The Vomelette and Other Tales

Real Life Resilience

“We have all of these weird urges or thoughts or ideas that don’t fit and you’re not allowed to say publicly. But if you can get that all out in not just a safe way, but a constructive way, you can use that to make something through stories,” says Author James Kennedy, creator of the 90 Second Newbery Award Film Festival. What’s a vomelette? You’ll have to listen to discover

90 Second Newbery Awards

The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is an annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create weird movies that tell the entire stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. Every year, the best movies are shown at gala screenings all over the country—co-hosted by founder James Kennedy and other great children’s authors. The Film Festival is now entering its fifth year!

James’ book The Order of Odd Fish includes a villain based on a real-life person – The Belgian Prankster. It has been given high praise, including receiving recognition as the 2014 Young Adult Library Association Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults, the 2009 American Library Association nominee as Best Book for Young Adults, and is a 2008 Smithsonian Notable Book for Children.

Listen as James shares his crazy imagination, why Harry Potter works for kids, writing as therapy and art, writing your story and being ruthless with your own creations. And of course, there’s the vomelette story….

Take Home Message:

• Kids sometimes write weird, horrible, or crazy stories to deal with the pressures of living. Don’t let those stories worry you. They are processing the world and making it safe for themselves.
• Make time every day to write

Lifestory Toolkit: Cliche Finder

(Brought to you by Lifestorytelling.com – Discover YOUR life stories!)

This episode’s Lifestory Toolkit features a Cliché Finder. As a good writer, you want to eliminate overused clichés from your story. It’s much different than a metaphor, which helps clarify a concept in a fresh way. Cliches are overused expressions. Ones that have lost their meaning over time and don’t provide the details needed for great writing. We need to eliminate them because we want to provide original and unique ways to share our stories. The Cliché Finder is an easy way to find the clichés in your writing. Just copy and paste your text on the website and the clichés are highlighted so you can eliminate them. Easy as that. You can find it at cliche.theinfo.org.

Free Download: Does Your Scrapbook Have a Story Arc?

Does Your Scrapbook Have a Story Arc?

About: James Kennedy

James Kennedy, author of The Order of Odd-Fish, has dreamed up quite a challenge for kids: Share the plot of your favorite Newbery-award winning book in a 90-second movie. The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is an annual video contest in which kid filmmakers create weird movies that tell the stories of Newbery-winning books in about 90 seconds. Every year, the best movies are shown at gala screenings all over the country—co-hosted by founder James Kennedy and other great children’s authors. James believes that the ability to get distracted is an easily misunderstood talent and that irresponsibility might be a secret virtue.

Links:

Website: James Kennedy and 90SecondNewbery

Facebook Page: The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival

Twitter: iamjameskennedy