ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Since professional writers are incredibly busy, I am incredibly grateful to the ones who
took time from their busy schedules to let me interview them for this book: Jarrett
Krosoczka, Robert Lipsyte, Robert San Souci, Jon Scieszka, Greg Trine, and Jane Yolen.
Mega thanks to the kids who let me use their drawings in this book: Adam Bis-
sonette, Santiago Cursi- Fletcher, Joseph Fletcher, Robert Fletcher, Shane Maxwell,
and Francis Ohe.
Thanks also to the guys whose writing appears in this book: Ben Allen, Adam Bis-
sonette, Taylor Curtis, Brandon Dunham, Joseph Fletcher, Robert Fletcher, Max
Friedman, Max Gilmore, Jimmy Hernandez, Kenny Le, Alex Lemus, Zack Smith, and
Ben Whea.
I know many teachers who are working hard to widen the circle for boy writers,
including Jen Allen, Chris Boydstun, Jody Chang, Paul Crivelli, Bob Crongeyer, Jeremy
Hyler, Kate Morris, and Erin McIntyre. Thanks to Linda Rief and Suzanne Whaley.
And finally, I’m grateful to my wonderful wife, JoAnn, for nurturing all the guy writers,
young and old, in our family.

Henry Holt and Company, LLC

Publishers since 1866
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10010
mackids.com

Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Henry Holt

and Company, LLC.
Copyright © 2012 by Ralph Fletcher
All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data

Fletcher, Ralph J.
Guy-write : what every guy writer needs to know /
by Ralph Fletcher. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978- 0- 8050-9404- 6 (hc)
1. Children’s literature— Authorship—Juvenile
literature. 2. Authorship— Juvenile literature.
3. Authors— Juvenile literature. 4. Illustrators—
Juvenile literature. I. Title.
PN147.5.F57 2012 808.06'8— dc23 2011033487

First Edition—2012 / Design by Meredith Pratt

Printed in the United States of America by
R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company, Harrisonburg, Virginia

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
 1

Dude, You
Are Not Alone

A few years ago we took our kids to Lubec, Maine,

where we have a camp on a tidal river. At ten p.m.
on a clear autumn night, my sixteen-year-old son, Robert,
was sitting by a campfire near the water’s edge with two
of his buddies Thomas and Greg. When I happened to
walk nearby, I expected to find them yukking it up, so I
was surprised to hear nothing but the crackling flames. I
saw that each of them had directed a flashlight beam
down at a book splayed open on his lap. What were they
doing? Moving closer, I could see that the books were
notebooks.
They were writing. On a beautiful September evening,
those guys spent almost an hour writing quietly in their
notebooks.
Some people consider writing to be little more than
boring nerd work. Wrong! Written words pack a punch.
If you ask a question you might get blown off, but it’s a lot
1
2 Ralph Fletcher

less likely you’ll get ignored (by a teacher or a girl you

like) when you put questions or thoughts in writing. Writ-
ing demands a reaction— and usually gets it.
But writing is not just about power; it’s about fun.
Lately I’ve been working on a collection of Pointless Sto-
ries. This morning I was writing one titled “The Boy Who
Swallowed a Parenthesis.” The main character is a kid
named Bobb-With-Two-B’s Barnwell. Sure, it’s a goofy
idea, but I’m having a blast writing it. Who cares if it ever
gets published? I’m doing it for me.
If you’re like most guys, you actually do like to write,
even if you don’t advertise this fact. You enjoy how it
feels to create a potion of words, drawings, and symbols.
You love letting your imagination romp like a wild stallion
in whatever direction it wants. You have favorite tools— a
laptop, notebook, sketchbook, favorite pen— and maybe
even your own “writing place.”
So far so good. But in school certain things conspire to
dampen your enthusiasm:

ance to do
You almost never get a ch
any freewriting.

When you try to take your own unique

approach to an assigned topic, your
teacher doesn’t appreciate it.
 Dude, You Are Not Alone 3

st papers, but
You write one of your be
mediocre
the teacher gives you a Your handwriting
grade. resembles the
nervous scratchings
made by chickens and
You get marked dow guinea hens when hungry
n for
spelling and punctuation.
foxes prowl nearby.

For many guys, school writing can really stink. A fifth-

grader named Brandon explained it to me like this:

In school we always have to write nonfiction,

realistic stuff like what really happened. We
aren’t allowed to include guns—not even if the
character is a policeman. I wish we could write
about what we really think and feel. I wish we
could write things like real hard fiction with
people dropping from helicopters, maybe a baby
being carried away and tipping off a cliff, hitting
a chipmunk. There is no actual fiction in school.
We always have to make it like a true story.

Does any of this ring true? If it does, take heart.

Although you may feel isolated, you’re not alone. I have
surveyed guys around the country, and many feel the
4 Ralph Fletcher

same. They feel that too many teachers simply don’t get
the writing of boys.
One area where boy writers consistently get shot
down in school is when they attempt to include vio-
lence, weapons, or warfare in their writing. (I explore
this idea in chapter 4.) In Michigan I met a first-grader
named Steven who had written a poem he was eager to
share with me.

