Creative writing class at SCCHS shines in new book

Thursday, May 15, 2003

BY ALAN D. ATCHISON
St. Clair News-Aegis

   TRUSSVILLE -- Sitting in the entryway of Books-A-Million, behind a table full of books were a handful of young St. Clair County writers.
   Beaming as they answered questions about their first book, Live Life Forward, the students reminisced about the work it took to get a novel published.
   "It was eight long months," said Mandy Simmons, placing emphasis on the "long" part of her statement.
   Simmons along with Amy Barrett, Sally Brooks, Jessica Keenum, Jessica McGuire, Amanda Schaefer, April Rese, Chris Wolbach and Stacy Watson -- all St. Clair County High School Students in the Creative Writing Class -- worked together to create a novel set in 1941 Odenville.
   The creative writing class researched the time period and interviewed people who attended high school during the 1940s.
   They took the research and anecdotes and began developing a plot line for the novel.  According to the creative writing teacher, Melissa Richardson, it took from the start of school until November (about four months) for the plot line to reach the level of sophistication with which the writers were comfortable.
   From there, the students wrote until Christmas when they completed a rough draft.  Originally, Christmas was to be the deadline for the project, but the students wanted to improve the book.
   "They were very hard on themselves," Richardson said.  "They rewrote many portions of the book which I thought were fine."
   So to accommodate the extra writing, Richardson arranged the students to work with her during her daily planning period.  Here the students continued writing, re-writing, and brainstorming ideas.
   It was a lot of extra work for the teacher, essentially fitting an extra class into her normal daily workload during the second semester of school.
   "It was well worth it," Richardson said.

   The work on the book went beyond just one class at St. Clair County High School.  The creative writing class collaborated with Mrs. Brenda Simmons' twelfth grade honors English class to add a special element to each chapter of the book. 
   Mrs. Simmons' class wrote a letter which prefaces each chapter of the book.
   Contributing authors were:  Alicia Bearden, Amanda Bird, Shanna Blanchard, Brandi Coupland, Joshua Dollar, Heather Fancher, Tabatha Henderson, Caren Holt, Misty Ingram, Lauren Jackson, Mary Jenkins, Candice Kennedy, David Lee, Lauren Lee, Erika McCoy, Sonya Merchant, Shannon Mickens, Matthew Nicely, Crystal Parham, Lana Searcy, Candy Sparks, Jessica Sullivan, Keith Trasher, Audra Wheatley and Ebonie Woodard.
   The letters give the soldier's point of view while the main novel deals with the point of view of people on the home front.
   Those people on the home-front are the book's main characters including Will, a 15-year-old student at SCCHS.
   The book runs 88 pages dealing with the adventures unfolding just before and after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
   The book deals with how the war changes the lives of people in Odenville, but there are entertaining adventures in the book including a whoopie    cushion incident and a night of outhouse dumping following a big basketball game.
   "Most of the scenes in the book came from the lives of real people," the students said.  "We made them fit the life of our character, Will."
   The experience introduced the students to the craft of writing.  It gave the students an opportunity to polish their communication skills.
 

   "This is so wonderful because you not only have students learning a skill but using a skill," Mrs. Simmons said.
   SCCHS principal Paul Kellogg agreed.
   "The experience they have garnered from this particular project will help them as they move toward the job market," Kellogg said.
   One student has found writing to be an interesting diversion.
   "It is a good hobby," said Keenum.
   Kellogg praised the efforts of Richardson and Simmons in making the novel project happen.  He said they are "innovators" who are helping the writing portion of the school curriculum to "take off."
   Richardson and Simmons got the idea for a novel project from a workshop hosted by Shades Mountain Elementary teacher, Ross Morris.  The workshop, called A Novel Process, originated from the Hoover School System.
   The process lets students take a novel from the writing process through having it published.
   In this case, students were allowed to go to Ebsco Printing to see their book come off the printing press -- to see it gluded, cut and the cover added.
  But the experience of the life of an author did not stop there.  The students held a signing at Purser Ray Hall at SCCHS on May 8 where those whom the students interviewed were honored.
   Then the students were in Trussville signing their novel at Books-A-Million and being interviewed by the News-Aegis.
   But it doesn't end there.
   The student-authors will host another book signing Saturday (May 17) at the Piggly Wiggly in Odenville.
   Books will be available for purchase from 10 a.m. until noon.  Books may also be purchased at the office of SCCHS.  The cost is $6 with the proceeds benefitting the Creative Writing Class future novels.
   Currently, the class has begun work on novel set in the 1950s with plans for future novels into future decades.
   "(They are) novels about St. Clair County students written by St. Clair County students," the teachers said.
   To say the teachers were pleased with the work would be an understatement.
   "I knew they would do a good job, but I cannot believe how good of a job they actually did," Richardson said.  "They set the standard."