Celebrate Nonfiction

Exploring the Joy of Nonfiction Reading and Writing

Me and the Magic of Three by Heather L. Montgomery

Today, author Heather L. Montgomery discusses three critical elements of writing nonfiction for kids. Thanks for your contribution, Heather.

Every writer knows a
“Rule of Three.”

Fiction writers plan three acts; protagonists go up
against three conflicts; essays include three supporting ideas. But in writing
nonfiction that’s good enough for kids, I’ve found a different three:

(1) A subject full of
“Wait, what!?!” facts

(2) A theme that
resonates deeply within me

(3) A structure that
carries the theme

When considering a project, those magical
three give me the green light to dive in.

A “Wait,
what!?!” Subject

Did you ever read a book like Sarah Albee’s Poison and find yourself spouting facts about murder and medicine
for weeks? That’s the crazy, contagious energy I need before committing years to
a project.

When selecting a subject, I’m tempted to use
curriculum or market trends as a guide, but I can’t afford to. I have to be
selfish. To be a genuine inquiry, a subject has to hyper-excite me.

Sometimes I have a strong theme but finding
the “Wait, what!?!” subject takes a while. Thinking about how tough growing up
was, I wondered if metamorphosis could be a strong theme. But insect metamorphosis
has been done till it’s worn thin.

One day, out in a boat, we hauled up a net of
bizarre creatures. They were juveniles—marine invertebrates on the verge of a
monstrous morphing of their bodies. Wait, what?!? Starfish kids don’t look like
starfish? Junior jellyfish look like plants! And one marine kid surfs on top of
jellyfish! This I couldn’t stop telling
people about.

So I applied the “growing up” theme to the “marine
animals” subject. Fortunately, that all played well with a structure I’d been dying
to try: an inquiry about scientific inquiry. Suddenly I had the magic three.
Out popped Little Monsters of the Ocean:
Metamorphosis Under the Waves.

Universal
Theme
From
studying books like Melissa Stewart’s Feathers:
Not Just For Flying, I’d learned that a universal theme touches readers at
a deeper level than straight facts. So I cast about for a way to marry facts
with a universal theme. And that’s when my six-legged friends jumped in to
help.

Finding insect fun facts is easy, but my
passion for insects runs deeper than that. Insects challenge me to think about generosity
(a mother shield bug “shops” till she drops—literally—for the perfect food
for her young), devotion (burying beetles toil endlessly to prepare spit soup
for their kids), and family (tortoise beetles protect their siblings by waving
poo in the air).

 

Family. That was a universal if surprising connection
we have with some insects —and with one another. Next, I found a structure that
worked (thru-the-day) and a book was born: Bugs
Don’t Hug: Six-Legged Parents and Their Kids.


Supporting
Structure
Finding
a structure to support my theme and subject is always a challenge. This is the
deep craft of nonfiction. The kind of thing that, if I think about it directly,
slips away like a fish between my fingers. The kind of thing my subconscious
wrestles with for months, often for years, until I find what works.

I don’t know when I started looking at
roadkill instead of turning away, but one day I realized there could be a book there.

When animals are killed, everyone’s heart
hurts, so nailing a universal theme should be easy. I discovered mind-blowing research
(contagious cancer—that’s right contagious—was discovered thanks to roadkill), so the “Wait, what!?!” was covered. 

But, how could I ever, ever approach a topic
this tragic in a book for young people? I was stalled out in fear of my topic.

For years it thrashed about in my mind. Then I
found myself telling stories about my research journey. Each discovery turned me
a few degrees away from tragedy toward awe. Drawn in by people saving animal lives.
That is when I realized I could take my reader with me. The research journey
was the structure I needed to share the hope in Something Rotten: A Fresh Look at Roadkill.


Heather L. Montgomery writes
for kids who are wild about animals. The weirder, the wackier, the better. An
award-winning science educator, Heather uses yuck appeal to engage young minds.
During school presentations, petrified animal parts and tree guts
inspire reluctant readers and motivate reticent writers. She has published over
a dozen nonfiction books. Heather lives on the border of Alabama and Tennessee.
Inquiry is her life. www.HeatherLMontgomery.com

7 Responses

  2. Thanks, Heather. I LOVED Something Rotten so much & learned so many fascinating things. Thank you for writing such a fun and engaging book. I love animals and am the kind of person who cries when I see dead animals, so it made me appreciate the science behind the study of them even more. <3

  3. Thanks for sharing your process, Heather. It can be maddening to figure out structure. You seem to be a very patient person. My son's school LOVES the roadkill book. And I have to say it's pretty fascinating, too. And I've read Bugs Don't Hug. I love its humor and dual-layered text. But I haven't seen Poison or Little Monsters, so must put those on my TBR pile.

  4. Excellent! I am thinking through this frequently and looking for the A-HA moment that connects the subject to something larger with kid-appeal.

  7. Great post. Many thanks for sharing your process. I love your thoughts on structure -and on underlying theme… I'll be bearing this article in mind over the coming weeks when I'm working on two nonfiction projects. x

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