On Thursday, November 2nd, Capital City welcomed proclaimed author and Gateway nominee, Jared Reck to teach students about the basics of storytelling and discuss his two best seller books: Donuts and Other Proclamations of Love and A Short History of the Girl Next Door. Jared Reck, who lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania, teaches 8th grade Language Arts and College English classes.
Students spent at least 45 minutes interacting with Reck as he talked about the different storytelling techniques and advice for future writers. Students were asked to write sentences showing a story instead of just telling it. They were asked to share their short stories to the class and Reck responded with very positive remarks showing how easy writing can be when given the right mindset.
“While I love books that can make me laugh, I really love the ones that can make me laugh AND rip my guts out,” Reck told the class while talking about his books.
Here are some highlights of the visit:
Reck said the key for becoming a good writer is not through ‘gifts’ or ‘talents,’ it’s through hard work and dedication. “We put in the time for the things that we love,” Reck remarks to the class, “You read a lot. You write a lot.”
Reck talked about two main ideas to think about when writing: Confidence and Showing.
Writing is terrifying.
— Jared Reck
Reck discussed key points to show how to tell a story like a writer. He suggests using the old saying, “showing not telling,” to teach students how to describe a particular scene. Students were given a sentence and were asked to ‘show’ the scene instead of just talking about it. Reck remarked with positive comments to the student’s short stories and concluded that using this method makes your writing better.
A Short History of the Girl Next Door
(A summary taken from Reck’s website)
“Matt Wainwright is constantly sabotaged by the over dramatic movie director in his head. He can’t tell his best friend, Tabby, how he really feels about her. He implodes on the basketball court, even though no one cares about the JV team. And the only place he feels normal is in Mr. Ellis’s English class, discussing the greatest fart scenes in literature and writing poems about cantankerous candy-cane lumberjacks.
If this were a movie, everything would work out perfectly. Tabby would discover that Matt’s madly in love with her, be overcome with emotion, and fall into his arms. Maybe in the rain.
But that’s not how it works. Matt watches Tabby get swept away by senior basketball star and all-around great guy Liam Branson. Losing Tabby to Branson is bad enough, but screwing up and losing her as a friend is even worse.
After a tragic accident, Matt finds himself left on the sidelines, spiraling out of control and in danger of losing everything that matters to him. From debut author Jared Reck comes a fiercely funny and heart-wrenching novel about love, longing, and what happens when life as you know it changes in an instant.”
Donuts and Other Proclamations of Love
(A summary taken from Reck’s website)
“It’s easy to look at high school senior Oscar Olsson and think: lost. He hates school, struggles to read, and wants nothing to do with college. But Oscar is anything but lost–he knows exactly what he wants and exactly how to get it. Oscar and Farfar, the Swedish grandfather who’s raised him, run a food truck together selling rullekebab and munkar, and Oscar wants to finish school so he can focus on the food truck full-time.
It’s easy to look at Mary Louise (Lou for short) Messinger and think: driven. AP everything, valedictorian in her sights, and Ivy league college aspirations.
When Lou hijacks Oscar’s carefully crafted schedule of independent studies and blocks of time in the Culinary Lab, Oscar is roped into helping Lou complete her over-ambitious, resume-building service project–reducing food waste in Central Adams High School. While Lou stands to gain her Girl Scout Gold Award, Oscar will be faced with a mountain of uneaten school apples and countless hours with a girl he can’t stand.
With the finish line in sight, a relationship he never expected, and festival season about to begin (for good), the unthinkable happens, and Oscar’s future is anything but certain.”
To learn more about Jared Reck, you can find his biography, books, and how to contact him through his official website: https://www.jaredreckbooks.com/
