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What's Your Story?: A Young Person's Guide to Writing Fiction
A detailed how-to guide for young writers provides practical advice on how to create a short story, from choosing an idea to polishing the final tale.
134 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Marion Dane Bauer
188 books189 followersMarion Dane Bauer is the author of more than one hundred books for young people, ranging from novelty and picture books through early readers, both fiction and nonfiction, books on writing, and middle-grade and young-adult novels. She has won numerous awards, including several Minnesota Book Awards, a Jane Addams Peace Association Award for RAIN OF FIRE, an American Library Association Newbery Honor Award for ON MY HONOR, a number of state children's choice awards and the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota for the body of her work.
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
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INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
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Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
She is also the editor of and a contributor to the ground-breaking collection of gay and lesbian short stories, Am I Blue? Coming Out from the Silence.
Marion was one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her writing guide, the American Library Association Notable WHAT'S YOUR STORY? A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO WRITING FICTION, is used by writers of all ages. Her books have been translated into more than a dozen different languages.
She has six grandchildren and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her partner and a cavalier King Charles spaniel, Dawn.
-------------------------------------
INTERVIEW WITH MARION DANE BAUER
-------------------------------------
Q. What brought you to a career as a writer?
A. I seem to have been born with my head full of stories. For almost as far back as I can remember, I used most of my unoccupied moments--even in school when I was supposed to be doing other "more important" things--to make up stories in my head. I sometimes got a notation on my report card that said, "Marion dreams." It was not a compliment. But while the stories I wove occupied my mind in a very satisfying way, they were so complex that I never thought of trying to write them down. I wouldn't have known where to begin. So though I did all kinds of writing through my teen and early adult years--letters, journals, essays, poetry--I didn't begin to gather the craft I needed to write stories until I was in my early thirties. That was also when my last excuse for not taking the time to sit down to do the writing I'd so long wanted to do started first grade.
Q. And why write for young people?
A. Because I get my creative energy in examining young lives, young issues. Most people, when they enter adulthood, leave childhood behind, by which I mean that they forget most of what they know about themselves as children. Of course, the ghosts of childhood still inhabit them, but they deal with them in other forms--problems with parental authority turn into problems with bosses, for instance--and don't keep reaching back to the original source to try to fix it, to make everything come out differently than it did the first time. Most children's writers, I suspect, are fixers. We return, again and again, usually under the cover of made-up characters, to work things through. I don't know that our childhoods are necessarily more painful than most. Every childhood has pain it, because life has pain in it at every stage. The difference is that we are compelled to keep returning to the source.
Q. You write for a wide range of ages. Do you write from a different place in writing for preschoolers than for young adolescents?
A. In a picture book or board book, I'm always writing from the womb of the family, a place that--while it might be intruded upon by fears, for instance--is still, ultimately, safe and nurturing. That's what my own early childhood was like, so it's easy for me to return to those feelings and to recreate them.
When I write for older readers, I'm writing from a very different experience. My early adolescence, especially, was a time of deep alienation, mostly from my peers but in some ways from my family as well. And so I write my older stories out of that pain, that longing for connection. A story has to have a problem at its core. No struggle
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 4, 2008
A few good pointers that were worth reading, but a little bland. It would help young writers learn about plot and character writing. It just didn't inspire me.
April 20, 2019
A good book for kids and adults on how to write. Loved the review of good information and loved the simplicity. She doesn't leave much room for different styles of writing and insists on a very formulaic everything planned and plotted before hand way of writing, which would have killed writing for me, so I hope it doesn't ruin it for others.
February 14, 2022
This book is very handy for beginning writers. I haven't finished reading it because I lost motivation. O:) It is a good reference source for people seeking to get their feet wet or needing a refresher on character or plot tips. :)
January 22, 2025
If you are looking for an easy way into writing for kids, this is it.
I learned a lot in a short time, which really helped me relax about starting my MFA.
I especially liked the chapteron revision.
