Clare B. Dunkle
The kinds of talks I like to give

I am an extrovert in an introvert’s job. These days, I sit in my office at home and write manuscripts. But, because I am a librarian by training as well as an author, I love to talk about all aspects of reading and writing. Below is a partial listing of some of the kinds of author visits I have done and the different kinds of talks I have given.

BOOK CLUB TALKS

Before my first book came out, the Ramstein Officers Spouses Club Book Club invited me to give them a presentation about the writing and publication process. A year later, they read The Hollow Kingdom and discussed it at one of their meetings, inviting me to be there to answer questions. By then, I was a regular, anyway, showing up even though I never read the monthly selections, just because they were such a pleasant group to spend time with.

By sheer chance (and a Google search on the Internet), I learned that a book club in the States was discussing The Hollow Kingdom the week that I was in their city. I attended and answered questions about the book. I think that was one of my most enjoyable evenings as an author!

SCHOOL VISITS

The Heidelberg District Schools hosted their Young Authors’ Conference in May of 2006, and I was delighted be one of the presenters there. These students had won local competitions to come to the event, and they showed real talent and promise. Motivated writers of all grade levels discussed their writing problems with me, listened to advanced techniques for fiction building, and even ran through a few drills. I found it to be an exhausting but rewarding experience, and I expect to see some of those names on title pages one day.

A Middle-School Miniconference

The Ramstein American Middle School held an informal “miniconference” on writing, and they invited fellow author Terri Long and me to give two days of presentations. I spoke to two or three classes at a time, delivering seven talks to sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students of reading or language arts. I invited them to consider who a book really belongs to, spoke about the author’s side of the book-writing process (including problems of world-building, character, plot, and perspective), explained the role of an editor, and discussed the importance of a reader’s feedback during the revision stage. The sessions were long, and the students had every reason to be both distracted and self-protective since the rooms were crowded, but in almost every session they continued to ask questions right up to the bell about every aspect of writing and publication.

Middle-School AVID Classes

The person who invited me to speak to two seventh- and eighth-grade AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) classes asked me to deliver a presentation on difficulties I had had to overcome in my life. This was a topic I could really sink my teeth into! I told the classes that I had been a freak at their age—and I provided the photographs to prove it. Then I delivered a talk describing myself as an alienated, strange-looking “bag lady” of an early teen, determined to make my way to a better life. The choices I made during adolescence enabled me to achieve success and happiness. The students responded warmly, asking questions until the bell. “It’s like a fairy tale!” one of them said.

Third-Grade Classes

Even though my writing is for ages ten and up, two third-grade classes have invited me to visit. One class was doing a project writing fractured fairy tales, and they read me their stories; the other, involved in a book creation project, wanted to know how an idea becomes a book. I talked to them about bringing characters to life and showed them my first line-edited manuscript. They took turns “cutting” the manuscript pages as if they were a deck of cards and hunting for the pages with the most red pencil markings.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

I was approached by two Girl Scouts who wanted to earn a special merit badge dealing with books and reading. Together, we developed a project to collect feedback for one of my manuscript revisions. They delivered an oral presentation to their troop, distributed manuscripts to interested girls, collected the filled-in questionnaires, and organized a discussion session to collect oral feedback as well.