old people, very mature writing. The message I take from talking to Eva before this and now doing this recording is that we should not underestimate our students. That's just incredible.
Eva 19:10
Thank you.
Melissa Milner 19:11
Eva, thank you for sharing that.
Eva 19:13
Thank you for having me. That was... that was so much fun.
Melissa Milner 19:16
If you enjoyed this episode and have not done so already, please hit the subscribe button for The Teacher As... podcast so you can get future episodes. I would love for you to leave a review and a rating as well, if you have time. For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacheras.com. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. I am sending a special thanks to Linda and Lester Fleishman, my mom and dad, for being so supportive. They are the voices you hear in the Zooming In soundbite and my dad composed and performed the background music you are listening to right now. My Intro Music was Upbeat Party by Scott Holmes. So what are you zooming in on? I would love to hear from you. My hope is that we all share what we are doing in the classroom in order to teach, remind, affirm and inspire each other. Thanks for listening. And that's a wrap.