I Got to Be a Book Yesterday!

If you were a book, what would your title be?

That's the question some of the faculty and staff had to answer at Marianopolis College, where I teach. This week, several of us are taking part in a cool event called Living Library. Living Libraries have been done at other colleges and universities, but this was the inaugural one at our school.

I wish I had time to "check out" a few of the books! Art teacher Selena Liss will be a book tomorrow -- her titles is Lesbian Mom. Eric Lavigne, our Associate Dean for Programs, was a book about martial arts.

My book was called Hunting for Stories. If you know me, you'll know that hunting for stories is one of my favourite pastimes. And I'm a brave hunter -- I'll go just about anywhere for a story!

Two students checked me out. Both are interested in becoming professional writers and both had excellent questions. The first student, Deborah, was looking for some guidance on a short story she's writing. I suggested she focus on developing her characters -- and we spoke quite a lot about what drives her main character. My second student was named Debra and she told me she's been telling stories since she was three or four. She wanted tips to help her build her characters. I suggested she try an exercise I used in my own Writing for Children class a couple of weeks ago -- students had to come up with a long list of questions... what's in your character's pocket? who's your character's best friend? what is your character's greatest fear? We brainstormed our list and then everyone had to answer the questions. I told the class it's important to know MORE about your character than you'll need to know for your story.

Debra had another question I liked a lot, too. She asked, "Did you ever surprise yourself when you were writing?" That question made me smile because the answer is... yes, not very often, but it has happened and it's FUN!

So here's to Living Books! Thanks to librarian extraordinaire Amy MacLean for bringing the event to Marianopolis. It's fun to think about people as books!