Is AI, social media killing creative writing? Kids love books, stories – Courier Journal

The request was simple enough: Please come and talk to 11 separate Southern Indiana grade school classes about writing. You know, the thing you do for a living. Rearranging the alphabet into words. Then lining up those words into thoughts and pictures to make a point, tell a story, make a difference.

The request was from Susan Stewart, advanced program coordinator for Greater Clark County Schools. It was instantly appealing. No one had ever come to my grade school to talk about writing. No one had ever told me early on about the absolute joy to be found in putting words and thoughts on paper. It took me 25 years to learn that.

Or, as Susan said in her letter asking me to give it a try:

“I truly believe your presentation will be one of those pivotal moments in some of these kids’ lives where they pinpoint this experience as discovering they are really good at writing and decide they want to pursue a career in writing.”

No pressure there.

So, about a month later I sat down in a low chair in a grade school in downtown Jeffersonville. I had always believed writing classes work best at eye level with the kids. The class sizes varied from two to nine. The kids, selected by aptitude and test scores, had been somewhat prepped, appeared eager to learn and were trying to figure me out.

Are kids so tied to social media that creative writing is already a lost art?

I did somewhat the same. I had no real idea what was on the minds of nine-, ten- and eleven-year-old kids these days. My fear was that they are so tied to social media games that pure creative writing is already a lost art. And what is artificial intelligence going to do to all that?

Follow Diane Porter’s example.JCPS board chair was a fierce advocate for Black students.

On the other hand, as I quickly learned, almost all are avid readers. Books. Words used to paint pictures, make a point, tell a story. So there was hope.

But how to further connect? I began by discussing possibilities, the places newspaper writing has taken me in more than 40 years and 4,000 columns and stories, the places they could go.

I told them how I have been to the World Ice Skating Championship in Czechoslovakia, NCAA basketball championships in St. Louis and Indianapolis, being on the sidelines and in press boxes at NFL, NBA and major league baseball games.

Moving away from athletics, I explained how I wrote about classical dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, covered Broadway shows in Louisville, took a trip to Ghana to write of Louisville doctors on a medical mission, spent time inside the U.S. Supreme Court, got caught in the middle of a gun fight between police and a man holed up in his house and wandered Kentucky for a coupled years writing of great forests, country stores and mules.

I have now written or helped with 15 books, so I pushed the conversation a little deeper. I explained the work required over months and years to write a book, the satisfaction derived from holding such a finished product in my hands.

Kids love books and the writing it takes to tell stories

One fifth grader said she had already started.

We began to bond. Several of the kids were eager to answer all my questions, and quickly thrust their hands in the air. I was more interested in those remaining silent and mostly in the back row.

We talked some of keeping personal diaries – and many of them said they do. We talked of the need to write well and clearly at some point in almost any job. We talked about writing letters to friends and family. Many said they already do that. We talked of reading, of sharing books, and having their parents read to them.

Or maybe them reading to their parents.

Their questions about writing, the places I have been, were interesting, fun, welcome and spontaneous, my favorite being “What is your favorite genre?” 

That meant it was time – past time – for the basics. My writing suggestions were simple. I asked the kids to write them down and warned they will be asked to write something with pencil on paper afterward, then read it out loud.

The writer’s job to explain to people who are not there what’s going on

I told them writing is like being a foreign correspondent. It’s the writer’s job to explain to people who are not there what’s going on. That action could be fiction, whatever was on the writer’s mind, or something outside on a playground, or some place on vacation. Use details to make a point, tell a story, describe the situation. With only four simple rules:

Write what you see.

Write what you hear.

Write what you think.

Write what you feel.

That was it. At this point I didn’t get too far into the 10 or 15 revisions required for every paragraph, how excessive use of detail can get in the way of the story. Not to mention the years it can take to get this writing thing fully figured out. With no guarantees of ever being published.

Just write.

To help the process along, to focus them on a story subject, I asked them to describe me and my mission. Use those four simple rules: see, hear, think, feel. Write it for someone who is not there but needs to know the experience.

What are we going to do?Reading is the greatest civil rights issue of our time.

That got everyone involved, the entire class quickly offering descriptions of a deep voice, large body, a funky shirt, likeable mannerisms and yes, a bald head, although it took them awhile to get around to that.

When in doubt, write the truth

Then I went off point a bit, adding a little culture and sociology. I always on these writing missions bring along a big bag of very distinctive hats, cowboy hat, golfer’s hat, baseball cap, leprechaun’s hat. I put on each in succession and the kids, loving it, went crazy with apt descriptions, even those who had been silent – especially those who had been silent.

The kicker came when I explained they had each described me by the hat I was wearing, but underneath all that I am the same person. Only the hat changed. Point being the biggest mistake any writer can make is to judge a book by its cover.

Or hat.

Lessons learned they all began writing, cranking out words that became sentences that became descriptions and word pictures. Some more quickly than others, They were only allowed about 15 minutes. Afterward, mostly standing up proudly, they read to the others about a big amiable guy with no hair and a deep voice wearing funky clothes and hats as he talked about using see, hear, think and feel to become good writers.

Or words to that effect.

Some of them didn’t want to read their work aloud and I understood – been there, done that. But I did feel – as every teacher must hopefully feel at some point in their day – that I had made a difference, that some kids had learned of the absolute joy to be found in writing and would take that home with them.

And maybe beyond.

It’s a message that should be spread to all students with a hidden interest and ability in writing, not just those who test well. Some immediate satisfaction came when the students in one class offered me “high fives,” asked me to autograph their papers. My finest moment came while walking out of the school through the cafeteria, one of my students, a precocious second grader, walked over and gave me a big hug.

May all teachers find such a moment.

Bob Hill was a Louisville Times and Courier Journal feature writer and columnist for 33 years.

How students responded to Bob Hill

Susan Stewart Greater Clark County Schools’ Advanced Program Coordinator sent letters from students who learned about writing from Bob Hill. Here’s what a few of them had to say.

• “I think I will become a better writer because of Mr. Hill.”
• “I like the way the tree stumps changed with a lot of care.”
• “I will remember to see, think, and feel when I write.”
• “I thought it was a good idea to call the nest a nursery.”
• “I loved the hats he brought and the stories he told.”
• “He seemed so sincere and nice.” 
• “He taught us that believing in someone can make a difference.”
• “I’m going to look at nests and stumps  a little differently now.”
• “Mr. Hill said that it’s okay to have writer’s block sometimes.”
• “I like to read his poems.”