Words, Words, Words

Lately, I’ve been getting the same question over and over and over: “Where did the idea for BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! come from?” In fact, I believe I’ve answered that question no fewer than 1,000 times in the past two years (since signing the contract). I don’t mind that question … but, really, a more interesting question might be, “Why did you decide to tell BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! the way you did – in rhyming verse?”

Ah, glad you asked.

You see — it’s not the story that makes the difference — there are many, many rainy night stories. And there are stories of animals crowding into too small places. And there are even stories of brave young boys with bossy sisters. Yes, yes. These are great stories … but what makes one story stand apart from the others is the method by which the storyteller/writer (me, you, your neighbor Shirley) relates the story.

It’s voice. It’s P.O.V. (point of view). It’s word choice – it’s the rhythm of the language. All of these choices add up to a story that is different from the last story you read/heard. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! opens with the lines:

“One stormy night, I jumped into bed.

Safe with a book and my bear named Fred.”

I might have said:

“At bedtime, I jumped into my cozy little bed – with my best friend – a teddy bear named Fred. And of course, I picked out a good book — tonight I wanted to read about thunderstorms — because it was a thunderstormy night.”

So, I have given the same facts – but right away it seems like a different story. In fact, knowing that our main character is jumping into bed with his/her best friend might make us worry that we’re heading into YA territory … until we find out it’s a teddy bear! (hahaha… sorry… but I was worried for about thirty seconds while reading that line back to myself…).

I guess that illustrates the point that HOW we tell the story – word choice, sentence length – how and when the information is doled out to the reader … all of these choices we make affect how the text is read.

Later in the book I used the text:

“We four nestled and listened to rain. Split, splat, splat, splop, a stormy refrain.”

I might have said:

“The rain pounded on the roof and against the windows. Thunder bounced around, rattling the books on the shelves. Cat, Dog, Guinea Pig, and I snuggled into my little bed and listened as the storm continued to storm.”

Again – the same information is stated in the text — but I used twice as many (or more) words to get there. I didn’t have to list all the characters in my text “we four” told the illustrator everything he needed to know – and I must say — the art on this spread melts my heart every time I see it. David Walker understood completely what “We four nestled” should look like on the page.

Now – if you look at the illustration you’ll see 6 things in the bed – but Fred (being a teddy bear and not alive) and Blankie (being a blankie and also not alive) are not counted in the running text. Kids don’t seem to mind this — and actually enjoy going back and saying, “There are four friends, plus FRED! That’s five – oh, and blankie — that’s six!”

Again – how to count characters was a conscious thought for me — in fact — it’s something I went around and around with as I crafted the text. How many are in the bed? And what counts and what doesn’t? Ultimately, I counted only the little boy and the “real” animals/people. It was a style choice. It was a storytelling choice. It’s a discussion point for kids and readers. And it all boils down to — How are you telling your story? What word choices will you make? Whose P.O.V. is this? And how many words will you use?

Personally, I enjoy reading books with rhythm and rhyme – I like reading sentences such as:

“Boing in,” I said. “But then, no hopping. With five this bed is tip-flip-flopping!”

But, that’s me. That’s my voice. That’s what I love to read aloud. What do you like to read? What’s your voice? Who is telling your story? And what words do you want to use to tell it? I can’t answer those questions — only you can.

Now, scoot. Off you go. Don’t you have a book to write?