Weed Hunter

I feel like I am hunting a very victorious plant, a weed.

I circle it. I study it. I watch its every move.
I always take it by the roots.
My weapon is a shovel.
Weeds come up way ahead of the other plants.
I shall pull up every one I see and
put it in a very dry place without any dirt.
I will defeat these weeds
even if it will take my entire life!

I liked Steven’s poem. Wait, strike that— I LOVED it! Six

years old, and this kid is already a strong writer. Steven
 Dude, You Are Not Alone 5

was proud of his weed poem. He looked forward to hav-

ing it published in the class anthology and sharing it at
the author’s celebration being held at his school.
But because of one word, Steven’s poem was not
allowed to be displayed on the wall or included in the class
anthology. Can you find that dangerous, dreadful, despi-
cable word? (Hint: Check the fourth line.)
Weapon.
Steven’s school had a no-tolerance policy regarding vio-
lence and weapons. That’s fine, but in this case the policy
was enforced so rigidly that even the written word weapon
was considered too dangerous and had to be banned.
Hel-lo?
When I first heard about what happened to Steven and
his weed poem, I wanted to burst out laughing, except I
quickly realized it isn’t funny. It’s tragic. The result: one
more boy writer censored and silenced.
Many guys like to take chances. It’s part of our DNA.
But often when guys take chances in their writing and
push the limits of what is allowed in school—WHAM!—
they run into a buzz saw and get knocked down by the
powers that be.
But take heart, my fellow word-warriors. We have lost
some battles, but the war is not over. Reinforcements
are coming. A movement has sprung up aimed at appreci-
ating guys as writers and as readers, and I’m proud to be
6 Ralph Fletcher

part of that movement. We’re working hard to revamp

classrooms in order to make them friendlier to the kind
of topics guys like to write about, and the ways we like to
express ourselves on paper. A number of factors have
gone into the creation of some positive changes, including

chers, in fact) who have

• Teachers (many female tea can
created “boy writ ing clubs” where guys
h other’s writing, and not
write for fun, celebrate eac
ing a fart in a story.
get into trouble for includ

o wrote The Stinky Cheese

• Authors like Jon Scieszka (wh
icles, Web sites, and films
Man) who have created art
e circle for guy writers.
aimed at widening th

s are being published

• Many important new book
schools must
by experts who argue that
to guy writers and
become friendlier
own book titled Boy
readers. I published my t
Voices. Today I speak abou
Writers: Reclaiming Their
around the countr y and
this subject at conferences
s: 99 percent of the
abroad. Here’s the good new
eptive to this idea. They
teachers I speak to are rec
lly do have important
know that guy writers rea
have to do a better job of
things to say and teachers
it will take time, but
reaching out to guys. Yes,
ange.
things are beginning to ch
 Dude, You Are Not Alone 7

Have you ever picked up a baseball and really studied

it? An official baseball has exactly 108 double stitches.
The “sweet spot” on a baseball is located on the area of
leather directly between the stitched seams. Well, there’s
a sweet spot in writing, too. Before I tell you what it is, I’ll
say what it’s NOT— it’s not writing for punishment, not
doing formulaic writing or five-paragraph essays, and def-
initely not stick-to-the-prompt test practice (ugh).
The sweet spot in writing is when you’re so totally
involved in what you’re writing that you lose track of
time and forget where you are. I know when my sons
have found their sweet spot because they’re writing fast
and loose, maybe IM’ing on the computer or scribbling in
a notebook, laughing, reading out loud, sharing with each
other or with someone online, or maybe so focused they’re
oblivious to everything around them. It’s when you’re so
lost writing a story about a hot summer day that you get
surprised when you look up and see snow falling outside
your window.
I’ve published forty-one books, and I’m not done yet. I
wrote this book to help guys who want to become bet-
ter writers. The stronger you are as a writer, the more
you’ll enjoy it. Earning a high grade for an essay is wonder-
ful. It’s a kick to get a poem or story published in a maga-
zine or online site. But those are external rewards. I’m
more interested in the inside game of writing. My purpose
8 Ralph Fletcher

isn’t so much to help you with your school writing

(although it may) but to help you with the real writing you
do when you’re locked in, lost in your imagination, when
you’re mixing words and sentences like some kind of mad
scientist or word architect trying to construct a city of
words.
I’ll talk about the kinds of things guys typically like to
write about: spoofs, humor, sports, blood, farts, giant
monsters tearing down the city, and a few serious sub-
jects, too. You’ll find lots of examples from young writ-
ers and lots of drawings from guy writers like yourselves.
In most cases these drawings came from their writing
notebooks. Creating these drawings helped these writers
tell the story they wanted to tell. You’ll also find inter-
views with a few guy writers whose books you might have
read (or at least heard of). Each chapter includes prac-
tical advice, tips, and strategies designed to help you lift
your writing to the next level so you can grow into the
kind of writer you want to be.
THE  GUTTENBERG  BIBLE

BUY  THE  BOOK  NOW

Amazon
Barnes  &  Noble
IndieBound

LEARN  MORE  ABOUT  THE  BOOK

macmillan.com