PB First Lines September 2024 Edition
Featuring Debi Novotny and ADDY'S CHAIR TO EVERYWHERE
Welcome to the September 2024 edition of PB First lines!
I'm so glad you're here.
If you’re interested in feedback on a first line from one of your WIPs, pop it in the substack comments, and I’ll analyze them in the next edition of PB First Lines.
If you would like to be a featured author in 2025, fill out one of the First Line forms!
This month, I’m excited to have Debi Novotny share the revision journey of the first line from her book, Addy’s Chair to Everywhere, a story about inclusive play and the power of imagination.
******
Original First Lines:
We use chairs every day.
We use chairs at the dinner table.
We use chairs at school.
We use chairs at restaurants,
at the movie theater, in a plane, and on a bus.
Final First Lines:
There are rocking chairs and reading chairs,
haircut chairs and dentist chairs.
Chairs that wobble, chairs that swivel.
Squishy chairs with room to wriggle.
Chairs of many shapes and sizes.
A special chair with big surprises.
First Draft: Ideas grow bigger over time. When the idea for this story first came to me, I began keeping track of my ideas by writing them down on sticky notes. It was like putting together a puzzle. I put the outside (big idea) together first, then filled in the middle (details). When I wrote my first draft of Addy’s Chair to Everywhere (then called Claire’s Chair), I focused mainly on world building, inclusivity, and community. For children, being part of a community and feeling a sense of belonging in the group is crucial for social and emotional development. Books that highlight inclusive activities are one of our greatest resources for teaching children how to belong together.
Final Story: The first two pages of the final story bring children together and bond them over similar surroundings that include a variety of chairs. Further into the story, I highlight common classroom/learning activities in order to build upon familiar experiences. Tapping into a child’s foundation makes it easier for them to process new information. When teaching a child something new, it’s important to consider the experiences they may or may not have had thus far in life. Things like what part of the world they live in, their age, and family dynamics are a few examples of where their life experiences come from.
The scenes in Addy’s Chair to Everywhere are all things that actually happened in my classroom, and are probably familiar in many homes and schools around the world. Addy’s imagination highlights a variety of common interests she most likely already shares with her peers such as chairs, toys, and playing on a playground. Some children may have never seen a child or adult using a wheelchair so this is new information within a familiar environment.
Rhyme: Try writing the first few sentences of a rough draft in rhyme. I love reading and writing in rhyme, but was hesitant to write my story that way. The fun and challenging part of rhyme is experimenting with stress syllables and rhyming patterns of different words while making them work together to move the story forward. Once I came up with the first six lines, I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
******
Revision tip: I love Debi’s idea to try writing the first few sentences of a rough draft in rhyme, even if you don’t intend for your story to be in rhyme. Authors who write in rhyme are often encouraged to try their story in prose to ensure the bones are there. But if you’re struggling with how to start, writing your first lines in rhyme might show you a side to your story that you hadn’t considered before. I also love the reminder to introduce new information in a familiar setting.
