Worlds Within Words: Writing and the Writing Life

In Worlds within Words: Writing and the Writing Life, Sharon Darrow shows that a writer, through the process of discovery and revision, not only revises the work, but the self as well, and that through this creative process grows as a human being and becomes more capable of writing what must be written. She brings the knowledge and wisdom her years of experience writing for children, young adults, and adults has given her to this compilation of essays taken from a selection of lectures she presented during her twenty-year teaching career in the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program of Vermont College of Fine Arts. Some topics covered are:

The Writing Life

--Source of voice in place and memory

--Living in "Negative Capability"

The Craft and the Art

--Choosing point of view

--Getting to the emotional core of character

--Melding the character's emotional journey with the action of the plot

--Strategies in sentence-making

--Some ideas about poetry--lineation, word choice/placement, and white space

The Teaching Writer

--The process approach to writing

--Can stories save lives and change the world?

Imagination, Revision, and Self-Making

--Goals, themes, and purpose

--Developing a personal Writer's Statement

--Discovery through revision

--How revision changes the writer

Going Forward

--"Risks to be Taken, Dreams to be Dreamed"

"Sharon Darrow is simultaneously an award-winning author and a master teacher. Amidst these pages are the sharings of a deep thinker, a deep writer, and a deep mentor. Take your time here, wander a bit, savor the wisdom that Darrow so generously offers. If you're like me, what you'll be left with above all is deep joy."--Kathi Appelt, Newbery Award-winning author of The Underneath.

"I could not have finished my first novel without the encouragement, wisdom and poetry that is Sharon Darrow's teaching. She shines as a beacon guiding you through the forest of your manuscript and helps draw out your best possible story."--An Na, Michael L. Printz Award-winning author of A Step from Heaven.

"Sharon Darrow is a mentor straight out of myth and folktale. She stands beside the tangled forest path, offers wisdom and kindness to all passers by, and reveals the best way through. Listen to her. Wild beasts will probably eat you otherwise."--William Alexander, National Book Award-winning author of Goblin Secrets.

"Year after year at VCFA, I 've watched the way Sharon's lectures impact students--they're mesmerized and inspired. They catch fire and light up. This is how teaching changes lives."--Louise Hawes, VCFA Founding Faculty, author of The Language of Stars.