The Ink Splat is our monthly activity letter filled with inspiration sparking challenges and resources guaranteed to inspire your creativity. In this Ink Splat, the book and author spotlighted is The Wall and the Wing by Laura Ruby along with an author interview! Submit a response to a challenge and you may have a chance to be published online! What are you waiting for?
The Challenge: Bicycle Flight
Imagine that as you’re riding your bicycle down the street, it grows wings and begins to fly. What happens next? Where does it take you?
Try using this word in your writing:
Vile is an adjective meaning disgusting, wicked, or unpleasant.
Lucas was right, the soup did taste odd and it looked vile.
Published Submissions:
If I were on a bike and it grew wings, it would take me to a magical land.
-Walter, 4th grader
I kept pedaling. Five hours later I fell asleep. The bike plummeted downward with incredible speed. I landed somewhere on San Nicholas Island. I started a city. It flourished. Everyone lived happily ever after. The End.
-Isha, 4th grader
It takes me to the beach. I see a pelican. It flies over me then eats a crab. The crab pinches the pelican.
-Marco, 2nd grader
You fly into endless space, fall asleep, wake up thinking it’s a dream, get off your bike and fall asleep.
-Katherine, 3rd grader
The Wall and the Wing by Laura Ruby
Would you rather have the power of invisibility or the power to fly? Gurl longs to be able to fly like everyone else in the city, but late one night she finds out that she out can do something better. She can turn herself invisible. But then she also discovers out that her power is more interesting—and more dangerous—than flying ever could be. And that certain people will do anything to get to her.
An interview with author, Laura Ruby!
1. When you started writing The Wall and the Wing, did you start with an idea of a character, or did you start with an idea of the fantastical world, or did you start somewhere else entirely?
When I was young, I liked asking people lots of ridiculous questions such as, “If everyone in the world is either a jerk or a creep, which one are you?” Or, “If you had to choose between riding a Ferris wheel for two years straight or having a thumb 21 inches long for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?”
THE WALL AND THE WING started with a question that I think everyone has asked him or herself at one point or another: “Would you rather have the power of invisibility, or the power to fly?” Most people I asked wished that they could fly. But I, myself, always wanted the power to be invisible. I wondered what it would be like if there was a world in which almost everyone had the power to fly, but only one girl was gifted with the power of invisibility, and that power turned out to be much more interesting — and dangerous — than flying.
2. You use a lot of specific details in your description and dialogue, which add humor to your scenes. Do you have any tricks for choosing such funny, unique details?
A lot of times, the humor comes to me in increments. So, I might start with a line of dialogue or piece of description that’s pretty straightforward and not all that funny, and then revise it so that it’s a little more specific and a little funnier. Then I revise it again, and again, till I have something that amuses me. (I’m the writer, but I’m also my own first reader, so if I’m not amused, who else will be?)
3. You also use exaggeration in your stories to add humor. When you were drafting, did you ever push the exaggeration too far? If so, how did you know it went too far? How do you keep a balance between humor and believability?
Reading aloud helps. If I’m bored while reading, or find myself wanting to skip over certain portions of the story, then I know those are the bits that need work. But it also helps to find those places in which I’ve gone way over the top. I’ll read and think, “Oh, man, that’s just ridiculous,” so I know I have to tone things down.
I have to admit, however, I’d rather be a little over the top than boring and predictable.
4. Do you plot out your stories ahead of time or just plan as you go?
I write all kinds of summaries and synopses and do all sorts of research. And then I start writing the book and all that planning goes out the window. I’m really not a good planner. (You can ask my family; most of the time, I don’t even know what day it is).
5. Do you have favorite authors who inspire you?
A lot of authors and books have inspired me throughout the years. When I was young I loved THE WESTING GAME, FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER, and many books written by Judy Blume. More recently I have admired Louis Sachar’s HOLES, which I think is a nearly flawless book (and hilarious, too). I’ve also admired Jonathan Stroud’s BARTIMAEOUS series, and Garth Nix’s ABHORSEN series, too. There are so many great books and fabulous authors out there. I’m always looking to discover someone new.
6. What advice would you give to young writers who want to create a really unique fantasy world?
I think that the most unique fantasy and/or sci-fi worlds grow out of things already happening in the real world around us. So, for example, Paolo Bacigalupi researched the devastation wrought by hurricanes like Katrina and imagined a world in which superstorms called city-killers happened with much greater frequency in his novel SHIPBREAKER.
But when it comes down to it, I think that you have to write the story you really, truly want to read.
Thank you, Laura Ruby.
Visit Laura Ruby’s website HERE.