I learned a lot in a short time, which really helped me relax about starting my MFA.
I especially liked the chapteron revision.
April 19, 2018
A great book for any beginning writer. It doesn't drone on and on like some of the writing books written for adults.
August 8, 2021
This is my go-to recommendation for beginner writers of all ages who want to understand the basics of story.
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November 21, 2016By: Kristin Edwards
APA - Bauer, M. D. (1992). What's your story?: A young person's guide to writing fiction. New York: Clarion Books.
Cost$13.95
the type of reference - Handbook
Call Number
content/scope - Discusses how to write fiction, exploring point of view, dialogue, endings, and revision.
accuracy - The author is one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
presentation- the Handbook is organized in a way that's entertaining and easy to follow.
relation to similar works - There are other books to help students learn to become better writers.
diversity - This book is for students learning to writing better in higher elementary level grades.
the citation of a review of the item - SLJ Reviews. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://www.slj.com/category/reviews/
APA - Bauer, M. D. (1992). What's your story?: A young person's guide to writing fiction. New York: Clarion Books.
Cost$13.95
the type of reference - Handbook
Call Number
content/scope - Discusses how to write fiction, exploring point of view, dialogue, endings, and revision.
accuracy - The author is one of the founding faculty and the first Faculty Chair for the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
presentation- the Handbook is organized in a way that's entertaining and easy to follow.
relation to similar works - There are other books to help students learn to become better writers.
diversity - This book is for students learning to writing better in higher elementary level grades.
the citation of a review of the item - SLJ Reviews. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://www.slj.com/category/reviews/
April 14, 2008
I read this for Vermont College--it was suggested we read one book about writing for children and I chose this book from their list.
Although this book is written for middle school students, it is a valuable resource for older writers. Bauer covers the fundamentals and discusses every concept with clarity.
Topics include characters, plot, point of view, beginnings, dialogue, tension, endings, revising and polishing. A writer should understand every concept in this book. This is a good first writing book to read, then the writer can move to other topics and books of interest. I wish I had known about this book two years ago when I first started writing. I’d suggest this book for children ages 8 and up who are interested in writing stories.
Although this book is written for middle school students, it is a valuable resource for older writers. Bauer covers the fundamentals and discusses every concept with clarity.
Topics include characters, plot, point of view, beginnings, dialogue, tension, endings, revising and polishing. A writer should understand every concept in this book. This is a good first writing book to read, then the writer can move to other topics and books of interest. I wish I had known about this book two years ago when I first started writing. I’d suggest this book for children ages 8 and up who are interested in writing stories.
April 23, 2008
Just when I thought I was utterly overwhelmed (and sometimes under-whelmed) with “how to” writing books, this little book came across my desk. The subtitle, as Marion explained at a recent presentation at the Loft Literary Center, was added to attract the high school market. However, she says she originally wrote the book for adults. I enjoyed it and found it inspirational as I tackled writing another packet for the MFA at Hamline.
November 12, 2014
This book really is for beginners, if you've never written and you're good at following instructions and coloring in the lines' this one's for you. I wish her statements about publication were in the beginning instead of the end, but this book IS about writing, after all, not publishing ... so if you're just interested in the craft and you have little to no experience (and if you don't mind reading something a little out dated) then by all means, check this one out!
Read
April 9, 2008This book is a fantastic way to get your arms around the flow and content of story. It works for new writers and as a refresher for people who have been writing for a while. I took notes, to keep the advice as a quick reminder to myself.
August 2, 2011
Bauer gets between the lines and gives the reader a how to write a story from beginning to end in its most 'simplistic' terms. I recommend this book to everyone who is considering writing a story, who is currently writing a story and who has written a story.
June 23, 2007
Written in typical Bauer fashion, this is a very basic study of the important elements of writing children's fiction.
February 6, 2015
Covers a good chunk of basics but a little bland and not particularly inspirational.
September 26, 2016
Filed under: project read books I already own.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews