His lawyer, O’Brien, says in her closing statement, “What can we trace as to the guilt or innocence of my client, Steve Harmon?” (245) This leaves the jury with an undoubtedly difficult decision, as well as the reader, because there are clues to both guilt and innocence in Steve’s case. Steve took his teacher’s advice and made this film script entirely unpredictable, even after it is over. Sawicki who teaches him, “If you make your film predictable, they’ll make up their minds about it long before it’s over” (19). Steve learned to make things unpredictable from his film teacher Mr. It is ambiguous whether he is innocent or guilty of being involved with the crime. Monster is an example of what Patty Campbell would call a “landmark book.” Texts such as these “encourage readers to interact with the text and with one another by employing a variety of devices, among them ambiguity” (Campbell 1) Because it is told through the eyes of Steve himself, the plot can be difficult to decipher.
I like this sentence that I gave my heroine because it came from my own experience going through security at Greenhaven Prison, where I first got the idea for my novel Street Love.Walter Dean Myers’ Monster - Guilty Until Proven Innocent Writer's Block Remedy: The time I spend in this prewriting stage, often as much as six months, eliminates writer's block."Ī Favorite Sentence: "'The guards search me, tossing my confidence into the brown plastic bag with my keys, reminding me that I am Black, that I am lesser.' I do time lines for each major character and a time line for the entire novel: What is going on in the world as my characters struggle with their problems?" I live intimately with my characters before starting a book. That way I can work on more than one project at a time. I do original work in the morning and revisions in the afternoon.
So when I finish my first draft, I have either my artist-wife or my artist-illustrator son, Christopher Myers, look at the manuscript with a special eye for where I need to describe a scene. Yet another weakness is my failure to describe scenes and people.
I work straight through for the first draft, taking notes as I go along." I begin work by 7 a.m., sometimes earlier, and usually complete my five pages by 10 a.m. By restricting myself to five pages, I almost force myself to pay more attention to detail. To avoid these internal monologues, I work from a carefully constructed outline to make sure that some physical things are happening. One weakness which I've struggled to overcome is my tendency to having my characters ruminate for pages. I love the process of writing and, if I allowed myself, I would write far too much every day. How He Writes: "After so many books and so many years of writing I have a good idea of my strengths and weaknesses. He lives in Jersey City, N.J., with his wife, Constance, and his cat, Askia Home Boy Brown. Myers was also a finalist in 2005, for his novel, Autobiography of My Dead Brother. Printz Award, given to a book that exemplifies literary excellence in young adult literature, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2000.
Monster, about a 16-year-old standing trial for murder, won the first Michael L. Walter Dean Myers has written more than 85 children's books.