Writing is About Paying Attention: An Exclusive Guest Post from Kate DiCamillo, Author of The Puppets of Spelhorst

By Kate DiCamillo / October 9, 2023 at 2:16 am

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Kate DiCamillo (The Beatryce Prophecy and Because of Winn Dixie) brings us an unforgettable fairy tale about five puppets seeking to pursue their dreams. With enchanting illustrations from Julie Morstad, The Puppets of Spelhorst is a magical story perfect for family read-alouds. Keep reading for a guest post from Kate DiCamillo about how she uses the world around her to write stories.

When I was in college, I took an expository writing course taught by a graduate student named Trey Greer. I learned something in that class that I have never forgotten. “Writing,” Trey Geer said, “is about seeing. It’s about paying attention.”

Trey Greer didn’t tell us to carry notebooks around and take notes on what we see and overhear and imagine and wonder, but I have found the notebook to be an invaluable tool — a reminder to look at everything, listen to everybody, a vehicle for paying attention to the world and all the mysteries and possibilities it holds.

Sometimes kids will say to me, “Are you ever worried that you might run out of things to write about?”

I say, “Have you been on a city bus recently? Have you watched people, listened to them interact? If you pay attention, you will see that there are stories everywhere.”

In my notebook, I write down lines of conversation that I overhear on trains, in airplanes. I write descriptions of faces that move me, and I also jot down phrases that feel like they have a story hidden inside of them.

My newest book is a fairy tale called The Puppets of Spelhorst. I was visiting a friend’s house and saw an owl puppet and a wolf puppet displayed on a shelf in her living room.

I wrote in my notebook. “Puppet story? Wolf, owl?”

I asked my friend if I could borrow the puppets, and I brought them home and put them on a chair next to the desk where I write.

I would turn and look at their faces and try to imagine what they were thinking, dreaming of. The wolf looked very pleased with her sharp teeth. The owl wanted me to know that he was, indeed, very wise.

Each insight I had from paying attention to the puppets, I would write down in the notebook. It took me a while, but I realized what the puppets wanted was to be in a story, and that there were other puppets who were in the story with them.

Once I knew this, the opening lines showed up: “Once, there was a king. And a wolf. And a girl with a shepherd’s crook. And a boy with arrows and a bow. And also, there was an owl.” I wrote those first lines down in a notebook and, eventually, those words led me into the writing of the story of the puppets and their journey of discovery.

So if you want to write, follow Trey Greer’s advice — pay attention. Pay attention to what moves you. Pay attention to what people say. Pay attention to puppets on a shelf. Everything and everybody have a story that wants to be told. Everything and everybody are just waiting, hoping, to be seen.